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Keywords

controversy, crisis leadership, critical literacy, democratic education, educational leadership

Document Type

Article in Response to Controversy

Theme

Facilitating Discussions of Controversial Issues in Difficult Times

Abstract

In this article, I operationalize the concept of critical literacy for educational leaders facing conflict, crisis, and controversy in PK12 schools. Specifically, an emphasis is placed on political, moral, cultural, and spatial-temporal literacies. School leaders can develop these habits of criticality to shape unconventional and nuanced responses that are better suited for leading schools as democratic spaces in a politically polarized and socially divided society. Just as readers learn to decode and comprehend written texts to become literate, critically literate educational leaders are equipped to decode the cultural texts of contentious situations and comprehend the meaning of critical incidents through inferencing and drawing conclusions for decision making. In conclusion, practical recommendations based on the critical literacies are offered as possible means to counter the external tendencies to control speech and to instead facilitate open dialogues about conflict, crisis, and controversy in difficult and uncertain times.

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.

Language

English

Format

application/pdf

Type

Text

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