Power, Risk, and Utility

Abstract

Purpose: Engagement with culture as a facet of the work of schools and colleges has been evident since at least the 1950s. The 21st-century interest in culture remains strong, in part because of the growing sense that education faces a scenario where the scale of technological, economic, and social change is unprecedented. Such change demands revisiting cultural values, as practice and power relations are disturbed both by change itself and an inability to assimilate it. The article revisits a seminal question—how far should educational leaders engage with culture as a key theoretical construct, and what are the moral and pragmatic issues that arise? Research Design: The article charts the engagement of the field of educational leadership with culture over time. It critically reviews some of the theoretical models that have been used as analytical and interpretative lenses, considers the scope of the evidence for the utility of the concept of culture, and then explores related implicit and explicit power relations embedded in school leaders’ engagement with culture. Findings: The article concludes that a renewed and more rigorous but critical engagement with culture is essential both for theorizing leadership and developing the leaders of schools, colleges, and universities in the future.

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