Neil Gilbride
University of Gloucestershire
Neil Gilbride is a Lecturer in Education at the University of Gloucestershire. His main research interests focus on the applications of psychology to leadership, organisations and coaching/mentoring.
Chris James
University of Bath
Chris James is the Professor of Educational Leadership and Management in the Department of Education at the University of Bath. His main research interests are in the leadership and management in schools and colleges, the affective aspects of educational organisations, collaborative working in educational settings and school governing and governance.
Sustainability is a crucial aspect of the legitimacy of schools as institutions. The leadership actions of the school headteacher/principal (SH/P), underpinned by her/his sense-making capability, play a key role in ensuring... [ view full abstract ]
Sustainability is a crucial aspect of the legitimacy of schools as institutions. The leadership actions of the school headteacher/principal (SH/P), underpinned by her/his sense-making capability, play a key role in ensuring this sustainability. Sense-making capability is a function the SH/P’s stage of adult ego development (AED). The sophisticated modes of sense-making associated with the later stages of AED are important in underpinning the SH/P’s leadership actions that enable schools to be sustainable institutions.
In the paper, we first explore Bunnell, Fertig and James’ (2017) institutionalization model to establish sustainability as a key aspect of institutional legitimacy. We then describe Loevinger’s AED framework (Hy and Loevinger 1998), which depicts individuals’ sense-making capabilities at different developmental stages. The eight developmental stages (James, James and Potter 2017), move from “simple to complex, from static to dynamic, and from egocentric to socio-centric, to world-centric” (Cook-Greuter 2004, 277). The growth in interpersonal skills, cognitive complexity and impulse control facilitates these changes in world-view (Loevinger 1976).
We will next report the findings of research into the way SH/Ps at different stages of AED respond to critical incidents and the way others experience them. We will draw on Fullan’s (2004) perspective on sustainable leadership. Nineteen SH/Ps were studied as single cases. Their AED stages were assessed using the Washington University Sentence Completion Test. The sample covered the AED stages most common in adults. The SHPs were interviewed about their response to actual and hypothetical critical incidents. The chair of the school governing body and the Deputy SH/P of each SH/P were also interviewed. The interviews were transcribed and analysed for robust emergent themes without prior knowledge of the SH/P’s AED stage.
The findings demonstrate a link between SH/P’s AED stage, their day-to-day practice and the way it underpins sustainability. Moving through the hierarchical AED model, SH/Ps adopt increasingly sophisticated responses to complexity in their working environment. The key aspects include the ability to:
- perceive, embrace and engage with the multiple layers of complexity across environments (deep learning, lateral capacity building, changing context to all levels);
- view others in an inter-independent frame (vertical, co-dependent relationships)
- consider the long-term (dual commitment to short and long-term results).
Taken together with the mutual/inter-independent, complex and systems-focused approach of the school leaders in the later stages on AED (James, James and Potter 2016, Carr, James and Gilbride 2017), it is clear that a sophisticated sense-making capacity is essential for sustainable school leadership.
