by Fenwick W. English, Rowman and Littlefield Education, Lanham, Md., 2007, 98 pp. with index, $19.95 softcover
Fenwick English, the Wendell Eaves distinguished professor of educational leadership at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, argues in his latest book that the current standards for school leadership, abbreviated as ISLLC/ELCC, fail to recognize the concepts of empathy, compassion and social justice or to require them as part of graduate programs in educational leadership.
At the outset, Anatomy of Professional Practice: Promising Research Perspectives on Educational Leadership presents English’s argument that today’s administrators need to have compassion, in addition to all the business elements of our profession, to become effective leaders. Citations from John Dewey and a myriad of researchers are used to support his argument. He explores teaching as an art, reflecting the current thinking about producing global citizens and the future need for right-brain, creative individuals.
Fenwick asks, “What social relations does it produce?” in his anatomy of professional practice. Effective leadership cannot be devoid of the human dimension, he adds, claiming today’s continued use of traditional business approaches to school leadership miss this element.
While his book has a place in the continuum of research on educational leadership, it is a difficult read. In Chapter 2, English becomes excessively verbose and throws around such terms as regnant, effaced and nescience. The verbiage eclipses the importance of the message for practitioners.
Of special value is the summary in Part 10, which delineates the essential elements of Fenwick’s argument.
Reviewed by Elaine Giugliano, superintendent, Wood-Ridge Public School District, Wood-Ridge, N.J.