‘Transforming dialogue’. Within the literature on the cultivation of a common vision of equity, the development of collective wisdom is often linked to transformational language practices. For example, in his study of how we might shape a democratic future by transforming education policy, Xxxxx (2011, p. 134, italics in original) identifies a ‘democratic approach’ to leadership that ‘reflects a valuing of student voice and professional participation’ and in particular aspects of ‘transforming dialogue which aims to enhance understanding’. Xxxxx describes a UK secondary school that has a Leadership Forum similar to the EAG reported by Xxxxxxx and Keddie (2011), but which supplements this forum with a School Council. The School Council meets once a month to discuss problems and develop action points in response to issues that pupils put forward via ‘student representatives’ (ibid, p. 137). These issues include such things as the school dress code and access to the library at lunchtime, and the pupils believe that the School Council system ‘works well’ and is democratic (ibid, p. 137). In the words of the Head Boy: ‘”The smallest person with the quietest voice can make a difference” through the School Council’ (ibid, p. 137). According to Xxxxx, the model of distributive leadership adopted by this school enables the school principal and ‘students in key positions’ to both play roles ‘as critical democratic actors’ (ibid, p. 135). Similarly, in their study of school leadership and equity in New Zealand primary schools, Xxxxxxxxx and Xxxxxx (2007, p. 100) identify ‘Team Talk’ as ‘a very inclusive way of actively including every child in the school in discussion and play’. Before lunch and playtimes, ‘the class, as a community’, sits together in a circle, and the children ‘plan among themselves what would happen when they went out to play, as ‘an inclusive way of dealing with any potential problems’ (ibid, p. 100). In some of the literature on leadership and equity, the development of transforming dialogue is supplemented by the gathering of background data. For example, in her study of the utility of transformative leadership theory in practice, Xxxxxxx (2010, p. 560) explores the practice of two US school principals ‘who have successfully “turned their schools around,” making them more inclusive, socially just, and academically successful’. The first principal identified small groups of ‘willing teachers’, and asked them to collect data about the background and progress of every chil...
