Ethical Leadership

In Ethical Leadership, Robert Starratt—one of the leading thinkers on the topic of ethics and education—shows educational leaders how to move beyond mere technical efficiency in the delivery and performance of learning. He challenges educators to become ethical leaders who understand the learning process as a profoundly moral activity that engages the full humanity of the school community. Starratt explains that educational leadership requires a moral commitment to high quality learning for all students—a commitment based on three essential virtues: proactive responsibility; personal and professional authenticity; and an affirming, critical, and enabling presence to the workers and the work involved in teaching and learning. He clarifies how essential these virtues are for leadership in the pressure-cooker of high-stakes schooling. He provides vivid illustration by beginning and ending the book with a "morality play," the narrative of a principal who struggles to do the right thing for his students and teachers, as they are pressured—and often punished—by state mandated tests. Starratt concludes by offering practical suggestions for working leaders as well as preservice and inservice courses in educational leadership.

This book is a volume in the Jossey-Bass Leadership Library in Education—a series designed to meet the demand for new ideas and insights about leadership in schools.

Tables and Figures xi

The Author xiii

Introduction 1

1. Becoming Moral: The Test of Leadership 13

2. Responsibility 43

3. Authenticity 65

4. Presence 85

5. Giving Birth to Virtue 113

6. Implications for Leaders of Schools 133

Afterword 143

References 147

Index 155

THE AUTHOR

ROBERT J. STARRATT is professor of education at Boston College. Starratt taught at Fordham University after serving as principal and teacher at schools in Denver, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. The author of numerous books and articles, Starratt's work has focused on moral and ethical issues in education.

ETHICAL LEADERSHIP

In Ethical Leadership, Robert Starratt—one of the leading thinkers on the topic of ethics and education—shows educational leaders how to move beyond mere technical efficiency in the delivery and performance of learning.

Starratt explains that educational leadership requires a moral commitment to high quality learning for all students—a commitment based on three essential virtues: proactive responsibility; personal and professional authenticity; and an affirming, critical, and enabling presence to the workers and the work involved in teaching and learning. He clarifies how essential these virtues are for leadership in the pressure-cooker of high-stakes schooling. He provides a vivid illustration in the story of a principal who struggles to do the right thing for his students and teachers, as they are pressured—and often punished—by state mandated tests. Starratt concludes by offering practical suggestions for aspiring and working leaders.

Ethical Leadership is part of the Jossey-Bass Leadership Library in Education.

"Starratt's deeply felt book helps leaders explore their own humanity and humane responsibilities to others while working in contemporary school settings."
—ERIC BREDO, professor and coordinator, Social Foundations Program, Department of Leadership, Foundations and Policy, University of Virginia

"This book provides a brilliant fusion of the philosophical and the practical in analyzing the ethical and moral dimensions of educational leadership. The foundational ethics of authenticity, responsible and presence provides a new and very creative framework for the practice of moral leadership. A must read."
—PATRICK DUIGNAN, foundation chair in education leadership, director, Research Center in Educational Leadership, Australian Catholic University "Jerry Starratt's deeply felt book helps leaders explore their own humanity and humane responsibilities to others while working in contemporary school settings."
—Eric Bredo, professor and coordinator, Social Foundations Program, Department of Leadership, Foundations and Policy, University of Virginia

"This book provides a brilliant fusion of the philosophical and the practical in analyzing the ethical and moral dimensions of educational leadership. The foundational ethics of authenticity, responsible and presence provides a new and very creative framework for the practice of moral leadership. A must read."
—Patrick Duignan, foundation chair in education leadership, director, Research Center in Educational Leadership, Australian Catholic University