Centering Relationships in Leadership Preparation

Relationships are central to the work of school leaders; however, little is currently known about how leadership preparation programs provide learning experiences for students which develop their relational abilities and orient them to adopt a relational stance in their work. The purpose of this paper is to fill this knowledge void by describing leadership preparation experiences provided through the IMPACT program. Specifically, we describe the IMPACT program and present the unique program features which exemplify how leadership preparation programs can create meaningful learning opportunities to achieve the following: (a) equipping students with the knowledge and skills needed to foster transformative relationships within their school communities; (b) nurturing students’ holistic development and well-being. Program features include university–school–community partnerships, student recruitment and selection, cohort model, leadership seminars, the curriculum and pedagogy, internship experiences, student mentoring and coaching, and post-graduation support. We use the literature on caring, compassionate school leadership, leader preparation, and mentorship to frame our discussion. Finally, we offer recommendations which enable leadership preparation programs to capitalize on the power of relationships in leaders’ development and, more broadly, school improvement processes.