Critical Leadership and Social Justice
As a result of educational policies emanating from issues relating to globalized societies, schooling is becoming increasingly standardized, not only in terms of assessment and evaluation, but also in terms of processes, policies and procedures. Two issues, "zero tolerance" and "full inclusion" policies are discussed as representative of well-intended but exclusionary policies that do little to advance social justice within schools. Truly inclusive educational practices represent a form of social justice that is much needed within the school edifice and focuses on how policy is understood and implemented at the school level, bringing the relationship between school leaders and educational policy into sharp focus. This presentation advocates the de-institutionalizing of "educational factories" in order to gain greater clarity surrounding some of the advantages afforded by creating more socially just schools. The focus is on the perspective of the school leader as the individual who is in a key position to support socially just strategies for inclusive schooling.