Joseph Levitan, "Responsive Leadership and the Complexity of Interpreting Participants’ Voices: An Example from the Peruvian Andes"

 

Leadership in Education Seminar Presentation
 

Friday, November 18th, 2015 – 10:00 to 11:00 am, Coach House Room 200

Mr. Joseph Levitan

Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania

Working towards social justice in education requires that community voices be heard and understood. However, understanding community voices is a complex process that requires thoughtful interpretation. In this talk Mr. Levitan presents three years of collaborative qualitative data collected while working with rural Quechua (Indigenous) communities in the Peruvian Andes to facilitate high-quality, culturally grounded education for secondary school students. He examines and compares students’, parents’, and policy makers’ aspirations and expectations of education, and then reflexively considers the implications of their voices for responsive educational leadership. The study interprets participants’ voices through postcolonial theory, feminist theory, development theory, and critical theory to understand the complexity and possibilities for developing responsive education policy and curriculum. Findings highlight a need for multiple perspectives of interpretation and an iterative process of research and practice when working with non-dominant groups in international and multicultural contexts. The findings also build connections between culturally grounded education development and social justice in theory and practice. Mr. Levitan then discusses the implications of this research for educational leaders who work with diverse groups or groups who have cultural backgrounds different from their own.