Reflections on the Knowledge Base in Law and Ethics for Educational Leaders

Abstract

Often law and ethics are seen simply as boundaries within which school administrators are free to exercise their professional prerogatives. Such a view equally misrepresents the nature of these fields and the responsibilities of school leaders. The authors, participants in University Council for Educational Adminstration's (UCEA) Knowledge Base Project, argue that the concepts and logic of law and ethics permeate school decisions. School leaders, moreover, take an active role in the exercise, interpretation, and thoughtful development of these traditions—rather than being passive recipients of them. Therefore, they should regard these traditions as a resource for, not a contstraint upon, effective administrative action. In this light, programs for the preparation of school leaders should integrate these traditions, as well as other major intellectual domains, across the full range of administrative decision making.