ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a critical understanding of how leaders work in socially just ways to support schools and students to overcome disadvantage. It makes a significant contribution to the field of educational leadership through an engagement with a variety of theoretical resources and ideas illustrated through empirical research in schools. The book offers something new and different about the way leadership is being practised and undertaken in schools through a theoretically informed approach to educational leadership. It draws upon Michel Foucault's work to consider the moral and ethical complexity of work undertaken in the name of social justice and equity in disadvantaged, diverse contexts. Foucault's work on ethics and especially his ideas associated with advocacy, truth-telling and counter-conduct provide fresh insights into how schools might work more productively towards greater equity for all within the demands of the current climate.