Question

Chapter 8 areas of interest in this chapter. Rebore, R. W. (2014). The ethics of educational leadership

The issue of Gender and education leadership. [Chapter 8 this is the section or chapter I am interesting in]

Elaborate on an area within chapter

Answer 1

No issue has captured the interest and imagination of the American

public more than the subject of ethics, particularly in relation to

leadership in the public sector” (Rebore, 2000, p.v). One of the most

universal questions in educational leadership is “What is the

relationship of ethics as it relates to educational leadership?” The

answer can be very complex. Many authors who have written on the

subject of ethics in educational leadership have tried to answer this

question. All major branches of ethics must be considered when

attempting to answer this question. These branches include meta-

ethics, normative ethics, applied ethics, moral psychology, and

descriptive ethics and how each relates to the moral dimension of

leadership. Research suggests that ethical leadership remains largely

unexplored offering researchers opportunities for new discoveries

and leaders opportunities to improve their effectiveness. In treating the subject of ethics as it relates to

educational leadership, the material and argumentation Rebore uses in The Ethics of Educational

Leadership (2000) in this text are organized in such a way that they support Standard Five of the

Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) Standards for School Leaders and help

answer this very question. Standard Five of the ISLLC states that a school administrator is an

educational leader who promotes the success of all students by acting with integrity, fairness, and in an

ethical manner (ethical leadership).

The Ethics of Educational Leadership provides a basis for the developmentation of many ethical

principles while also focusing on the work of important philosophers, their methodology, and their

method of analysis. Within the text, two philosophers from the classical period are presented as well as

six from the modern period (the 17

th and early 20

th centuries) and fifteen from the contemporary

period. According to the author, these philosophers were chosen because of their ideas and how they

are relevant to the American ethos as well as to the practice of educational leadership.The text focuses on all aspects of education leadership including ethics in administration, fundamental

principles endemic to being an ethical person who is also an educational leader, the ethical practice of

educational leadership, practice of central-office and school-building administration, equity and

educational leadership, social justice in educational leadership, and how public discourse can

contribute to the development of educational administration policies.

Part 1 of this text concentrates on Standard Five of Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium

(ISLLC) Standards for School Leaders These

standards are the product of the Council of Chief State School Officers Rebore describes that the standards were drafted by professionals from twenty-four state education

agencies and representatives from professional associations It should also be noted that the standards

are compatible with the new National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE)

curriculum guidelines for school administration. (http://www.ncate.org/) This is the model being used by

many states to assess candidates seeking licensure as school administrators. Rebore addresses

various aspects of all the dimensions set forth by the ISLLC except for the ‘Knowledge’ section in which

he does not address the philosophy and history of education sections. He notes this in his book so that

the reader knows it was deliberately excluded from the text.

Also in Chapter 1, the author addresses the classical beginnings of ethical consideration that are found

in Plato’s account of Socrates’ trial. Socrates was accused of disturbing the social order because he

went about Athens asking citizens their opinions concerning the ultimate meaning of human existence.

At his trial he accepted the death penalty (by drinking hemlock) rather than give up his search for truth.

Socrates features prominently in many texts on ethics in educational leadership. Strike (2007) states

that “Socrates lived in a society that, like ours, was increasingly multicultural, increasingly aware that

human beings answer life’s persistent questions in quite different ways, and increasingly insecure

about its own commitments” (p. 29). Beckner (2004) states that “Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle must be

given credit for long ago developing most of what is called the ethics of aspiration and which we have

discussed under the label” (p. 144). The questions that Socrates asked were not merely academic

questions, but rather were among the fundamental questions of human life: What is justice? What is

love? What is virtue? What is piety? What is good? What is knowledge? Can virtue be taught? and

How shall we live? All questions directly related to the ethics and morality of human beings.

Chapter one also considers meta-ethics and normative ethics–both how they differ and how they are

connected. Whereas normative ethics is the study of human conduct, meta-ethics is the study of the

conditions that affect normative ethics: “Such controversies as the relationship between free will and

determinism, between authority and intuition, between deductive and inductive reasoning, and between

skepticism and cognitivism are subject matter of meta-ethics” (p. 6-7). Similarly defined, meta-ethics

can be seen in other educational leadership texts. Weldon Beckner (2004) describes meta-values

similarly to the way Rebore describes meta-ethics. Beckner states that “meta-values are those

concepts of the desirable so vested and entrenched that it seems to be beyond dispute or contention.

The principal organizational meta-values are maintenance, growth, effectiveness, and efficiency. They

are by definition “good”. The question is always whether they are “right”” (p. 99). It shows that the

systems of ethics are all interconnected. Since the ultimate goal of ethics is to somehow establish

standards of conduct, deep consideration should be implemented since conduct implies that humans

can choose one course of action or an alternative. Rebore states “There are three important reasons

for educational leaders to incorporate ethical analysis as an ongoing way of thinking: ethics exploresimportant issues that act as a framework for decision making based on core values; ethics utilizes a

disciplined way of thinking; and ethics provides a unique kind of response to leadership issues” (p. 15).

Chapter 2 is dedicated to developing a personal approach to ethics. The chapter is divided into two

main sections. The first section, The Dynamics of Ethics, focuses on both concepts and ideas that

would be helpful to any educational leader or those people planning a career in educational leadership.

This section is intended to aid in helping educational leaders everywhere in developing their own

personal ethical system. The second section, The Search for Meaning in Life, attempts to establish a

general framework within educational leaders or those preparing to become educational leaders where

they can reflect on in their own search for meaning given the ideas and concepts presented in section

one of this chapter. The focus of this chapter is to help educational leaders in developing their own

ethical approach to being an educational leader. Section one sets forth a foundational approach to

ethical norms, the evolution of ethical norms, social ethics, and a focus on various methods for making

ethical decisions. Section two articulates a framework within which educational leaders and those

becoming educational leaders can reflect on the meaning of their professional lives. The discussion

throughout this section focuses on three topics: the search of meaning, human suffering, and liberation

from suffering. Appropriately named, this section focuses on meaning of life, the struggle to find

meaning, and how meaning is the primary motivator in life for everyone and also how that meaning is

unique to each person. “The search to find meaning is fundamentally related to each person’s

profession or occupation” (p. 34). The text suggests that educational leaders, along with teachers, can

find meaning through benefactors of the accomplishments produced by students in school and

throughout their lives. I believe the author is trying to convey that educational leaders and teachers

should know that their professional occupation and life, along with the human potentiality of their

students, is the meaning they so often seek in order to give their work validity. In regards to happiness

and finding the meaning of life Dalai Lama (1999) states, “We are sustained in this great quest for

happiness, it seems to me, by hope. We know, even if we do not admit it, that there can be no

guarantee of a better, happier life than the one we are leading today” (p. 4). This chapter offers school

leaders that hope by which it is the human potentiality of their students that they find meaning and give

their work validity.

The last chapter of Part 1, Chapter 3, focuses on the ethics of power and duty in educational

leadership. The author appropriately names this chapter, as its focus is strictly on power and duty in

educational leadership. This chapter considers the practice of educational administration as it relates

to two variables, both of which have a profound effect on the quality of leadership. The first is the use of

power within schools and school districts. The second is duty. In section one of the chapter, the focus is

on the power that exists in any professional relationships where there is a supervisor-employee

dimension. Since school leaders and administrators often have the authority to employ, encourage,

foster, censure, discipline, and terminate the employment of others, leaders and administrators are

people that hold a position of power. The author states, “the most effective way to fulfill this

responsibility is to promote the growth and development of employees, which will enable them to

improve their performance and thus will enrich the quality of the service they provide” (p. 55). Using the

ten characteristics of organizations that can serve as criteria on how to assess the quality of the cultural

climate within schools and school districts, the chapter clearly identifies does a great job of identifying

factors that can help both current and future school leaders assess the quality of the cultural climate

within their schools. Since exercising power and fostering a positive school culture both fall under the

domain of educational leadership, this part of the chapter is particularly important to both current andfuture school leaders on dealing with the purpose of, and method used, in exercising that power. Many

other notable authors in educational leadership agree with the ideas represented in this text. Beckner

(2004) states “The gaining and holding of power are argued to be the ultimate goals of social and

political life, so as to promote order and prosperity. One may violate an agreement or break a promise

if it is in one’s best interests to do so, because humanity is at least somewhat corrupt and others will do

the same” (p. 14-15). Strike (2007) states that “If you accept the responsibility to create a school

community in which people live well together while students learn how to live well, you must find ways to

honor these mandates and benchmarks while serving a praiseworthy conception of education and

creating a professional, democratic, and deliberative culture in your school” (p. 148).

In Ethics for the New Millennium, the Dalai Lama (1999) writes, with regard to the use of discipline in

decision-making, that “conducting ourselves ethically consists in more than merely obeying laws and

concepts” (p. 82). I believe that all four authors are conveying that fostering a positive school culture is

the mirror image of a school leader that practices good moral ethics when using their power. The text in

part 1 of chapter 3 focuses on six types of power. These are Inspirational, Charismatic, Expert,

Persuasive, Knowledge, and Coercive. The author does an excellent job of defining each type of power

while also acknowledging the importance of each, its role, and its significance to becoming an effective

school leader. The second variable presented in this chapter is duty and how duty influences leadership

at the individual rather than the organizational level. This section within chapter 3 focuses on the

balance between the organizational and the personal dimensions of educational leadership. The author

maintains that both perspectives are necessary. The chapter focuses on the effective educational

leader and how they will come to recognize that such perspectives are complementary and not mutually

exclusive. The section on duty begins with a treatment of the charisma of leadership. The section on

duty draws on work by the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung,. His insight is used to help explicate

this treatment of charisma. The chapter iterates that leadership is exercised through the performance of

duties. The author states that “understanding the nuances of duty is not always easy, however, and

there are many different opinions as to how duty is operationalized” (p. 56). This part of the text focuses

on the importance of understanding and knowing one’s duty in relation to not only being a school

leader, but also its significance in relation to self, family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, acquaintances,

community, state, or nation. In this chapter Rebore creates what amounts to a manual for school

practioners to become better school leaders, grow and develop in their profession, as well as become

better people.

Part 2 focuses on the ethical practice of educational leadership. Chapter 4 examines the ethics of

district-level leadership under the following three aspects: contractarianism, utilitarianism, and

professionalism. In the contractarianism section of the chapter the text focuses on creating both vision

and goals for a school district through such things as community cultural assessment, school-reform

expectations, the debureaucratization of school districts, empowerment, and the privatization

movements. In the section on utilitarianism the text focuses on ethics in consideration of assessment

and reporting of student achievement, curriculum development, human-resource leadership, fiscal

accountability, and stress in the superintendency. The last section on professionalism in school-district

leadership reviews and analyzes the ethical statements of the American Association of School

Administrators, the Association of School Business Officials International, the Association for

Supervision and Curriculum Development, and the National School Boards Association, all important

information for current or future school leaders. The author uses three philosophers to support the three

key ideas presented in this chapter. The three philosophers Rebore uses are Jean-Jacques Rousseaumost notable for his political philosophy which influenced the French Revolution, Jean-Francois

Lyotard, well-known for his articulation of postmodernism, and John Stuart Mill, the English philosopher,

political theorist, and political economist. [1] Weldon Beckner (2004) states that Mill, along with others,

“developed the notion that mankind is governed by two things, pleasure and pain” (p. 16) in regards to

utility. Although there is no selected reading for Lyotard, Rebore uses Lyotard’s commentary on

Rosseau’s concept of the social contract theory through a report given in 1979 to the education

community in Quebec, Canada. The text shines light on Lyotard’s view that the current milieu is

producing discontinuity, plurality, and logically unjustified conclusions. What this means is that Lyotard

feels that society has lessened the requirement on decision making by those in authority. Furthermore

he contends that the extensive use of technology in decision-making and the lack of communication

among people is a result of modern society.

Other philosophers and their approaches are also noted in this chapter including the work of Bertrand

Russell, Alfred North Whitehead, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and their contributions to the analytical

movement. It briefly focuses on the movement and how it split into two schools: the formalists,

represented by Russell, and the linguists, represented by Ludwig Wittgenstein. Where the formalist

utilized the scientific method to problems of philosophy, the linguistic branch believed that these

problems could be solved through careful examination of language. John Locke is also mentioned.

Locke believed that society was established by a social contract and accepted this as historical fact. In

Locke’s works “the notion that individual rights have priority over the common good is prevalent” (p.

128). John Locke contended that people are entitled to equal respect. Kenneth Strike (2007) describes

Locke’s work as “the most formative influence on the United States view of government” (p. 46). Further

iterating Locke’s ideals that no one is born a natural slave, serf, or servant, Weldon Beckner (2004)

notes in his book “John Locke also gave prime attention to both our senses and to reason, proposing

that we are born with a “blank slate” fro a mind” (p. 13). All these approaches were properly noted

within the chapter 4. The excerpt helps the reader understand the importance of the analytical

movement and the author ties this in to the philosophical approaches and other issues in this chapter.

This implies that the conctracterian approach is embedded in the writings of many philosophers

throughout history, each with a slightly different outlook on the notion of social contract, but all equally

important to current and future school leaders.

Chapter 5 is entitled “Ethical Considerations in School-Building Leadership.” The author summarizes

his purpose for this chapter thus: to “center on creating a positive school culture and participative

leadership” (p. 143). The chapter focuses on Thomas Hobbes, the English philosopher most noted for

his book Leviathan and his perspectives on social contract theory. Rebore focuses on Hobbes’s laws

and defines each for the reader. Other philosophers mentioned in the chapter are Jeremy Bentham and

John Dewey: Bentham for his contribution to utilitarianism as it relates to the ethical practice of

educational leadership and Dewey for his approach to dealing with ethical issues through pragmatism.

Lastly the chapter focuses on empowerment, the empowerment of students, the empowerment of

teachers, and how each is affected by school culture. Rebore notes “true student empowerment will be

ineffective unless empowerment opportunities are extended to students with disabilities and to

students who do not fit the mainstream model” (p. 166). What the chapter is trying to convey is that

there are many different approaches to ethical issues and many ways the idea of teacher and student

empowerment can be implemented by school leaders. School culture is again addressed and there

are many helpful hints as to effective ways to help students recognize that they are valued members of

the school community. Concurrent with school culture is the focus on participation as the necessity fordeveloping problem-solving and leadership skills in students. This chapter clearly describes important

elements that are needed in order for a school leader to create a school culture that supports student

empowerment.

Chapter 6 focuses on equity and educational leadership, particularly as it relates to gender. The

chapter does contend that these gender equity issues are improving, albeit slowly. But the main focus

of the chapter is how the oppression of women has had economic, legal, political, psychological, and

social ramifications for both men and women. The chapter’s main focus is on the writings of four

women who have written extensively about gender issues. These women are Edith Stein, Simone de

Beauvoir, Susan Bordo, and Sandra Harding. Each of these women has had a significant influence on

the gender-equity movement in a positive way. In this chapter the selected readings (6.1, 6.2, 6.3, and

6.4) again prove to be strong contributions to this book by the author. The general theme of this chapter

is that the contributions these four individuals have made to the pursuit of gender equity have and will

lead to more equality in employment and break down the walls of inequity as it relates to educational

leadership. Rebore iterates that the “leaders of the feminist movement have recognized that the

liberation of women in all areas of life has always hinged on their economic security” (p. 213).

In this chapter many laws dealing directly with such equity issues are considered. In 1991, Congress

passed the Civil Rights Act and the federal agency charged with enforcing these laws, the Equal

Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), issued a directive in 1980 declaring that sexual

harassment is a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Both actions from Congress and the

EEOC have had a tremendous effect on the manner in which some women are treated within the

workplace. Rebore also lists several other sources of discrimination in our contemporary society

including age, disability, race, and ethnicity. He contends that these are “more from greed and the

quest for political influence than from ontological basis” (p. 185). Although the chapters main purpose

may be to focus on the fact that women are still underrepresented in positions of educational

leadership, particularly in the superintendency. Rebore also does an excellent job of reporting the

contributions these four women have contributed to the study of ethics. By including the excerpts of

these women’s work in the selected readings (6.1-6.4), Rebore clearly made a commitment to bring

these problems to surface since they still effect men and women in today’s society.

In the last chapter of Part 2, appropriately titled Pluralism, Justice, Discourse Ethics, and Educational

Leadership, the focus is on the influx of immigrants into the United States and the effect it is having on

both ethnic composition and the religious orientation of the United States. The chapter reminds us that

our nation is made up of many different religions including Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, and

Confucian. Rebore states, “The United States is the most religiously diverse country on earth” (p. 219).

In this chapter the text iterates to the reader the complications involving human rights issues with regard

to religious and ethnic pluralism of the population. The ethnicity in the United States naturally sets forth

a concern for social justice. These religious and ethnic pluralisms further complicate the human right

issues revolving around discrimination based on age, disability, gender, illness, and lifestyle. This

chapter brings to the surface the profession of educational leadership and how the greatest current

issue is how principles, superintendents, school leaders, and other administrators will be able to

practice effective leadership among such a tremendous diversity range. More now than ever, school

leaders will be responsible for hiring staff of diverse religious backgrounds and ethnic groups.

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