Troubling women - Jill Blackmore

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Feminism as a social movement has historically been a force for educational change. However, in this book Jill Blackmore argues that the particular approaches taken by feminist theory towards educational leadership now require reviewing in the light of the radical restructuring of educational systems. This is because new forms of managerialism, while seemingly sympathetic to so called 'female styles of leadership', have produced a value shift which is troubling for many (but not all) women in leadership. The book provides an historical overview of educational management and the 'masculinist' models embedded in leadership and organizational processes, an analysis of equal opportunities policies and their different strategic approaches and effects, presents new research on how educational restructuring has produced specific dilemmas for women in educational leadership and finally offers a series of issues and principles which are premised upon centralised decentralisation and market liberalism. While situated in Australia the book will be of interest to both educational practitioners and policymakers as well as postgraduate students and academics in the field of administration, management and policy in all education systems.