Title: Appreciating Young Women and Their Leadership: A Strength-Based Approach to Leadership Development with High School Student Leaders
Abstract: Significant leadership expectations are placed on young women in high school contexts. With few opportunities to practice leadership prior to entering formal leadership roles, along with minimal attention paid to the preparation and generation of personal leadership knowledge, it can be difficult for young women to articulate the support they may need to be effective leaders. Traditional approaches to leadership development frequently draw on Eurocentric, patriarchal discourses located in frameworks aligned to adult learning that may not be culturally or contextually relevant, or fail to pay attention to the needs of young women leading within and beyond their school communities. As such the importance of involving young people in designing their learning experiences so that their needs can be better met is becoming well known (Bragg, 2007; Fielding, 2009; Taylor & Robinson, 2009). Flowing from this enhanced recognition are student-centered learning approaches fixated on the notion of student voice. Student voice is a notion of inclusion whereby a student's ideas, perceptions and understandings about the world are sought (Rudduck & Flutter, 2000). However, the essentialization of student voice and the treatment of all students as a homogeneous group, irrespective of differences such as gender, has led to the critique that the concept of student voice requires further scrutiny and awareness in order for it to be an inclusive and fruitful notion for all involved (Robinson & Fielding, 2006; Thomson, 2011). Focus is now turning towards the creation of youth-adult partnerships that foster and provide spaces for students to share their voices (Bolstad, 2011).Literature ReviewLeadership development is essential to provide youth with the skills and concepts necessary to make positive change across peer groups, schools and community (Funk, 2002). However, despite this, youth leadership has remained an often-neglected concept in school settings (Karnes & Stephens, 1999). When given the opportunity to lead, young people often take their leadership roles on board, knowing only what they have experienced themselves (Fiske & Taylor, 1984). However, many adults do not perceive this as a strength, but rather a limitation, and place young people in deficit models of leadership development. Popper (2002) believes young people bring their own ideas of what makes an effective leader, and many experiences influence these ideas such as past role models and previous involvement in leadership positions. These ideas can be powerful in shaping young people's leadership practice. As such, the formative experiences of leadership learning and practice provide an essential foundation upon which young women stand and demonstrate leadership (McNae, 2011). Coming to know these experiences becomes essential in the consideration of young women's leadership development.Young Women and LeadershipWithin the secondary school context there are powerful socializing factors that impact young women. Mullen and Tuten (2004) suggest that:...Opportunities for developing females as leaders coexist with the constraints of sex role stereotyping. It is possible that new ideas and improved practices are gradually being produced within the imperfect systems of secondary education, but in what form and to what extent remains to be seen. (p. 292)Gender is a prominent and recurring theme within youth leadership research literature; however, much of the research literature is focused on university students with little focus on secondary school students. The work of Kezar and Moriarty (2000) found that gender had a significant influence on students' self-perceptions of leadership ability. Their findings illustrated men often ranked themselves more highly than women, with women noting an increase in their learning about leadership but not necessarily their ability to lead. They found that women often had a lower perception of themselves as leaders than men and that participation in leadership learning opportu- nities, such as development programmes, was a strong predictor of future leadership ability for many women. …
Publication Year: 2015
Publication Date: 2015-10-01
Language: en
Type: article
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