Minority School Leadership during Crises: Global and Cross-Continental Perspectives
To be published by Routledge, as part of the Routledge Research in Educational Leadership series
Editor: Mary Gutman | mgutman@emef.ac.il
Abstract submission deadline: 15 September 2025
We invite chapter proposals for an international research monograph that places educational leadership in minority and minoritized communities under acute crisis at the center of analysis. While the field of educational leadership has grown in recent years, there remains a critical blind spot when it comes to understanding how school leaders from marginalized communities navigate the compounded pressures of crisis and exclusion. This volume directly addresses that gap by examining how minority school leaders act, adapt, and advocate in the face of war, forced displacement, political oppression, economic collapse, ecological disaster, and cultural erasure, contexts where both survival and educational continuity are under threat. By focusing specifically on how leadership is enacted within minority communities during times of extreme instability, the volume foregrounds the ethical tensions, strategic choices, and identity-based challenges these leaders face. It brings to light the often-overlooked voices of those working on the frontlines of crisis, not only as administrators, but as cultural mediators, protectors of community identity, and agents of resilience.
The book is organized conceptually around four types of crises that shape the work of minority educational leaders:
- Minority School Leadership in Political and Social Crisis Contexts
- School Leadership for Minorities in Contexts of Resource Scarcity, Economic Crisis and Workforce Shortages
- Minority and Minoritized School Leaders as Mediators in the Reality of Security Tensions and Wars
- Minority School Leaders’ Response to Natural Disasters, Ecological Crisis and Infrastructure Damage
Authors are invited to submit 300-word abstracts by September 15, 2025, to Mary Gutman at mgutman@emef.ac.il. Please clearly indicate which of the four above conceptual strands the proposed chapter aligns with. Full chapters of up to 4,000 words will be due by December 31, 2025. All chapters must be based on empirical research—qualitative, ethnographic, or mixed-methods—and may draw from both local and transnational experiences. For more about the editor, visit Mary Gutman’s ORCID profile.