Using Film to Teach Leadership in Educational Administration

Abstract

As a field, educational administration has long been permeated by views that ignore human interiority in favor of impersonal structures and forces at work in schools. Contemporary concerns with moral leadership have served to reveal the limitations of behaviorism in dealing with the topic because morality is determined by inner beliefs and values. Abundant film and video archives offer a rich and inexpensive repository of depictions of leaders from a variety of occupations and ages and can restore to the study of leadership the balance between inner perspective and the impact on followers. The advantages of film/video as a powerful teaching tool are presented along with a discussion of their use in graduate curricula. A partial list of 10 useful films portraying multicultural leaders, male and female, is described for possible use in the graduate classroom.

Visualizing International Relations: Assessing Student Learning Through Film

“…Scholars also emphasize how visuals can further students' understanding of the material, illustrate and/or illuminate an abstract concept or theory, and reinforce course topics (Rebhorn 1987;Jordan and Sanchez 1994;Feldman 1995;English and Steffy 1997;Gregg 1998;Champoux 1999;Kiasatpour 1999;Crawford 1999;Weber 2001;Waalkes 2003;Sealey 2008;Valeriano 2008;Engert and Spencer 2009). One instructor found that "Film clips can create useful hooks for individual students to hang brand-new theoretical questions upon (Waalkes 2003)."…”

Reculturing the Profession of Educational Leadership: New Blueprints

“…As with the other three areas, methods can then be viewed as a strategy for redefining the meaning of school administration. In the application domain, the scholarship of Ed Bridges and Phil Hallinger on problem-based learning is becoming increasingly woven into the profession, as are renewed emphases on case studies and a bundle of strategies such as journal writing, novels, films, reflective essays, and autobiographies (see, for example, Brieschke, 1990;English & Steffy, 1997;Short & Rinehart, 1993). One line of work in this area has "focused on how to improve research and knowledge in educational administration" (Pounder, 2000, p. 336).…”

Transforming City Governments for Successful Smart Cities

“…Thus, the measurement of this type of perception is more appropriately drawn from cognitive psychology, which discusses the relationship between the researcher's symbolic stimulus and participants' consistent responses. The study by English and Steffy (1997) used movies and short films to represent symbolic stimulus and to clearly portray the characteristics of a style of leadership among different occupations, during different time frames, and in different places. Research participants viewed the films that clearly portrayed the styles of leaderships' differences between genders, among different cultures, and from different historical backgrounds.…”