Making sense of ethical leadership

This chapter analyses evidence from interviews and group discussions with principals involved in the research network in order to explore issues of ethical dilemmas in greater depth. It gives voice to principals of network schools in order to understand the ways in which they speak about ethical leadership and the ethical leadership practices they enact in their schools. The chapter presents a brief discussion of the work of principals before exploring some of the pertinent theoretical and empirical literature concerning ethical leadership and dilemmas. It argues that the current schooling climate, characterised by shrinking resources, increasing forms of accountability via meeting performance standards and targets, and the pressure of high-stakes testing, has meant that school leaders are working in increasingly contradictory, complex and pressured environments. It presents a framework that is used to consider ethical leadership. It also illustrates how this was used by the research network principals as they debated ways of promoting learning and equity within their schools