Helen M. Gunter – (University of Manchester, UK)
Helen M Gunter is Professor of Education Policy at University of Manchester and Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. She has a global reputation for excellence in education policy research and acclaim for Arendtian scholarship. Her research has been funded by the British Academy, and the Economic and Social Research Council and has published widely. Her recent publications include An Intellectual History of School Leadership Practice and Research (Bloomsbury, 2016) and Educational Leadership and Hannah Arendt (Routledge, 2013).
Download Gunter presentation at SUSEES 2019
The lecture addresses a series of core concerns: who knows about educational leadership, what knowing means, and what knowledge is produced. The focus is on how histories of professional practice (teaching, research, publication) can and should be constructed in ways that not only chart events but also engage with the power processes that structure how agents are located in the world. An investigative framework and process is presented and used to argue how this could be undertaken. Through a limited but illuminative investigation of transformational leadership, the lecture concludes that there is much to be gained by examining maps and mappers, and mapping in order to develop a critical understanding of the inter-relationship between research, public policy and the state.
References
Gunter, H. M. (2016). An intellectual history of school leadership practice and research. Bloomsbury Publishing. Helen Gunter (2006) Knowledge Production in the Field of Educational Leadership: A Place for Intellectual Histories, Journal of Educational Administration and History, 38:2, 201-215, DOI: 10.1080/00220620600555006