From complexity to a simple project that works:

Abstract

Resolving the complexities involved in managing a school that strives for social justice in the current Spanish educational context is the subject of this chapter. To this end, the chapter explores the experience of the successful Iliberis Secondary School in the town of Atarfe, Granada, Spain. Based on ISSPP research protocols, a multiple perspective and mixed method case study was conducted. The results obtained show the complex relationships between the structures and the processes that the school leadership implemented to achieve the success of Iliberis school. Iliberis faced contextual complexity and challenge with a clear sense or purpose and vision, with solid structures and concrete strategies from which diverse leadership approaches were applied. This case study has gathered knowledge about the successful leadership of this school through the understanding of the practical wisdom of the Iliberis school’s professionals. Therefore, this example about the Iliberis school serves as an evidence of how it is possible to lead a school through a simple and coherent project that “works,” starting from the difficulties involved in the struggle for social justice within the complexity of the current Spanish educational system.