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28 - Defining Moral Responsibility for School Leaders in Times of Democratic Crisis

from Part III - Emerging Ethical Pathways and Frameworks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2024

By
Kathleen Knight Abowitz
Edited by
Sheron Fraser-Burgess ,
Jessica Heybach  and
Dini Metro-Roland
Sheron Fraser-Burgess
Affiliation:
Ball State University, Indiana
Jessica Heybach
Affiliation:
Florida International University
Dini Metro-Roland
Affiliation:
Western Michigan University
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Summary

This chapter provides a rationale for, and outlines of, a democratic ethical framework for defining the moral responsibilities of school leaders working within political conditions of growing inequality, authoritarian state governments, and populist parental-rights movements. Facing these conditions, many leaders are tempted toward a position of liberal neutrality, a (false) removal of politics designed to minimize anger or retribution by parents and legislatures. A democratic, communal ethic orients the responsibilities of the school leader around democratic values, and the educational interests of the students. Moral responsibility requires leaders to embrace liberalism’s pluralism but also its strong egalitarianism, by educating students in both the hopeful and the tragic forms of knowledge and shared social existence that constitute the national democratic project.

Keywords

educational leadershipdemocracymoral responsibilitypragmatismethics
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Ethics and Education , pp. 597 - 618
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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