Page 21 - Educational Leadership in a Changing World

Current Challenges of Educational Leadership

alty (Hirschman, 1970). When exit is not an ethical choice and loyalty
has consequences on students’ lives, voice is all that remains: school
leaders retain the power to inform themselves and others, to speak up
about the needs of all their students, without exception, and, slowly
but surely, to make inclusion a reality in their schools. Fundamentally,
since the educational system has historically marginalized minoritized
students – deliberately or unintentionally – crsl serves as a source of
inspiration and guidance to ensure that inclusion is both truly inclusive
and just.

Core Qualities of the Educational Leader:
Foundations for Ethical and Moral Guidance
The early years of the twenty-first century are facing a profound moral
crisis, marked by individualism, violence, radicalization and political
polarization, which urgently calls for the search for effective methods
for the moral and ethical development of society. Since moral learning is
largely dependent on the influence of others (Carr, 2023), the teacher’s
role as a formative agent takes on a central role due to their continu-
ous contact with students. Therefore, this last section explores the core
qualities an educational leader must possess to contribute to the holis-
tic development and human flourishing of scholars.
Throughout history, several authors in the field of philosophy of ed-
ucation and from different cultural and geographical contexts have re-
flected on the effects of exemplars in societies. For instance, Plato was
worried about the influence of the gods of Greek mythology on the ed-
ucation of young people, because it could constitute a grave danger as
they embodied ways of life contrary to good and human flourishing.
Similarly, inlastdecades, someprominentvoicesfrom theinternational
sphere, such as David Carr from the United Kingdom, José Manuel Es-
teve from Spain, Linda Zagzebski the from United States, or Kristján
Kristjánsson from Iceland, have made significant contributions that fa-
cilitate an understanding of the role of educators as a guide in the eth-
ical education of students, with relevant consequences for educational
leadership.
First, Zagzebski (2017) argues that in every community there are in-
dividuals who are admired because they show excellence in a specific
area, which inspires others to improve, which she calls ‘role models’
or ‘exemplars’ (p. 153). Therefore, the very first trait of an educational
leader could be to possess an excellent quality that elicits that need for

21