Preparing future educational leaders to write for Scholarly Publication

One objective of graduate-level education is the socialization of students into the professional roles they will eventually assume. The ability to engage successfully in scholarly writing and publishing are important competencies for graduate students, particularly at the doctoral level, to acquire. An experimental course, Basics of Scholarly Publishing, is described along with the results of a survey of 52 students who have completed the course. The proportion of those successfully breaking into scholarly print was 86.5% and increasing. Additional benefits of the course are discussed and an appeal is made for universities elsewhere to begin offering similar learning experiences for their students at the graduate level.     

Training leaders in mathematics education a contrast with science education

Some additional thoughts in JRST's continuing attention to the evolution of doctoral programs in education.     

Preparing future teachers and doctoral-level leaders in deaf education: meeting the challenge

The deaf education profession faces a critical juncture. First, the 2006 leadership crisis that swept deaf education's flagship institution--Gallaudet University--will propel professionals to think deeply about promoting diversity, equity, and access in deaf education teacher and leadership preparation programs. Second, personnel shortages require attention: Teacher and leadership voids in university and K-12 programs loom if training efforts are not increased. Teaching and leadership needs center on three challenges: (a) understanding the changing demographic composition of the student, teacher, and leadership populations; (b) developing an evolving curriculum founded on research-based practices; (c) continuing to enlarge the knowledge base through applied research in the social sciences. Two case studies examine teacher training and leadership programs at universities that address these challenges. The importance of workplace deaf-hearing bicultural teams is examined. Implications for the preparation of teacher and leadership personnel in deaf education are discussed.     

Patterns of recruitment of academic leaders to Australian universities and implications for the future of higher education

This paper reports on research conducted to understand key factors impacting the recruitment and selection of senior academic leaders in Australian universities. A key finding emerging from this research was an increasing reliance on executive search firms when recruiting senior academic leaders. This reliance is driven by a range of factors including an ageing and contracting pool of potential academic leaders, growing competition domestically and internationally and the declining attractiveness of academia as a sustainable career in the context of increased casualisation of the academic workforce. Concurrently, workforce planning and succession planning have not been a high priority for many universities. As a result, Australian universities are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit senior academic leaders without the use of executive search firms. These findings have significant implications for the higher education sector in Australia and warrant further research.     

A review of the empirical generations at work research: implications for school leaders and future research

Most schools currently employ three generations of teachers and leaders: Baby Boomers (1946–65), Generation X (1966–80) and Generation Y (1981–2003). However, the implications for school leaders of multi-generational schools remain relatively unexplored. This paper examines the empirical multi-disciplinary generations at work evidence to identify differences and similarities in how generational cohorts approach work/life balance, authority, collaboration and careers. The paper defines generational characteristics and introduces the review methods employed. The findings are organised within three important leadership actions: stimulating professional growth and capacity, building collaborative cultures, and establishing work conditions. The conclusion presents future research directions.     

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.     

Educational leaders as caring teachers

Good leadership varies with the sort of enterprise to be led. We would not put the CEO of a large clothing manufacturer, inexperienced in warfare, in charge of a military expedition. Now and then highly successful people from one field are recruited to lead an entirely different enterprise, but their duties are usually limited, and often they are mere figureheads. At the level where field-related decisions must be made we need leaders who know the field. Leadership in education requires both breadth and depth of knowledge about education. At the very least, an educational leader should have a defensible position on the aims of education, on a theory of motivation and on what constitutes ethical practice.     

Contraction: implications for school leaders

Ackoff's circular structure has been successfully utilised to combine hierarchy and democracy in various industries. This paper argues that this structure is the most appropriate democratic structure for the internal governance of public schools. It concludes that a circularity of power relations between administrators and teachers would create genuinely empowering teacher participation, improve co‐ordination, foster teacher self‐actualisation and expressiveness, alleviate teacher shortages, help attract high quality persons to teaching careers, ensure appropriate (service oriented) teacher supervision, and increase the number of successful school improvement projects.     

The retention question in context-specific teacher education: Do beginning teachers and their program leaders see teachers' future career eye to eye

This paper discusses the challenge of retaining teachers in hard-to-staff schools by examining how it is addressed in three context specific teacher education programs, which prepare teachers to teach in urban public, urban Catholic, and Jewish Day Schools in U.S.A. The findings of this study suggest that counter to teaching force trends teachers from the three programs that we studied expressed high motivation to serve as teachers or leaders in their particular schools and communities. In particular, we found that teachers' career commitments developed around the religious or civic missions promoted by their respective programs. Finally, teachers' career perceptions seem to correlate, though not entirely match, with those of their program leaders.     

The role of SENCos as leaders

The year 2014 marks an important milestone for the SENCo role. It is the 20‐year anniversary of the requirement for schools to have a named person as lead for special educational needs. This article, by Catherine Tissot from the University of Reading, explores the vision of the role as seen in Government guidance and documents and compares this with the views of those in post who are undertaking a required training programme to become a qualified SENCo. An optional questionnaire was distributed to all SENCos at Induction (Time 1) and repeated upon completion of the course (Time 2), and ten semi‐structured follow‐up interviews were conducted with volunteers to explore emerging themes. Differences were seen in the sample between those that were part of the senior leadership team in terms of their views on their ability to lead and direct practice, resource management and the strategic goals of the role.     

Developing citizen leaders through action learning

This is an account of a programme utilizing the application of action learning to the development of capacities of citizens. The Citizen Leadership for Democratic Governance is designed to equip citizens with the skills to get involved and handle the difficult tasks of governance in their communities in South Africa. After a history of apartheid there is recognition of the need to equip citizens to more effectively respond to the challenges of creating and sustaining democracy. The programme has proven to be highly successful in achieving the aims. The programme design involved an emphasis on reflection, experimental learning, problem solving and action through learning sets.     

略论当代领袖传记文学的创作

当代领袖传记文学的创作,是新时期以来至今长盛不衰的一大文化景观。它取得了有目共睹的突出成就,但也有其不足之处,其经验教训值得我们认真加以总结。