Educator Perceptions Regarding Leadership Skills and Dispositions for Enhancing Multicultural Education

Background: Leadership within education is extremely difficult and complex for a variety of reasons. The information environment is constantly changing and evolving with participants in classrooms, offices, and organizations each regulating their own words, deeds, and actions, affecting how the aggregate of the environment will react. Educator perspectives regarding leadership skills and dispositions for enhancing multicultural education are at the root of leadership development to gain knowledge and experiences and provide value to teaching environments through the integration of life lessons. Variables today require leadership to embrace and communicate critical thinking skills to enhance knowledge, skills, and dispositions from multiple viewpoints. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to determine the perspectives of educators regarding leadership skills and dispositions within multicultural education. Research Question: What were the perceptions of educators regarding leadership skills and dispositions to enhance multicultural education? Methods: Qualitative case study research was conducted through the application of two semi-structured interviews and one focus group. My convenience sample consisted of five secondary-level teacher leaders. The participants were chosen through social networking and their roles as both teachers and leaders within their schools. Initial interviews assisted in determining a comprehensive understanding of leadership perceptions along with member checks. The setting and procedures for the interviews were conducted online as a result of COVID. The interview questions were comprised of open-ended questions about multicultural education for coding upon the completion of each interview. A second interview was conducted with each participant for member checks, extensions, and updates. Finally, a focus group was conducted with all participants present following all current CDC policy and procedures, to compare and continue to code for comparisons about multicultural education. The data was taken from each interview and through coding, determined the development of patterns and emerging themes. Patterns and themes began to develop as each participants’ interviews were analyzed and parsed for keywords. Results: Educational leaders that were able to adapt and apply new behaviors, skills, and dispositions were effective within multicultural education, complex environments such as virtual and in-person learning during COVID-19. Multicultural education is the systematic process to influence diverse organizations of cultures, norms and beliefs, teach skills, decision-making processes and behaviors that provide a society with malleable, contributing members able to apply cognitive approaches to problem solving. Educational leadership within multicultural education instilled processes to integrate and utilize both power and influence within complex systems such as multicultural education. When trained, education leaders within multicultural education could learn to use the information environment to create conditions that enabled learning, gain consensus within groups, and achieve success. Conclusion: The study suggested that educational leaders within multicultural education benefited from the integration and application of malleable behaviors such as adaptation, adapting to one’s environment, and the ability to adapt to complex problems. Skills such as energy, individualization, and future orientation build leaders to move out of comfort zones and into areas that require education and application tailored to different audiences in a host of varied environments.