Katrina Claire MacDonald

Deakin University · Research for Educational Impact

Devolved governance, school autonomy and marketisation impact the employment practices of schools and the working conditions of teachers. However, the employment-related effects on school services staff are under-researched. This study draws on data from interviews with staff at one public high school to analyse school services staff experience of...

Attracting and retaining a stable supply of effective teachers is critical to the provision of schooling that meets international commitments to equity, excellence, and inclusion. Initiatives targeting school staff are predicated on the accessibility of schools for the workforce. To this point, the empirical impact of housing and transportation cos...

Globally, education systems are faced with dual workforce crises: a shortage of teachers and a lack of affordable housing. Attracting and retaining teachers through improved renumeration, working conditions, and quality preparation have been central. However, initiatives to attract and retain teachers mean little if the workforce cannot find approp...

This chapter brings together the rich narratives explored in the previous chapters. It explores key findings in relation to social justice leading practices. Firstly it examines the implications of the spatial distribution of advantage and disadvantage and how this influences leadership in schools. It explores leadership, intersectionality (gender,...

In this chapter I map the existing research in regard to educational leadership (EL) and leading for social justice leadership (LSJ). Firstly, I discuss and then define how EL is conceptualised in this book. I then examine research into schools located in areas of social disadvantage, in particular examining the role that principals of these school...

This chapter introduces research that investigated the social justice leadership understandings and practices of educational leaders in primary schools in marginalised communities in Victoria, Australia. It contextualises this research within educational justice research in Australia, and briefly introduces two frameworks through which the analysis...

This final chapter outlines the implications of this research for social justice leadership scholarship, for leadership scholars, for policy makers, and for principal practice. I outline the empirical and theoretical contributions of my research, highlight the implications to policy and practice, reiterate the limitations of the study, and suggest...

In this chapter the rich narratives and life histories of primary participants begin. These narratives are explored through metaphors. Drawing on the methodological tools of narrative inquiry I sought to understand the life experiences of the participants of this study. These are explored and analysed through Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and fiel...

Bourdieu’s work has been instrumental in exposing the reproduction of disadvantage through schooling as a result of the interplay between the apparently ‘natural’ practices that perpetuate disadvantage in fields such as education and the habitus of those participants who encounter the field (Eacott, 2010; English, 2012; Gunter, 2010; Thomson, 2017;...

This chapter provides a portrait of Peter and explores his primary and secondary habitus through his history as a missionary prior to becoming a teacher then principal. His leadership practices are explored through the metaphors of mission, monarchy and might. Peter’s ‘mission’ as a principal, linked to his missionary past is explored in detail. ‘M...

This Chapter provides a context for the case studies in this book. It firstly outlines how advantage and disadvantage are spatially distrubuted in Australia, outlines the impact of this maldistribution on educational outcomes for children. It theorises this maldistribution through the critical geographies of Edward Soja. It then introduces the cont...

In this chapter, I present an intimate portrait of Christine, an experienced principal near the end of her career. Her leadership is explored through the metaphors of monitor, ministry and mentor. First, her life history informs the development of her primary and secondary habitus. The metaphor of monitor is used to explore the ways in which Christ...

This is the first international reference work to map out how Pierre Bourdieu has been used in educational research. Written by scholars based in Australia, Canada, China, Croatia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the UK, and the USA, the handbook provides a unique and cutting-edge picture of how Bourdieu has been both used and adapted in educati...

This paper analyses the composition, distribution, and history of school funding in Australia through a spatial lens (Soja 2010). We explore multi-scalar school funding policy through three layers of economic maldistribution. We sketch the funding disparities between the three school sectors (public, Catholic, and independent) exposing a spatial in...

The series of responses in this article were gathered as part of an online mini conference held in September 2021 that sought to explore different ideas and articulations of school autonomy reform across the world (Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, the USA, Norway, Sweden and New Zealand). It centred upon an important question: what needs to hap...

The articulation of school autonomy into practice nationally, regionally and locally is highly situated in terms of what it enables or impedes with regard to the professional autonomy of principals and teachers. Principal autonomy does not necessarily mean greater teacher professional autonomy. In this paper, we draw on a three-year qualitative stu...

In response to the diverse deployments of ‘school autonomy’ in interviews with education stakeholders, we use material semiotics and the concept of ontological politics to theorize school autonomy as ontologically multiple. We analyze interviews conducted in Australia with forty-two school education stakeholders drawn from principal, parent and tea...

A persuasive solution for governments and systemic authorities seeking to improve the quality and equity of outcomes for students has been the localized management of schools. Believed to provide opportunities for context-sensitive decision-making, what remains unclear is how does shifting increasing management to the school-level generate the type...

Principals around the world are in crisis. There is a looming shortage of people who want to take up the role, and principals deal with heightened emotions each day–both their own and those of others. The work of school leaders is emotionally intense, and the intense nature of their work has direct consequences for principals’ health and well-being...

Neoliberal policies promoting school autonomy reform in Australia and internationally have, over three decades, appropriated earlier social democratic discourses of parental participation and partnership in school governance. Recent school autonomy reforms have repositioned school council/boards within a narrow frame of accountability and managemen...

Drawing together diverse research perspectives and theoretical underpinnings, this handbook explores gender as a social category and examines cultural and social differences. Bringing together diverse perspectives from around the world, including from Africa, Europe, the Middle East, the UK and the USA, the volume sets out the gender and educationa...

This paper examines principals’ perceptions of school autonomy and leadership as part of a 3-year research project looking at the implications of school autonomy on social justice across four states of Australia (Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland). Drawing on interviews with principals and representatives from principal st...

This paper provides an overview of the policies of school autonomy in Australian public education from the Karmel report in 1973 to the present day. The key focus is on the social justice implications of this reform. It tracks the tensions between policy moves to both grant schools greater autonomy and rein in this autonomy with the increasing inst...

This paper analyses the move by an Australian university faculty to a new building featuring open plan and alternative workspaces. Through the lens of the theory of practice architectures, the paper examines how the new built spaces both enabled and constrained the professional learning practices of academics. Drawing on a case study of the transit...

We are going to begin our chapter with some key definitions that we will be drawing on throughout our analysis and to answer the following question: how can stereotypical ideas about gender and educational leadership be interrogated and challenged to bring about societal change?

There remains strong political support for school autonomy reform within Australian public education despite evidence linking this reform to exacerbating school and systemic inequities. This paper presents interview data from key education stakeholders gathered from a broader study that is investigating the social justice implications of school aut...

The current COVID19 pandemic has forced major adjustments, often at short notice, on schools and schooling. Educators have been working in a constantly changing environment to continue to deliver for students, families and communities all the while maintaining the necessary supports for themselves and colleagues. In Australia this has led to debate...

School autonomy policies have circulated through various modes of educational governance internationally, endorsing the view that more autonomy will improve schools and their systems. When subject to the discourses and practices of marketization, however, school ‘autonomy’ has been mobilized in ways that generate injustice. These injustices are the...

There is a rich international history in social justice scholarship focusing on the practices of educational leadership and leaders in areas of disadvantage. Research suggests that principals who have a clear focus on social justice will tend to exhibit a range of normative practices. This paper examines the social justice understandings and practi...

Educational leadership research has a long history of the use of metaphor as a descriptive and analytical tool. In this paper, I explore the value of metaphorical analysis using tropes from the story of Robinson Crusoe as a way to think with and through the data generated in a case study examining how social justice may be understood and acted upon...

The aim of educational research is to explore, investigate and discover new knowledge to contribute to the field. Such research may focus upon a domestic or international domain, and may involve academics, practitioners and the wider community. As we develop as researchers, we expand our theoretical and practical knowledge in our chosen areas of ed...

The final three-month field season of the Bayswater Archaeological Research Project (BARP) was completed in 1997. Iain Davidson and the Bayswater Colliery Company initiated the BARP. Its objective has been to investigate the archaeology of the central lowlands of the Hunter River Valley in the context of a research programme as a management strateg...