Chapter 5: From Scientific Management to Social Justice ... and Back Again?: Pedagogical Shifts in the Study and Practice of Educational Leadership

In the United States, school leadership underwent a profound transformation over the course of the twentieth century. Prior to World War II, the likes of Elwood Cubberly, George Strayer, and others in the Frederick Taylor-influenced first wave of scientific management, shaped a nascent and under-conceptualized knowledge base. After 1945, an explosion of scholarly activity in educational leadership and the emergence of university-based preparation programs helped buoy several significant pedagogical movements that had profound implications for educational leaders. In particular, two mid-century movements, one devoted to the creation and testing of administrative theory and another centered on the application and exploration of social science research methods, shaped the thirty years preceding 1980 and continue to exert significant influence on the field today. The 80s saw the study of educational leadership take a “postmodern turn,” as a cadre of influential scholars and practitioners reconceived leadership by conducting inquiry through conceptual lenses grounded in various forms of ethical critique, critical and feminist theories, pluralistic multiculturalism, and social justice. Yet, for over a century’s worth of practice, inquiry, and interest in educational leadership, practitioners and scholars seldom look backward for guidance as they consider the future.