The getting of wisdom of a school leader

This study is an interpretive narrative that seeks understanding of self as a human being and as a school leader through examining my lived experiences over seventeen years. To interpret my reflections on these experiences, I retell and interrogate my narratives and some writings of contemporary aut...

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Main Author: McCarthy, Terence Francis
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Curtin University 2008
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/757
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author McCarthy, Terence Francis
author_facet McCarthy, Terence Francis
author_sort McCarthy, Terence Francis
building Curtin Institutional Repository
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description This study is an interpretive narrative that seeks understanding of self as a human being and as a school leader through examining my lived experiences over seventeen years. To interpret my reflections on these experiences, I retell and interrogate my narratives and some writings of contemporary authors on leadership and on the purposes of education. I develop propositions about leadership that provide me with preliminary understandings about leading others. After listening to various professional voices heard as I participated in local, state and national professional activities Australia-wide, I am compelled though to go beyond my propositions and subject them to more intense scrutiny, drawing on the works of philosophers such as Aristotle, Plato and Aquinas, to broaden and deepen my understanding of self as a school leader. I come to a desiring of a virtuous kind of leadership that is deeply moral and ethical. This eros, this passion for understanding, provokes a turning point in my study towards looking for guidance and inspiration from various religions such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, about possibilities for wisdom and virtue in leadership. Thus, my narrative, the getting of wisdom of a school leader, releases new insights about the role of self-knowledge, love and “the good” in leading education.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-7572017-10-02T02:27:18Z The getting of wisdom of a school leader McCarthy, Terence Francis interpretive narrative school leader religions leadership purposes of education human self understanding This study is an interpretive narrative that seeks understanding of self as a human being and as a school leader through examining my lived experiences over seventeen years. To interpret my reflections on these experiences, I retell and interrogate my narratives and some writings of contemporary authors on leadership and on the purposes of education. I develop propositions about leadership that provide me with preliminary understandings about leading others. After listening to various professional voices heard as I participated in local, state and national professional activities Australia-wide, I am compelled though to go beyond my propositions and subject them to more intense scrutiny, drawing on the works of philosophers such as Aristotle, Plato and Aquinas, to broaden and deepen my understanding of self as a school leader. I come to a desiring of a virtuous kind of leadership that is deeply moral and ethical. This eros, this passion for understanding, provokes a turning point in my study towards looking for guidance and inspiration from various religions such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, about possibilities for wisdom and virtue in leadership. Thus, my narrative, the getting of wisdom of a school leader, releases new insights about the role of self-knowledge, love and “the good” in leading education. 2008 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/757 en Curtin University fulltext
spellingShingle interpretive narrative
school leader
religions
leadership
purposes of education
human self understanding
McCarthy, Terence Francis
The getting of wisdom of a school leader
title The getting of wisdom of a school leader
title_full The getting of wisdom of a school leader
title_fullStr The getting of wisdom of a school leader
title_full_unstemmed The getting of wisdom of a school leader
title_short The getting of wisdom of a school leader
title_sort getting of wisdom of a school leader
topic interpretive narrative
school leader
religions
leadership
purposes of education
human self understanding
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/757