Middle teacher leadership practice for social justice: Young people's career development in senior secondary education

Middle teacher leadership practice for social justice: Young people's career development in senior secondary education

• Szeto, Elson The Education University of Hong Kong
• Sin, Kuen Fung The Education University of Hong Kong
• Volante, Paulo Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

International Studies in Educational Administration (Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration & Management (CCEAM)), 49(3), 82-102, 2021

Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration & Management (CCEAM)

2021

• N Students & Student Services
  • NJ Career Counselling & Placement

Career and Lifelong Planning Inclusivity Middle Teacher Leadership Secondary Students Social Justice

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Secondary Education

This study aims at exploring middle teacher leadership practices for social justice in career and life planning (CLP) education as part of the research collaboration developed in the International School Leadership Development Network (ISLDN) in the past decade. We have identified that young people face challenges to their career development in different types of public secondary schools led by various school leaders. Teacher leaders of the education, as informal or formal middle leaders, are responsible for the whole-school programme development, while senior secondary students are participants to be inspired about potential career pathways before graduation. However, allocation of students to different schools according to their academic achievement is a long-standing social justice issue. A framework of inclusivity was adopted for exploration of the teacher leaders' experiences of the issue in leading the education, and diverse young people's experiences of development in different secondary school types in Hong Kong. A qualitative approach was used for capturing the views of three teachers and three groups of students in three school types in answer to the research questions: What challenges facing the whole-school CLP education for different young people are derived from the social justice issue in secondary schooling? How do middle teacher leaders cope with challenges through their leadership practices in socially just CLP education for students in different types of school? What equal development opportunities for younger people's career pathways can be contextualised from the leadership practices in the schools? Although the students' self-understanding and competencies can generally be awakened, different interests and various abilities beyond academic performance are the common key factors of tailor-made CLP education for every student's development by the school types. A long-term commitment to social justice for youth's future pathways is also discussed. So, the challenges in Hong Kong can resonate with other schools in different education systems as further research in the second decade of ISLDN's international collaboration. Copyright © 2021 Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration & Management (CCEAM).

• English

Journal Articles

• 13241702

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/en/bibs/a24874d6

2022-04-20