Multiple hues: New Zealand school leaders’ perceptions of social justice

Social justice is a fluid and contested notion. In the absence of a nationally accepted definition of, and commitment to, social justice, New Zealand school leaders and their communities must interpret the nature and substance of this phenomenon. This article examines the perspectives of eight secondary principals who participated in the International School Leadership Development Network’s (ISLDN) study on leadership for social justice. Whilst not explicitly theorized as such, participant perspectives of social justice reveal distributive, cultural and associational dimensions. These notions are grounded in, and shaped by, seminal experiences of social justice and injustice, both personal and vicarious. They reflect the amorphous and tentative nature of school leaders’ social justice conceptions, and a clarion call for a wider professional conversation.