Portraits of UK Black and South Asian headteachers five years on: Leadership retention in the age of academization

2021 ◽  
pp. 174114322110098
Author(s):  
Lauri Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Career Progression ◽  
Professional Support ◽  
Work Lives ◽  
Career Trajectories ◽  
History Approach ◽  
Minority Ethnic ◽  
Over Time

This article analyzes the career trajectories of eight Black and South Asian headteachers who were part of a larger study of three generations of Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) headteachers (28) interviewed in 2015 (Johnson, 2017). Using a longitudinal life history approach and portraiture, it seeks to answer the question, “How do Black and South Asian headteachers narrate their career progression and leadership values over time?” In particular, I explore the growth of academization and the formation of Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) on the work lives of Black and South Asian headteachers and the role of autonomy, value alignment, and professional support on their leadership retention.

The effect of childhood unpredictability on co-parenting relationships during the transition to parenthood: A life history approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (8-9) ◽  
pp. 2438-2458
Author(s):  
Ohad Szepsenwol
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Transition To Parenthood ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Parental Behaviors ◽  
Childhood Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Environmental Unpredictability ◽  
History Approach

Recent extensions to life history theory posit that exposure to environmental unpredictability during childhood should forecast negative parental behaviors in adulthood. In the current research, this logic was extended to co-parental behaviors, which refer to how parents coordinate, share responsibility, and support each other’s parental efforts. The effects of early-life unpredictability on individual and dyadic co-parental functioning were examined in a sample of 109 families (two parents and their firstborn child) who were followed longitudinally from before the child’s birth until the age of two. Greater early-life unpredictability (family changes, residential changes, and parents’ occupational changes by age 8) experienced by mothers, but not fathers, predicted more negative co-parental behaviors in triadic observations 6 months post birth, and lower couple-reported co-parenting quality assessed 3, 9, 18, and 24 months post birth. These effects were not explained by parents’ childhood socioeconomic status or current relationship quality. These findings highlight the role of mothers in shaping co-parenting relationships and how these relationships might be influenced by mothers’ early-life experiences.

The lives and identities of UK Black and South Asian head teachers

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 842-862 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauri Johnson
Keyword(s):  
South Asian ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Role Model ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
Head Teachers ◽  
Policy Context ◽  
History Approach ◽  
Changing Attitudes ◽  
Minority Ethnic

This article reports on the preliminary findings from a national UK study of the life histories of 28 Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) educators who led schools across a 47-year period (1968–2015). BAME head teachers were grouped by generations (i.e. pioneer, experienced, and novice) and questioned about the critical life experiences that influenced their path to leadership, the intersection of their professional and social identities, and their metaphors for leadership. Participants claimed leadership metaphors which included the head teacher as parent, ambassador, moral steward, role model, and community advocate. Pioneer Black and South Asian headteachers narrated more collectivist identities as community leaders and race equality activists, while current BAME headteachers appear more individually focused on raising attainment for students who have been marginalized. A life history approach across generations emphasizes the influence of changing attitudes toward race and the shifting policy context on professional identities.

scholarly journals Four Religious Education Teachers: Four Retrospective Career Trajectories

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 474
Author(s):  
Juha Luodeslampi ◽  
Arniika Kuusisto ◽  
Arto Kallioniemi
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Religious Education ◽  
Career Paths ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
School Subject ◽  
Written Narratives ◽  
Lutheran Church ◽  
Career Trajectories ◽  
History Approach

This article examines the career paths of Finnish Religious Education (RE) teachers who were born in the 1930s, through a retrospective, self-autobiographical life history approach. The material reported here is a part of wider data of mainly written narratives (N = 62) from RE teachers who recount their career trajectories. In these career-focused life histories, the teachers outline their own professionalism as embedded in changing sociohistorical contexts, where to a great extent they tell about the active development of the school and the teaching of their particular subject to answer to the changing needs and challenges. Some teachers have, along with their teaching, also been actively involved in different communities or associations. Many of the Religious Education teachers here reflect on their career paths in relation to their profession as a teacher and often also with double qualifications as pastor trained theologians. At times, this constructs a possibility for tension between the roles of a teacher and that of a pastor, and in the perceptions of RE as a school subject and as something “preached” in the pulpit—some see their professionalism above all in relation to their religious life. This also includes a notable gender divide in the data, as at the time when these teachers gained their professional qualifications, it was only possible for men to be ordained in the Finnish Lutheran Church. Succeeding this, the male teachers in these data commonly have pastorhood as their first profession. For the purpose of this article, the career accounts of four teachers have been selected for further analysis, as they were perceived as telling examples of the wider material in terms of more or less typical career paths.

scholarly journals School leadership and Black and minority ethnic career prospects in England: The choice between being a group prototype or deviant head teacher

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Pierre Elonga Mboyo
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Career Progression ◽  
The Body ◽  
Head Teachers ◽  
Electronic Survey ◽  
Senior Leader ◽  
Minority Ethnic

The body of research on the career prospects of Black and minority ethnic (BME) teachers cites racism as one of the reasons for BME underrepresentation in positions of school leadership in England. Understanding the nature of such discriminatory practices is needed in order to find solutions. It has also been reported that pioneer BME leaders are perceived as role models. Such a claim is mainly based on their appointment rather than their action or inaction in facilitating the career progression of other members of BME staff. To address these gaps, this study draws on electronic survey data of eight respondents out of ten, two of whom provided rich written and interview narratives. The data were analysed under the group-based identity formation framework to suggest that the underrepresentation of BME staff due to racism can be explained by head teachers’ prototypicality of group/team values and their failure to deviate from these. That a BME senior leader acted in the same way highlights the following: the dominance of the role of head as a group prototype; the need to challenge deep-seated discrimination; and the view that increased representation needs to be matched with modified school-wide attitude.

Searching for ‘success’: generation, gender and onward migration in the Iranian diaspora

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Young Age ◽  
Onward Migration ◽  
Social Fields ◽  
Transnational Social Fields ◽  
High Level ◽  
Iranian Diaspora

This article uses the concepts of ‘transnational social fields’ and ‘habitus’ to explore the multifaceted role families play in shaping the aspirations of onward migrating youth. The article draws on biographical life history interviews conducted with the children of Iranian migrants who were raised in Sweden but moved to London, UK as adults. The findings of the study suggest that from a young age, all the participants were pressured by their parents to perform well academically, and to achieve high level careers. These goals were easier to achieve in London than in Sweden for several reasons. Interestingly, however, participants’ understandings of what constituted success and their motivations for onward migration were nuanced and varied considerably by gender. The study contributes to an understanding of the role of multi-sited transnational social fields in shaping the aspirations of migrant youths, as well as the strategies taken up by these migrants to achieve their goals.

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