The Ethics of Educational Leadership

by Ronald W. Rebore

In "The Ethics of Educational Leadership," the author of one of the leading texts in human resource administration presents a practical resource dealing with significant ethical issues involved in building and central office administration. In it, Ronald Rebore presents the ethical ideas and notions of 20 philosophers and psychologists applied to the practice of educational leadership. The book helps tomorrow's educational leaders evaluate the philosophical ideas of others, and use what they discover to develop their own way of approaching their leadership responsibilities.

Genres: Leadership

360 pages, Paperback

First published June 25, 2000

Reviews

[Michael Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Required for a Leadership Ethics class

The Ethics of Educational Leadership by Ronald Rebore was one of two books required reading for my Leadership Principles and Ethics class. It's a short book with thirteen concise chapters. Part 1 is for ethical administration, Part 2 is about ethical practices, Part 3 covers equity, and Part 4 discusses human communication. The ethics discussed in this book are from a secular perspective not a religious one.

First I will discuss the information I found useful. Rebore defined ethics as "rational inquiry for the purpose of acquiring knowledge that can be used in decision-making" (p. 8). Since Rebore mentioned the trial of Socrates (p. 5), I re-read the Apology where Plato recorded Socrates stating that “the greatest good of man is daily to converse about virtue” because in his judgment “the life which is unexamined is not worth living” with unrighteousness running “faster than death”. This was a beneficial exercise and improved my understanding of classical philosophy. Rebore states there are two ethical approaches: deontological which is what is right or wrong and teleological which is the goal of an action. Similarly, he contends that there are two ethical norms: classical and modern. A classical worldview sees the world as static and experience informs understanding. The modern worldview sees the world as dynamic and evolving. The author is in the second camp and advocates for a "modern worldview is the most compelling when educational leaders face policy issues" (p. 23).


Next, the part that has issues regards communication and equity. The main pitfall of the modern worldview approach is that educators will defer to school policy, procedure, and laws instead of applying a moral foundation of right and wrong. policies, procedures, and laws change - morality does not. For instance, an educator's zeal in blindly applying equity could backfire by violating the deontological ethical approach. Rebore cautioned, that the message of equality and respect could be jeopardized if educators are so “committed to the local culture of the school community” that it “can eventually become an injustice for students” (p. 253). In addition, the author posits that communication is "always subjective" and "never objective because even facts or events are processed by people who have their own perceptions" and discussion "does not result in the same conclusion for everyone" (p. 247). His views are based upon Hermeneutics by Richard Palmer and Antiracism, Multiculturalism, and Interracial Community by Lawrence Blum.


There is a glaring factual error on p. 252. Rebore claims that "the United States is the most diverse nation on earth". This is wrong. A 2013 Harvard Instituter paper (published before Rebore's book) documented that Uganda and Liberia are the most ethnically diverse countries in the world. Furthermore, several African countries and Canada are more culturally diverse than the United States. Papua New Guinea has the distinction of being the most linguistically diverse country with 840 languages whereas the United States has 328 languages. This factual error undermines the credibility of Rebore's argument proposed in the human communications section in chapter 10.

[Jon Lowry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I appreciate Rebore’s work connecting classic philosophy, which doesn’t explicitly discuss education, to educational leadership. However, this is a painful read. Also, Rebore claims that what is legal is ethical. I have a problem with any assumption that logically condones that the state is always right or ethical. For example, this logic condones the enslavement of people.

My advice, read the summaries of each chapter first, then go back through the chapter to clear up anything that didn’t make sense.

[Ellen Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

The #1 ethics textbook for graduate programs in Educational Leadership

This is a deep, complex textbook on all the philosophies related to Educational Leadership. The case studies, exercises, and discussion questions are relevant and well organized.

[Erin King · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a topic I was really excited about. Didn't read the chapters in order as it was for a class, but it seemed to jump around a lot and assume a good bit of knowledge on a topic at one point and then become obnoxiously detailed and pedantic at other.

[Rachel Robins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information but I found the textbook to be very dense and hard to navigate.

[Jacki Wolfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good info for a textbook, but definitely not for a "fun" read.