ABSTRACT
Interestingly enough, these how-to books and their philosophies have made a big impact on many different people and professional fields, including the field of education. From President Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” initiative, to the University of Phoenix’s “for profit” model of education for consumers on the go; from the hiring of former military personnel to head school districts, to the wholesale adoption of the corporate vocabulary and the credo of accountability, efficiency, and quality control, educational leadership has been handed over to those who can “make things happen.” Lost in the discussion (as if there really ever was one) is the possibility that those who are committed to, as Paulo Freire frames it, “education as the practice of freedom” can contribute something of value. What seems consistently to win the day is celebrity leadership — leadership as self-promotion. Here, however, what will be discussed is educational leadership as critical practice; that is, leadership as the hard work of
acknowledging, understanding, and responding to the power dynamics that exist in all institutions, including academia.
