This article explores the imperative of fully incorporating the practice of “listening” within educational administration preparation programs. The purpose behind this exploration is to validate and substantiate the need for “open listening” in university classrooms so that those who are to be educational leaders will have models that habituate them to pedagogical social justice. The article begins with an examination of democratic pedagogy and democratic leadership practice, focusing on listening and the relevance of listening for learning and for leadership. The second part of the article is an authentic case study that presents an opportunity to link theory to practice by means of a complex real-life dilemma in which listening plays an important role. The article concludes with a section devoted to examples of learning activities that are designed so that all in the classroom are placed in a position of listening intently and respectfully to one another.
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