In July 2009 the Charlottetown Conversation brought together 12 scholars from around the world for a week of discussion and debate at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. The Charlottetown Conversation was guided by the following research question: "What does (or should) ethical educational leadership look like within a culturally, technologically and economically diverse society?" This Roundtable is a continuation of that conversation, made open to a wider audience. An effective educational system is a critical underpinning to the future social, economic, and cultural wellbeing of all countries (Goddard, 2008). The integration of new immigrants into society is an important task of schools, and yet organizational structures (timetables, curriculum, policies, and so forth) continue to reflect the values and belief systems of the dominant cultural perspective (Dimmock & Walker, 2005). School administrators are key to helping the education system respond to demographic change. Anisef and Kilbride (2004) argue that the “social, economic, and demographic changes taking place [in society] have placed tremendous amount of pressure on educational systems” (p. 10). As the key administrators at the school level, principals must take the lead role in meeting the demands of these social, economic, and demographic changes (Archambault, 2008; Ärlestig, 2008; Goddard, 2006; Johansson & Day, in press). Policy makers and researchers must better understand the influences, effects, roles, and responsibilities of our educational leaders in a time of demographic upheaval and recognize diversity as a major contributor to educational change. There is an urgent need for schools to better reflect and respond to the changing ethnocultural diversity of national populations, especially in countries which attract large numbers of immigrants (Leeman, 2008; Trnavcevic, 2007). Failure to do so will result in children from marginalized and minority populations continuing to fail at school, with huge social and economic costs to the host country and to the global economy. Conceptual frameworks and theoretical understandings that are grounded in the various national experiences will be useful to scholarly, practitioner, and lay audiences. The development of a knowledge base to inform practice will help school and central office administrators to develop more effective school policies. Such findings will inform policy makers as they redesign and restructure the administrative, teaching, and organizational practices of schools. Nonetheless it is imperative that such a knowledge base is grounded in understandings not only of context but also of what constitutes ethical leadership. Our work is informed by the writing of scholars such as Langlois (2008) and Starratt (2004), both of whom participated in the Charlottetown Conversation. As our work has continued to evolve so we are determining a number of emergent themes. We intend to present these at the ECER 2010 conference in Helsinki.

Anisef, P., & Kilbride, K. (2004). The needs of newcomer youth and emerging “best practices” to meet those needs. Final report to the Settlement Directorate, Ontario Region, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, from the Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement. Online. Retrieved January 23, 2004, from http://www.yorku.ca/ceris/youth.htm Archambault, J. (2008). Soutenir le développement professionnel des enseignants. inDIRECT. Les clés de la gestion scolaire, #9, 37-56. Ärlestig, H. (2008). Communication between principals and teachers in successful schools. Umea, Sweden: University of Umea Press. Begley, P. (1999). Values and educational leadership. Buffalo, NY: SUNY Press. Dimmock, C, & Walker, A. (2005). Educational leadership, culture and diversity. London: Sage. Goddard, J. T. (2008). The physical, philosophical and political domains of educational development and reconstruction: A case study from post-colonial Europe. In A. Abdi and S. Guo (Eds.), Education for social development: Global issues and analyses (pp. 207-218). Rotterdam, the Netherlands: Sense Publishers. Goddard, J. T. (2006). Minority student failure in dominant culture schools: A global review. Paper presented at the bi-annual conference of the Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration, Nicosia, Cyprus. October. Johansson, O., & Day, C. (In press). Leadership with a difference in schools serving disadvantaged communities: Arenas for success. In K. Tirri (Ed.) Educating Moral Sensibilities in Urban Schools. Rotterdam, NL: SENSE publishers. Langlois, L. (2008). Anatomie du leadership éthique: pour diriger nos organisations d'une manière consciente et authentique. Québec : Les Presses de l'Université Laval Leeman, Y. (2008). Education and diversity in the Netherlands. European Educational Research Journal, 7 (1), 50-59. Starratt, R. J. (2004). Ethical leadership. San Francisco: Jossey Bass. Trnavcevic, A. (2007). School leadership and equity: Slovenian elements. School Leadership & Management, 27 (1), 79-90.