Decolonizing Educational Leadership: Exploring Alternative Approaches to Leading Schools

by Ann E. Lopez

This book offers new ways of engagement for leaders seeking to connect theory to practice in decolonizing education. In the current climate where xenophobia, anti-immigrant sentiments, and other forms of exclusion make up much of the discourse, educational leaders need to seek ways to foreground other forms of knowledge and transfer them into their daily leadership practices. Lopez contributes to other critical leadership approaches while foregrounding a decolonizing approach that unsettles the coloniality manifested in education and school practices. Chapters provide school leaders with examples of ways they can challenge coloniality, white supremacy, and other forms of oppression in schooling that negatively impact some students and their educational outcomes.

109 pages, Hardcover

Published January 5, 2021

Reviews

[Jabiz Raisdana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit on the academic and intellectual side, this text is still accessible for the reader not immersed in research based text. As someone who is leading DEIJ work at my school, the overall premise that schools (particularly international school) are rooted in colonial frameworks and philosophies is a crucial way to approach how we change schools.

There are definitely useful chapters (chapter 4 in particular) to help educators and leaders begin to unpack their understanding of how to decolonize curriculum and ultimately name the bedrocks of white supremacist thinking in schools.

I wish I had read this book with other people to help me articulate and better understand my thinking. There is a lot in here to unpack and upon initial reading, I feel I need to dip back in and out on a second reading.