The following is a Message from the AEL Journal Volume 47 Issue 2
As the Australian Council for Educational Leaders, we continue to be encouraged by the strength of our community. With unprecedented attendance at our National Conference last year, State and Territory Branch professional learning opportunities also continue to attract exceptional numbers of participants. We celebrate both our longstanding members and new educators joining the ACEL community. For those reading the Australian Educational Leader (AEL) for the first time, we warmly welcome you to this journal.
The Australian Educational Leader (AEL) is a nationally and internationally recognised publication where practitioners share their expertise and challenges. AEL provides an opportunity to exchange current research and exemplary educational practice. Published quarterly, the Editorial Board carefully considers relevance when constructing themes that feature topics identified as areas of interest by educational professionals. In this, our second issue for 2025, we explore pluralism and leadership.
Effective leaders recognise that diverse perspectives, cultural backgrounds, and differences in cognitive approaches strengthen our educational ecosystem rather than create complication. It is this understanding, that diversity is our strength, that forms the foundation of pluralism in leadership. When leaders create spaces where multiple voices are genuinely enabled and valued, we create educational environments capable of addressing challenges through collaborative problem solving. When as leaders we apply strategy to culture design, authentic inclusion is the intersection where difference becomes a catalyst for innovation.
As educators, we know that the landscape of educational leadership, both in strategy and culture, has evolved significantly. Our conversations with each other often reflect approaches that are adaptive, authentically collaborative, and responsive to the uniqueness of each educational context. The question with complexity in its simplicity is: How will we, as educational leaders, continue to promote leadership that encourages and harnesses diversity in all its forms?
In a conversation with a member of our Queensland Branch last year, there was a point of distinction when discussing leadership in our respective schools, not what have we led, but whom do we lead. We must seek to understand the multidimensional nature of our individuality through perspective, cognition, and cultural environment. In his book, The End of Average, Todd Rose (2015) demonstrates how fundamental assumptions about standardisation can limit our potential. This raises the question for us all in education: How do we encourage difference in people amongst systems that value sameness?
The evidence of sustained progress in organisations where behaviours and actions of leaders who recognise that education itself is evolving from standardised models toward personalised pathways that enable individual strengths and cultural contexts is compelling. By facilitating connection and collaboration across difference, we cultivate learning environments where students and staff develop the intercultural competence and collaborative skills essential for a world without boundaries.
There is a cultural uniqueness to educational leadership in our Australian context. Outgoing ACEL Patron, Frank Crowther, makes this point in his reflective piece that highlights significant perspectives in educational leadership over the past six decades. His reference to Bob Dylan’s iconic song, “The times they are a-changin,’” reminds us of the pluralism inherent in leadership and the necessity for leaders to be adaptive to the ongoing challenges (Heifetz, 1994) they face and when working in different cultural environments. It is through seeking to understand the perspectives of others and then aligning those diverse perspectives towards shared goals that leaders can grow in awareness and knowledge. I would like to thank Frank personally not only for contributing this interesting piece to AEL but also for his long-standing commitment to ACEL and the important role he has played as Patron of this great organisation.
Understanding and embracing diverse perspectives is only one part of the equation. As leaders, our capacity to ask effective questions must include consideration of who is not in the room and whose voices have not been heard; students, administrative staff, support personnel, and others whose contributions are essential to our communities. This inclusion enables the shared design and implementation of purpose and goals through collaborative structures that engage all people, in both formal and informal leadership roles. What actions will we take to leverage diversity and create environments where all people can authentically learn and contribute?
Leadership is the ultimate exercise in humanity. It is through the relationships we nurture as leaders, those based on mutual respect and deep connection, that we can understand, capture, and mobilise the diversity of strengths in our teams. How will we as educational leaders encourage humility, actively seeking perspectives that challenge established norms while creating structures that distribute decision making? It is through leadership that we will build a shared future that acknowledges diversity of perspective, experience and thinking.
As we encounter the opportunities of tomorrow, may we draw inspiration from the dedicated professionals featured in this issue and to the ongoing pursuit of excellence in our learning profession.
References
Heifetz, R. A. (1994). Leadership without easy answers. Harvard University Press.
Rose, T. (2015). The end of average. Penguin Random House.