Educational Leadership for Social Justice and Improving High-Needs Schools: Findings from 10 Years of International Collaboration

Abstract

To commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the ISLDN, this book is a compilation of the work conducted by network scholars. Other international research consortia have emerged in the 21st century; however, the ISLDN is the second longest operating project after the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP), which began in 2001. Since its creation, ISLDN scholars have delivered papers at a variety of international conferences and shared findings in research publications, including books (Angelle, 2017; Murakami, Gurr, & Notman, 2019) and special issues of journals (Bryant, Cheng, & Notman, 2014; Gurr & Drysdale, 2018). Until now, however, the dissemination of ISLDN research has occurred separately for each strand. Therefore, the purpose of the book is to document the history of the ISLDN and to provide descriptions and reflections of the project’s research findings, methodologies, and collaborative processes across the two strands. This volume captures studies of school leaders from 19 countries representing six continents - Africa, Asia, Australia and Oceania, Europe, North America, and South America. The authors examine important external and internal contextual factors influencing schools in different cultural settings, provide insights about the values and practices of social justice leaders working in high-need school settings, and critically examine the ISLDN’s current body of work and suggest how future research can address the project’s gaps and oversights.