Scoping Paper on School Leadership and Equity

This paper offers a review of the literature on school leadership and equity in order to help provide policy with an evidence base on school leadership from the perspective of equity. It does so by: (i) considering how discourses constitute objects; (ii) exploring the rationale of policy on school leadership and equity; (iii) considering the various models of school leadership and equity; and (iv) examining literature on the practical application of ideas about school leadership and equity. In so doing, this paper draws attention to the positive claims made internationally about the utility of school leadership strategies to promote social justice in modern multicultural societies. In particular it considers the alleged value of the dual concepts of ‘equality of opportunity’ and ‘equity of results’. Drawing upon Foucault’s (2009) account of discourse formation, this paper cautions that literature on the efficacy of school leadership and equity may help constitute a “de-stated” account of governance that places onus on school leaders to take responsibility for social processes that may, in reality, lie beyond their control