Culturally responsive leadership in mediatized education settings

Abstract

This study explores how critical media literacy interacts with the way emergent education leaders respond in culturally diverse environments. As the demographics of students and teachers in public schools and universities in the U.S. continually flourish, there is an increasing indication that the cultural gap is widening. The resulting friction and resistance amid continuous social, political, and economic uncertainties can be attributed to diminishing empathy and resistance to diversity, encompassing the fatigue experienced within culturally diverse school settings and undermining cultural responsiveness. By incorporating coding and analyses of data from a subset of 12 subjects purposively selected from a pool of 21 interviews, this qualitative research demonstrates that emergent leaders in education who have a multidimensional and critical understanding of media are more likely to have a higher degree of responsiveness to cultural diversity and differences and are less likely to experience cultural fatigue. It argues that the integration of media literacy in a culturally responsive curriculum encourages collective efficacy and critical consciousness in educational systems change and leadership.