International social justice: American-Ukrainian partnerships on school leadership

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USA Margaret Noe, Southeast Missouri University,

International social justice: american-ukrainian partnerships on school leadership

Jenny Tripses

Vinnytsia, Ukraine

Annotation

This article provides background on the current conditions in Ukraine, how that fits into broader European conditions related to the Bologna process, social justice issues in Ukraine, and finally directions for the future Ukrainian school leadership development and partnerships with American school leaders. Each author has first hand involvement with Fulbright and school leadership development in Ukraine and the United States. This paper is conceived as evidence of the international good will that resulted from two Fulbright grants, one to the US and the other to Ukraine. Two purposes of this work are to share what we have learned in hopes that others may apply our experiences to other global collaborations, and to encourage educational administration professors to consider work in Ukraine in school leadership development.

Key words: social justice, school leadership, global collaborations, American-Ukrainian Partnerships.

У статті окреслено сучасний стан освіти в Україні, як він сполучається з Болонським процесом, проблеми соціальної справедливості в Україні і шляхи розвитку освітнього лідерства і партнерства з американськими керівниками освіти. Кожен з авторів має безпосереднє відношення до програми Фулбрайта і до розвитку лідерства в Україні та США.

Ця стаття є свідченням інтернаціональної доброї волі, що випливає з двох грантів програми Фулбрайта, один реалізовувався в США, інший - в Україні. Два завдання цієї роботи полягають в обміні досвідом з тими, хто працює над іншими проектами, та залученні викладачів з освітнього адміністрування і лідерства до розвитку саме цього аспекту освітнього середовища в Україні.

Ключові слова: американсько-українське партнерство, соціальна справедливість, освітнє лідерство, глобальні проекти.

Social Justice Issues

Arguing that social justice definitions should emerge from careful consideration of multiple conditions of specific educational organization, Dantley and Tillman (2010) observe themes related to social justice that emphasize moral values, justice, equity, care, and respect used to consider the impact of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, and disability on students. We chose one definition for social justice from Noddings (2005) who states that social justice consists of “rights we demand for ourselves that should be offered to others worldwide" (p. 8). education bologna leadership

School leadership for social justice centered on research by those “who believe that injustice in our schools and communities is neither natural or inevitable" (Larson & Murtadha, 2002, p. 135). Leadership in this context requires continuous work towards greater opportunity and justice for all children and clients. The creation of schools and other social agencies where gaps are closed between those who are served well by the system and those who are not well served requires leadership that is clearly focused on addressing injustice and finding ways to make a positive difference for the oppressed. Leadership in this sense differs from traditional models by beginning with purpose and backward mapping to figure out how to get there (Furman, 2003). The purpose of schooling then, is to serve all children well, including those who have been marginalized or poorly served in the past. This moral purpose requires leaders who are willing and capable of action beyond traditional boundaries of schools or other agencies (Fullan, 2003, Sergiovanni, 1999).

The fundamental goal of the Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire's dialogic teaching was to create a process of learning and knowing that invariably involves theorizing about the experiences shared in the dialogue process (Freire, 2002). Through dialogue Macedo describes Freire as one who “teaches us with his penetrating and unquiet mind the meaning of a profound commitment to fight social injustices in our struggle to recapture the loss of our dignity as human beings" (p. 25). In his work, Freire distinguishes between traditional “banking education" in which passive learners have pre-selected knowledge deposited in their minds. Learning then is seen as act of culture and freedom. Another important concept from Freire is conscientization, which is a process by which the learner advances towards critical consciousness. The practice of dialogue involves respect and should not involve one person or group acting upon another, but rather people working with each other. Dialogic teaching presents a process by which people engage in conversation in order to come to deeper understandings of one another in the context of existing conditions.

Issacs (1999) presents dialogue as a means by which society can “hold itself together without the core process that has always bound societies, the process of conversation" (p. xvii). Issacs describes the dialogue as he has practiced it as a business consultant through four practices: listening, respecting, suspending and voicing. In his chapter titled “Dialogue and Democracy" Issacs states that “in some ways the greatest promise of dialogue may be ways to establish it at social, national, and even international levels" (p. 360). Given circumstances faced by Ukrainian school leaders, dialogue entered into with respect and commitment on all sides, offers promise for American and Ukrainian school leaders.

Future Ukrainian and American School Leadership Partnerships

So we begin this dialogue by “checking in" with each of the four co-authors to gain a deeper understanding of one another's perspective. Each author was asked to write about what they see as most important to consider in the development of school leadership preparation in Ukraine.

Administration VSPU sends the support of the further steps to continue school leadership development at the Vinnytsia State Pedagogical University. After working with Dr. Jenny Tripses, who served as a Fulbrighter in the Foreign Languages Department in the spring semester 2012 teaching leadership, the administration of the university has established partnership with American universities and school leaders to provide the professors and students of both countries with the opportunities of exchange programs and scientific collaboration for the benefits of the universities. Dean Tamara Yamchynska has expressed her desire to conduct research on higher education leadership. Her goal is to develop and introduce elective courses on Preparing Democratic Leaders for Ukrainian Education at VSPU.

As the Dean of the VSPU I fully support this initiative because in Ukraine this aspect of education hasn't received the attention it needs. I'm strongly convinced there is an acute need in preparing new leaders for Ukrainian education, well trained to face the challenges of an increasingly globalized and diverse world. We are open for innovation and great opportunities for international cooperation through which we will be able to integrate education leadership into Ukrainian programs successfully, and make a significant difference in the educational system of Ukraine.

Dean Tamara Yamchynska states that she sees a strong need for a system to prepare educational leaders because they are the people whose impact on education as well as on society and subsequently on the

future of Ukraine is indisputable and unconditional. Changes are needed to move from the educational system stuck between a rapidly changing world which is demonstrated in part by the Bologna process and traditional Ukrainian education modeled on the Soviet culture. The school leaders are the ones who must be in charge for changes, who must model examples so that others can follow to achieve success.

The second Ukrainian co-author, Svetlana Kuzmina was herself a Fulbrighter who spent two semesters at SEMO during the 2007-2008 academic year. She writes that it's twice as challenging to alter people--their mentality, their way of thinking, their attitudes and vision of the world. Needless to say the role of education is crucial in promoting democratic changes in Ukraine. They say school mirrors society. What we see in our Ukrainian “mirror" requires much effort and hard work to change the society to deserve a privilege to be named a democratic country. Here we affirm that national education must be reformed to meet the needs of reformed society. Our urgent need is to embark on the way of democratic changes and adopt the democratic standards of life. Democracy means to be able to accept different points of view with respect and understanding, to acknowledge the fact that Ukraine is an integral part of the world society.

What the Ukrainian system of education lacks badly is preparation of educational leaders. The school leaders are the ones who must be in charge for changes, who must get responsible for setting example and leading after them to achieve success. True leaders should be able to find a compromise for the benefit of the educational institutions. Contemporary Ukrainian leaders must possess such attributes as decision-making, ability to set the goals, desire to be in charge, strength and character. As a leader myself, I realize how much we depend on the people who are considered leaders, and how challenging it is for them to bear this great load of responsibility. They are expected to be proficient and effective, to know the answers to all the questions, to always find the way out of the difficult situations. Is it feasible without being trained professionally?

In Ukraine school local administration bodies in most cases appoint leaders of any level-high school, college, department, and university. They are all graduates with the diplomas of teachers of history, mathematics, biology, etc. They are amateurs so to say. Their only assistants in the complex leadership endeavor are intuition, character and experience. Regrettably, experience is not an appendix to the diploma. It takes years to accumulate good experience in leadership.

It is vitally important to introduce leadership programs in the educational system of Ukraine with the focus on legislation and enforcement of human rights first of all. Leadership programs should go far beyond human resources management, though it is one of the most significant factors of being a successful leader. The prospective leaders should be trained to carry out the most beneficial school running, deal with finance and budget issues. The programs should aim to teach prospective leaders to promptly and adequately react on our rapidly changing world in the era of globalization. Ukrainian leaders should be professionally prepared to face the challenges of social adaptation, diversity and marginalization, which are burning issues in our country.

It is our responsibility to integrate educational leadership programs into education promoting positive changes in the Ukrainian society. New democratic leaders, well equipped with necessary knowledge, high professionalism, awareness of acute problems of our turbulent time are the very persons who are able to deal with the challenges of our more and more globalizing world. The key constituents of their professional training should be such courses as theory of educational leadership, social justice, law, diversity of modern Ukrainian society. The professional view on the aspects considered in these courses will contribute to keeping abreast with the changes that are on the go, and will result in an effective prospective leaders training.

Dr. Margaret Noe was the American school leader who worked to craft and implement the partnership between Southeast Missouri University and the Vinnytsia Pedagogical University.

In the fall of 2008 I was serving as Dean of the College of Education at Southeast. I met Professor Svitlana Kuzmina from VSPU. She was encouraged to meet with me to pursue the idea of applying for a Fulbright exchange to bring her to Southeast as a visiting professor. I was supportive of the idea.

In addition to hosting Professor Kuzmina for a year, the college also hosted students from Vinnytsia as well as the Dean of the College during several years.

Dean Yamchynska was particularly impressed with her visit to Southeast to learn about Southeast's commitment to social justice. She was particularly interested in our American “immediate response to the needs of society and diversity in the era of globalization." She was impressed with our ability “to train prospective educators to be leaders, to face increasing diversity with tolerance and appreciation, and to address special needs kids". After her visit to the Cape Girardeau Autism Center, she commented “that she was impressed by people who have their hearts in the right places."

As a result of these successful exchanges, additional visits have been held between the universities and a partnership between the universities was established for the Teaching of English (TESOL) graduate program.

Finally, the perspective of Jenny Tripses, an American Fulbrighter who spent 4 months in Vinnytsia during the spring 2012 semester, proved to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The opportunity to live day in and day out in another culture enriches perspectives in so many ways. The most vivid impression however, is of the incredible Ukrainian people themselves who were extraordinarily dedicated, generous, and hospitable, living and working in circumstances most Americans would find challenging.

My Fulbright proposal was to promote school leadership preparation in Ukraine, which does not formally exist in the current system. From the beginning I recognized that accomplishing the goals of my Fulbright proposal would be more complex than it would have been if I'd taught a class, given a final, and posted the grades. Much of my work is a work in progress that will continue via technology and hopefully future visits to Ukraine.

The project that most closely relates to this paper is the Vinnytsia Dean Leadership Project which involves four interrelated stages: identification of Ukrainian higher education leadership needs, research on leadership best practices, determination of ways to apply best practice in Vinnytsia, and an implementation/evaluation plan. I returned to Vinnytsia fall 2012 to continue this work and hope to return to Ukraine for 2 to 6 weeks during 2018. Dean Tamara Yamchynska is the primary collaborator on this project. On April 26, 2012, I spoke to the deans and other administrators at VSPU on leadership. I explained my background, how I came to be in Vinnytsia, and the four interrelated stages. At the conclusion, I asked them to identify their most significant challenges. Leadership needs identified by the deans were:

Need for a comprehensive and integrated leadership curriculum, organized around a relevant and coherent model of education leadership development.

Need for professional trainings which will serve to supplement and enhance existing leadership skills and knowledge to impact education issues more effectively. Such trainings should focus on certain discrete leadership capacities (e.g. managing diversity, conflict resolution, personal and organizational effectiveness) as well as on subjects important to efficient leadership (e.g. juridical issues, public policy, personnel management, technology literacy). These professional development opportunities would be developed for appointed leaders (vice-rectors, deans) in higher educational establishments.

Need for more information on the experience of leadership training, provided in the USA and other countries. The international perspective is greatly valued in this country.

Dean Tamara and I have future plans for leadership development for university administrators based upon the needs presented by the deans. From that experience we will plan the next stage of leadership development using technology. This paper contributes significantly to our understanding of the next steps for leadership development in Vinnytsia.

I am also working with Dr. Svetlana Kalashnikova, Deputy Director of Higher Education at the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine. Dr. Kalashnakova provides professional development to high school directors (comparable to American principals). We have similar research and professional interests. That partnership continues.

Ukrainian and United States Partnerships for Educational Leadership

We have presented here the perspectives of Ukrainians who also see the need to reach out and learn about school leadership development. Based upon the perspectives of each author, we offer the following recommendations:

Value the relationships between friends and colleagues from another country which leads to appreciation of the cultural history of one's country

Learn about the culture and history of another and to appreciate the inherent differences

Recognize the opportunity to learn from others

Value reflection, self-criticism and analysis

Apply theories of leadership and continuous improvement as educators

Respect and value the opportunity for collaboration across cultures within a common framework of educator preparation.

While there may not be a formal leadership preparation program in Ukraine, elements of natural leadership are demonstrated by Vinnytsia educators. The leaders are visionary, adept at managing resources, collaborating with partners, creating a culture of learning, and understanding the larger political, social, economic, legal and cultural context. All of these attributes are part of the ELCC standards for educational leaders. It is evident from this exchange that the potential for a formal educational leadership program exists in the leadership of the university at Vinnytsia. The foundation has been laid. It is up to us to build upon that foundation.

References

1. Bologna Process. (2009). About the Bologna process.

2. Dantley, M., & Tillman, L. (2010). Social justice and moral transformative leadership: C. Marshall.

3. M. Olivia (Eds.), Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (pp. 19-34). New York: Allyn and Bacon.

4. European commission: Overview of the EACEA-Europe. Higher education in Ukraine.

5. Freire, P. (2002). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum International.

6. Fullan, M. (2003). The moral imperative of school leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

7. Furman, G. (2003). The 2002 UCEA presidential address. UCEA Review, 45(1), 1-6.

8. Issacs, W. (1999). Dialogue and the art of thinking together. New York: Currency House by Doubleday.

9. Larson, C., & Murtadha, K. (2002). Leadership for social justice. In J. Murphy (Ed.), The educational leadership challenge: Redefining leadership for the 21st Century: One Hundred-first Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education 2002 (pp. 134-161). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

10. Noddings, N. (Ed.) (2005). Educating citizens for global awareness. New York: Teachers College Press. Reid, A. (2000). Borderland: A journey through the history of Ukraine. Boulder, CO: Westview.

11. Sergiovanni, T. J. (1999). Rethinking leadership: A collection of articles. Arlington Heights, IL: Skylight Training and Publishing.

12. US Department of State. (2012, December). Bureau of educational and cultural affairs: Fulbright quotes.

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