School teachers' perception about distributed leadership practices for inclusive education in primary schools in Bangladesh

This article reports on the third phase of a larger study that explored the perceptions of teachers about distributed leadership practices for inclusive education (IE) in primary schools involved in IE reform in Bangladesh. The Distributed Leadership Practice for Inclusive Education scale was developed specifically for this study to collect data. Participants for the present study were head teachers and teachers from 308 public primary schools. The results of this study indicate that teachers perceived that distributed leadership practices for IE were present in primary schools in Bangladesh. The findings indicate that teachers' perceptions about distributed leadership practices for IE have a significant positive correlation with their satisfaction about the implementation of IE policy.     

Authority or Democracy? Integrating Two Perspectives on Equitable Classroom Management in Urban Schools

Classroom management is sometimes dismissed as behaviorist or even oppressive. However, as scholars concerned with issues of equity, we cannot afford to avoid the complexity of authority relationships in urban schools. Doing so undermines our ability to effectively combat the influx of authoritarian disciplinary approaches into these schools and to prepare new urban teachers for the challenges of classroom leadership. In the hopes of furthering consideration of these topics, this article highlights two distinct perspectives on equitable classroom management in urban schools: one emphasizing democratic classrooms, the other emphasizing teacher authority. Though these perspectives may seem contradictory, I argue that a conception of classroom management that incorporates both democracy and authority is critical to effectively addressing the issues highlighted above. Drawing upon theoretical conceptions of authority, studies examining the significance of racial and cultural differences in classroom management, and literature on restorative justice in education, I propose a framework that integrates these two perspectives. This framework suggests that rather than working in opposition to one another, democracy and authority are two sides of the same coin, and one may not be fully possible without the other.     

Distributed leadership in a Maltese college: the voices of those among whom leadership is ‘distributed’ and who concurrently narrate themselves as leadership ‘distributors’

In the unfolding Maltese education scenario of decentralization and school networking, I explore distributed leadership as it occurs at the college level through the leaders’ narrative and performance in an investigation of the power relations among the different-tiered leaders. This article uses data from the case study of a Maltese college consisting of four primary and three secondary schools. Using these data from an ongoing doctoral study, all subjected to narrative and discourse analysis, I adopt the stance of a ‘story teller’, as I craft a narrative from the data to represent a ‘play of voices’. Foucault’s theories of power, governmentality, discourse and subjectivation are used to explore the unfolding of power relations. Analysis reveals a dichotomy between the leaders’ narrative of distributed leadership and their performance of it. There is the presence of a raging battle among the discourses of collegiality and isolationism, through the discourse of distributed leadership, and within the discourse of educational leadership itself. Distributed leadership is a challenge to perform at the college level; with resistance being demonstrated in overt or more subtle ways along the different hierarchies, although power does circulate. This article contributes to educational leadership literature with regard to the power relations among top educational leaders in a networked school setting.     

Democratic school leadership reforms in Kenya: cultural and historical challenges

In this article we discuss students’, teachers’ and school principals’ perceptions of democratic school leadership reforms in Kenya. The article is based on a study that was conducted in two phases. In phase one (conducted between September and December 2007), interviews were undertaken with 12 school principals in which understandings of democratic school leadership were explored. These data were then used to develop a rationale for selecting the case schools. The second phase (conducted between January and April 2008) was an in‐depth case study of two schools. The findings reveal that school principals have made efforts to inculcate democratic school leadership by involving teachers in decision making on school matters. The principals also allow students to participate in matters such as election of prefects and holding class and house meetings. However, most teachers and principals do not support what they referred to as ‘full democracy’ for students and instead prefer what they called ‘partial democracy’ based on historical and cultural factors.     

Editorial Statement

Over the past couple of decades, K–12 schools have courageously struggled with the concept of shared, or distributed, leadership; however, the basic landscape of K–12 school leadership remains heavily hierarchical. Nonetheless, teachers can share leadership. This article explores productive forms of teacher leadership that are models of collaboration, integration, encouragement, learning, modeling, challenging, building consensus, and displaying professionalism.     

继承与超越:我国职业教育教材制度建设的经验与取径

〕教材体现国家意志,是教师教学的重要工具。抓好职业教育教材质量事关职业教育人才培养目标的落地,而高质量的职业教育教材建设须有完善的职业教育教材制度作保障。中华人民共和国成立以来,我国职业教育教材制度改革经历了创建、恢复、探索、发展、深化等多个阶段,取得了宝贵的经验,即统一领导是教材制度建设的根本保证,分级管理是教材制度建设的重要体制,统筹规划是教材制度建设的重大方略,建章建制是教材制度建设的法治保障,长效机制是教材制度建设的动力源泉。面向新时代职业教育课程改革,解决职业教育教材制度建设的瓶颈和短板,应处理好统一领导与分级管理、统筹规划与分类指导、规范有序与主动发展、专业主导与行业引领诸多关系,进而推动职业教育教材制度的深度改革。     

Exploring School Principals’ Leadership Styles and Learners’ Educational Performance: A Perspective from High- and Low-Performing Schools

School leadership is fundamental to the educational functioning of schools and their improvements of results. The study employed a qualitative approach to explore school principals’ leadership styles and the educational performance of learners in high- and low-performing schools in Vhembe District, Limpopo, South Africa. The participants were purposefully selected from 10 secondary schools in terms of their performance. Focus group interviews were conducted with five teachers from each school. The interview data was transcribed and analysed, and identical patterns of coded data were grouped together under emerging themes. The overall results of the study indicated that the democratic leadership style together with the transformational leadership style contribute to high educational performance of learners. School principals from high- and low-performing schools employ a democratic leadership style and differ only in the sense that the latter are permissive or lenient towards learners’ behaviours or conduct. The study recommends that school principals engage teachers as members of a disciplinary committee in order to deal with those learners whose conduct is not conducive to successful teaching and learning. It is recommended that school principals from low-performing schools strengthen their democratic leadership by not being lenient to learners’ behaviour which is not conducive to successful teaching and learning.     

Redesigning the role of deputy heads in Norwegian schools – tensions between control and autonomy?

A substantial body of research emphasises school leadership as a major influence on quality improvement in schools. Although numerous studies have identified the importance of the principal, fewer studies have examined the middle management level within schools, the deputy heads and assistant principals. Influenced by international trends, local education authorities in Norway have reorganised a traditional administrative deputy head role into a new role with expanded leadership responsibility for teacher staff and for performing instructional leadership. The primary objective of the present qualitative study is to provide additional insight into how deputy heads make sense of increased responsibility and power distribution as members of the leadership team and as leaders of the teachers in lower secondary schools. Drawing on focus group interviews and observations, the findings show that the reorganisation may open for a change from traditional administrative roles towards becoming learning-focused leaders. However, the findings also indicate that the shift can produce tensions between autonomy and control for the new leader role in the middle.     

教育精准扶贫背景下轮岗教师专业引领之困境及其化解

轮岗教师专业引领指凭借轮岗教师的专业领导力,引领帮扶学校教育理念、课程教学以及教育科研的变革,以促进帮扶学校教师专业发展,培育帮扶学校内生性发展力量,实现薄弱学校精准脱贫。这与旨在从根源上帮助贫困对象脱贫并阻断贫困代际传递的教育精准扶贫理念相契合。然而,在教育实践中,轮岗教师专业引领却遭遇了轮岗教师观念失衡与专业引领胜任力不足,帮扶学校支持性环境与内生性力量缺失,管理部门信息交流平台缺失与制度性保障不到位的困境。化解轮岗教师专业引领困境,需要关注轮岗教师能力精进和角色认同,重建帮扶学校自我变革的主体角色,完善政策导引与制度设计,精准推进轮岗扶贫实践。     

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.     

分布式机制的教师领导

随着领导研究的推进,教师领导作为学校变革的新动力得到了研究者和实践者的广泛关注.本文从教师领导的定义、角色丛以及领导功能三个方面探讨了教师领导的丰富内涵,并认为学校内的教师领导功能是通过跨层级关系、托管关系、对等关系、权利分离关系以及友谊关系等分布式机制得以实现的.     

Agonistic democracy and passionate professional development in teacher-leaders

Politicians and policy-makers in education routinely proclaim the centrality of schools and teachers in sustaining and consolidating democracy and democratic society. This article offers an account of teachers engaged in research in their schools and classrooms, with peers and students, so as to highlight the democratic potential of this engagement. In order to do so, it draws on an agonistic account of democracy that is distinct from more familiar liberal or procedural versions. Such an account is characterised by an emphasis on the values of constitutive pluralism, robust contestation and enduring tragedy, where the latter entails recognition of the ineliminable nature of (political) conflict and the inevitability of loss in human life. The teachers involved in this research demonstrated capacities which, it is argued, reflect an agonistic democratic ethos, including: developing the confidence to assume intellectual leadership by asking questions and eliciting and engaging plural perspectives in relation to these questions; engagement in the cut and thrust of research without the expectation of finding any final or perfect solutions; and an acceptance of difference and disagreement as constitutive and constructive elements in rethinking areas of policy and practice. Developing and encouraging these capacities, it is argued, is important in an increasingly authoritarian policy context that threatens the vital links between democracy and education highlighted by Dewey a century ago.     

Leadership for School Improvement: The Role of the Head of Department in UK Secondary Schools

The study examines the role of the Head of Department in UK secondary schools in terms of its potential for school improvement. Thirty-two heads of department in secondary schools in Birmingham and Manchester were shadowed and interviewed in order to identify: (1) their leadership and management styles; (2) the sense of empowerment felt by each; (3) initiatives for improving teaching, learning and achievement in their departments; and (4) obstacles to improving teaching, learning and achievement. Four deputy head teachers in the sample schools were also interviewed with the purpose of eliciting their views on the role of the head of department in facilitating school improvement. The findings support the prediction that distributed leadership (or shared power) among senior and middle managers in UK schools still remains rhetoric rather than practice and that there is a growing need for current middle management development and training provision to change radically if middle managers are to be supported as curriculum leaders and managers     

教师流失与学校文化的相关研究

教师流失与学校文化关系密切。学校文化中领导的民主程度和教师合作程度是影响教师流失的重要因素。改造新型薄弱学校,必须重构学校文化特别是校长民主文化和教师合作文化。     

Recognizing and Supporting the Critical Roles of Teachers in Special Education Leadership

Most discussions about special education leadership address the work of principals and district administrators, without reference to the collective and distributed forms of leadership that have taken center stage in contemporary discussions about improving schools. To explore the contributions of and roles for teacher leadership in special education, selected teacher leadership literature in general education is reviewed, including the emergence of new teacher roles in schools, roots and meanings of teacher leadership, and possible benefits of teachers as leaders. Although no studies were found that specifically investigated the work of special education teacher leaders, illustrations of their work are provided as they lead through school-wide collaboration, participate as clinical faculty in Professional Development Schools (PDSs), serve as mentors to new colleagues, and work in district-wide professional development. After a review of several examples of teacher leadership in special education, barriers to teacher leadership and ways of supporting the work of teacher leaders are considered.     

The Paradox of Power in Leadership in Early Childhood Education

Western frameworks for school improvement, including the stakeholder model and the model of decentralized leadership, have recently been promoted as solutions for school improvement. Using early childhood education in Hong Kong as an illustrative case, this article focuses on the power and authority of leadership in school decision making. The interview data collected from the two case study schools reveal a paradox of power in leadership that is characterized by tensions between centralization and decentralization in the change process, where decentralization is advocated by policymakers but traditional hierarchical cultures remain. The relationship between the leaders and school stakeholders incorporates a concept of harmony that functions to defuse the potential power struggle embedded in decision making.     

How distributed leadership can make a difference in teachers' organizational commitment? A qualitative study

The present study explores the relation between distributed leadership and teachers' organizational commitment. Semi-structured interviews with teachers and school leaders of secondary schools were conducted. A comparative analysis of four schools with high and four schools with low committed teachers was carried out. Findings revealed differences in the leadership practices which influenced organizational commitment. The leadership practices include the quality and distribution of leadership functions, social interaction, cooperation of the leadership team, and participative decision-making. Teachers reported being more strongly committed to the school if the leaders were highly accessible, tackled problems efficiently or empowered teachers to participate, and frequently monitored teachers' daily practices.     

Drawing a veil over managerialism: leadership and the discursive disguise of the New Public Management

Through a focus upon the simultaneous rise of leadership and the New Public Management (NPM) within the context of education in England this article offers an analytical account of these developments and their entry into the field of education. This analysis is located within contradictions and tensions arising out of the agential promises inherent in the construction of leadership and the simultaneous managerialist and directive intent of the NPM. The way in which discourses of leadership and, more latterly, distributed leadership act to draw a veil over these tensions and contradictions is demonstrated within the context of research in two schools. The article concludes by examining how discourses of leadership have enabled schools and teachers to adapt to educational modernisation in ways that have undermined teacher professionalism.     

Teachers or learning leaders?: where have all the teachers gone? gone to be leaders,everyone

This paper traces the dramatic proliferation of leadership roles in English primary and secondar schools, due mainly to central government education policy of the past two decades. This has transformed schools from relatively simple to highly complex organizations and has impacted on the working conditions of, and demands on, teachers, together with many aspects of schooling. These changes are illustrated with typical examples of schools' leadership structures and their functioning. Interview data provide teachers' views on, and reactions to, the changes in school leadership. The paper also reviews the ways in which teacher education institutions have responded in terms of providing initial and in‐service education and training to equip the profession for this new and developing challenge. It examines the reception of such programmes by teachers and the reported impact on schools' management and the role of leadership within it.     

Weaving Curriculum Connections in International Baccalaureate (IB) Schools

In this article we discuss how school leaders address challenges when implementing innovative international education curricula, namely International Baccalaureate (IB) programs. Specifically, we frame challenges in curriculum implementation of and transition between IB programs from a “disconnection” perspective. We have often noticed when innovative programs are parceled together without preparation and thrust at great speed at schools, they become disconnected. The hasty implementation of multiple IB programs simultaneously at a school also causes disconnection. Drawing on extensive interview data from principals, mid-level leaders, and teachers in five IB schools adopting multiple IB programs in Asia, we detail curriculum disconnection facing IB schools and how school leaders, including teacher leaders, address such challenges by weaving various disconnected points, namely instrumental, intellectual, cultural, professional, and communicative disconnections. Based on findings from the multisite case study, we argue that school leaders in the case of IB schools adopt a range of leadership strategies to weave disconnection points. We reframe the leadership strategies as two aspects of distributed leadership: distributed instructional leadership and teacher leadership. In conclusion, we suggest that a central facet for successful leadership of IB schools that adopt multiple IB programs is about finding, focusing, and facilitating ways to address disconnections in curriculum implementation of and transition between different IB programs.