Mindfulness for Educational Leadership in the 21st Century

About the Book

This book proposes a method for making educational systems and their curriculum leaderships in Sub-Saharan Africa—particularly Uganda—relevant, functional, and generative in the current unfolding of a fast-paced, technology-driven future that prompts questions about educational leadership in a society where many traditional educational systems are failing. The book poses the following question: What might constitute effective leadership in our heightened global nexus of realities often described as globalization? Nonhuman technologies are moving people away from connections that once strengthened human relationships and fostered collective actions. Too many workplace pressures and demands cause educational leaders to function on autopilot without involving others in the process of mindful leadership of educational reform. Focusing on mindfulness, its application in different educational settings, and its advantages for educational leadership, this book argues that contemporary meditation practices and their benefits can inform effective, successful twenty-first-century leadership practices in Africa, particularly Uganda. It draws on numerous theories from literature in the fields of business and management, medicine, psychology, theology, and the social and behavioral sciences. The selected theories represent the growing research grounded in contemporary thoughts on leadership epistemology, with inclination toward the mindfulness that grows out of regular practice of meditation. The book concludes with the argument that collective, mindful educational leadership emerges when all stakeholders are able to participate in the leadership of their institution or school and contribute to the entire system’s development. If practiced regularly, mindfulness would conduce to healthier collaborative behavior that would markedly improve Ugandan and other African educational systems. This kind of mindful leadership requires each stakeholder to lead from inside the self and interconnection with others in a profound way. This means leading by listening attentively and intently and embracing one another’s voice nonjudgmentally for the common good.

About the Author

Elizabeth Nakayiza, RSCJ, PhD, is a senior lecturer in history and curriculum studies at the University of Kisubi in Uganda, formerly a Constituent College of Uganda Martyrs University, where she served as dean of the Faculty of Education before taking a sabbatical leave in 2015. Elizabeth is a member of the Uganda/Kenya Province of the Society of the Sacred Heart, an international Catholic congregation of religious women, where she has served in various leadership capacities. She has travelled widely in Europe, the US, Canada, and Africa in service of her religious institution.