Abstract:
Philosophical discourse in the sociological field of educational leadership suggests that leading happens in the intersubjective spaces between individuals. However, these , interactions, spaces and the leading that occurs within them have the potential to be undertheorised in the educational leadership space. The undertheorisation and limited attention that intersubjective spaces have received may be understood within the attractive simplicity of role-based approaches to leadership that perceive it as an individual rather than a collective phenomenon. Such a reductionist approach to leadership resonates with the increasingly dominant performative cultures of schools and steering system imperatives. In this paper we argue that system and lifeworld are both essential to comprehend the multifaceted role of leadership. However, we also raise concerns regarding the encroachment of the system imperatives on the lifeworld of educational leadership reducing it to a performative, technical endeavour. To better understand the complex function of leading within the lifeworld and system of schools, the paper draws on the Habermasian perspective of intersubjectivity.
The Habermasian perspective will connect with Husserl’s philosophy of intersubjectivity. Taking a social-constructionist approach, Husserl considers ‘I’, and ‘we’ that is intergral to our sociological understanding educational leadership as a practice in the intersubjective spaces between people, highlighting both individual and collective self-responsibility in leading education. Understanding perspectives of intersubjectivity in educational leadership exposes taken for granted assumptions about the perception of power dynamics wrought in the perceived status of others in hierarchies. It exposes and what Husserl terms ego, reconnects what people think they know and experience about leadership to understanding practices, moving from understandings of the language of leadership to experiences of leadership through practice. Our overarching purpose is to support school leaders to reimagine their leadership work in the social communicative spaces of schooling and to leverage the system arrangements in which their intersubjective work operates.
Husserl’s particular focus is on empathy as intersubjectivity. Building such subversive understandings of educational leadership will help school leaders understand and build interactions with the Other with what Husserl terms ‘giveness’, as they consciously navigate their surrounding conditions and to build solidarity through relationships and mutual empathy, to share their educational work, in building human purpose beyond our times.
The Habermasian perspective will connect with Husserl’s philosophy of intersubjectivity. Taking a social-constructionist approach, Husserl considers ‘I’, and ‘we’ that is intergral to our sociological understanding educational leadership as a practice in the intersubjective spaces between people, highlighting both individual and collective self-responsibility in leading education. Understanding perspectives of intersubjectivity in educational leadership exposes taken for granted assumptions about the perception of power dynamics wrought in the perceived status of others in hierarchies. It exposes and what Husserl terms ego, reconnects what people think they know and experience about leadership to understanding practices, moving from understandings of the language of leadership to experiences of leadership through practice. Our overarching purpose is to support school leaders to reimagine their leadership work in the social communicative spaces of schooling and to leverage the system arrangements in which their intersubjective work operates.
Husserl’s particular focus is on empathy as intersubjectivity. Building such subversive understandings of educational leadership will help school leaders understand and build interactions with the Other with what Husserl terms ‘giveness’, as they consciously navigate their surrounding conditions and to build solidarity through relationships and mutual empathy, to share their educational work, in building human purpose beyond our times.