Chapter 6: Dared Men Leading: The Role of Community Centeredness on Educational Leadership Practices in Trinidad and Tobago

Using oral histories and indepth interview procedures for data collection, the researchers share the experiences, practices and perspectives of seven men who served as exemplary educational leaders in Trinidad and Tobago between 1980 and 1998. Two served as sprincipals in high needs elementary schools, three as principals in special education schools, and two were teacher educators. The narratives illustrate the evolutionary nature of educational leadership and the contributions of diverse community-based experiences to the development of responsive leadership in multicultural schools and communities. The participants, although not negating the contributions of educational and leadership theorists, contend that educational leadership must be context-driven and value the concerns and vision of local communities no less than policy makers, whose strategies are often text-bound.