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Educational Management Administration & Leadership
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Struggling for Democracy

Administrative Communication in a Diverse School Context

James Ryan

Centre for Leadership and Diversity, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Toronto, ONM5S 1V6, Canada, jryan{at}oise.utoronto.ca

Cindy Rottmann

OISE/University of Toronto

This article describes a study that explores efforts to promote democratic practice in a diverse school context. More specifically, it documents administrative endeavors to include members of the school community—teachers, parents and students—in the various school processes by encouraging inclusive communicative practices. The findings of the study indicate that administrators attempt to achieve such ends by establishing relationships with members of their school community that will enable dialogue. They do their best to display their caring natures, vulnerability and senses of humor. They also make themselves visible and approachable, work on greeting people, understanding them and dismantling the hierarchies that exclude people. In the end, however, their efforts fail to foster meaningful democratic and inclusive practices. Administrators in the study end up bypassing democratic options and drawing on the hierarchical power associated with the bureaucratic system in which they work in order to ensure that the school will be able to attract students in the quasi-market system in which it operates.

Key Words: democracy • education • leadership • principals • social justice

Educational Management Administration & Leadership, Vol. 37, No. 4, 473-496 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1741143209334579
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