Considering race: conceptualizing educational innovation through followership

This qualitative research project seeks to answer how BIPOC educators experience their role as followers when conceptualizing educational innovation. 10 BIPOC educators took part in semi-structured interviews that revealed how they make meaning of followership, leader-follower dynamics, follower identity formation, and actions of followers during a heightened time period of educational innovation. This study heavily draws from both the fundamental principles found in followership scholarship and the chosen theoretical framework of this study, critical race theory (CRT). The thematic findings include the ways in which BIPOC educators perceived their role as followers, how BIPOC educators felt they were perceived by their leaders, and how leader-follower dynamics influenced educational innovations. This research showcases how considering a socially constructed identity can alter the contours and dynamics of followership and thus, educational innovation. Implications include recommendations for educational institutions, the future study of followership scholarship, and both researchers and practitioners in the field of school leadership and management.