Understanding the underrepresentation of visible minority school leaders through Critical Race Theory and counter-storytelling
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Date
2021-03-27
Authors
Bahadoosingh, Aneil
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Abstract
This thesis aims to explore why visible minority school leaders are underrepresented in metro Winnipeg schools. Given the changing demographic as Winnipeg continues to become more diverse, it is both timely and urgent to understand the problem of underrepresentation so as to suggest ways to foster greater diversity among leadership. The significance of the study is thus to examine the barriers for visible minorities as they progress to leadership positions within Winnipeg schools. Existing literature has illuminated individualized experiences of racial minority leadership at the center of their research and looked at barriers for hindering the number of visible minority school leaders, such as colorblindness, tokenism, a lack of social capital, and white sanction. This study uses a Critical Race Theory (CRT) framework which centers on the centrality of racism in social institutions to understand the issue of underrepresentation and engages counter-storytelling as both a methodology and a strategy of resistance. This study thus applies qualitative interviews with visible minority school leaders, focusing on the voices of the participants, as utmost importance. Participants’ voices are used to create a counter-story that is often left out of the dominant discourse, and the counter-story helps protect the identity of participants. The counter-story is a creation of composite characters Daya and Ashley and themes generated from participant experiences, as well as my own personal and professional experiences. A key understanding from this study is that visible minority individuals are inadequately represented because visible minorities encounter numerous barriers while some become educational leaders through perseverance. Thus, this study suggests ways to move forward and address systemic racism by exploring the role of mentorship, professional development, and white allies in helping visible minorities achieve their leadership aspirations.
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Keywords
Critical Race Theory, Counter-storytelling, Visible minority school leaders