Session Information
26 SES 12 A, Laying the Groundwork for a Comparative, International Dialogue on Curriculum Theories and Leadership Research
Symposium
Contribution
While ‘head teacher’ is still a prominent designation in many countries, there has been an increasing tendency to refer to those ‘in charge’ of schools with other words such as manager, leader or, most recently, lead learner. While one could say that these are ‘only words’ they nonetheless have a significant impact on how the position, role and responsibility of those ‘in charge’ is being understood. This paper analyzes these conceptual shifts and the impact they have on perceptions, identities and relationship. For instance, the idea of lead learner fits within the ongoing ‘learnification’ (Biesta 2010) of educational thought and practice where educational endeavours are increasingly being understood through a language of learning, learners – and now also lead learners. While the notion of the lead learner suggests democratic and empowering relationships, I will argue – mainly informed by a ‘Continental’ understanding of education (i.e. German ‘kritische Pädagogik’ and Philippe Meirieu’s French educational thought) – for the need to reclaim the idea of the head teacher, in order to highlight that the responsibility of the head teacher is fundamentally an educational one that can only be accessed and conceptualized through an updated understanding of curriculum / teaching.
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