Aspiring Headteacher Socialisation in the Panopticon: the Foucauldian gaze
Author(s):
Hung-Chang Chen (presenting / submitting)
Conference:
ECER 2014
Network:
21. Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)
Format:
Paper

Session Information

ERG SES G13, Management in Education

Paper Session

Time:
2014-09-02
09:00-10:30
Room:
FPCEUP - 253
Chair:
Mustafa Yunus Eryaman

Contribution

This paper aims to illustrate how aspiring headteacher socialisation could be reconceptualised as disciplinary socialisation by using Foucault’s notions of panopticism, disciplinary power and governmentality.

Socializing aspiring school leaders has been viewed as an important part of leadership preparation (Normore, 2004), while the extant literature on the socialisation of headteachers largely focuses on the effective socialization and succession of school leaders (Bengtson, Zepeda, & Parylo, 2013; Crow, 2006; Normore, 2004). Much of the research views headteacher socialisation as a rational and political vacuum process where an individual learns or acquires the necessary knowledge, skills, and values needed to perform a social role in an organization (Bengtson et al., 2013). However, this seems to be a danger of intensification of the particular ways that school headteachers are being normalising through ‘the means of correct training’ (Foucault, 1977). As Anderson and Grinberg (1998) have rightly pointed out, this perspective of socialisation tends to reproduce discourse-practices through what is assessed in assessment centres, what is taught in courses and what is learned in internships. They go further to argue that Foucault’s concepts can be fruitful to expose the dangerous aspects of some administrative practices that can result in more effective technologies of control. Therefore this paper examines the practices of headteacher socialisation in the pre-service formal training in the context of Taiwan, and links it to normalisation, discipline and subjectification by using Foucault’s theory of disciplinary power, governmentality (Foucault, 1977, 1991, 2002). The purpose of this paper is to re-conceptualise and enrich the theory of professional socialisation in the field of school leadership preparation.

The context of this study is situated in Taiwan. As more and more countries place school headship preparation as a high priority on their policy agendas (Hess & Kelly, 2005; Huber, 2004; Leithwood, Jacobson, & Ylimaki, 2011), Taiwan has no exception. In order to ensure the quality of school headteachers, Taiwanese local governments create a new school headship training strategy known as ‘administrative placement in the Department of Education (AP)’. Unlike the school placement in most of countries where aspiring headteachers are placed in school settings, those in Taiwan are placed into local authority office for about one-year AP training before they acquire the position, in order to strength their policy delivery capacities and administrative skill development. It is this new AP training strategy that positions aspiring headteachers in the District Office, under the constant surveillance, normalising judgments and the examination from officials. Although the research context is situated in Taiwan, its implication of using Foucault’s concepts in socialisation of school leadership preparation might be internationally profound.

Foucauldian studies into discipline, the subject and governmentality have been increasingly influential in the field of educational leadership and administration (Anderson & Grinberg, 1998; Cohen, 2013; Gillies, 2013; Gobby, 2013; Niesche, 2010, 2011, 2013a, 2013b). Some scholars have employed a Foucauldian theoretical lens of disciplinary power to examine the modality of leadership preparation with adoption of standards (English, 2003; Gronn, 2003). Using Foucault’s notions of disciplinary power and governmentality, this article examines the practices of administrative placement in the local education authority. Such an examination highlights the insidious dimension of aspiring headteacher socialisation within such new leadership imperative.

Method

This paper draws upon data collected from a comparative case study of three local governments with their school headteachers and educational officials in the context of Taiwan. Three local governments with varying AP training approaches were selected as research cases. One of the cases has the optional AP approach and the other two cases have a compulsory AP design which entails that every qualified reserve head has to complete the AP before becoming a headteacher. Using Yin’s (2009) notion of case study, the aim was to examine the ways that the AP headteachers practice their AP in three local education departments. In particular, the focus was on the power relations exercised at the level of the AP heads’ day-to day practices and AP headteachers’ subjectivity formation. Data collection occurred through intensive, semi-structured interviews and analysis of relevant documents. In order to acquire an extensive understanding, three groups of participants in three cases were selected who met a range of selection criteria. This includes headteachers with varying AP training experiences and from different geographical locations; education officials who have worked with AP heads; and school inspectors who have interacted with headteachers with varying AP training experiences. The participants are composed of 22 headteachers, 4 division chiefs and 3 school inspectors in three local governments. The focus of the questions was on the AP heads’ experiences and practices during the AP and the subsequent effects on their school leadership and management. Data were analysed through the lens of Foucault’s notion of disciplinary power and governmentality with the aim of exploring the ways that the discourses and power relations are exercised in the process of socialisation.

Expected Outcomes

Ultimately, this paper finds that the AP training regime as a conditioned-socialisation (Moos, 2003) maximises the aspiring headteachers’ administrative skill development, and at the same time increases their obedience to the local government and minimises deviation. It illustrates how AP headteachers in three cases are subjected to as what Foucault terms ‘docile bodies’ (1977: p. 136) – they are prepared, improved and disciplined at the same time. Therefore, this paper argues that the AP training regime for aspiring headteachers is an example of panoptic discipline which I call ‘disciplinary socialisation’ that is adopted as a new disciplinary technique by local governments to make school leaders not only productive and efficient but also docile and obedient, in order to effectively deliver policy imperatives. This paper therefore contributes to theory building around headship preparation and professional socialisation.

References

Anderson, Gary L, & Grinberg, Jaime. (1998). Educational administration as a disciplinary practice: Appropriating Foucault's view of power, discourse, and method. Educational Administration Quarterly, 34(3), 329-353. Crow, Gary M. (2006). Complexity and the beginning principal in the United States: perspectives on socialization. Journal of Educational Administration, 44(4), 310-325. English, Fenwick W. (2003). Cookie-Cutter Leaders for Cookie-Cutter Schools: The Teleology of Standardization and the De-Legitimization of the University in Educational Leadership Preparation. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 2(1), 27-46. doi: 10.1076/lpos.2.1.27.15254 Foucault, Michel. (1977). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. London: Allen Lane (Penguin Books). Foucault, Michel. (1991). Governmentality. In G. Burchell, C. Gordon & P. Miller (Eds.), The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality (pp. 87-104). USA: University of Chicago Press. Foucault, Michel. (2002). The subject and power. In J. Faubion (Ed.), Michel Foucault: Power: Essential Works of Foucault 1954-1984 Volume 3 (pp. 326-348). London: Penguin Books. Gillies, Donald. (2013). Educational Leadership and Michel Foucault. Oxon: Routledge. Gobby, Brad. (2013). Principal self-government and subjectification: the exercise of principal autonomy in the Western Australian Independent Public Schools programme. Critical Studies in Education, 54(3), 273-285. doi: 10.1080/17508487.2013.832338 Gronn, Peter. (2003). Leadership: Who needs it? School Leadership & Management, 23(3), 267-291. doi: 10.1080/1363243032000112784 Huber, S.G. (2004). School leadership and leadership development: Adjusting leadership theories and development programs to values and the core purpose of school. Journal of Educational Administration, 42(6), 669-684. Leithwood, K., Jacobson, S.L., & Ylimaki, R.M. (2011). Converging Policy Trends. In R. M. Ylimaki & S. L. Jacobson (Eds.), US and Cross-national Policies, Practices, and Preparation: Implications for Successful Instructional Leadership, Organizational Learning, and Culturally Responsive Practices (Vol. 12, pp. 17-28). New York: Springer Verlag. Moos, Lejf. (2003). Educational leadership: leadership for/as Bildung? International Journal of Leadership in Education, 6(1), 19-33. doi: 10.1080/1360312022000038522 Niesche, Richard. (2010). Discipline through documentation: a form of governmentality for school principals. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 13(3), 249-263. doi: 10.1080/13603121003692967 Niesche, Richard. (2011). Foucault and Educational Leadership: discipling the principal. Oxon: Routledge. Normore, Anthony H. (2004). Socializing school administrators to meet leadership challenges that doom all but the most heroic and talented leaders to failure. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 7(2), 107-125. doi: 10.1080/1360312042000185851

Author Information

Hung-Chang Chen (presenting / submitting)
Institute of Education, University of London
London Centre for Leadership in Learning
London

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