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OPTIMIZING INNOVATION IN PRAXIS: IMAGINED POSSIBILITIES AND NEW REALITIES-EXPLORING NARRATIVES OF EDUCATIONAL TRANSFORMATION

  • May 2012
DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.30868.81282
Authors:
Karen Steffensen at Government of Ontario, Canada
Karen Steffensen
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... Moreover, articles that included 'imagination' in their keywords did not necessarily focus on imagination. For example, even though the word imagination is used in association with affective leadership (Staunaes, 2011), esthetic leadership (Jones, 2002;Steffensen, 2012), artful leadership (Klein, 1999), invitational leadership (Ciulla, 2015), servant/steward leadership (Jones, 2002), visionary leadership (Ylimaki, 2006) and leadership education (Kliewer & Zacharakis, 2015), the concept remains largely unexamined. Only a few scholars examine imagination and investigate its varied roles in the context of leadership, educational leadership and leadership education (see, for example, Ciulla, 2015;Curtis & Cerni, 2015;Curtis et al., 2017;Steffensen, 2012;Stephenson, 2009;Wenger, 1999). ...
... For example, even though the word imagination is used in association with affective leadership (Staunaes, 2011), esthetic leadership (Jones, 2002;Steffensen, 2012), artful leadership (Klein, 1999), invitational leadership (Ciulla, 2015), servant/steward leadership (Jones, 2002), visionary leadership (Ylimaki, 2006) and leadership education (Kliewer & Zacharakis, 2015), the concept remains largely unexamined. Only a few scholars examine imagination and investigate its varied roles in the context of leadership, educational leadership and leadership education (see, for example, Ciulla, 2015;Curtis & Cerni, 2015;Curtis et al., 2017;Steffensen, 2012;Stephenson, 2009;Wenger, 1999). ...
... Overall, references to imagination in leadership are positive (see, for example, Hargreaves et al., 2014;Maxwell, 1999;Paustian, 2017;Spehler & Slattery, 1999;Steffensen, 2012). Poor or ineffective leadership is sometimes attributed to a lack or failure of imagination (Enlow & Popa, 2008;Glickman, 2006). ...
Conceptualizing imagination in the context of school leadership
Article
  • Sep 2020
There is very little research on imagination in the context of leadership in general, and even less in relation to educational leadership. Drawing on available research on imagination in leadership and scholarship in the field of imagination, this qualitative content analysis seeks to add to foundational understanding of imagination’s role in educational leadership. First, it describes the range of meanings leaders hold about imagination and the contradictory feelings these meanings create. Second, it indicates some of the varied ways in which imagination contributes to leadership. Third, it contributes a definition of imagination that encompasses the potential value of imagination for leadership now and into the future. The paper concludes by offering recommendations for future research and identifies the improvisational imagination as an additional feature that imagination contributes to leadership practices. The research shows that imagination is not something we should call on only in times of crisis, but, rather, that it is an indispensable ally in dealing with leadership challenges of all kinds.
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Metaphors We Live By
Book
  • Apr 1980
The now-classic Metaphors We Live By changed our understanding of metaphor and its role in language and the mind. Metaphor, the authors explain, is a fundamental mechanism of mind, one that allows us to use what we know about our physical and social experience to provide understanding of countless other subjects. Because such metaphors structure our most basic understandings of our experience, they are "metaphors we live by"--metaphors that can shape our perceptions and actions without our ever noticing them. In this updated edition of Lakoff and Johnson's influential book, the authors supply an afterword surveying how their theory of metaphor has developed within the cognitive sciences to become central to the contemporary understanding of how we think and how we express our thoughts in language.
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Young at Art: Classroom Playbuilding in Practice
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  • Oct 2008
Young at Art is a practical guide to playbuilding for teachers working with students at an upper primary and secondary level. Focusing on an area often neglected in traditional drama text books, the book covers the process of devising drama, and the teacher's role in facilitating students to collectively become playwrights, actors, designers, directors and critics of their ensemble work. The playbuilding process is covered in a structured manner, which includes: Mapping the Territory: identifying critical issues relating to teaching and learning in playbuilding, and laying the basic foundations of understandings and practice. Levels at Work: offering three approaches to playbuilding, catering for a range of learning experiences. Playbuilding for All: explores theatre practitioners' techniques, working with students' personal stories and narratives and playbuilding with a contemporary edge. An essential guide for all drama teachers Young at Art covers practical teaching issues and strategies for working with groups of students to help them perform their playbuilt stories to an audience, as well as techniques for student assessment and evaluation, providing a wealth of exemplary starting points and approaches. The book offers detailed guidance on working with students to help facilitate the collaborative creative and reflective processes, offering practical ideas and structures which can be easily implemented in the classroom.
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School Reform: The Flatworm in a Flat World: From Entropy to Renewal through Indigenous Invention
Article
  • May 2009
Background/Context Current research on learning, organizational change, and the context of the 21st century yields insight into the needed fundamental reforms in our educational learning environments. Despite these new insights, schooling and school reform in the 21st century continue to be grounded in ideas based on the industrial model of the 20th century. Reform efforts in today's No Child Left Behind environment reify static ideas about schooling, resulting in organizational entropy. Purpose In this article, we compare current schooling practices and reform efforts to the mechanistic industrial model and illustrate why this paradigm is no longer sufficient in this “flat world.” Schooling and school reform in the 21st century continue to be approached as if these are a flatworm capable replicating itself. We argue that a new paradigm is needed— one that builds on current knowledge and human resources, one that is created by those who work and live in a school or community—which we have called Indigenous Invention. Research Design Indigenous Invention grows from new conceptions of learning, cognition, and development, and our work in schools and communities during the past 16 years. Examples of Indigenous Invention presented here come from a much larger case study and long-term action research project in five urban schools and communities. Conclusion/Recommendations Three areas are presented. First, we examine ideas that currently guide schooling practices and explore why these ideas have resulted in a decline of educational organizational vitality and are no longer sufficient for our in-school, after-school, and preschool programs. We suggest using new knowledge about human learning, cognition, and development to bring organizational energy and renewal to educational institutions. Second, the power of this new knowledge will not be realized with conventional school change models that urge fidelity in implementing packages and procedures developed far away from the school and its neighborhood. Replication may work for the flatworm. It does not work in complex systems like educational institutions. Third, we present the process of Indigenous Invention as one that holds promise in moving our schools from entropy to renewal.
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Doubting Schoolwork: Exploring an Emerging Concept
Article
  • Dec 2006
Doubt has been increasingly perceived as a means of introducing education renewal, particularly within the context of dramatic social change and uncertainty. Nevertheless, little inquiry has been conducted with regard to the doubting process and the principal's role that influences its effectiveness. This lack of conceptualization is particularly serious in light of the growing number of planned educational restructuring efforts that have rarely demonstrated positive outcomes in student achievements. This article explores the doubting process as an emerging concept in school reform. After introducing the concept of doubt and its importance in educational reform, the article exemplifies a secondary school principal who doubted core pedagogical practices. It is argued that inducing doubt, as a means of fostering productive school change, is contingent both on a para-digmatic shift in the principal's role and on continual consideration of school's social, cultural, and political context. Finally, suggestions for future research are presented.
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