School Leadership in the Anthropocene
Four Pillars of an Intelligent, Humane Response
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21313784 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David Godfrey (0000-0003-3122-240X, Educational Leadership and Management, University College London, corresponding author), Rupert Higham (0000-0002-9363-4269, Educational Leadership, University College London), Monica Mincu (0000-0002-0934-7460, Educational Leadership, University College London) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 90 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 101-117 |
| Publication date | 2026-01-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Educational Forum (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0013-1725 • E-ISSN: 1938-8098 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00131725.2025.2490934 |
| OpenAlex | W4410149223 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 38 |
This article explores how school leadership can effectively respond to the challenges of the Anthropocene—an era defined by environmental and social crises. It presents four key pillars for fostering intelligent, humane leadership, underpinned by pragmatist philosophy combined with Raworth’s doughnut model. These are: bridging ideologies, shared agency, context relevance and intelligent and shared accountability. We invite further thinking and reflection on these pillars and their application
Anthropocene · Educational leadership · Environmental ethics · Pedagogy · Sociology · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Environmental Education and Sustainability · Environmental, Ecological, and Cultural Studies · Philosophy
The Anthropogenic Greenhouse Era Began Thousands of Years Ago
Relational agency
A Doughnut for the Anthropocene
Governing the Interlinkages between the Sustainable Development Goals
Socio-ecological Agency
The Ethics of the Environment
Teachers’ informal leadership for equity in France and Italy during the first wave of the education emergency
Why is school leadership key to transforming education? Structural and cultural assumptions for quality education in diverse contexts
Degrowth
Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change
The social shortfall and ecological overshoot of nations
Simon L. Lewis and Mark A. Maslin, The Human Planet
Leading sustainable schools
Environmental education leadership – the perceptions of elementary school principals as expressed in their drawings and explanations
School leadership and education system reform
Does Management Matter in schools
The dragons of inaction
Leadership and school improvement in France
Knowledge and Teaching
Agency and learning in the lifecourse
Planetary Boundaries
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |