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Fear and the Preparation of School Leaders

The Role of Ambiguity, Anxiety, and Power in Meaning Making

University of Texas at Austin

Curtis Brewer

University of Texas at Austin

An uncertainty has developed around the "core technology" of preparing educational leaders, making the general public question whether, in particular, university professors know what they are doing. This sense of ambiguity can also be found within the professoriate, where questioning of the knowledge base, standards, pedagogy, and university expectations have become a new norm, promoting reflexivity, uncertainty, and fear. Such uncertainty is neither healthy nor unhealthy in and of itself; the outcome depends in large degree on how it is fostered. In this article, we examine two contemporary reports that critique educational leadership preparation, viewing their critiques and recommendations as exercises of power within the context of late modernity. Using Nyberg's (1981) work on modes of power, Fraser's (1989) work on problem definition and contemporary work on the politics of fear (e.g., Glassner, 1999; Gonzalez & Delgado, 2006), we analyze the content of the reports and their impact.

Key Words: leadership preparation • late modernity • educational context • social construction of meaning • power

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