In Compassionate Leadership for School Belonging, international scholar and practitioner Kathryn Riley shines the powerful lens of belonging on schools. Belonging is that sense of being somewhere you can be confident you will fit in and feel safe in your identity: a feeling of being at home in a place.
When belonging is a school’s guiding principle more young people at all levels experience a sense of connectedness and friendship, perform better academically, and come to believe in themselves; their teachers feel more professionally fulfilled, their families more accepted.
The originality of this highly readable book lies in its scope. It offers international analysis from the OECD, alongside insights from the author’s extensive research in schools, powerfully supported by observational vignettes and drawings from the children, young people and teachers who have been her co-researchers. This exploration is supported by methodologies, concepts and research tools for use by practitioners, researchers and school leaders.
While contemporary patterns of dislocation, disaffection and exclusion are revealed, the spotlight is firmly on what needs to change and how: the purposeful actions in classrooms and schools; the approaches at system level; and the compassionate forms of leadership that can help create the conditions for school belonging.
In an increasingly uncertain world, this is an urgent book of hope and possibilities.
Praise for Compassionate Leadership for School Belonging
’an in-depth and thoughtful examination into belongingness and the important role school leaders can take to support students, teachers, and families. Practitioners, researchers, and graduate students will be left hungry to read more about how to make students feel they belong.’
Teachers College Record
’for many readers, particularly those who have been directly involved with the author’s Leadership of Place project, this will be an interesting and affirming read.’
Teaching Times
Innehållsförteckning
Dedication
List of Vignettes, Figures and Tables
Foreword
Karen Seashore Louis
Prologue
Kathryn Riley
About the Author
Acknowledgements
**Overview**
PART I: Why School Belonging Matters
1. Searching for a place
2. On the outside looking in
3. I belong here
PART II: The Practice of School Belonging
4. Community engagement
5. Schools where belonging works
6. Tools to take your thinking forward
PART III: Rethinking Leadership for Belonging
7. Leading through the Labyrinth
8. Leading with Compassion
9. Re-framing ‘what is’ to ‘what can be’
Reflection
Appendix 1: Research on Place and Belonging Kathryn Riley
Appendix II: Research Methodology and Further Tools
Appendix III: Videos and materials linked to place and belonging
References
Index
Om författaren
Kathryn Riley is Professor of Urban Education at IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, and an international scholar whose work bridges policy and practice. Born in Manchester, she began her work as a volunteer teacher in Eritrea. She has taught in inner-city schools, held political office for the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) and been a local authority Chief Officer. Her international work included heading up the World Bank’s Effective Schools and Teachers Group.She was first appointed as a Professor in 1993.