Spirituality In Educational Leadership

With contributions from top leadership figures, this innovative and inspirational collection combines research and thought-provoking ideas for applying spiritual principles to administrative roles and responsibilities.

This book is about hope, and how it is sustained by the personal spirituality of school leaders. Defining this not only in religious terms but using a concept of ‘secular spirituality,’ it shows that leadership actions must rest on the foundation of a personal value system, demonstrated as ‘a lived faith in action.’ Drawing on interviews with 150 headteachers and capturing their authentic voices, it uses the metaphor of ‘reservoirs of hope’ to promote practitioner reflection on the value systems, leadership styles and sustainability strategies of headteachers, as they act as the external reservoir of hope for their schools whilst ensuring that their own internal reservoir of hope never runs dry. It also offers a theological reflection on the spiritual and moral leadership of headteachers, providing a connecting bridge between educational leadership and theology.

This groundbreaking book provides a comprehensive resource that addresses the growing movement for incorporating spirituality as an important aspect of the meaning and purpose of higher education. Written by Arthur W. Chickering, Jon C. Dalton, and Leisa Stamm—experts in the field of educational leadership and policy—Encouraging Authenticity and Spirituality in Higher Education shows how to encourage increased authenticity and spiritual growth among students and education professionals by offering alternative ways of knowing, being, and doing. Encouraging Authenticity and Spirituality in Higher Education includes a rich array of examples to guide the integration of authenticity and spirituality in curriculum, student affairs, community partnerships, assessment, and policy issues. Many of these illustrative examples represent specific policies and programs that have successfully been put in place at diverse institutions across the country. In addition, the authors cover the theoretical, historical, and social perspectives on religion and higher education and examine the implications for practice. They include the results of recent court cases that deal with church-state issues and offer recommendations that pose no legal barrier to implementation.

Workplace spirituality has become a popular topic in today’s society as it has been reported to have a positive association with employee performance, organizational citizenship behavior, employee engagement and commitment, team building, and the physical and psychological health of employees. Integrating spirituality into the workplace provides a number of organizational benefits that require further study, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Handbook of Research on Integrating Spirituality in Modern Workplaces discusses the numerous benefits of spirituality in the workplace and considers best practices and approaches for successful implementation. Covering topics such as emotional labor and job satisfaction, this major reference work is ideal for researchers, practitioners, academicians, managers, business professionals, instructors, and students.

The data revealed that the Ontario Public school system is not a place where individuals feel comfortable discussing religion, religious differences, or spirituality. While in the Catholic school systems the venue, the comfort level, and the language are present, programming and support in this area is insufficient according to the participants. This study has revealed that these ten school leaders, from both the Public and Catholic school districts, value their spirituality and that of others; find strength, patience, and understanding in their spiritual nature; experience their spirituality in their interactions with others; and rely on their spiritual perspective to assist them their work as school leaders. They are examples of all that can be good about humans in their desire to serve, trust, empower, and believe in others. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between spirituality and school leadership in Ontario. Ten school leaders from both the Public and Catholic school districts participated in semi-structured interviews. The intent of the interview was to facilitate an exploration of the participants' conceptions of spirituality and to identify the characteristic beliefs, experiences, and practices of school leaders who consider themselves to be spiritual. Analysis of the data helped to identify the various dimensions of spiritual beliefs and how these relate to school leadership. The insights of these school leaders underscored the importance of the role of spirituality in shaping their practice as leaders. They also viewed spirituality as a viable and valuable orientation for school leaders in general. The results of this study indicate that spirituality as an orientation, a perspective, or as a motivator deserves the close attention of academics, researchers, and practitioners. The addition of spirituality as a dimension to the present theories of school leadership would expand our understanding of school leadership and hence have an impact of our expectations of the role of school leaders. The recommendations for further study of this topic include: uniting forces with other fields of knowledge to share and compare data and concepts; re-examining present theories of leadership and motivation with a view to including spirituality as a key variable; the inclusion of a wider more pluralistic selection of participants in order to examine the concept of spirituality across cultures and provide a more representative and inclusive theory of spirituality and school leadership.Commonly the participants reported that their sense of spirituality was closely related to their core values. It was clear that spirituality meant something significant to the participants. They refer to spirituality as an integral part of who they are and that their values underpin their work as school leaders. They present spirituality as a integral part of their quest to find meaning and purpose in life. The participants honour the pursuit of the deepest questions in their lives and in their role as school leaders. They articulate that their spirituality is animated by exploring the answers to these questions through their work with others.

This collection investigates, through an autoethnographic lens, the roles and intersections of self, spirituality and academia.

An increasingly important and appealing concept for school renewal is that of school as community. While community holds multiple promises for schools, little is known about the practice of community in schools. This collection furthers our understanding about the nature of school community, its practice in public schools, and the role of leadership in this practice. Of particular importance is the question of how community can be created and sustained in K–12 public schools with highly diverse populations.