Human Touch in Education Leadership, The: A Postpositivist Approach to Understanding Educational Leadership

Palestini advances a new theory of educational leadership seen through the dual lens of critical theory and the Ignatian vision and its practical implications. A truly novel approach, the author strives to acquaint administrators and students of educational administration with a different way of thinking about education and its administration. Possessing the knowledge and skills of leadership is only half the story, one must also develop a value system or philosophy that guides the leader's actions and provides the leader with the 'human touch.' To advance his theory, the author includes chapters that outline the Ignatian vision of leadership, discuss the critical approach to leadership and the integration of theory and practice, explore an organizational change process, and assess the effective implementation of positivism, the critical theory, and the Ignatian vision. The final chapter contains a practical application of this approach to a case study involving the very controversial topic of education tuition vouchers.

Robert Palestini is dean of Graduate and Continuing Studies at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has been a teacher, a principal, and a superintendent and has written six books on educational administration.