ACADEMIC GENERATIONS EXPLORING INTELLECTUAL RISK TAKING IN AN EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

We examined intellectual risk and risk-taking behavior in educational leadership preparation programs and investigated the intersection of academic generations within a community of practice, that is, doctoral learners and faculty. The literature review examines several perspectives upon risk and risktaking which includes cultural milieu and sex and ethnic differences. We tender suggestions for addressing risk and for further research.

Introduction

As educational leaders, we are and will be continually challenged to get the better of new obstacles, address issues, take risks, and improve our organizations beyond the point at which we penetrateed them. Educational leadership preparation programs are implored to enable graduate pupils to become the leaders who will face these difficult challenges. As faculty in those programs, we ask doctoral entrants to play simultaneously and effectively their part as students while preparing them for their professional characters in public schools, colleges, and universities after step completion (Antony, 2002; Austin, 2003; Golde 2000; Weidman, Twale, & Stein, 2001) In other words, we ask doctoral learners both to learn to take coming time professional risks and to face generally received personal risks, but we haven't always been effective as faculty at modeling and preparing them to do for a like reason Furthermore, little has been written about the leader as risk-taker (Bennis & Nanus, 1985; Kehrer 1989) the pair in terms of academic generations, that is, by what mode doctoral students learn to deal with risk in leadership situations or by what mode faculty prepare them to be risk-takers. The object of this paper is to explore in what manner cultural milieu and gender differences affect risk-taking behavior in leadership preparation programs by the agency of investigating the intersection of these academic generations, that is, doctoral scholars and faculty.

Cultural Milieu of the Community of Practice

Education is a culturally conservative profession that rewards conforming rather than manful behaviors. In fact, McCarthy (1999b) characterizes educational leadership programs, in particular, as complacent and unresponsive to extremitys for reform. After her national close attention she concluded that educational administration is fairly self-satisfied, indicating perhaps, les inclination to take risks. Nyquist (2002) calls for innovation in PhD programs; on the other hand innovation often involves risk. She calls upon doctoral programs to espouse and support creativity and adventurous research, a put in motion away from what traditional educational leadership may have valued. While teaching growing and change to students, the faculty in the field of education may be deliberate to change their programs or to purposefully take risks.

Pallas (2001) struggles that traditional developmental models that prepare educational leaders have proven ineffective primarily because these patterns assume naively that adult learners are passive learners and their "personal epistemologies" are irrelevant to the research processe they undertake. Instead he subscribes to a different paradigm that "ascribes agency to newcomer and dioceses generational encounters between newcomers and aged timers as opportunities for community learning and the disclosure of change practices" (Pallas, p 7) Wenger (cited in Pallas) introduced the community of practice prototype that advocates preparing students for epistemological diversity (thinking from novel and diverse bases), a goal that includes simple bodys of risk on the part of learners if not their faculty mentors.

A more balanced sex demographic in educational leadership departments might make less their heavily conforming nature. According to McCarthy (1999a), between the early 1970 and early 1990 women faculty in educational leadership departments increased tenfold through the mid 1980s many in the field predicted that the influx of women faculty into educational leadership departments foreshadowed dramatic changes in the professional agriculture But, by the end of the 1990 women appear to beed to have adopted the attitudes of the predominantly male departments, and significant changes did not materialize. She speculated about what might have been a depressed tolerance for taking risk in hiring of recent origin (and different) faculty with innovative perspectives. This may have occurr early in search processe or later in manner [i]or[/i] principle of holding decisions by weeding out the adventurous and the risk-takers, on the other hand the result remains the same, greater "similarity in attitudes between fresh and veteran faculty" (McCarthy, p 207) of that kind practices do not portend changes in the preparation of educational leaders at the doctoral horizontal or the inculcation of and comfort with risk taking behavior.

Antony (2002) vies that one's professional role may not always be congruent with one's value combination of parts to form a whole a distressing, risky situation. Antony advises that ones who are marginal, pose alternative viewpoints, and challenge normative expectations are precisely the intellectual risk-takers who will advance the professional leadership field beyond its in every one's mouth boundaries. He encourages departments to socialize of recent origin entrants to be responsive to their be in possession of individuality in the context of further exhibition of a field rather than reproducing the status quo