Leading With Their Lives: Three Generations of Black and South Asian Headteachers - 1969-2015

Presented by Dr. Lauri Johnson, Boston College

Abstract

This talk will discuss preliminary findings from a UK national study of the life stories and leadership practices of 20 Black and South Asian headteachers who represent three generations (i.e. pioneers, experienced, and novice). Profiles of the first Black headteachers in London, Leicester, Birmingham, Leeds, and Cardiff were based on archival research, and in depth life history interviews were conducted with current headteachers (both experienced and novice) which elicited and interrogated the critical life experiences that influenced participants' path to leadership, the intersection of their professional and social identities, and the role of historical context in their leadership priorities.

Biography

Lauri Johnson is an Associate Professor at Boston College, USA where she directs the educational leadership program and is the principal investigator for the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED), a national effort which aims to reform the education practice doctorate to focus on high impact problems of practice in local school districts. She has published widely on culturally responsive leadership, the role of community activism in urban school reform, and successful school leadership in high poverty schools. She is currently the 2014-2015 Fulbright Core Scholar at the University of Nottingham where she is researching the life histories of Black and South Asian headteachers throughout the UK and the intersection of their professional and social identities.