Critical Education Policy and Leadership Studies The Intellectual Contributions of Helen M. Gunter

This edited collection is a Festschrift to Helen M. Gunter, a leading scholar in the field of education policy and leadership. We draw on the concept of the Festschrift as a collection of papers, or chapters, that recognise, honour, and celebrate the work and contributions of an esteemed academic. Gunter’s work has opened up the field of critical education policy and leadership studies and provoked, if not revitalised, scholarly thinking about the origins, structures, patterns and impact of the field. Gunter’s personal commitment to intellectual leadership of the field and public education resonates across all her scholarly works. 

The core intention of this unique collection is to recognise Gunter’s scholarly contributions as an academic, practitioner and public intellectual. Invited authors have been asked to reflect critically on ways in which Gunter’s work and intellectual support have influenced their own research, teaching and academicengagement. In their reflections, contributors not only speak to the intellectual work of Gunter but suggest how they have taken this work forward and how this has advanced the field of education as well as the production of knowledge. 

Introduction.- Section 1: Honour though collegiality.- Supervision as truth procedure.- Honour through collegiality: the intellectual legacy of Helen’s collaborations with students.- Wishful science and problems of perception: genetics in the service of entrenched privilege.- Section 2: Honour through continuation of tradition.- Continuing a troubling tradition: On Gunter and critical educational leadership.- Developing critical approaches to educational leadership.- Critical engagement and commitment to the field of educational leadership.- Helen Gunter and public education: Leading, teaching, and learning in and for an ethos of public service.- Intellectual histories, power and activism. Understanding and modeling plurality within educational life in the works of Helen M. Gunter.- Section 3: Honour through intellectual legacy.- From ‘Jurassic Management’ to a flourishing revival of critical studies of educational leadership: some reflections on the contribution of Helen Gunter and some encounters with her along the way.- Reimagining publics: Perspectives on the relational constitution of publics and the politics of reform.- Applying the framework of intellectual histories to explore leadership and leadership preparation in the Norwegian education context.- Atlantic Crossing: an intellectual biography of Caroline Benn.- Getting a word in edge-wise: Adventures in ELMA publishing.

Tanya Fitzgerald is Professor of Higher Education and Dean of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Western Australia. Tanya’s research interests span leadership and policy in higher education, the history of women's higher education, and educational biography. Tanya is Editor in Chief of the Handbook of Historical Studies in Education (Springer, 2020), and co-editor of the series, Perspectives on Leadership in Higher Education (Bloomsbury Academic, with Jon Nixon and Helen M Gunter) Her scholarly publications include numerous books, book chapters and journal articles and she is a regular contributor to social media debates. Current projects include a history of scholarly women and academic diplomacy, and an analysis of the biographies and career trajectories of vice chancellors of the top 100 universities.

Steven J. Courtney is Professor of Sociology of Education and Director of Research at the Manchester Institute of Education, University of Manchester. Steven’s research explores areas including education policy, system leadership, charisma, structural reform, depoliticisation and education privatisation, particularly in relation to the identities and practices of those constructed as educational leaders. He is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Critical Studies in Education and co-convenor of the MIE research group, Critical Education Leadership and Policy (CELP). His most recent book (2021) is ‘Understanding educational leadership: Critical perspectives and approaches’ with Bloomsbury, co-edited with Gunter, Niesche and Trujillo. He is currently investigating former school leaders’ experiences of leaving the headship.