Dialogic Leadership for Social Justice: Overcoming Pathologies of Silence

In this article, I draw on current scholarship about leadership for social justice, my own (and others’) empirical research in schools, and my previous experience as a K-12 educator to develop a framework intended to help educational leaders think about leading for social justice. I critically examine some ways in which the status quo marginalizes large numbers of students and their families, preventing them from being heard or even acknowledged. I suggest that transformative educational leaders may foster the academic success of all children through engaging in moral dialogue that facilitates the development of strong relationships, supplants pathologizing silences, challenges existing beliefs and practices, and grounds educational leadership in some criteria for social justice.

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