School Eldership: Drawing upon Experiential Wisdom of the Elders in Leading Catholic Schools

The pandemic has exposed a deficiency of leadershipLeadership wisdom in public life. Schools have emerged from the crisis as very different places. Headteachers have been called upon to make both wise and pragmatic decisions often alone and in the face of unprecedented fear, and very human tragedy. They bear the weight of the community upon their shoulders and the burden of increasing expectations. The yoke buckles with rising intensity; more to carry, yet nothing taken away. People are different now; priorities are different; children have changed. We can see the world through a different lens now. The meaning of education and, indeed, the very meaning of life appears to be shifting. We are caught in a curious form of ontologically duple binary where nothing and yet everything is the same and, equally, where nothing and yet everything is different. At this precipice of rapid and radical, transformative change, the spotlight falls upon the need for a new visionVision of leading in faith and education. If humanity is, possibly, moving through another paradigm shift, if this is another critical turning point in philosophical thinking, it is an opportunity for profound human and spiritual growth, and it calls for a deeper wisdom. LeadershipLeadership may no longer be sufficient; what is called for is a new paradigm of Eldership. In this chapter, I set out the principles of my auto- and ethnographic research into the concept of Eldership; who are the EldersElders and in which historical, theological and social contexts do they ‘eld’? What qualifies an Elder? Who appoints or pronounces them? I argue why we, in education, urgently need Elders rather than simply leaders at this critical shift. My quest is how to find them, to bring them together, to capture and draw upon their wisdom and to seek to shape a new vision for leading Catholic schools.