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This review has been accessed times since March 28, 2009

Harris, Belinda (2007). Supporting the Emotional Work of School Leaders. London, England: Paul Chapman Publishing, SAGE Publications Ltd. Pp. 193         ISBN 978-0-7619-4468-3

Reviewed by Robbie J. Steward
Michigan State University

March 28, 2009

This book will either affirm readers’ belief that all administrators must have an extensive background in organizational psychology and psychotherapy, or provide concrete evidence that the two disciplines should be maintained as separate entities within program development endeavors in education reform. The author’s compelling narrative, which includes carefully constructed cases of teachers, administrators, and school settings, informs readers of the potential affective overload incurred during external presses for individual and systemic change. Each chapter, which includes experiential prompts, encourages personal reflection about one’s work in the schools, and raises questions about administrative practices that ignore emotional states of all parties, including themselves, in the process of moving school settings toward improved outcomes for all students.

The first two chapters address the influence of reform efforts on the already overloaded, affective state of stressed and disadvantaged communities wherein many of the failing schools exist. Readers should be cautioned in reviewing the opening that seems to suggest that the book is the result of a tightly-designed, qualitative study. Although chapter one loosely uses research-related technical jargon (i.e., data, empirical base), this is where the traditional structure of an empirically-based research manuscript ends, being instead followed by descriptions of carefully-described cases that highlight the effect of change on systems. Throughout the text, the flow of the writing is consistently balanced and the language content is written at a level that results in an interesting and easy read.

Chapter three highlights the importance of developing effective working alliances that result in inclusive learning communities that sustain personal and professional emotional growth and school change. This chapter provides an excellent overview of how “emotional literacy” (p. 36), which is typically reserved for work with individual and small group counseling relationship, might be useful in conceptualizing organizational resistance and teachers’, students’, and parents’ uneasiness with those who enter educational settings as change agents. Use of this theoretical grounding and integration of models of administration and psychology, specially gestalt theory, provides the basis for the authors’ premise that effective leaders in educational reform must have knowledge and training in psychological theory and some success in the implementation of multiple counseling strategies. The author purports the notion that change agent leaders must enter schools with the same sensitivity and care that mental health practitioners have with clients.

Chapters 4 to 9, the bulk of the text, provides the crux of the author’s premise: effective leaders within educational settings will facilitate and support “each person’s active engagement in meaningful dialogue, deep learning and collaborative agency….the leader has a duty to care to attend to their (i.e., classroom, school, educational community or wider social environment) emotional needs and recognize how these might otherwise undermine their most concerted efforts to support, care for and mobilize others.” (p.6) Questions that facilitate change agents’ thinking about the influence of culture, personality, background, history and experience are appropriately infused throughout each related chapter. These strategically placed ‘exercises’ provide personal space for readers to reflect on who they are and the parts of themselves that influence how they have functioned in the past. The author clearly advocates that there is an unavoidable connection between self-reflection and understanding and efficacy as one engaged in educational reform. The author purports that only through this process can an administrator or a leader in educational settings affect positive change; and, though it is not explicitly stated, it is implied that many negative outcomes in educational reform may be the direct result from leaders’ inattentiveness to themselves as emotional beings, and consequently, their inattentiveness to others within the system. Failure results and the status quo of failure is maintained.

The cases of school staff selected for inclusion are most meaningful in that the readers are led to consider how negative outcomes can ensue in the presence of highly competent school staff and as natural consequences from ‘normal’ behavior that is typically assumed to be supportive, nurturing, and effective ways of coping. For example, in Chapter 4 the author describes how the introduction of an enthusiastic, informed, and outstanding teacher with novel practices, who is unaware of the affect of her presence on others, might create problems instead. In chapter 6, an experienced and astute administrator brings in a dynamic head teacher, but does not anticipate how their emerging friendship/camaraderie would unexpectedly de-power the administrator and re-position the new hire in a greater position of authority.

The author’s passion about her work and compassion about the population served are evident in her proposal for all administrators. It is apparent that her counseling and pastoral background is significant influences in the way that the cases are conceptualized and interpreted and the care and concern for others’ involvement and emotional state are considered priority. In addition, evidence of her pastoral background is also relatively stark in terms of an emphasis on respect and patience. The well-written narrative is a labor of love that seems to have evolved from the author’s personal reflections about who she is and carefully ties together all aspects her ‘self’.

However, there is also some uneasiness that might emerge for some readers. As one who has assumed leadership positions within school and university settings and who also have an extensive background in Counseling, I was reminded of the intellectual ‘stress’ that can occur when one discipline’s theoretical underpinning is stretched to fit another distinctly setting or environment. On the first reading, I considered the author’s argument as convincing, however, after reflecting on the content, I recognized the utility of the text as a means of beginning discussions about the DEGREE of importance of in-depth attention to ‘affect’ in the process of educational reform. Although I completely understand and accept that counseling and psychological theory can and does apply in both individual and systemic change endeavors, the degree of the application is not addressed by the author, nor are the limitations of her premise explored. Can one person strategically manage a system in a manner that will avoid self- and other-wounding (Chapter 6) as they also enhance staff members’ functioning and students’ academic performance? Can leaders within the school setting manage their own psychological-emotional issues, respond effectively to the personality/emotional issues of all others, and not negatively react to others’ psychological issues that are heightened by the external press for improved states of functioning? Can one in positions of authority/leadership have this emotional awareness without extensive training or at least ongoing consultation with one who does have this training? At what point do attention to and respect of individuals’ and collective affective states impede systemic change? What are the cases in which over-attention to affective states of all parties involved actually limits efficacy in educational reform? These questions might have been answered in a tightly designed qualitative study the relationship between leaders’ attention to emotional states of all involved parties on intervention outcomes. This book does not provide these answers, but will certainly move readers to re-think whatever stance they have prior to exposure to this content. Although this book provides a somewhat skewed perspective, it also has the capacity to provoke deeper reflection that will lead to additional questions about the qualities of an effective leader in the school setting. If readers are able to move beyond any initial discomfort associated with a sense of being asked to do and be all things to all people as one moves toward optimal educational outcomes, an ‘ah-ha’ experience that is associated with increased insight can occur. The chapters flow in a provocative manner that will lead readers to grapple with the utility and meaningfulness of attention to emotion in efforts to shift cultural norms within failing educational systems.

In summary, this book is a must read for all teacher-educators, counselor-educators, school administrators, teachers, and school counselors, who are involved in program development to enhance students’ academic performance. The author, an Associate Professor at the School of Education, University of Nottingham, England, carefully integrates her knowledge and experience as a secondary teacher, curriculum and pastoral leader, community liaison teacher, school counselor, and gestalt psychotherapist in inner city, urban populations (p. 6), into a set of information and case descriptions that highlight the importance of attending to individual and collective emotional states that ensue during the process of shifting individual and systemic change.

About the Reviewer

Robbie J. Steward is Director of the MA Counseling program and Professor in the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology & Special Education at Michigan State University. She is currently examining the influence of counselor-trainees’ cognitive-psychological-emotional characteristics on their development of counseling competence. Her research interests include multicultural counseling training, counseling supervision, and the identification of non-cognitive variables that influence academic success in K-12 and undergraduate university student populations.

Copyright is retained by the first or sole author, who grants right of first publication to the Education Review.

Editors: Gene V Glass, Gustavo Fischman, Melissa Cast-Brede

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