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Relational Mentoring for Supporting School Principals in Social Justice Leadership

  • Living reference work entry
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Handbook of Social Justice Interventions in Education

Part of the book series: Springer International Handbooks of Education ((SIHE))

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Abstract

Principals hold complex and demanding responsibilities that include leading democratic and socially just schools with a focus on equity and inclusion; however, early career principals face challenges and barriers in serving as social justice leaders. Mentoring is a long-established method of supporting and developing novice principals as they begin their careers; yet, there is limited research on how mentoring can be used to support principals in social justice leadership. Although conceptual in nature, the purpose of this chapter is to discuss challenges and barriers principals face in creating a democratic, socially just school and how mentoring can support principals in creating such cultures. We conceptualize that mentoring relationships can be used as an effective means to support principals with social justice leadership when (a) the principal mentor is a social justice advocate who understands their role in the mentoring process and wants their mentee to succeed; (b) the mentoring relationship is focused on developing the mentee’s professional capacity and expertise in social justice leadership; and (c) the mentor understands the sociopolitical context of the mentee’s school and can collaborate with the mentee in navigating their context while serving as a social justice leader. Questions that guided this chapter writing were as follows: (1) What are the challenges and barriers principals face in creating a democratic and socially just school culture? (2) How can mentoring support principals in creating democratic and socially just school cultures?

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, College of Education, Health & Human Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA

    Sonya D. Hayes & Pamela S. Angelle

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  1. Sonya D. Hayes
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  2. Pamela S. Angelle
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Correspondence to Sonya D. Hayes .

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  1. Blacksburg, VA, USA

    Carol A. Mullen

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Hayes, S.D., Angelle, P.S. (2020). Relational Mentoring for Supporting School Principals in Social Justice Leadership. In: Mullen, C.A. (eds) Handbook of Social Justice Interventions in Education. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29553-0_98-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29553-0_98-1

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