Decolonising Leadership in International Education

ABSTRACT This study articulates the journey, across more than six decades, of one black woman from birth through schooling to international school leadership. The purpose of the study is to open a debate about the challenges faced by women of colour in leadership roles in international schooling to be seen and heard. This is necessary firstly because it is only in the last decade that women of colour have started to be deliberately seen and heard in these roles, and secondly because the matter of colour and gender has largely been invisible in the decolonisation of leadership within international schooling. This act of invisibilisation undermines the perspectives of black women. It can therefore be argued that if such perspectives remain absent from the discourse, the decolonisation of leadership in international schooling cannot begin. This study introduces the reader to the role silence and invisibility play in international school leadership. Using the methodology of autoethnography, I am able to explore decolonisation through personal and professional narratives and show how these narratives uncover the role of silence and invisibility in a life led and attempts to illuminate the drive to decolonise international schools, from the perspective of one woman of colour. The narratives that are structured across the four phases that cover four distinct periods: 1. Colonial period and early life in Guiana (1956-1968) 2. United Kingdom: student and early career (1968-1981) 3. International career in schools and beyond (1981-2010) 4. Return to Europe and beyond (2010 -2021)