School Leaders Symposium

Hosted by the College of Education, Greater Saskatoon Catholic School and Saskatoon Public Schools.

Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. 

October 17, 2022

Abstract: 

The symposium was part of a research project entitled “Parental Engagement with School Leadership: Preparing principals for work with culturally and linguistically diverse Newcomers”

The purpose of the projects is to: (1) examine the experiences of school principals and Newcomer parents with school leadership, (2) examine the opportunities and challenges faced by parents and school leaders in educational communities characterized by diversity, and (3) provide insight for effective ways of preparing principals for work with culturally and linguistically diverse newcomers.

The project aims to seek answers to the following questions. (a) What do school principals and newcomer parents consider as critical to their experience with school leadership; (b) How does the experience with school leadership in Saskatoon and the Newcomers’ location of origin differ; (c) What are the inconsistencies in beliefs, or values, and actions, that newcomer families representing cultural diversity and school leaders experience in their interactions; (d) What are the cross-cultural barriers that school leaders and the newcomer families encounter in their interactions; (e)What types of interactions between school leaders and newcomer families are most likely to trigger  inconsistencies in their beliefs / values and actions, (f) What are the values and beliefs of school leaders that contribute to  these inconsistencies; (g) What supports have the potential to minimize episodes of inconsistencies in values and actions  and to build cross-cultural understandings between school leaders and newcomer families; and (h)What are the gaps in principals’ preparation for working with EAL newcomers.

This information will help to build better relationship between school leadership and newcomer families; it will also help to make the school leadership more effective as society becomes more   culturally diverse.

The symposium was used as a forum for sharing findings and engage with leadership from two school division to seek meaningful ways in which central office can support school leaders in their work with culturally and linguistically diverse newcomer families.