Walking the Leadership Tightrope: Building Community Cohesiveness and Social Capital in Schools in Highly Disadvantaged Urban Communities

Autor/in	Riley, Kathryn A.
Titel	Walking the Leadership Tightrope: Building Community Cohesiveness and Social Capital in Schools in Highly Disadvantaged Urban Communities
Quelle	In: British Educational Research Journal, 39 (2013) 2, S.266-286 (21 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0141-1926
DOI	10.1080/01411926.2012.658021
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Disadvantaged Schools; Disadvantaged Environment; Urban Areas; Urban Schools; Social Capital; Leadership; Community Involvement; Change Strategies; Social Change; School Community Relationship; Educational Policy; Principals; Social Influences; Trust (Psychology); United Kingdom; United Kingdom (London); United Kingdom (Manchester); United States + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Urban area; Stadtregion; Urban areas; School; Schools; Stadt; Schule; Sozialkapital; Führung; Führungsposition; Lösungsstrategie; Sozialer Wandel; Politics of education; Bildungspolitik; Principal; Schulleiter; Sozialer Einfluss; Großbritannien; USA
Abstract	School leaders in highly disadvantaged urban communities across the globe walk a tightrope, caught between the needs of communities and the requirements of national policies. This article aims to enrich our understanding of the potential of school-community relationships. It examines the policy discourse on urban schools and the practice of community leadership. The policy context is one of UK and international concerns about divisions in society and the rise of political extremism: concerns which, in the UK, have led to a policy focus on community cohesion. The article offers a conceptual framework--a theory of action--as a possible road map for school leaders to manage through this complex and evolving arena of policy and practice. The template--developed through earlier work on urban schools--is underpinned by a focus on trust (as the lubricant to link communities together) and social capital (as a way of harnessing the "social energy" of communities for positive good). The template is tested against the leadership of two school principals in challenging contexts in London and Greater Manchester. The author concludes that there is potential for schools to create space for the voices of the marginalised and disenfranchised to be heard. This analysis will resonate with school leaders serving disadvantaged communities in many international contexts and signals a new departure for leadership. (Contains 14 notes and 4 figures.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10