Educational Leadership Commons^™

Girls As Thriving Leaders: Cultivating A Community Of True Belonging In An All-Girls School, Lisa A. Ziebart

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

In an all-girls school, what conditions are required to authentically cultivate a community of true belonging? This inquiry explores what girls need in schools today to support each other now and as women. This Organization Improvement Plan is developed for an all-girls Canadian independent school. Challenges in maintaining true belonging stem from the systemic, patriarchal structure of education. This gap creates a culture of scarcity and competition, which leads to intragender microaggression. To implement change in this organization as an informal leader and teacher, I use a participatory-based approach that aligns with the feminist-transformative theoretical lens. The ethic of community …