Leadership development programs: investing in school principals

Considering that some university-based principal preparation programmes may not be properly training principals for leadership roles, “grow your own” leadership development programmes have become more popular across the US. This study provides a contribution to previous research in terms of the specific components a district leadership development programme may incorporate into its curriculum in order to positively influence school principals’ effectiveness as school leaders. A purposeful sample of second-, third- and fourth-year campus principals working in a large urban school district in the south-west region of the US who had participated in their district’s leadership development programme were administered the Principal Effectiveness Survey and participated in semi-structured interviews to examine the influence of the programme on the participants’ effectiveness as leaders. Survey results indicated that principals consider training activities related to human capital, executive leadership, school culture and strategic operations as having a “high” influence on their effectiveness as school leaders. In addition, interview data revealed the importance of supervisor support and building relationships with peers as critical to their continued success as leaders.     

Does the curriculum matter in peer mentoring? From mentee to mentor in problem‐based learning: a unique case study

Peer mentoring has been used for many years by the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine to integrate new students into the academic and social culture of the institution. In 2001, an unusual situation arose. A problem‐based learning (PBL) curriculum was introduced and the first cohort in this programme was mentored by senior traditional curriculum students. The present study, by canvassing the 2002 PBL mentors, set out to determine whether the mismatch in curricula impacted on students' mentoring experiences. There was overwhelming agreement that curriculum did matter—it is only when mentors are able to share the same experiences as mentees, can they fully understand student problems. Notwithstanding this and other difficulties (e.g. timetable clashes), some 2001 mentees did form bonds with their traditional curriculum mentors. Some even identified them as role models. The 2002 PBL mentors also indicated that they had undergone considerable personal development as a result of their experiences.     

School Principal as Pedagogical Leader

The position and duties of a school principal should be rapidly changing along with the changes in the policy of school development. School‐based curriculum and staff development are the main components of the present policy. If an individual school is the basic unit of development then the role of the principal is crucial in leading pedagogical activities within the unit. This study, carried out in Finland, attempts to consider how principals see their work now. The results show that the principals’ still see their most important tasks in organisation (resource provider) and in maintaining a good climate in school.     

Developing a new industrial engineering curriculum using a systems engineering approach

This paper reports on the development of an engineering curriculum for a new industrial engineering programme at a medium-sized private university in the northeast United States. A systems engineering process has been followed to design and develop the new curriculum. Considering the programme curriculum as a system, first the stakeholders have been identified, and some preliminary analysis on their needs and requirements has been conducted. Following that, the phases of conceptual design, preliminary design, and detailed design have been pursued during which different levels of validation, assessment, and evaluation processes have been utilised. In addition, a curriculum assessment and continuous improvement process have been developed to assess the curriculum and the courses frequently. The resulting curriculum is flexible, allowing the pursuit of accelerated graduate programmes, a second major, various minor options, and study-abroad; relevant, tailored to the needs of industry partners in the vicinity; and practical, providing hands-on education, resulting in employment-ready graduates.     

The Specialist Schools Programme: golden goose or conjuring trick?

The Specialist Schools Programme was launched in England in 1993. Under the programme, schools submit a bid to central government to specialise in specified curriculum areas. To qualify to participate they must raise private sponsorship to contribute to the cost of their development plans and set targets, including targets for pupils' attainment. The paper uses multiple linear regression and multi‐level modelling to examine pupils' attainment. Our evidence suggests that, in 2001, pupils at Specialist Schools achieved better examination results than pupils at non‐specialist schools and that those attending the earlier cohorts of Specialist Schools performed particularly well. We also suggest that some cohorts of Specialist Schools were achieving enhanced GCSE results before they became Specialist Schools but also that, for the earlier cohorts, the improvement in examination results associated with specialist status increased as schools had been part of the programme for a longer period. Analysis of GCSE results in specialist and non‐specialist subject areas indicated that Language and Sports Colleges achieved better than expected examination results in their specialist areas, Technology Colleges achieved better results in both specialist and non‐specialist areas but that Arts Colleges did not achieve significantly different results in either specialist or non‐specialist subjects.     

Collaborative Research in Scotland: a New Departure

A programme of collaborative research has been attempting to decentralize control over the process of research into Scottish education. Teachers and other practitioners have been involved in analysing data collected in surveys of Scottish school leavers, and stored in the Scottish Education Data Archive. Some of their analyses have been published in the Collaborative Research Newsletter. This paper briefly describes the programme, and summarizes some of the Newsletter articles in two areas of study: the secondary school curriculum, and the attitudes and experiences of non‐Certificate school leavers.     

The Swedish national principal training programme: a programme in constant change

ABSTRACT

In the mid-1970s, a systematic national principal training programme was introduced in Sweden. The aim was to guarantee better-equipped principals in their mission to lead and develop schools in accordance with national steering documents. Since then, the programme has been subjected to changes, but its focus has remained the same. The three-year programme is currently directed at already-employed principals whose efforts are estimated to consume about 20% of their working time. Six universities provide the programme with content that corresponds to thirty higher-education credits. Consequently, the academy has to balance its fundamental role as a critical independent institution and its mission to provide an education that is crucial in the educational steering system. This article presents an historical overview of the programme’s development as well as the current programme’s design and challenges, and it discusses the expected future demands for change.     

Secondary School Principals in Curriculum Reform:Victims or Accomplices?

The Shanghai Municipal Education Commission convened an important conference in early 2010. A major focus of the conference was the apparent failure of the New Curriculum Reform to take root in schools. One of the conclusions presented at the conference was that school principals were responsible for the gap between the intent and effect of the curriculum reform. This article uses data collected from a group of Shanghai secondary school principals to examine the state of the curriculum reform from “the inside.” The main purpose of the article is to identify why the principals themselves believe that the reform is not working as intended and indeed whether they are in some way complicit in the slow rate of reform implementation. Principals involved in the study suggest the contradictory messages they receive from government officials about how principals’ work should be formally and informally assessed do little to promote meaningful reform implementation. Therefore, it is suggested that one of the main reasons why curriculum reform has so far not been able to bring about deep change at secondary school level is the enduring cultural norms which continue to underpin societal expectations and accountability, rather than a lack of curriculum leadership on the part of school principals.     

Custom-designed and safe-space coaching: Australian beginning principals supported by experienced peers form pipeline of confident future leaders

Transition from teacher to principal involves both a technocratic response based on ‘yearning for certainty’ that requisite leadership skills will be learned, and a critically-reflexive approach to adopting a new professional identity (Crow and Møller 2017. “Professional Identities of School Leaders across International Contexts: An Introduction and Rationale.” Educational Management and Leadership 45 (5): 749–758, 750). Globally, the maintenance of pipelines of confident and capable principals is a priority, but principal preparation programmes have often been described as decontextualised and inadequate (Cheung and Walker 2006. “Inner Worlds and Outer Limits: The Formation of Beginning School Principals in Hong Kong.” Journal of Educational Administration 44 (4): 389–407). Consequently, without opportunity to develop leadership strategies and reflect critically with a trusted mentor, newly-appointed principals often leave the role prematurely (Marks 2013. “Leadership Succession and Retention: It's Time to Get Serious about a Principal Retention Policy.” Leading and Managing 19 (2): 1–14). This Australian study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a Queensland Department of Education and Training coaching programme for beginning principals, designed to secure future quality leaders. A custom-built philosophy incorporated support from local master principals and a high degree of autonomy. One-on-one interviews with programme participants confirmed that: enduring professional relationships resulted from a safe-space approach; knowledge and understanding of the Australian Professional Standards for Principals (AITSL 2014. Australian Professional Standard for Principals and the Leadership Profiles. Canberra: Australian Government) increased; and feelings of empowerment and control of leadership situations accelerated. For the benefit of leadership pipelines worldwide, new principals in other contexts may be energised to continue with the complex role of being effective school leaders through similar, autonomous and peer-supported programmes.     

A comparative study on student perceptions of their learning outcomes in undergraduate science degree programmes with differing curriculum models

ABSTRACT

This study investigated students’ perceptions of their graduate learning outcomes including content knowledge, communication, writing, teamwork, quantitative skills, and ethical thinking in two Australian universities. One university has a traditional discipline-orientated curriculum and the other, an interdisciplinary curriculum in the entry semester of first year. The Science Students Skills Inventory asked students (n?=?613) in first and final years to rate their perceptions of the importance of developing graduate learning outcomes within the programme; how much they improved their graduate learning outcomes throughout their undergraduate science programme; how much they saw learning outcomes included in the programme; and how confident they were about their learning outcomes. A framework of progressive curriculum development was adopted to interpret results. Students in the discipline-oriented degree programme reported higher perceptions of scientific content knowledge and ethical thinking while students from the interdisciplinary curriculum indicated higher perceptions of oral communication and teamwork. Implications for curriculum development include ensuring progressive development from first to third years, a need for enhanced focus on scientific ethics, and career opportunities from first year onwards.     

GERONTOLOGY CAREER PREPARATION AT THE ASSOCIATE DEGREE LEVEL FOR THE COMMUNITY‐BASED PRACTITIONER

This paper presents a 2‐year, associate degree curriculum as a basic model for training in gerontology. The curriculum was designed to assure that each student would gain the necessary background to pursue either a paraprofessional career in the field or advanced education at a 4‐year institution leading to a professional career. The curriculum accomplishes the first objective by incorporating courses that train students in the specific skills they will need, as determined by an investigation of the employment needs in the community. It accomplishes the second objective by including courses from traditional academic disciplines, such as the social and biological sciences, which provide a broad base of knowledge. The program is closely coordinated with and transferable to a university and can be initiated with a minimum of new personnel.     

Women's challenge to computer science and technology

In Norway today there are many schemes to recruit women to computer science disciplines. However, statistics indicate that the number of female students in computer technology disciplines is not substantially increasing. It may be that we have reached a limit for the percentage of women willing to enter computer disciplines as they exist today. What is needed to attract more women to enter technological fields is to enter in discussion on how these disciplines must be changed to open them up for women. This assumption is based on the different values women have from men and therefore the difficulty they have in feeling that they belong to this field. The keywords here are value conflicts and role conflicts.     

School‐based Senior‐school Curriculum Studies for Preservice Teachers

Preservice teachers usually place very high value on those parts of their courses which are based in schools. We extended the school‐based component of the Graduate Diploma of Teaching (Secondary) course at Central Queensland University to include curriculum studies in Year 11 and 12 subjects. Questionnaires were administered to participants to explore their perceptions and reactions to this extension of school‐based studies. The findings suggest that school‐based development of the senior curriculum has significant advantages for school students, teachers and student teachers. However, the data also suggest that there is need for a professional‐development programme for teachers acting as mentors to preservice teachers.     

Leadership's Role in Inclusive LGBTQ-Supportive Schools

The field of school-leadership preparation has recently been making a concerted effort to embed social justice issues into the curriculum experiences of aspiring principals. Although much of this effort has focused on the academic achievement among students who are poor, nonnative speakers of English, or non-White, very little attention has been paid to students who identify or are perceived as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ). Informed by both their personal and professional perspectives, we expand the discussion on what it means to lead for social justice by focusing specifically on both changes that need to occur in the training (both preservice and in-service) of aspiring principals and specific strategies underlying the implementation of these changes, all of which are necessary if school leaders are to meet the needs of LGBTQ students.     

Towards a model of interprofessional preparation to enhance partnering between educators and families

Abstract

Interprofessional education (IPE) involves cross disciplinary learning, teaching, and supervision to foster greater interdisciplinary collaboration. In the field of medicine, this training approach has been adopted to improve collaboration amongst health care professionals. Rarely has this approach been adopted in regard to the preparation of student teachers. Yet professionals from the disciplines of general and special education, school social work, and school psychology often must work together and with families and pupils. A rationale will be forwarded for offering IPE to graduate students in these fields before they graduate. A multi departmental project was undertaken to design a new IPE training programme to foster collaborative knowledge of, dispositions towards, and skills in family school partnering. The components of the programme, the proposed criteria to gauge the success an initial pilot of the programme, and challenges faced in setting up such cross-discipline training will be described with lessons learned for the future.     

School Leaders as Learners: what attitudes and preferences do they have?

Leadership development is a key issue for success in leading educational reform and school improvement. Demands for more flexible, responsive, and enterprise‐driven schooling require that school leaders can create the kind of conditions which sustain vigorous processes of continuous school improvement. To meet this requirement, school leaders must be in command of a broader range of leadership and management expertise than was traditionally required of them. The changing environments make it essential for school leaders to have a high level of awareness of their preferences for leadership development and a commitment to improve their professional performance. This paper discusses findings of a survey‐based study of school leaders’ attitudes and preferences for professional development in Western Australia. Surveys conducted among principals and deputy principals of primary (n = 233) and secondary (n = 180) schools reveal some important similarities, as well as differences, in the extent to which primary and secondary school leaders have recognized the potential for work‐based and peer‐assisted learning.     

校长课程领导的现状分析及对策研究

校长的课程领导在学校课程领导具有举足轻重的作用。校长的特殊身份不仅决定了其在学校行政事务中是决策者,也使得校长在学校的课程发展中处于一种主要的领导地位,发挥重要的作用。文章研究分析了在我国新一轮基础教育课程改革的背景下,中小学校长课程领导的现实状况,探讨其存在的问题与不足,并就如何加强校长的课程领导提出相应对策。     

The role of the teaching principal in promoting ICT use in small primary schools in Ireland

The focus of this study was to examine the leadership role as lived by teaching principals in a selection of small primary schools in the west of Ireland and in particular the implications information and communications technology (ICT) has for that role. The study involved the use of individual one‐to‐one semi‐structured interviews with a selection of 13 primary school principals in the mid‐west region. Following analysis of the interview data a focus group interview with eight of the principals was conducted to validate and explore the issues to emerge from the one‐to‐one interviews. Principals had enthusiastically responded to the national ICT in schools initiative (Schools IT2000) but it had significantly added to the demands of their positions. While the lack of up‐to‐date resources, poor levels of technical support and time were identified as the main impediments, a lack of familiarity of ways in which the technology could be integrated across the curriculum affected the quality of pedagogical leadership provided by them. The research highlights the need for alternative models of support and leadership to be considered.