Programa Liderazgo Educativo, Ecuador: A qualitative case study of an experiment in transformational leadership, education and community development

Abstract

This highly personalized qualitative study explores a community development and educational leadership project conducted in Ecuador, South America, between 1998 and 2000. The Programa Liderazgo Educativo (PLE) is strongly grounded in the “conceptual framework for moral leadership”, which was developed by Eloy Anello, Juanita de Hernández, and others at Núr University in Santa Cruz, Bolivia (the PLE was a collaborative project between Núr and the Ecuadorian Ministry of Education).

Seeing increased interest around the world, the PLE utilizes teachers as agents of change (i.e. leaders) at the grassroots level. This is done by focusing on both personal and social transformation. Personal transformation is attempted first by an examination of mental models, followed by a proposed alternative mental model called human “essential nobility”. The program also posits that humanity is entering a new stage of collective maturity—an important historical perspective that provides a positive vision for humanity's future. To achieve its goal of social transformation, the PLE walked its participants through the process of creating actual community development projects.

This study explores the participants' impressions of the program, paying particular attention to the following areas: spiritual and religiously-inspired principles, mental models, alternative concepts in the area of sustainable community development, servant-leadership, and “capabilities-based development”.

This study is significant for three reasons. First, previous studies by Núr and the Ecuadorian government found that teachers were deeply affected by the program, but there was no research representing the participants from an emic perspective. Therefore, this qualitative study uses ethnographic tools to provide readers with a rich description of the participants' experiences, often in their own voices. Second, this study's deep analysis can assist program developers in making improvements. Third, this is the first qualitative study of the PLE in English. The PLE's materials will soon be published in English and it is believed that interest in the program will continue to increase. Therefore, the study provides an important, descriptive, English-language snapshot of the program's implementation in Ecuador.