The Practical Wisdom Framework: A Compass for School Leaders

2021

Education is unimaginable without human virtues such as wisdom (prudence), courage (fortitude), moderation (temperance), and justice (liberty). Wisdom as a leading virtue aims to achieve human excellence and the common good, not only for individuals but for all of humanity. In this paper, I seek to answer the question: “How can education cultivate practical wisdom in thinking, feelings, and in the actions of future generations?” With the practice ecosystem framework, I will present two models: one that incorporates the key features of practical wisdom, and another one that shows how they could manifest themselves in education. The paper calls for the increased responsibility of educators and educational institutions in enhancing future generations’ capacity for actions guided by practical wisdom. It calls for integrating moral values, ethical decisions, and altruism into education in order to make practical wisdom present in the everyday practices of future generations.

The study seeks to find out the role of wisdom about good instructional leadership in the classroom. The first thing that came to mind when the issue of wisdom came up as the topic was why we should be concerned about a concept that is very complex to understand. However, a broader perspective about wisdom reveals that wisdom entails features such as understanding the consequences of our actions. Again, wisdom entails having the knowledge and ability to understand and recognize the right decisions to make. While also recognizing that a good leader must have the courage to abide by their actions and accept their failures. These features constitute the hallmark of an effective and efficient teacher as far as instructional leadership is concerned. The topic is significant because wisdom plays a critical role in good leadership. Wisdom makes it possible for the achievement of goals when it comes to the role of leaders in influencing positive change among their followers. Three research questions were set to guide the study. Purposive sampling was used to select 105 members to participate in the research. A questionnaire was used to collect data, and thematic analysis was adopted together with descriptive statistics to organize data gathered from close-ended and open-ended questions for interpretation. The results show that wisdom plays a crucial role in the teaching and learning process and must not be undermined. Again, it beholds on every teacher to apply whatever wisdom they have in the classroom to ensure that every pupil benefits from their lessons.

2019

Journal of Curriculum and Instruction, 2009

In this article I present the complex multiplicities of leadership and power in schools by examining leadership and curriculum in sustainable change for K-12 schools. I argue that stakeholders need to value an open community based upon ideals in which freedom of expression is protected, civility is affirmed, and appreciation and understanding of individual differences are honored; where stakeholders value a caring community in which the well-being of each person is important. I speculate that change will take place when we see leadership as value-laden and when power and empathy in decision making is reflective. This article concludes that transformational leadership will occur when all stakeholders in K-12 education engage in an active process of questioning the visible and hidden curricula, understand affective change for learners, and confront the complexity of the social, political, economic, and historical influences on our schools. It is not surprising that educators and members of a professional community hold strong values. As a collective, we care about people and empowering them. As a collective, we seek to assist in cultural preservation while striving for social innovation. As a collective, we are bound together by a commitment to the advancement of these strong values. But we are very different than our non-education professional colleagues, because educators ask "how we ought" to work to achieve our ends; our value set (and the actions resulting from our consideration of these values) causes us to be different from all of the other professions. This value set serves as the convention, which guides us in our professional practice, and, if grounded in questions of moral philosophy, serves as our set of professional ethics. This set of ethics can guide our practice so that we can discern the difference between right and wrong practice. In contrast to this ethical perspective, popular thinkers are more likely to ground perceptions of society, and education in particular, in accountability, and to consider them in the light of efficiencies and production payoffs rather than the methods of science. With regard to education, the likes of Bloom (1987) and Hirsh (1987) focus on this accountability view, which is then powerfully articulated by pundits like Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Lou Dobbs. The assumptions underlying the convictions put forth by these reformers threaten the possibility of rational ethical discourse and action. Similarly, the mindset of politically motivated school reformers including state governors, local officials, and business leaders, such as Bill Gates, do not account for the importance of ethics in reform. Greater efficiencies and general reform drive the critics

European Journal of Teacher Education

Teaching is a highly complex profession, one in which teachers have to make continuous pedagogical decisions. In this study, we argue that practical wisdom is needed in order to act thoughtfully and effectively. The prerequisite for using practical wisdom is teachers' awareness of the pedagogical beliefs behind the decision-making. In this study, this has been described as personal practical theories: PPTs. In other words, practical wisdom is possible if PPTs are consistent with pedagogical decision-making and furthermore teaching practice. The aim of this study is to seek the ways teacher education may support the cultivation of practical wisdom in student teachers. For that purpose, we carried out a qualitative descriptive study by interviewing 15 primary school student teachers about their experiences with PPTs, and their manifestation in their practicum studies. Further, what factors support the manifestation, or create obstacles to them. Based on the results, in this study, we suggest ways in which practical wisdom could be promoted in initial teacher education.

2015

An increasing number of schools and districts are building a common language of instruction and collaborative structures for instructional problem solving through the use of instructional rounds. Pioneered by Richard Elmore and colleagues at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, instructional rounds build on the model of medical rounds used in teaching hospitals and engage teachers and administrators in data collection and analysis around a school-wide problem of practice. This case study examines the experiences of the Simpson County Schools in Franklin, Kentucky, where one of the authors formerly served as a district administrator. In 2009, the district initiated a multi-school effort to implement instructional rounds. Many districts adopting instructional rounds initially involve only administrators, but the Simpson County Schools invited classroom teachers to participate and play key leadership roles in the process. The case study describes the instructional rounds process, the decisions made by district leaders to involve a wide array of stakeholders in their instructional rounds initiative, and the overall effects. Teachers in the district readily embraced the instructional rounds protocol, and administration and facilitation of the rounds process has now evolved into having classroom teachers serving as primary leaders. Implications for school culture and change leadership are discussed.

Journal of Education Leadership in Action, 2013

Ethics is an important part of administrative behavior for a head schoolteacher. A school often proceeds in the path of success if it is led by an ethically sound leader. However, professional ethics are largely thought to emerge from the conscience of the administrator. This article is based on a study undertaken with the purpose of identifying how the ethics of educational administrators are practiced in public secondary schools in Nepal. The study was carried out using a humanistic paradigm with a series of in-depth interviews and focus group discussion through a phenomenological approach. The study found that professional codes of conduct for school administrators need to be well defined, well internalized, and focused on the culture and context in question. One way to do this is to require representatives of all of the school's stakeholders to discuss and develop the professional codes of school administrators. This sensitive and participatory approach in the development and adoption of the ethical rules generates a "feeling of ownership," responsibility, and commitment among all school stakeholders. However, at present, there are no such provisions to understand social interaction in particular social settings to ensure participation of all the stakeholders in the formation of ethical codes of educational administrators.

EDULEARN19 Proceedings, 2019

Several studies in educational leadership and management in South Africa have underscored the importance of the role of the school principals and their management teams. In fact, as other international studies concur, any school’s climate and culture will be largely influenced by the leadership practices of those at the helm. Successful schools will achieve because of their efficient principals. Two decades after the attainment of democracy and the demise of apartheid education South African schools reflect some challenges that characterized apartheid schools. Arguably, in numerous schools, teachers are not ready to create effective working organizations. Yet all education’s role-players seek schools that work; the parents and communities are in constant search of high achieving schools that would redeem society from several of its ills. However, it is recently that many have realized that school principals and their management teams may have to be formally prepared for their roles ...

2006

Leadership and Policy in Schools

Confusion among school leaders regarding how to interpret and implement special education legislation, and specific federal and state policies and mandates such as a free and appropriate public education (FAPE), in the least restrictive environment (LRE) at the school-site level has existed since the 1970s and continues to exist. This metasynthesis explores the literature surrounding sensemaking by which building principals adapt and transform policy as they enact it in their schools. Findings suggest that a phenomenon of internal forces had a more significant influence on the actions that took place throughout their sensemaking of LRE and FAPE.

Journal of School Leadership, 2002

In this article Dewey's conceptions of theory and practice provide a conceptual framework for understanding the moral and political possibilities of educational leadership. Specifically, the differences among craft knowledge, professional reflective practice, and intellectual activities are discussed. Through the use of historical illustrations, two educational leadership paths demonstrate connections between educational leadership and social justice. The first path illustrates how an educational leader continuously builds a just school community under changing demographic and political conditions. The leadership challenge is ongoing in terms of building a new educational community rather than replicating a community of the past. The second path illustrates how single-minded visions for a just school society emerge through the heroic efforts of individual educational leaders. The leadership challenge here is to intellectually construct a meaningful consensus rather than to assum...

Teachers College Record, 2010

Background/Context: A group of educators have demonstrated success not only with White middle-class and affluent students but also with students from varied racial, socioeconomic, linguistic, ability, and cultural backgrounds. A reoccurring theme from these schools and from the literature on school change is that exemplary leadership helps create the necessity for change and helps make the realities of change happen. More specifically, leaders at these schools where students traditionally marginalized are thriving come to administration with a commitment, or larger "call," to focus their leadership on issues of equity and justice. Purpose: Scholars and administrators alike have called for "constructive models" of this kind of leadership. This article provides examples of these accomplishments in practice. It also provides insight into the realities of leading for social justice by revealing what principals sought to accomplish and how they approached that work. Participants: This article focuses on 6 principals-2 elementary, 2 middle, and 2 high school-who (1) led a public school, (2) possessed a belief that promoting social justice is a driving force behind what brought them to their leadership position, (3) advocated, led, and kept at the center of their practice/vision issues of race, class, gender, disability, sexual orientation, and/or other historically marginalizing conditions, and (4) had evidence to show that their work has produced a more just school. Research Design: The qualitative study in which these analyses are grounded used a positioned subject approach. The method of data collection took place over one school year and included in-depth interviews with the principals, a review of documents and materials, site visits, discussions/interviews with school staff, a detailed field log, and a group meeting of the principal participants. This article is a focused discussion of aspects of a larger study, using the principals' voices to illustrate key themes.

Addressing systemic inequities in schools requires preparation of leaders who are bold, adaptive, and well-versed in addressing problems of practice so

2000