Abstract:
This paper employs the metaphor of storytelling “around the campfire”, used traditionally by Indigenous cultures to pass on knowledge, values, and norms to the younger generation. Drawing on my own perspective as an Indigenous African woman and my experience working with female Indigenous principals in remote schools in the Northern Territory in Australia, I will provide a series of vignettes as personal professional reflections on leadership drawing on journal entries made at the time of students’ views. The women were contacted to check the journal entries were accurate and suitable for inclusion. These stories and experiences have formed the basis of my doctoral research and have led to the development of key questions for investigation.
While numerous empirical studies have been generated over the years on the subject of educational leadership, it has, in most cases, some how failed to address the complex needs and realities of Indigenous female school leaders. Constructs of leadership have largely been prescribed by western and male orientated world views. In contrast to their non-indigenous counterparts, it has been my experience that remote Indigenous women leadership functions extend far beyond the confines of the school environment. It is critical that in any debate or research on educational leadership that indigenous female voices’ are represented.
While numerous empirical studies have been generated over the years on the subject of educational leadership, it has, in most cases, some how failed to address the complex needs and realities of Indigenous female school leaders. Constructs of leadership have largely been prescribed by western and male orientated world views. In contrast to their non-indigenous counterparts, it has been my experience that remote Indigenous women leadership functions extend far beyond the confines of the school environment. It is critical that in any debate or research on educational leadership that indigenous female voices’ are represented.