Leading educational change for environmental sustainability : mothers' leadership practices in the literacy community

Abstract

This study examines how mothers in a literacy community in Indonesia lead educational change for environmental sustainability not through positional authority but through moral conviction, relational practices, and ongoing work to transform values within families and communities. In a context where environmental degradation disproportionately affects women and children, and where grassroots mothers' networks remain unrecognized as sites of educational leadership, this study argues that households and literacy communities are not peripheral to environmental change, but rather where it begins. Guided by three research questions, this study explores how mothers lead environmental change through their involvement in literacy communities; how their practices reflect dimensions of transformational leadership in family and community contexts; and how these practices contribute to outcomes and challenges in the development of environmental values and behaviors. Drawing on Leadership for Change theory (Fullan, 2001) and Transformational Leadership model (Bass & Riggio, 2006), this study recontextualizes frameworks developed primarily within formal organizational settings to illuminate informal, values-driven leadership within communities founded by and for Indonesian mothers. This study adopted a qualitative case study design with thematic analysis. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews with five mothers, five fathers, five children, supplemented by participant observation and program documentation to corroborate the mothers' accounts of their partners and children. The analysis was conducted using Quirkos for thematic mapping and Discourse Network Analysis tools, with four themes emerging. The mothers' environmental leadership is grounded in moral purpose rooted in parental roles, spiritual values, and a keen awareness of environmental degradation. Literacy activities and structured discussions within the literacy community progressively develop mothers' environmental understanding and consistently extend it to family life through pedagogical practices. The mothers exercise relational leadership, prioritizing trust-building before influencing others, differentiating their approach for each family member, and empowering rather than simply directing. This means that the nurturing empowerment style of leadership is not completely addressed in the existing theories of transformational leadership. There are practical implications for the family, especially the reversal of teaching from the environment as the kids start correcting the parents amidst the structural challenges such as poor waste management systems, which go beyond household leadership.