the emergence of blissful thinking in the management of education

By the year 2000, the management of education in England had lost much of its capacity to ensure the commitment of headteachers and teachers. As market forces engendered competition among schools, the bureaucratic monitoring of schools by agencies of government increased on the grounds that objective and comparable data about schools should be made public so that parents could express a rational choice of school. Levels of stress increased; workloads intensified. Thereafter, a series of ‘softer’ approaches emerged in order to deal with this. They have coalesced around the concept of ‘leadership’, particularly distributed leadership and, more recently, emotional leadership and spiritual leadership. Distributed leadership draws on socio-cultural activity theory; emotional leadership is informed by positive psychology; spiritual leadership by eastern mysticism. Each has its advocates and its critics. At issue, however, is not so much their relative effectiveness but rather it is to relate them to the economic, cultural and political trends which have allowed them to emerge. These ‘soft’ normative leadership approaches have not supplanted a digitally-informed rational bureaucratic form in education; they are supplementing it. The theoretical stance taken falls within the field of critical theory.     

综合实践活动课程中培养学生的领导能力——基于上海市七宝中学的实践探索

学生领导能力培养,具有推动人力资源强国建设的国家战略意义,有利于学生未来生活与就业。在综合实践活动课程中培养学生的领导能力,是促进学生全面而有个性发展的一种尝试,有助于推动新课程的深入实施。上海市七宝中学的实践探索表明,实践活动与教师指导对有效发展学生的领导能力同等重要。要积极转变学科教师、班主任和家长的传统观念,尽可能将学生领导能力培养渗透到学科教学活动之中;要设计系列主题,形成实践活动与理论反思相互交替的课程模式;要混合运用多种教学方法,重视教学效果的综合评估。     

论我国高等学校领导权力分治与统整

高等学校领导权力对学校各方面工作的影响是直接的、巨大的。由于我国高校领导干部制度存在一些问题，高校领导权力的分配、运用和协调也不可避免地存在一些弊端，其中突出地表现为领导权力分治。领导权力分治不仅不利于高校基层各学科专业学术的自主发展，不利于激发各院系所中心领导和广大教职工的工作责任感和积极性，而且造成学校工作的有机联系被分割，难以从整体上进行协调，造成一些高校有的校领导在自己所主管的工作范围内专权，从而在学校形成多个权力中心。因此，改革高校领导干部制度，加强高校领导权力的统整，是优化高校领导权力结构，提高领导效率，促进学校工作协调发展的迫切要求。     

(Un)Critical times? Situating distributed leadership in the field

It is time to situate distributed leadership as a critical conceptualisation of school leadership; its popularisation has generally preceded conceptual and empirical development. Over the last 10 years distributed leadership has often been presented as a new construct of school leadership, though critique against education policy reforms and conceptual and historical links to the wider leadership field have generally been underemphasised. The theorisation and research of distributed leadership is currently situated at a critical point in its development; it is at the ‘crossroads’ of where it could dominantly be situated in the field of school leadership. A review of the literature and research suggests that distributed leadership is tending towards an uncritical position that is decoupled from critique of past and present education reforms and predominantly silent on how power relations at the local school level shape leadership activity.     

教师领导教育：当代美国教师教育新趋势

美国教师领导教育是在20世纪80年代兴起的美国教师教育改革背景下产生,并在90年代后逐渐发展起来的。教师领导以权力重新分配为基础,把教师放在学生、同事、学校发展的核心地位,对教师领导者提出了诸多要求。教师领导教育体现了大学与学校合作培养、教师合作学习、学习和实践相结合等特点,为美国当代教师教育发展开辟了新的领域。     

Evolving policy paradigms of middle leadership in Scottish and Irish education: implications for middle leadership professional development

ABSTRACT

Middle leadership is a dynamic area of policy in Scottish and Irish education to build leadership capacity. This article reports on a critical policy analysis of sequential sets of Scottish and Irish policy on middle leadership to identify codes of meaning. Two aspects are reported: (1) constructions of the purposes of middle leadership and (2) key themes in changing policy paradigms. While there is a development of policy ideas from delegated tasks to management functions to leadership for learning, there is little on the practice of leading learning. The findings are reviewed to identify issues related to middle leadership professional development.     

The role of authentic assessment in developing authentic leadership identity and competencies

The need to develop assessment practices that are contextualised, meaningful for students and closely linked to real-world challenges has been increasingly recognised in higher education. This is particularly relevant for leadership development programmes that are assumed to have a work context embedded in their content and assessment components. Assessment practices currently used in higher education focus mostly on testing academic knowledge, rather than on enhancing leadership competencies. This research used an abductive approach to investigate how the application of authentic assessment can assist in developing authentic leadership competencies. Thematic analysis of written reflections of 24 students revealed that authentic assessment, accompanied by self-reflection, not only enhanced students’ comprehension of theories and improved their leadership skills but, more notably, helped students develop elements of self-concept, which is a key aspect of authentic leadership. Our findings demonstrate that authentic assessment combined with a reflective piece can assist students in the development of their self-understanding and authenticity as leaders.     

Developing a comprehensive leadership development model in higher education context: A co-design approach

Higher education (HE) in the changing context requires leadership training and development as a vital element for university governance and innovation. While there are several theoretical frameworks on leadership development, most of them are outcome evaluation-oriented. Consequently, there is a lack of a leadership development model which emphasises both design process and expected outcomes. In addition to this, HE leadership development has been gradually transformed toward complexity and flexibility due to the volatile external environment of the 21st century. Thus, instead of having a development programme that simply focuses on individual skill enhancement, a comprehensive leadership development programme that equally fosters leaders' competencies (leader development) and develops collective leadership (leadership development) is increasingly utilised. Unfortunately, previous theoretical frameworks fail to take into consideration these new features. The main aim of this study was to develop a comprehensive theoretical model for academic leadership development (ALD) that promotes both leader development and leadership development. In the present study, 24 academic leaders, lecturers and researchers from five European and six Chinese HE institutions co-designed the ALD model. The constructed model consists of four main dimensions: theoretical core, types of training and providers, training format and ultimate goals. The results contribute to developing, promoting and enhancing leadership development in academic settings.     

促进教师发展的校长领导力研究——以两所初中学校校长为个案

以素质教育为核心的教育改革对学校管理带来了冲击与挑战。它要求教师转变传统的教学观,学习新的知识和教学方法。校长是学校管理的关键人物,其领导实践对于帮助教师发展具有重要作用。本研究采用质性研究方法,尝试揭示两位校长在真实情境中帮助教师发展的领导实践全貌与过程。研究发现,促进教师发展的校长领导力主要具有以下三方面的特征:(1)以提升教师专业知识与技能的工具取向为主;(2)以转变教师认知、情感与态度的文化取向为辅;(3)在规范教师教学行为与激发教师改革动机之间寻求平衡。     

Qualified to lead? A comparative,contextual and cultural view of educational policy borrowing

Abstract

Background: Around the globe, education policy borrowing remains pervasive and prevalent. The strategies, interventions and innovations of education systems that perform well, in international assessments, are enthusiastically borrowed and copied in the anticipation of similar educational performance and outcomes.

Purpose: This purpose of the article is to highlight some of the implications and consequences of policy borrowing by comparing the preparation and development programmes for school leaders in various education systems. The article explores the way in which the leadership programmes and models are being adopted and developed by different countries.

Sources of evidence: The article draws upon findings from a contemporary, comparative study of leadership preparation and development across seven different education systems (Seven System Leadership Study). This large-scale, mixed-methods, comparative research study is collecting quantitative and qualitative data about the nature and impact of leadership development and preparation programmes in seven different education systems.

Main argument: The findings from the study reinforce how leadership preparation and development programmes are increasingly becoming standardised as a result of education systems borrowing and adapting from each other. This article also argues that in the contemporary policy discourse, important cultural and contextual influences that significantly affect subsequent implementation and outcomes are increasingly being side-lined and ignored.

Conclusions: This article highlights some of the limitations and unintended consequences of educational policy borrowing. It concludes that adopting some of the design features of effective interventions rather than simply borrowing policies or strategies, in part or in their entirety from very different contexts, may be a more productive way forward.     

Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Attributes of School Counselor Trainees

The authors report results from a correlational study of 225 school counselor trainees' emotional intelligence and leadership qualities. Higher emotional intelligence correlated with higher leadership self‐efficacy and self‐leadership. The results indicate that emotional intelligence may be a relevant aspect of leadership training for school counselor graduate students.     

School reform and the emotional demands of principals: Lorna's story

The issue of emotions in school leadership is one that has received increasing attention in recent years. In this paper we present a case study of the emotional demands upon one principal as she undertakes a programme of school reform. This case study works against the common discourse of ‘emotional maturity’ inherent in an individual that is prevalent in leadership standards and literatures and shows how this principal's emotional work is constructed within the political frameworks of schools. This principal was both normalised into traditional ways of being a school principal and also sought to resist such normalisations. This paper provides an important contribution to understanding the ways that women leaders are negotiating the emotional terrain of enacting change and reform in their schools.     

学生领导力发展的内涵及其策略

当前学界对于教育领导力的研究主要集中在校长领导力方面,对教育中的主体——"学生"其领导力的发展较少关注。对学生领导力发展的研究是国际教育领导力理论研究和实践的新趋势。本文从学生领导力发展的研究意义开始,探究了学生领导力发展的内涵,阐述了影响学生领导力发展的学校、教师等教育教学因素,提出了在学校中促进学生领导力发展的三个主要策略。     

Leading sustainable schools: exploring the role of primary school principals

The purpose of the paper is to identify the kinds of leadership that are likely to support implementing and sustaining education for sustainable development (ESD) effectively in a primary school. The paper identifies links between ESD and principal leadership literature and constructs a conceptual model of the leadership practices needed for reorienting a school to ESD/education for sustainability. Aspects of the model are explored through Cypriot principals' views on leadership and reported leadership practices. Data were obtained by a nationally administered questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Outcomes indicated some enabling factors for ESD implementation such as encouraging teachers to engage in ESD programmes, collaborate with others and other ways of support which nevertheless reflect what is generally expected of school administrators without seeking deep change. Constraining factors included principals' reported lack of confidence in administrative skills for sustainable schools, limited willingness to challenge the status quo, limited engagement in actions important for supporting ESD activities and features of the national educational policy. Constraining factors pointed towards principals' limited commitment to ESD. The practical significance of the findings is that they identify specific areas of needed professional development for principals such as empowering staff, encouraging critique of current approaches and exploring alternative possibilities for curriculum, pedagogy and policy.     

包容型教育领导视域下的成人学校文化构建

包容型教育领导是当代成人教育和成人学校的发展所需要的一种特殊风格的领导方式,它是一种兼容并蓄、和谐有序的学校领导方式,有利于促进成人教育机构发展。包容型教育领导文化的构建是成人教育管理理论中领导方式转变的依据和促进成人学校发展的重要思路,把包容型教育领导作为成人学校文化构建的重要内容对成人教育和成人学校的发展具有重要价值。     

中小学校长课程领导力构成要素及作用机制研究——基于PLS-SEM的实证研究

校长课程领导力是学校课程发展、教师专业发展与学生素养提升的重要保障。基于校长课程领导力的概念解读与维度分解,研究探讨了校长课程领导力的构成要素以及作用机制。以中小学校长为调研对象,采用描述性统计、PLS-SEM分别进行现状分析与模型检验,探究校长课程意识等对课程领导效能的关系。研究发现:中小学校长的课程规划与管理能力较强,课程意识与课程评估能力则较为薄弱;校长课程管理能力与课程评估能力直接影响课程领导效能,而校长的课程意识会经由六条中介作用路径正向影响课程领导效能。基于以上研究结果,提出了注重校长课程领导力培训的科学精准、加强对校长课程领导情智要素的实证研究、构建基于叙事的校长课程领导力提升机制的建议。     

Predicting teacher emotional labour based on multi-frame leadership orientations: a case from Turkey

Human behaviours in organisations are closely associated with leadership styles. The main purpose of this study is to find out the relationship between teachers’ perception about multi-frame leadership orientations of principals and teachers’ emotional labour. The study is based on Bolman and Deal’s Four Frames Model, and, therefore, the Leadership Orientation Scale and Emotional Labour Scale are used. The participants of this research are 570 teachers. The teachers’ perceptions showed that school principals tend to mostly use political and structural frames. In addition, teachers consider themselves as having a high level of genuine emotions. It was also found that school principals’ leadership orientations are significant predictors of emotional labour.     

西方变革领导理论对中国学校改革的启示

中国自20世纪90年代开始推行素质教育改革,改革的重点逐步由宏观教育体制落实到学校层面。素质教育改革客观上要求学校改变传统组织文化和结构,注重人的全面发展。变革型领导理论已被证实为推动学校变革和发展的主要模式。这一领导模式通过促进教师的专业发展,实现学校文化的重塑和教育质量的提升。本文对变革领导理论的核心内容和研究进展进行了阐述,旨在了解并掌握西方“学校领导引领变革”的知识基础,以期对中国学校改革有所助益。     

Distributed leadership in practice in Finnish schools

The aim of this study is to explore what aspects the principals and the members of the management teams in the primary and upper secondary education schools in Vantaa support distributed leadership in their school and how necessary they see that distributed leadership is extended to the students in matters concerning the curriculum and the development of teaching practices. The research method was a survey based on a questionnaire of 48 questions, where the respondents evaluated the preconditions of distributed leadership in their school. The principals and members of the management teams in the primary and upper secondary schools in Vantaa see distributed leadership mostly as delegation of predetermined tasks than the interaction among leaders, followers and situations. The results strengthen the view of distributed leadership as a phenomenon which in its primitive form can be seen in the official structures of the school and as delegation based on a formal position in the more advanced view distributed leadership can be seen as interaction among the management team and in the situations in the official and unofficial structures of the school.