Generations and Generation X

A few key ideas and issues inspired us to begin our exploration of GenX school leadership in Global Cities. Here are the big ones:

The importance of school leaders. We believe in the importance of school leaders in creating safe and inspiring places for teachers and students to learn and develop. We believe that an education system is only as successful as the leaders and teachers they identify, nurture, develop, and retain. We believe in high standards for all work that happens in schools, but we are equally committed to high levels of support for all school-level professionals to continuously improve their practice.

The patterns of generational difference at work. At the same time, we are intrigued by research evidence related to generational differences and how temporal forces shape the understandings, behaviours, and approaches of each successive generation. There is a growing body of research examining how generational differences influence workplace expectations, dynamics, and aspirations. While we acknowledge the differing opinions about generational theory, our review of the empirical generations at work evidence  from business, psychology, and sociology research points to generational patterns that warrant further exploration. When we started the research had been little traction of the generations at work evidence within education research and policy communities. To contribute to this small but important field of research, we are interested in: 1) whether identified generational differences play out similarly within schools and school systems; and/or 2) what the implications are for future policy and practice scenarios.

The current theoretical evidence-base on educational leadership – boomer-based? We have observed the possibility that much of the current evidence base into the practice of school leadership involves experienced school leaders who, based on years of experience alone, are often boomers. We wondered if the current evidence related to leader identification, recruitment, development, and retention may not reflect the realities and needs of a new generation of leaders. We believe this potential evidence gap may become more important as the number of GenX school leaders increases.

The emergence of GenX school leaders. In our travels, we observed baby boomer (born 1945–65) school leaders retiring and/or moving on from their posts, and a new generation of school leaders taking the helm. This pattern appeared to be more prominent in city schools, where teacher and leader turnover often appear to churn more quickly. While we assumed that the new generation of leaders was predominantly from GenX, we also observed several from Generation Y (born 1981–2003). The rate of entry of new young leaders into the system is variable, and we are exploring the demographic data to get a better idea of how the trends are playing out in each city. However, even accessing the overall demographic patterns of young leaders is proving difficult in some cities.

In theory, GenX leaders represent the future of their local and national education systems. However, we believe the issues and propositions above highlight the need for a renewed examination of leadership careers, practice, and aspirations to ensure that policy and practice leaders responsible for the identification, development, and support of leaders can meet their possibly shifting expectations and needs.

Work with Schools, Leaders and Advocates

We have been honoured to share our findings at the annual London Mayor's Education Conference. We have published professional articles on Generations at Work for the Ontario Principals' Council (OPC) Register magazine. We have also traveled internationally to share our findings on Generations at Work via keynote addresses and workshops in:

In the press

Our research and findings on Generations have been featured in a UCL IOE Learning@London Research Briefing, Professional Development Today. We have also written several blogs on Generations at work for the Institute of Education blog:

Papers and reports

Our first paper from the study was published in School Leadership & Management entitled A review of the empirical generations at work research: implications for school leaders and future research. We have presented papers on the study at BERA on our overarching conceptual thinking for the study. We have also published early reports on the emerging patterns from our GenX leader interviews for London,  New York City and Toronto and network events. 

We have also been actively sharing findings at the following conferences: