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This conceptual paper addresses the nature of white male privilege within school administration and how that privilege, through an examination and clarification of equity as justice, can be checked, interrogated and possibly moderated by a reflection on the spiritual nature of leading for democratic change.

This research examined secondary administrators’ perspectives about the expression “the best interests of the student.” Principals’ intimate reflections provided empirical insights into what they mean when they use the expression, “the best interests of the student” and whether such a common catch phrase could provide ethical guidance. A modified phenomenological research method suited for an educational research context was used to capture administrators’ perspectives and experiences. Results challenge the theoretical notion that the expression, “serve the best interests of the student” is, or should be, used in some primary, rule-based first order manner by administrators to inform their ethical decision making. Ethical judgment was more complicated and contextually defined than following a fundamental professional injunction, but the expression resonated with administrators, typifying dispositions that promote moral practice. Results and interpretations bring conceptual clarification to the moral leadership construct “serve the best interests of the student.”

Purpose: This research seeks to explore the inevitable internal struggle experienced by school leaders when making ethically-informed judgments. The study acquired principals' intimate reflections about professional decision making in response to personal versus organizational and/or professional value discrepancy as identified in the ethic of the profession and its model for promoting students' best interests. Design/methodology/approach: A modified phenomenological research method, appropriate for an educational research context, was used to capture administrators' perspectives about moral practice and decision-making experiences. The primary data collection strategy was participant interviews by means of purposeful sampling. Findings: A clash between personal beliefs and values and organizational/professional expectations was very real for participants. The experience was generally frequent, but varied among principals. The struggle can be characterized as a phenomenon of intrapersonal moral discord experienced as part of the process of deciding ethically when faced with difficult moral choices. Practical implications: The study contributes to the understanding of moral conflict in school leadership as an intrapersonal moral phenomenon, and how the conflict is resolved in practice, while providing insights into a more recently defined and theorized professional ethic for educational leadership. The study offers empirically derived knowledge for theory building and offers conceptual clarification of the moral leadership construct. Originality/value: Moral judgment was complicated and contextually defined for participants. Administrators reported various ways of dealing with the nuances of personal and organizational value incongruity in order to engage in ethical decision making, including relying on, in some instances, a fundamental professional injunction. (Contains 5 notes.)

Student drug and alcohol policies often impose consequences on students that may place the child at greater risk of delinquent behavior. The project described in this article sought to explore how different stakeholders in two public school systems perceived the ability of their drug and alcohol policies to protect the needs of the school, the community and the student Findings indicate that the child needs to be protected by the collective interests of parents, community, and school leaders to ensure that the child's interests are considered foremost as opposed to the suppositions of school administrators following an inflexible policy Policies that favor school exclusion, with or without minimal counseling components, are viewed as not serving the needs of students.

[...] this was his societal organization code meaning: \"the ruler rules as he should; the minister manages as he should; the father acts as he should; and the son behaves as he should\" (Waley, 1996, p. 59). Since the Han dynasty, Confucianism had been acclaimed by emperors and scholars as a secular religion.

This paper addresses John Dewey's experience in modem China. Our main purpose is an attempt to answer an important question: What motivated Dewey's Chinese students to introduce Dewey's educational thought to China? Part of an answer is derived by examining a more central question: How did Dewey's Chinese students find philosophical motivation from Confucianism in order to entertain Dewey's educational thought? By both privileging and utilizing Jane Roland Martin's (2011) educational theory of encounter, as a theoretical framework for addressing our question, we seek to illuminate the cross-cultural philosophical dynamic that took place between Dewey and his Chinese students. We borrow the concepts of \"cultural stock\" and \"individual capacities\" from Martin's theory to understand an encounter between Dewey's pragmatism and the elements of practicality in Confucianism during the early era of the Republic of China. Based on Martin's theory, this paper attempts to indicate that Dewey's Chinese students tried to adopt, transfer, and apply Dewey's pragmatism into Chinese culture, mostly because they were eager to find a \"miraculous medicine\" that would supposedly cure an ill Chinese society. In other words, Dewey's practical, utility-centered philosophical thoughts were very compatible with his Chinese students' cultural psychology stemming from traditional Confucianism.

Purpose - This research seeks to explore the inevitable internal struggle experienced by school leaders when making ethically-informed judgments. The study acquired principals' intimate reflections about professional decision making in response to personal versus organizational and or professional value discrepancy as identified in the ethic of the profession and its model for promoting students' best interests.Design methodology approach - A modified phenomenological research method, appropriate for an educational research context, was used to capture administrators' perspectives about moral practice and decision-making experiences. The primary data collection strategy was participant interviews by means of purposeful sampling.Findings - A clash between personal beliefs and values and organizational professional expectations was very real for participants. The experience was generally frequent, but varied among principals. The struggle can be characterized as a phenomenon of intrapersonal moral discord experienced as part of the process of deciding ethically when faced with difficult moral choices.Practical implications - The study contributes to the understanding of moral conflict in school leadership as an intrapersonal moral phenomenon, and how the conflict is resolved in practice, while providing insights into a more recently defined and theorized professional ethic for educational leadership. The study offers empirically derived knowledge for theory building and offers conceptual clarification of the moral leadership construct.Originality value - Moral judgment was complicated and contextually defined for participants. Administrators reported various ways of dealing with the nuances of personal and organizational value incongruity in order to engage in ethical decision making, including relying on, in some instances, a fundamental professional injunction.

This study explored the moral complexity of student drug and alcohol policies that are often disciplinary, punitive, and exclusionary in nature. The Ethic of the Profession (Shapiro & Stefkovich, 2001, 2005, 2010; Stefkovich, 2006), a professional ethical construct for educational leadership and for school workers writ large, was employed as a theoretical framework to evaluate a bounded case of seven school districts’ pupil policies. This research utilized textual analysis of school policies from the school communities represented in the study in addition to interview data employed in a larger systemic study from which this research is drawn. Findings contribute to a fuller understanding of the valuation process of local administrators when drafting policy in relation to an Ethic of the Profession. Practical implications include the impact of such school policies on the immediate and long-range needs of at-risk students.