Pamela Hallam – författare

This book critiques dominant discourses and debates pertaining to values education, cultural identity and teaching democracy, set against the backdrop of growing social stratification and unequal access to quality education. It addresses discourses concerning globalisation, ideologies and the state, as well as approaches to values education and teaching democracy in schools.

The book explores the ambivalent and problematic connections between the state, globalisation, values education and teaching democracy. It also explores conceptual frameworks and methodological approaches applicable to research on values education, multiculturalism and identity politics. Drawing on diverse paradigms, ranging from critical theory to globalisation, and by focusing on globalisation, ideology and values education, the book critically examines research dealing with cultural diversity and its impact of identity politics. 

Given the need for a multipleperspective approach, the authors have diverse backgrounds and hail from different countries and regions, offer a wealth of insights, contributing to a more holistic understanding of the nexus between values education, multiculturalism and national identity. With contributions from key scholars worldwide, the book should be required reading for a broad spectrum of users, including policy-makers, academics, graduate students, education policy researchers, administrators and practitioners.

This book analyses dominant discourses of globalisation and leadership in schools. The chapters in this volume advance further the discussions of the nexus between globalisation and leadership in schools. The politics of education reforms, governance and school leadership in the 21st century reflect a new emerging paradigm of standards-driven and outcomes-defined educational policy change. This ethos of academic performance has affected the nature and the role of school leadership in the 21st century, and emerging educational challenges and strategies. 

Academic achievement, standards, and educational results overall, depend on the nature and quality of school leadership, teachers and school’s culture. Another emerging change affecting school leadership is autonomy in schools in designing curricula and managing resources, where the role of the school leader has grown far beyond that of administrator. School autonomy has also affected the changing role of school leadership. The other key role of effective leadership is the focus on diagnosing the school’s needs, and supporting, evaluating and developing teacher quality. Developing school leaders in the 21st century requires clearly defining their key leadership roles and responsibilities for leading and inspiring teachers to achieve high academic standards, and the quality of the curriculum, and acknowledging, and accepting their significant role in improving school‘s image, as a standards-driven and academically performing institution.

The book contributes in a very scholarly way, to a more holistic understanding of the nexus between globalisation, and dominant discourses of leadership in schools.