The 21st Century Educator: Strategic and Consultative Partner

We are living in a state of great flux. Needless to say, political, social, economic, and technological structures are changing faster than we can name and define them. As educators, we are called upon to ready adults for the challenges brought on by global changes. Educators in the 21st Century are no longer knowledge producers and disseminators. Educators are involved in managing the educational process; their own and that of the adult students. Educational leadership in the knowledge society is evidenced with a curiously mixed set of skills; it is defined by emotional intelligence and spirituality; it is defined by the finely honed ability of facilitating learning in cross-cultural, multi-lingual, and inter-disciplinary settings; it is defined by a willingness to move away from the guru-stance of teaching and toward a praxis of partnering for change. Today’s educator ought to be a strategic partner and consultant in the lifelong and life wide process of learning. With this essay, the authors begin to explore the multi-dimensional role of educational leadership in the 21st Century