Table Of ContentEducational Leadership Theory
Series Editors: Scott Eacott · Richard Niesche
Denise Mifsud Editor
Narratives
of Educational
Leadership
Representing Research via Creative
Analytic Practices
Educational Leadership Theory
SeriesEditors
ScottEacott,SchoolofEducation,UniversityofNewSouthWales,Sydney,
Australia
RichardNiesche,SchoolofEducation,UniversityofNewSouthWales,Sydney,
Australia
The Educational Leadership Theory book series provides a forum for internation-
ally renowned and emerging scholars whose ongoing scholarship is seriously and
consequentially engaged in theoretical and methodological developments in
educational leadership, management and administration. Its primary aim is to
deliver an innovative and provocative dialogue whose coherence comes not from
the adoption of a single paradigmatic lens but rather in an engagement with the
theoretical and methodological preliminaries of scholarship. Importantly,
Educational Leadership Theory is not a critique of the field—something that is
already too frequent—instead, attention is devoted to sketching possible alterna-
tivesforadvancingscholarship.Thechoiceoftheplural‘alternatives’isdeliberate,
and its use is to evoke the message that there is more than one way to advance
knowledge. The books published in Educational Leadership Theory come from
scholars working at the forefront of contemporary thought and analysis in
educational leadership, management and administration. In doing so, the contri-
butionsstimulatedialogueanddebateintheinterestofadvancingscholarship.
InternationalEditorialBoard
IraBogotch,FloridaAtlanticUniversity,USA
FenwickW.English,UniversityofNorthCarolina,USA
GabrieleLakomski,UniversityofMelbourne,Australia
PaulNewton,UniversityofSaskatchewan,Canada
IzharOplatka,TelAvivUniversity,Israel
JaeHyungPark,EducationUniversityofHongKong,HongKong
EugenieSamier,UniversityofStrathclyde,Scotland
RobertoSerpieri,UniversitàdiNapoliFedericoII,Italy
DortheStaunaes,AarhusUniversity,Denmark
YusefWaghid,UniversityofStellenbosch,SouthAfrica
JaneWilkinson,MonashUniversity,Australia
Moreinformationaboutthisseriesathttps://link.springer.com/bookseries/15484
Denise Mifsud
Editor
Narratives of Educational
Leadership
Representing Research via Creative Analytic
Practices
Editor
DeniseMifsud
UniversityofBath
Bath,UK
ISSN2510-1781 ISSN2510-179X (electronic)
EducationalLeadershipTheory
ISBN978-981-16-5830-3 ISBN978-981-16-5831-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5831-0
©TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s),underexclusivelicensetoSpringerNature
SingaporePteLtd.2021
Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsaresolelyandexclusivelylicensedbythePublisher,whether
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the following people who all played a significant part in the
comingtogetherofthisbook,frominceptiontoproduction:
MyhusbandJosephforhisunendingsupportthatallowsmethenecessaryspace
topursuemyacademicaspirations.
Cate Watson, my Ph.D. supervisor, who introduced me to the many facets of
narrativeanalysisandrepresentationalmostadecadeago.
Michel Foucault, whose theories and legacy have completely transformed my
waysofconceptualizing,enactingandexploringeducationalleadership.
RichardNiescheandScottEacottwhoprovidedinvaluablefeedbackatthebook
proposal stage, thus indulging my long-standing dream to publish such a book
portraying unconventional representations of educational leadership narratives via
criticaltheory.
Nick Melchior and the book production team at Springer who worked on the
publicationofthisbook.
v
Contents
1 Educational Leadership Research and Creative
Analytic Practices: A Critical Mapping of Theoretical
andMethodologicalTerrains? .................................. 1
DeniseMifsud
2 EducationalLeadership,CritiqueandtheCriticalResearcher ..... 21
RichardNiesche
3 TurningWaterintoWine:ScriptingMulti-academisation
ThroughMessianicEducationalLeadership ..................... 35
StevenJ.CourtneyandRuthMcGinity
4 (Mis)Leading for Social (in)justice and (in)equity…
(Un)FollowingaScript? ........................................ 73
DeniseMifsud
5 Is Inclusive Educational Leadership for Social Justice
andtheCommonGoodPossible? ............................... 115
EnriqueJavierDíezGutiérrezandKatherineGajardoEspinoza
6 PotentialTheoretical Approaches toSupport theCritical
Explorationof‘TheProblem(s)’ofPreparing,Recruiting
andRetainingHeadteachersinScotland ......................... 131
DeirdreTorrance, ChristineForde, MargeryA.McMahon,
AlisonMitchell,andJulieHarvie
7 The Lockdown Files: University Performance
and Development Reviews (PRDs) as a Form
ofGovernmentality ............................................ 159
StephenDayandAnnePirrie
vii
viii Contents
8 The Views of the Few or the Voices of Many: Methods
of Exploring Leadership Roles Through Alternative
ApproachesWithinHigherEducation ........................... 179
MoiraE.Lafferty
9 Ghostly Mirroring: How Taxidermy Could Teach us
SomethingImportantAboutCurrentAttemptstoInspire
STEMAspirationsinYoungWomen ............................ 199
JetteSandagerandJustineGrønbækPors
10 Conclusions: A Critical Commentary on the Theory
andMethodologyofEducationalLeadershipNarratives .......... 223
DeniseMifsud
Index ............................................................. 239
Editor and Contributors
AbouttheEditor
DeniseMifsudisAssociateProfessorinEducationalLeadership,Managementand
GovernanceintheDepartmentofEducationattheUniversityofBath.Shehasmany
yearsofpractitionerexperienceineducationsettingsinbothteachingandleadership
roles, the most recent being that of Head of College Network, a top-management
position within the Ministry for Education, Malta, besides being an independent
educationresearcherandconsultant.Shepreviouslyheldafull-timelecturingpost
at the University of the West of Scotland as well as being a part-time lecturer at
theUniversityofMalta.SheisalsoanAssociateFellowoftheEuro-Mediterranean
Centre for Educational Research within the same university. She was awarded her
Ph.D.bytheUniversityofStirlingin2015.Researchareasofinterestincludeeduca-
tionalpolicyanalysis,generation,receptionandenactment;criticalleadershiptheo-
ries,withaparticularinterestineducationalleadership,especiallydistributedforms;
schoolnetworksandeducationalreform;initialteachereducation;powerrelations;
Foucauldiantheory;Actor-Networktheory,aswellasqualitativeresearchmethods,
withaparticularfocusonnarrative,aswellascreativeandunconventionalmodesof
datarepresentation.Shehaspresentedherresearchatvariousinternationalconfer-
ences, besides winning numerous academic awards, namely, from the American
EducationResearchAssociation,theEuropeanEducationResearchAssociationand
theScottishEducationResearchAssociation.Sheisamemberofseveralprofessional
organizations, in addition to being an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education
Academy.Shehaspublishedinseveralinternationaltop-ratedjournals,inaddition
tomonographsandeditedvolumes.
ix
x EditorandContributors
Contributors
StevenJ.Courtney UniversityofManchester,Manchester,UK
StephenDay UniversityoftheWestofScotland,Paisley,Scotland
KatherineGajardoEspinoza UniversityofValladolid,Segovia,Spain
ChristineForde UniversityofGlasgow,Glasgow,Scotland
EnriqueJavierDíezGutiérrez UniversityofLeón,León,Spain
JulieHarvie UniversityofGlasgow,Glasgow,Scotland
MoiraE.Lafferty SchoolofPsychology,UniversityofChester,Chester,UK
RuthMcGinity UniversityCollegeLondon,London,UK
MargeryA.McMahon UniversityofGlasgow,Glasgow,Scotland
DeniseMifsud UniversityofBath,Bath,UK
AlisonMitchell UniversityofGlasgow,Glasgow,Scotland
RichardNiesche UNSWSydney,Kensington,NSW,Australia
AnnePirrie UniversityoftheWestofScotland,Paisley,Scotland
JustineGrønbækPors CopenhagenBusinessSchool,Frederiksberg,Denmark
JetteSandager CopenhagenBusinessSchool,Frederiksberg,Denmark
DeirdreTorrance UniversityofGlasgow,Glasgow,Scotland
