Emerald Publishing Limited Leading Educational Systems and Schools in Times of Disruption and Exponential Change: A Call for Courage, Commitment and Collaboration

About the Author Patrick Duignan is Emeritus Professor at Australian Catholic University, Australia. He has been involved in education for over 50 years as a teacher, as a deputy principal and principal, and in a number of positions from lecturer to professor and Dean in tertiary education institutions. Product Description Schools and school systems are increasingly impacted by global disruptions and rapid changes that create unprecedented challenges and opportunities for their leaders and educators. School leaders need to prepare students for faster changes than ever before, to learn for jobs that have not yet been created and use pedagogically-informed technologies to transform the ways in which teachers, students. and parents relate and collaborate. Current and future technological transformations provide opportunities for transformative change through the potential for connectivity and networking for educators locally, nationally and internationally.This book provides an analysis of the impact of disruptive environments on education. It closely examines and synthesizes international literature on how educational systems in a number of countries are successfully transforming educational delivery processes to better prepare students for an increasingly disrupted world.This invaluable text will prove indispensable for educational professionals and researchers engaged in informing and transforming policy making, leadership training and development, and quality learning and pedagogy in schools. Review Leading educational systems and schools in times of disruption and exponential change offers deep insight into the complex, metrics-dominated and radically evolving contexts in which leaders are currently immersed. Professor Duignan cautions us about pursuing old solutions to new challenges and constructs a compelling case for how leaders might adopt radically new approaches to their work. While the scale of this challenge can seem overwhelming, Patrick Duignan reveals the breakthrough opportunities it presents. He draws on the wisdom of authentic leadership research to guide contemporary leaders towards human-centred and values-guided clarity, when their moral compass might otherwise be spinning wildly in these times of unparalleled change. Professor Duignan’s insights apply to leadership generically but he applies them in depth to educational contexts. This is a ground-breaking work of hope, purpose, progress and inspiration for all educational leaders. -- Dr Greg Morgan In this book Patrick Duignan provides a comprehensively-researched account of the need for change in the way we approach educational leadership. His challenge is for us to act with urgency despite complexity and ambiguity, and to withstand the pull of gravity dragging us back to a safer, more orderly version of schooling. What education systems do, how they do it, and the way in which they are led, must change or else those education systems will become irrelevant. His firm belief in the role of ethics, human-centred learning, leadership that is authentic, and positive cultures provides the stability that will help us to navigate the unknown. Duignan provides an essential resource for educational leaders that is designed not to spook or preach but to stimulate and motivate. -- Trent Moy Education has always been a dynamic enterprise within which the challenges of change have been a constant. However, in this deeply considered, thoroughly researched and finely nuanced work, Patrick Duignan applies considerable voltage to our understanding of the dynamism urging educational leaders to positively and urgently embrace the new narratives brought about by disruption and exponential change. He describes a world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity and poses questions about the relevance of a model of schooling in which flexibility, agility and adaptability struggle to find a place. More than ever educational leaders are called upon as reformers