Ethical Foundations for Educational Administration

372 Pages·2003·2.91 MB·English

by  Eugenie Samier

Ethical Foundations for Educational
Administration
Christopher Hodgkinson is one of the most important contributors to the field of
educational administration. This collection of essays opens up the philosophical
foundations of ethical administration and leadership by reviewing his writings
and exploring the ethical theories of major philosophers, as they apply to
educational organisations today.
Ethical Foundations for Educational Administration is published in honour of
the work of Christopher Hodgkinson. It is divided into two sections. The first
comprises biographical essays and a critical evaluation of Professor
Hodgkinson's work, focusing on his personal and intellectual contributions to a
moral theory of educational administration and leadership. The second section
looks at how moral philosophy can inform administrative practice. The work of
a broad range of philosophers is discussed, from the pre-twentieth-century
theories of Aquinas, Adam Smith and Kant to the pragmatists Peirce, James and
Dewey and to contemporary ethics of Heidegger, MacIntyre, Bourdieu,
Churchland and Thagard.
Christopher Hodgkinson's definition of administration as 'philosophy-in-
action' is now famous within the field. This collection illustrates the essential
truth of that maxim, showing that moral philosophy, approached in the spirit
promoted by Hodgkinson, has both practical and critical purpose when brought
to bear upon educational administration and leadership.
Eugenie A. Samier is Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and
Administration at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada.

Professor Christopher Hodgkinson
Ethical Foundations for Educational
Administration
Essays in honour of Christopher Hodgkinson
Edited by Eugenie A. Samier
with Kristina Mihailova
First published 2003
by RoutledgeFalmer
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by RoutledgeFalmer
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
RoutledgeFalmer is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group © 2003 Eugenie
A. Samier, selection and editorial matter; individual chapters, the contributors
Typeset in Palatino and Gill by BC Typesetting, Bristol All rights reserved. No
part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by
any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of
Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested ISBN 0-415-29871-7
Contents
Notes on contributors
Preface
Acknowledgements
PART I
The life and work of Christopher Hodgkinson
1Through the looking-glass with Christopher Hodgkinson: Letters and lessons
on life and leadership from Arcadia West
Peter Ribbins
2Christopher Hodgkinson: A student's perspective
Donald Lang
3The Gentleman with the Lamp
Derek J. Allison
PART II
Ethical foundations for educational administrators
4Editor's introduction
Eugenie A. Samier
5Aquinas's notion of good in the context of educational leadership
Donald Lang
6Morals and markets: Adam Smith's moral philosophy as a foundation for
administrative ethics
Richard Bates
7A Kantian critique for administrative ethics: An alternative to the 'morally
mute' manager?
Eugenie A. Samier
8The new pragmatism and social science and educational research
Spencer J. Maxcy
9Heidegger's 'question concerning technology': Implications for responsible
school leadership in an era of restructuring
Carol Harris
10Vice and virtue: The value of values in administration
William Foster
11Thinking through moral values: Putting Bourdieu to work within the field of
education management
Helen M. Gunter
12Naturalising ethical judgement: A neuro-computational view
Colin W. Evers
13Greatness and service: Antinomies of leadership?
Peter Gronn
Bibliography of Christopher Hodgkinson's writings
Name index
Subject index
Notes on contributors
Derek J. Allison is Associate Professor at the University of Western Ontario. He
is editor of Reform and Relevance in Schooling (OISE Press 1991). He has
contributed articles on principalship to Educational Administration
Quarterly and chapters on educational administration theory to the
International Handbook of Educational Leadership and Administration
(Kluwer Academic Publishers 1996), on CEOs and Boards of Education in
Effective School District Leadership (SUNY Press 1995), and on secondary
school administration in Contemporary Educational Issues (Copp Clark
Pitman 1993).
Richard J. Bates is Professor of Education in the Faculty of Education at
Deakin University, Australia. He has been Dean of the faculty and is the first
Professor of Education in Australia to have been awarded a personal chair
(1985). He has also taught at the London Institute of Education (UK) and
Massey University (New Zealand). His international reputation rests
primarily on his contributions to the debate over the New Sociology of
Education and on his work in developing an alternative tradition of theory
and research in educational administration. He has published some sixty
journal articles and books. Some of his most recent theoretical titles are The
Bird that Sets Itself on Fire: Thom Greenfield and the Renewal of
Educational Administration (OISE Press 1995), 'Critical theory and
education administration' (in C. W. Evers and J. D. Chapman, Educational
Administration: An Australian Perspective, Allen and Unwin 1995), 'On
knowing: Cultural and critical approaches to educational administration'
(Educational Management and Administration, 1993), 'Conflict,
contradiction and crisis' (in M. Muetzelfeldt (ed.) Society, State and Politics,
Pluto Press 1992), and 'Leadership and the rationalisation of society' (in W. J.
Smyth (ed.) Critical Perspectives on Educational Leadership, Falmer Press
1989).
Colin W. Evers is a Professor of Education at the University of Hong Kong.
Previously, he was an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at
Monash University. His teaching and research interests are in educational
administration, philosophy of education, and research methodology. Ongoing
research projects include the development of a systematic theory of
educational administration, as well as of naturalistic conceptions of
educational theory. In addition to some seventy papers, he is the author (with
Gabriel Lakomski) of three books on educational administration: Knowing
Educational Administration (1991), Exploring Educational Administration
(1996), and Doing Educational Administration (2000), all published by
Pergamon/Elsevier. The ideas in these books have given rise to discussions
in three Special Issues of journals, notably Educational Management and
Administration (1993), Educational Administration Quarterly (1996), and
the Journal of Educational Administration (2001). He has also edited (with J.
D. Chapman) Educational Administration: An Australian Perspective (Allen
and Unwin 1995), and (with K. C. Wong) Leadership for Quality Schooling
(Routledge/Falmer 2001). As well as serving on a number of editorial
boards, he is currently the editor (with K. C. Wong) of the journal
International Studies in Educational Administration.
William Foster is Professor of Education in the Educational Leadership and
Policy Studies Department at Indiana University, Bloomington. He has
extensively taught and researched in the areas of school leadership, critical
theoretical perspectives on administration, organisation theory, and moral
theory in leadership, and has been a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of
Education, University of London. He has been on the editorial boards of the
Educational Administration Quarterly and the Journal of School Leadership.
He has authored or co-authored over seventeen chapters in books, twelve
articles, and two monographs, including Paradigms and Promises: New
Approaches to Educational Administration (Prometheus Books 1986).
Peter Gronn is Associate Professor of Education and Associate Dean
(Teaching) in the Faculty of Education at Monash University. His research
interests cover all aspects of leadership, with particular emphasis on learning
leadership, the development of leaders, leadership models and types, and the
connection between organisational culture, leadership and organisational
learning. Recent publications include The Making of Educational Leaders
(Cassell 1999), and a number of articles on leadership theory in the Journal