Female Educational Leadership through an East-West Metaphor: A Journey

Authors

  • Virginia R. Heslinga Anna Maria College

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18533/journal.v2i8.199

Keywords:

fenale, educational leaders, metaphors, journey, intersections

Abstract

 

Abstract

Meeting the global need for educational leaders presents challenges for every school system due to economic, style, role, and cultural differences. Recruiting leaders who can work through the challenges stands as a goal for every school regardless of gender, yet females are underrepresented in educational leadership globally. This article is based on three years of research and interviews with female educational leaders in China and the United States and explores the idea that words and phrases used by female leaders communicate gender identity, intersections between ethnicities, economic levels, and cultural priorities. The word that arose most often in the interview responses from 35 female educational leaders, and that was used metaphorically by female educational leaders from remote rural areas of China to the New York City metropolitan area, was journey.

 

Keywords: intersections, female, educational leaders, metaphors, journey

Author Biography

  • Virginia R. Heslinga, Anna Maria College

    Vrginia Heslinga, Ed. D., Associate Professor of  Humanities and Education, has taught since graduating with a language arts education degree from Marshall University, Huntington, WVA. She went on to earn a Masters degree in education from Widener, in Chester, PA, and completed her doctorate in education through the University of Phoenix, AZ in 2010. Her career has included years in elementary, middle, high school, college, and graduate teaching programs, public, private, charter, alternative, and religious schools. Since 2004, volunteering to provide in-service and professional training for teachers of English in remote regions around the world during her summers has heightened Virginia’s appreciation of cross cultural teaching and learning.

           She has used six summers for research and teaching with the Amity Foundation NGO in China and for Provincial and City teacher training programs. Currently she continues her work in humanities and education at Anna Maria College, in Paxton, MA. Her dissertation, Life Experiences and Perceptions of Female Educational Leaders, required research and interviews in five provinces of China and five states in the United States. It was published with ProQuest, 2010. Her current research investigates pedagogical theories in action in a variety of cultures, relational practices in school systems, and introducing creative thinking to curriculum and systems heavily weighted toward memorizing and testing. Interests in ongoing learning have led her to participate in symposiums in technology in Boston, MA to global investigations of learning in Istanbul, Turkey.

        Dr. Heslinga is a member of NCTE, and has received awards for Living the Mission (from Anna Maria College), Teacher of the Year (Middle Township Schools, CMCH, NJ). Her historical novel, Wounded Dove, was published in 2008. Dr. Heslinga does presentations for community groups, schools, local, and national conferences and has publications in paper and digital journals. She mentors students, student teachers, and faculty members, and serves as a member of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Anna Maria College in faculty development and Core Curriculum.

     

References

References

Akhurst, J. (2010). Exploring the nexus between wilderness and therapeutic experiences. Implicit Religion, 13(3), 295–305. doi:10.1558/imre.v13i3.295

Andersson, A., & Kalman, H. (2010). Reflections on learning in interdisciplinary studies. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 22(2), 204–208.

Bakioglu, A., Hacifazlioglu, O., & Ozcan, K. (2010). The influence of trust in principals’ mentoring experiences across different career phases. Teachers and Teaching, 16(2), 245–258. doi:10.1080/13540600903478482

Barthelmeh, M. (2011). Journeys: An interpretive critique of the Christchurch Railway Station. Spaces and Flows: International Journal of Urban and Extra Urban Studies, 1(1), 37–53.

Bleakley, A. (2005). Stories as data, data as stories: Making sense of narrative inquiry in clinical education. Medical Education, 39(5), 534–540.

Bochaver, A., & Fenko, A. (2010). Metaphors in happy and unhappy life stories of Russian adults. Metaphor and Symbol, 25(4), 243–262. doi 10.1080/10926488.2010.510928

Bose, C. E. (2012). Intersectionality and global gender inequality. Gender & Society, 26(1),

–72. doi:10.1177/0891243211426722

Brinia, V. (2011). Female educational leadership in primary education in Greece: A theoretical framework based on experiences of female school leaders. International Studies in Educational Administration, 39(3), 37–58.

Bruckmüller, S., & Branscombe, N. R. (2010). The glass cliff: When and why women are selected as leaders in crisis contexts. British Journal of Social Psychology, 49(3), 433–451. doi:10.1348/014466609X466594

Burns, G., & Martin, B. N. (2010). Examination of the effectiveness of male and female educational leaders who made use of the invitational leadership style of leadership. Journal of Invitational Theory and Practice, 16, 30–56.

Byrne, M. (2008). Spirituality in palliative care: What language do we need? International Journal of Palliative Nursing, 14(6), 274–280.

Coeckelbergh, M. (2010). Engineering good: How engineering metaphors help us to understand the moral life and change society. Science and Engineering Ethics, 16(2), 371–385.

Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Creswell, J. W. (2005). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Czarnecki, G. (2010). Lead with love. Business Book Summaries, 1(1), 1–8.

Dillabough, J. (2003). Gender, education, and society: The limits and possibilities of feminist

reproduction theory. Sociology of Education, 76(4), 376–379.

Eagly, A. H., & Carli, L. L. (2007). Through the labyrinth: The truth about how women become leaders. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Ely, R. J., Ibarra, H., & Kolb, D. M. (2011). Taking gender into account: Theory and design for women’s leadership development programs. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 10(3), 474–493.

Enwall, J. (2010). Inter-ethnic relations in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia. Asian Ethnicity, 11(2), 239–257. doi:10.1080/14631361003779539

Ferguson, A., Worrall, L., Davidson, B., Hersh, D., Howe, T., & Sherratt, S. (2010). Describing the experience of aphasia rehabilitation through metaphor. Aphasiology, 24(6–8), 685–696. doi:10.1080/02687030903438508

Fiore, L., & Rosenquest, B. (2010). Shifting the culture of higher education: Influences on students, teachers, and pedagogy. Theory into Practice, 49(1), 14–20. doi:10.1080/00405840903435535

Gibb, S. J., Fergusson, D. M., & Horwood, L. J. (2008). Effects of single-sex and coeducational schooling on the gender gap in educational achievement. Australian Journal of Education, 52(3), 301–317.

Gibbs, Jr., R. W. (Ed.). (2008). The Cambridge handbook of metaphor and thought. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Gunbayi, I. (2011). Principals’ perceptions on school management: A case study with metaphorical analysis. International Online Journal of Educational Sciences, 3(2), 541–561.

Halachmi, A., & Ngok, K. (2009). Of sustainability and excellence: Chinese academia at a crossroads. Public Administration Review, 69, S13–S20. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6210.2009.02084.x

Heaney, D. (2011). Negotiating communicative style, situational context, and TT models in

advanced L2 cultural mediation pedagogy: A case study from the Italian-English

translation. Novitas-ROYAL, 5(2), 229–246.

Heslinga, V. R. (2010). Life experiences and perceptions of female educational leaders: A hermeneutic phenomenological study (Doctoral dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Database. (UMI No. 205447405)

Hotep, U. (2008). Intellectual maroons: Architects of African sovereignty. Journal of Pan African Studies, 2(5), 3–19.

Jasman, A. M. (2010). A teacher educator’s professional learning journey and border pedagogy: A meta-analysis of five research projects. Professional Development in Education, 36(1/2), 307–323. doi:10.1080/19415250903457521

Johansen, M. S. (2007). The effect of female strategic managers on organizational performance. Public Organization Review, 7(3), 269–279.

Katz, A. N., & Taylor, T. E. (2008). The journeys of life: Examining a conceptual metaphor with semantic and episodic memory recall. Metaphor and Symbol, 23(3), 148–173. doi:10.1080/10926480802223051

Kexian, J., & Hao, T. (2006). Seventy issues of concern to teachers. Chinese Education and Society, 39(1), 41–50.

Kovecses, Z. (2002). Metaphor: A practical introduction. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Lata, S., & Sharma, T. (2012). Contesting andocentric conceptions for freedom from fixed identities. Language in India, 12(3), 774–780.

Livholts, M. (2012). Emergent writing methodologies in feminist studies. New York, NY:

Routledge.

Low, G., & Littlemore, J. (2009). The relationship between conceptual metaphors and classroom management language: Reactions by native and non-native speakers of English. Ibérica, 17, 25–43.

Lykke, N. (2010). Feminist studies: A guide to intersectional theory, methodology and writing.

New York, NY: Routledge.

Ncube, N. (2010). The journey of healing: Using narrative therapy and map-making to respond to child abuse in South Africa. International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work, 1, 3–12.

O’Bannon, D. J., Garavalia, L., Renz, D., & McCarther, S. M. (2010). Successful leadership development for women STEM faculty. Leadership and Management in Engineering, 10(4), 167–173. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)LM.1943-5630.0000080

Offermann, L. R. (2007). From the editor: Not your father’s business school. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 6(2), 165.

Oreg, S., & Berson, Y. (2011). Leadership and employees’ reactions to change: The role of leaders’ personal attributes and transformational leadership style. Personnel Psychology, 64(3), 627–659. doi:10.1111/j.1744-6570.2011.01221.x

Palladino, J. M., Grady, M. L., Haar, J. M., & Perry, K. (2007). An efficacious theoretical perspective of rural female superintendents’ self-sustainability. Journal of Ethnographic and Qualitative Research, 1, 40–49.

Pasveer, B. (2010). A house for knowledge: Using metaphors to guide knowledge sharing and learning in development organizations. Knowledge Management for Development Journal, 6(3), 219–231. doi:10.1080/19474199.2011.557391

Pineda, R. D. (2009). Will they see me coming? Do they know I’m running? Los Lobos and the performance of mestizaje identity through journey. Performance Quarterly, 29(2), 183–200. doi:10.1080/10462930902774874

Rinehart, J. S. (2005). The influence of traditional values held by male and female superintendents on issues of organizational fairness. International Studies in Educational Administration, 33(2), 51.

Shields, S. (2008). Gender: An intersectionality perspective. Sex Roles, 59(5/6), 301–311. doi:10.1007/s11199-008-9501-8

Smith, K. A., & Kariuki, M. (2011). The journey: Using a metaphor as a structure to assist preservice teachers to engage in reflective practice. Review of Higher Education and Self-Learning, 3(9), 41–53.

Spakowski, N. (2011). “Gender” trouble: Feminism in China under the impact of Western theory and the spatialization of identity. Positions, 19(1), 31–54. doi:10.1215/10679847-2010-023

Standing, M. (2009). A new critical framework for applying hermeneutic phenomenology. Nurse Researcher, 16(4), 20–30.

Thomas, P. N. (2010). On the journey of concepts. Media Development, 57(4), 29–32.

Tohar, V., Asaf, M., Kainan, A., & Shahar, R. (2007). An alternative approach for personal narrative interpretation: The semiotics of Roland Barthes. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 6(3), 57–70.

Valentine, S., Godkin, L., Page, K., & Rittenburg, T. (2009). Gender and ethics: Ethical judgments, ethical intentions, and altruism among healthcare professionals. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 24(2), 112–130.

doi:10.1108/17542410910938808

Varkoy, O. (2010). The concept of “Bildung.” Philosophy of Music Education Review, 18(1), 85–96.

Whitaker, K. S. (2003). Principal role changes and influence on principal recruitment and

selection: An international perspective. Journal of Education, 41(1), 37–54.

White, S. J. (2007). Integrating your personal life and career. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 64(4), 358–360.

Wu, D., & Mao, S. (2011). Media discourses and cultural globalisation: A Chinese perspective. Critical Arts: A South-North Journal of Cultural and Media Studies, 25(1), 1. doi:10.1080/02560046.2011.55220

Yin, R. K. (2007). Adding new dimensions to case study evaluations: The case of evaluating comprehensive reforms. New Directions for Evaluation, 113, 75–93.

Zhang, P. (2011). Corporate identity metaphors as constitutive discourse in miniature: The case of new China. ETC: A Review of General Semantics, 68(4), 375–394.

Zhou, B., & Cui, F. (2007). On the promotion of intercultural competence. Sino-US English Teaching, 4(9), 77–81.

Downloads

Published

2013-10-05

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 8 (2013): September

Section

Article

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  • Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).

Similar Articles

11-20 of 112

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.