Preparing public school leaders for culturally, linguistically, and religiously diverse communities : an exploratory multiple-case study of faculty in Thailand

Abstract

This exploratory multiple-case study—using an application of transformative learning as its conceptual framework and using cross-case synthesis and constructing grounded theory as its analytic approach—aimed at examining how Thai faculty conceive of their teaching roles. This study collected data from six Buddhist faculty who prepared prospective school leaders for culturally, linguistically, and religiously (CLR) diverse communities in Thailand’s southmost region, where Malay Muslim are the majority. Two-interview series were conducted in addition to document collection and classroom observation. The findings suggested the faculty’s flexible notions of Thainess, which extended a historically and culturally dominant concept and resonated with their views of culturally, linguistically, and religiously responsive school leadership (CLRRSL) practices. They described three dimensions of CLRRSL including (1) ascertain the community context, (2) build school-community relationships, and (3) collaborate with school teachers to enhance the academic success of CLR diverse students. Based on these practices, faculty perceived their teaching roles as training school leaders to comprehend CLRRSL concepts and to develop their critical and flexible mindsets. These findings uncover gaps in the way faculty members expected and taught prospective school leaders to learn the CLRRSL concept although the concept did not embrace in the professional standards for Thai school leaders. Finally, the findings of this study suggest Thai government agencies to include the CLRRSL concept in the professional standards for school leaders, to train in-service school leaders to affirm CLRRSL work, and to prepare faculty members in leadership preparation programs for CLRRSL training.