Moral Purpose Expressed Through Values by Social Justice School Leaders in the Baltic

Abstract

Moral purpose is the foundation of leadership. Social justice-oriented school leadership actions are shaped by moral purpose. It has been described as principled behavior connected to something greater than ourselves involving human and social development. This chapter operationalizes moral purpose expressed through values as the basis of leadership. Data presented demonstrate how moral purpose expressed through universal values support social justice school leaders through common understandings with other educators. Social justice leadership as conveyed is about taking responsibility for deconstructing and reconstructing policies and procedures, and for accepting responsibility to confront unstructured, novel problems. Evidence for this claim is presented through interviews with six school principals (called Directors in their countries) from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Each principal was designated as a social justice school leader by other professionals familiar with their work. As social justice pioneers in their countries, these principals personify social justice school leadership in parts of the world where the term social justice is not part of scholarly discourse. Baltic social justice school leaders can inform social justice school leadership scholarship and practice based upon the premise that moral purpose involves universal human principles or values identified as truth, respect, responsibility, fairness, and compassion. Hopefully, the stories of the Baltic social justice school leaders who worked with other civic professionals in their countries to renew national identities can inform educators. This research was conducted by a Fulbright Scholar who was sponsored by the US Department of State in partnership with the University of Latvia.

Author’s Note

The research for this chapter was carried out by the author, a Fulbright Scholar, who was sponsored by the US Department of State in partnership with the University of Latvia. Colleagues contributing to data collection were Dr. Ilze Ivanova, University of Latvia; Dr. Milda Damkuvienė and Dr. Jūratė Valuckienė, Šiauliai University, Lithuania; and Dr. Karmen Trasberg, Tartu University, Estonia.