Bringing utopian visioning to educational leadership: participatory action research as professional learning

ABSTRACTThis article describes the Future Creating Workshop (FCW) and explores how it can create learning forums for participatory leadership. We investigate how FCW can be an effective form of professional development for educational leaders and explore what leaders learn from implementing FCWs in their settings. The FCW, a three-phase participatory process, invites community members to identify a pressing problem, critique reality, dream about possible futures, and take steps toward realizing new futures. This research was a shared process between leaders and four participants at the Mandel Teacher Educator Institute, an intensive professional development program for pedagogical leaders. Using a participatory narrative inquiry methodology, the participants wrote detailed narratives about their implementations of FCW and subsequent reflections. Through thematic data analysis processes, we identified three thematic strands: ‘changing my narrative’ about self as leader, listening as leadership, and the complexity of participatory leadership. First, by describing ways that their leadership narratives change – from less confident to more, from resigned to more optimistic – they noticed shifts in their relationship to self. Second, by engaging in a process that required attuned listening to stakeholders, they described shifts in their relationship with people they lead. Third, by enacting a form of participatory leadership, they saw how the burden of action could be shared with stakeholders. By inviting collaboration, democratic exchange of ideas, negotiating disagreement, and shared dreams of a better future, the FCW models a form of participatory leadership that can strengthen the fabric of communities and relationships between communities and leaders.KEYWORDS: Participatory action researcheducational leadershipprofessional developmentprofessional learningFuture Creating Workshop (FCW)Critical Utopian Action Research AcknowledgmentsThe authors thank Mary Brydon-Miller and Sharon Feiman-Nemser and the anonymous reviewers for their generous feedback.Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. An online shared bulletin board space where participants can post ‘post-its’ with comments.