The Aesthetic Dimensions of Educational Administration & Leadership
Edited by Eugenie A. Samier, Richard Bates
Routledge – 2006 – 240 pages
The question of aesthetics as a theoretical framework for thinking about modern leadership issues in educational settings is an emergent area of inquiry that is receiving considerable attention. There is a growing sense that the mechanistic approach to leadership, which has been widely encouraged over the last ten years, is sterile and that a more philosophical approach is now required.
This approach is covered here, taking into account the importance of aesthetics on all aspects of the administrative and leadership world: the ways ideas and ideals are created, how their expression is conveyed, the impact they have on interpersonal relationships and the organisational environment that carries and reinforces them and the moral boundaries or limits that can be established or exceeded.
While presenting a significant departure from conventional studies in the field, the international contributors reflect a continuity of thought on administrative and leadership authority, from the writings of Plato through to current theory.
Introduction: Foundations and History of the Social Aesthetic. Part One: Philosophical Foundations. Imagination, Taste, the Sublime, and Genius in Administration: A Kantian Critique of Organisational Aesthetics. The Art and Legacy of the Romantic Tradition: Implications for Power, Self--Determination and Education. Collingwood on Imagination, Expression and Action: Advancing an Aesthetically Critical Study of Educational Administration. The Metaphysical Sources of Pragmatic Aesthetic Leadership. On the Contribution of Critical Theory to Educational Administration and Leadership: Aesthetic Experience as Resistance to the ‘Iron Cage’ of Dominative Administrative Rationality. Part Two: Aesthetic Sources for Administration and Leadership. Aesthetic Leadership: Leaders as Architects. The Victorian Hangover: A Lively Discussion of Colourful Headmasters in the works of Mr. Dickens and Ms. Brontë. A Narrative Looking Glass for Leadership Studies in Organization: Cinema and Literature as Source and Reflective Medium. Living Aesthetically and the Poetics of Dailiness for Leadership. Part Three: Critical Applications to Administration and Leadership. The Aesthetics of Charisma: Architectural, Theatrical, and Literary Dimensions. Aesthetics and Art and their Place in the Theory and Practice of Leadership in Education. Aesthetics, Heroism and the Cult of 'the Leader'. Towards an Aesthetics for Educational Administration. Notes on Contributors. Name Index. Subject Index
Eugenie A. Samier is a Senior Lecturer and coordinator of the EdD program at the British University in Dubai, and an Honorary Lecturer at the University of Birmingham. She is also editor of Ethical Foundations for Educational Administration and principal editor of Aesthetic Dimensions of Educational Administration and Leadership. Her research interests are in administrative and leadership philosophy and theory, particularly in ethics and aesthetic critiques.
Richard Bates is at the Deakin University, School of Social & Cultural Studies in Education in Australia.