Diversity and Inclusivity: Implications for Leaders in the Postsecondary Context
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2021-08-13
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Abstract
Leaders of most postsecondary institutions in Alberta, Canada, have stated that their institutions are committed to diversity and inclusion. These commitments are situated in a complex educational climate in which leaders navigate drivers of change such as increased diversity in the student demographic and an increased demand for social justice issues to be addressed. How do postsecondary leaders make meaning of diversity and inclusivity in current educational settings? There is a dearth of research on how leaders of postsecondary institutions in Alberta who have a publicly stated commitment to values of diversity and inclusion make meaning of these concepts. Even less is known about how these concepts inform leadership practice in postsecondary contexts. I engaged a qualitative descriptive case study methodology, as framed by Merriam (1998). I gathered data using a relational approach with semistructured interviews, a reflexive research journal, field notes, and artifacts shared by leaders. After analyzing the data, five themes emerged: leaders draw on personal sociohistorical experiences; leaders navigate implicit bias; leaders engage their institution’s strategic direction on diversity and inclusivity; leaders encounter issues of representational diversity; and finally, leaders situate diversity and inclusivity issues in the provincial sociopolitical context. To gain an in-depth understanding of how the leaders make meaning of diversity and inclusivity, I designed an integrated social justice leadership framework for diversity and inclusivity. Underpinning this framework are the praxis-dimensions-capacities framework for social justice leadership (Furman, 2012), ways of knowing from constructive development theory (Drago-Severson & Blum-DeStefano, 2017), and the work of Canadian critical race and social justice scholars Malinda Smith, Carl E. James, George Sefa Dei, and Anne Lopez, as well as British-Australian scholar Sara Ahmed. The knowledge generated from this research contributes to the literature on postsecondary leadership, diversity, inclusivity, and succession planning for a shifting campus culture.
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Zinyemba, M. (2021). Diversity and Inclusivity: Implications for Leaders in the Postsecondary Context (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.