Using Values: a Qualitative Analysis of Ethical Dilemmas Encountered by Australian Lutheran Secondary School Principals

Abstract

Recent studies of effective leadership for schools suggest relationships between the work of principals and beliefs, values and theoretical knowledge. However, it is not clear how these relationships work. In schools of the Lutheran Church of Australia the situation is complicated by expectations that principals will be operating with a Lutheran Christian world view. The precise nature of the role of world view in determining professional action has not been fully researched. This study made use of analysis techniques grounded in symbolic interactionism to examine the construction of meaning and rationale for professional actions by Lutheran secondary school principals. It sought to understand the impact of value on meaning and decision in ethically challenging situations. The central question of this research was: What values influence the reflection of Australian Lutheran secondary school principals as they address ethical dilemmas in their work? Drawing on the accounts given by three Australian Lutheran secondary principals to provide data for analysis, and making use of membership category analysis techniques, the study found that three statements could be made: 1. There is evidence in the accounts to suggest that the way principals perceive dilemmas is the result of a filtering process where some facts ate not fully considered prior to action. 2. There is evidence in the accounts to suggest that the filtering process is more strongly influenced by sub-rational and trans-rational values than by rational values. 3. There is evidence in the accounts that each piincipal has a world view that is partially shaped by values implicit in the Christian tradition. These findings are tentative because of the limited scope of the research. They have implications for the theoretical literature, suggesting that mote attention needs to be given to the impact of trans-rational and sub-rational values as filters of perception in difficult decisions. 'The findings suggest that any study of the reflection of school principals in ethically challenging situations should take into account the power of non-rational values to be a lens that distorts what is considered in the reflective process'. They also have implications for further research by those interested in Lutheran schools and those interested in the importance of values in shaping perception. Finally they have implications for those who prepare piincipals for Lutheran schools, suggesting the need for a clearer articulation of a philosophy for Lutheran schooling and for the development of the habit of critical reflection in Lutheran principals.