Educational Leadership and Antonio Gramsci

"Guided by one of the most significant figures of critical analyses of culture and power, Howard Stevenson provides us with an insightful and substantive analysis of the limits and possibilities of educational leadership. Books such as this are increasingly necessary in the politically charged climate of educational policy and practice right now."

-Michael W. Apple, John Bascom Professor of Education, University of Wisconsin, Madison and author of Can Education Change Society?.

"In this extraordinary work, Howard Stevenson both sets out a rigorous and highly relevant reading of Gramsci’s key ideas, and offers a devastating critique of neoliberal trends in education, its political conceptualisation, and the historical context that produced them. Focussing particularly on concepts of educational leadership, this is, at the same time, a crucial contribution to the sociology of education, an excellent introduction to Gramsci for any interested reader, and a profound and acute analysis of our historical moment and the political forces that have produced it. Stevenson and his collaborators demonstrate, if any of us needed reminding, that education is a crucial site of struggle that should be of concern to everyone, and his proposals for radical and transformative leadership are persuasive and inspiring."

-Jeremy Gilbert, Professor of Cultural and Political Theory at University of East London and author of Twenty-first century socialism and (with Alex Williams) Hegemony Now.

"In an age of multiple crises worldwide, Howard Stevenson rethinks leadership as an educative process through Gramsci’s notions of hegemony, organic intellectuals, and working in and against the neoliberal state in England and beyond. Importantly, this book points the way forward to transformational change in schools by linking leadership practices with social movements. If you are a school leader, university academic, union organiser, or parent and community activist who cares deeply about reimagining the future of schools and acting collectively to shape change in society, read this book and commit! A luta continua! (‘the struggle continues!’)."

-Lauri Johnson, Boston College, USA, Co-convenor, WERA (World Educational Research Association) Network for Educational Advocacy.

"A disruptive and welcome book, which asks us to rethink our idea of educational leadership so that we can use it to respond to our crisis-ridden times. Educational leadership, Stevenson argues, should not be the work of managers, but of organic intellectuals and popular movements. In its creative use of Gramsci’s ideas, the book is a welcome challenge to an orthodoxy that has narrowed our vision of educational possibility."

-Ken Jones,Head of Policy, Education, Equality and Social Justice at the National Education Union, and author of Education in Britain: 1944 to the present.

"Educational Leadership and Antonio Gramsci is a veritable call to pedagogical arms. Raising the urgent question of what form of leadership can rejuvenate the collective struggle for democracy and social justice, Stevenson insists that only a counter-hegemonic and educative one can prevent looming global catastrophe. A must read for our age of crises."

-Catherine Rottenberg, Professor of Media, Communications, and Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London and author of The Rise of Neoliberal Feminism.