Pragmatic Holism in Practice: Autoethnographic and Ethical Reflections on Becoming an Educative Leader in Diverse Contexts
Reynold J.S. Macpherson （ Affiliated to University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, retired ）
https://doi.org/10.37155/2972-4856-jei0304-7Abstract
This paper offers an autoethnographic and ethical analysis of becoming an educative leader through six higher education roles and experience as a system policy advisor. Educative leadership is defined by its educative intent and outcomes and evaluated against both teleological and deontological criteria. Using an interpretivist methodology, autobiographical data were analysed to construct a practical theory of educative leadership that spans philosophy-in-action, strategy, politics, culture, management, and evaluation. The study identifies the application of diverse moral philosophies in practice, including Kantian deontology, rational consequentialism, pragmatism, relational ethics, social contract theory, and teleological ethics. Findings suggest that effective educative leadership benefits from integrating multiple ethical frameworks, enabling principled yet context-responsive decision-making across varied domains of practice. Pragmatic holism is highlighted as a particularly flexible and adaptive ethical foundation, allowing leaders to balance competing principles while remaining sensitive to institutional constraints, cultural diversity, and real-world complexities. Reflective practice emerges as essential for navigating tensions between moral commitments, practical outcomes, and relational responsibilities. While self-reporting limits generalisability, this study contributes to the development of ethical leadership frameworks and underscores the importance of ongoing research to refine and adapt moral philosophy for diverse educational contexts.
Keywords
Higher education; Autoethnography; Moral philosophy; Educative leadershipFull Text
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[50].Sartre, J.-P. (1946). Existentialism is a humanism. Yale University Press.
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[52].Sergiovanni, T. J. (1992). Moral leadership: Getting to the heart of school improvement. Jossey-Bass.
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[55].Starratt, R. J. (1996). Transforming educational administration: Meaning, community, and excellence. McGraw-Hill.
[56].Tracy, S. J. (2010). Qualitative quality: Eight “big-tent” criteria for excellent qualitative research. Qualitative Inquiry, 16(10), 837-851. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800410383121
[57].Van Maanen, J. (2011). Ethnography as work: A review of research approaches to studying professional work. Journal of Management Studies, 48(1), 218-235. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00972.x
[58].Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (6th ed.). Sage Publications.
[2].Altbach, P. G., Reisberg, L., & Rumbley, L. E. (2019). Trends in global higher education: Tracking an academic revolution. Springer.
[3].Aristotle. (2004). Nicomachean ethics (R. Crisp, Trans.). Cambridge University Press. (Original work published c. 350 B.C.E.)
[4].Barnett, R. (2020). Thinking and rethinking the university: The selected works of Ronald Barnett. Routledge.
[5].Begley, P. T. (2001). In pursuit of authentic school leadership practices. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 4(4), 353-365.
[6].Benneworth, P., de Boer, H., File, J., Jongbloed, B., & Westerheijden, D. (2021). Between cross-border cooperation and local embeddedness: The specificities of higher education institutions in a globalizing context. Springer.
[7].Bolton, G. (2014). Reflective practice: Writing and professional development (4th ed.). Sage Publications.
[8].Brookfield, S. D. (2017). Becoming a critically reflective teacher (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.
[9].Bryman, A. (2016). Social research methods (5th ed.). Oxford University Press.
[10].Chang, H. (2008). Autoethnography as method. Left Coast Press.
[11].Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). Sage Publications.
[12].Cunliffe, A. L. (2016). On becoming a critically reflexive practitioner. Journal of Management Education, 40(6), 747-766. https://doi.org/10.1177/1052562916675613
[13].Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. Kappa Delta Pi.
[14].Duignan, P. A., & Macpherson, R. J. S. (1992a). Creating new knowledge about educative leadership. In Duignan, P. A., & Macpherson, R. J. S. (Eds.). Educative leadership: A practical theory for new administrators and managers. (pp. 1-17). Falmer Press.
[15].Duignan, P. A., & Macpherson, R. J. S. (1992b). A practical theory of educative leadership. In P. A. Duignan & R. J. S. Macpherson (Eds.), Educative leadership: A practical theory for new administrators and managers (pp. 171-185). Falmer Press.
[16].Elliott, J. (2012). The critical tradition: Aristotle, Marx, and Habermas. In M. Murphy (Ed.), Social theory and education research: Understanding Foucault, Habermas, Bourdieu, and Derrida (pp. 47-62). Routledge.
[17].Ellis, C., Adams, T. E., & Bochner, A. P. (2011). Autoethnography: An overview. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-12.1.1589
[18].Flew, A. (1984). A dictionary of philosophy (3rd ed.). St. Martin's Press.
[19].Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Continuum.
[20].Flyvbjerg, B. (2006). Five misunderstandings about case-study research. Qualitative Inquiry, 12(2), 219-245. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800405284363
[21].Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. University of California Press.
[22].Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women's development. Harvard University Press.
[23].Greenfield, T. B. (1975). Theory about organization: A new perspective and its implications for schools. In M. G. Hughes (Ed.), Administering education: International challenge (pp. 71-99). Athlone Press.
[24].Guba, E. G., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1994). Competing paradigms in qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 105-117). Sage Publications.
[25].Hodgkinson, C. (1981). A new taxonomy of the administrative process. Journal of Educational Administration, 19(2), 141-152.
[26].Hodgkinson, C. (1983). The philosophy of leadership. Basil Blackwell.
[27].Hodgkinson, C. (1991). Educational leadership: The moral art. SUNY Press.
[28].Hodgkinson, C. (1996). Administrative philosophy: Values and motivations in administrative life. Elsevier.
[29].Kant, I. (1785). Groundwork of the metaphysics of morals. Cambridge University Press.
[30].Kant, I. (1909, 1956). Critique of practical reason. Liberal Arts.
[31].Kerr, C. (2001). The uses of the university (5th ed.). Harvard University Press.
[32].Levin, H. M. (2001). Education and the economy. Brookings Institution Press.
[33].MacLure, M. (2013). Researching without representation? Language and materiality in post-qualitative methodology. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 26(6), 658-672. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2013.818408
[34].Macpherson, R. J. S. (1992a). Rebutting West to reassert the need for philosophical education for educational administrators and researchers. Australian Educational Researcher, 19(3), 87-90.
[35].Macpherson, R. J. S. (1992b). History, organisation and power: A preliminary analysis of educational management in Tasmania. School Organisation, 12(3), 269-288.
[36].Macpherson, R. J. S. (1993a). Administrative reforms in the Antipodes: Self-managing schools and the need for educative leaders. Educational Management and Administration, 21(3), 40-52.
[37].Macpherson, R. J. S. (1997). The Centre for Professional Development at the University of Auckland: Towards creating networks of moral obligations. International Journal of Educational Management, 11(6), 260-267.
[38].Macpherson, R. J. S. (1999a). Building a communitarian policy of educative accountability using a critical pragmatist epistemology. Journal of Educational Administration, 37(3), 273-295.
[39].Macpherson, R. J. S. (1999b). He kaupapa whakamana mo Aotearoa (An endorsement program for New Zealand). In R. J. S. Macpherson (Ed.), Cultural nation-building in New Zealand. Centre for Professional Development, University of Auckland.
[40].Macpherson, R.J.S. (2025). Still approaching my prime: An autobiography, SPBRA.
[41].Marginson, S. (2018). Higher education and the common good. Higher Education, 75(4), 473-487.
[42].Mill, J. S. (1863). Utilitarianism. Parker, Son, and Bourn, West Strand.
[43].Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2015). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation (4th ed.). Jossey-Bass.
[44].Morgan, G. (1980). Paradigms metaphors, and puzzle solving in organization theory. Administrative Science Quarterly, 25(4), 605-622.
[45].Morgan, G. (1986). Images of organization. Sage.
[46].Noddings, N. (2005). The challenge to care in schools: An alternative approach to education. Teachers College Press.
[47].Newman, J. H. (2008). The idea of a university (M. J. Svaglic, Ed.). University of Notre Dame Press. (Original work published 1852).
[48].Rogers, C. R. (1961). On becoming a person: A therapist's view of psychotherapy. Houghton Mifflin.
[49].Saltmarsh, J., & Hartley, M. (2016). To serve a larger purpose: Engagement for democracy and the transformation of higher education. Temple University Press.
[50].Sartre, J.-P. (1946). Existentialism is a humanism. Yale University Press.
[51].Schwartz, S. H. (2022). Values and behavior: Applying a theory of integrated value systems. Cambridge University Press.
[52].Sergiovanni, T. J. (1992). Moral leadership: Getting to the heart of school improvement. Jossey-Bass.
[53].Smith, J., & Thomas, L. (2023). The role of values in educational leadership: Bridging theory and practice. Educational Leadership Review, 42(2), 115-130.
[54].Stake, R. E. (1995). The art of case study research. Sage Publications.
[55].Starratt, R. J. (1996). Transforming educational administration: Meaning, community, and excellence. McGraw-Hill.
[56].Tracy, S. J. (2010). Qualitative quality: Eight “big-tent” criteria for excellent qualitative research. Qualitative Inquiry, 16(10), 837-851. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800410383121
[57].Van Maanen, J. (2011). Ethnography as work: A review of research approaches to studying professional work. Journal of Management Studies, 48(1), 218-235. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00972.x
[58].Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (6th ed.). Sage Publications.
Copyright © 2025 Reynold J.S. Macpherson
Publishing time:2025-09-25
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
