Leading with Purpose? New Language and Lenses for Considering Educational Purpose and Analysis of Purpose Statements in Australia, Singapore, Finland and Japan

The purpose of education, viewed as a wicked problem, requires critical examination, particularly in the context of policy that may shape leadership in schools and systems. Given that purpose is a complex and multidimensional construct, it requires multiple frameworks for a comprehensive exploration. We build on Gert Biesta’s three domains of education, qualification, socialisation and subjectification, by developing a novel typology of different perceived benefits of educational purpose and then explore the tensions inherent within these. The benefits typology is derived from the literature specifically exploring educational purpose since 2000, and we employ a tensional analysis framework to untangle competing and interrelated benefit perspectives and identify the paradoxes, dilemmas, dualities and dialectics inherent in purpose statements, which in turn have significant implications for the challenges educational leaders must navigate. We apply this new lens and language for reflection and consideration of purpose by using the framework to examine purpose statements from four international contexts (Australia, Singapore, Finland and Japan), illustrating new ways of conceptualising and analysing the complexity of educational purpose. By extending Biesta’s framework with additional theoretical and practical approaches for educational leaders and researchers seeking to critically examine dominant purpose narratives, this paper makes a small but significant contribution to development of more holistic, sustainable and equitable conceptions of educational purpose in a rapidly changing and increasingly complex global landscape.