School Leader Appraisal — A Tool to Strengthen School Leaders' Pedagogical Leadership and Skills for Teacher Management?

With increasing school autonomy, often coupled with greater accountability requirements, school leaders are increasingly responsible for new human resource management tasks. Policies to improve the teaching workforce, therefore, cannot do without policies to improve the school leadership profession. Teachers' effectiveness depends, among others, on effective school leaders who shape teachers' working environment and influence their motivations. Furthermore, as recent research indicates, school leaders are the second most important school-level factor affecting, even if mainly indirectly through their influence on teachers, student learning after classroom instruction. Considering the role school leaders play for the effective school-level management of teachers and for teaching and learning through their pedagogical leadership, it is essential that school leaders are adequately prepared and supported for their role. As part of their school reform programmes, more and more countries have been introducing a range of evaluation and assessment policies to improve school, school leadership and teaching practices. The individual appraisal of schools leaders and teachers is a key component of evaluation and assessment policies. This article explores if, and how, individual school leader appraisal can develop school leaders' pedagogical leadership, a key element of which is teacher management. It analyses the policy approaches of several European countries and the extent to which formal frameworks in these countries focus on developing pedagogical leadership. The article concludes with ideas for policy to strengthen appraisal as a tool to improve school leaders' practices and behaviours and their competencies for pedagogical leadership and teacher management.     

Conceptions of ‘Ideal’ Leadership in Accepted and Rejected Principal Training Candidates

Abstract

Process of acquisition of grammar was studied with 320 children randomly selected from 2nd, 4th, and 6th graders in three schools representing different socioeconomic backgrounds. Ss were individually presented 6 nonsense sentences and asked to guess the meaning of a stimulus word planted in each sentence. Two types of cues, grammatical "signal" and "signal plus syntactic position," were provided to suggest three parts-of-speech (noun, verb, and modifier). Responses were classified either as homogeneous (proper grammatical identification) or heterogeneous.

No difference was found in frequency of homogeneous responses with regard to children's socio-economic background. Significant differences were associated with increase in cue information and with increase in age.     

The Perceptions of School Management Teams and Teachers of the Principal’s Instructional Leadership Role in Managing Curriculum Changes

Interchange - With frequent curriculum changes in South Africa since 1994, educational standards and learner performance has been progressing at a slow pace. The role of the principal’s...     

A School‐Based Management Mechanism for School Effectiveness and Development

The paper aims to report on an integration of my recent research and thinking on school effectiveness and school‐based management and to develop a school‐based management mechanism for continuous pursuit of school effectiveness and development.

The matrix of school effectiveness in terms of four categories and seven different conceptions provides a framework for examining the basic issues of conceptualization, measurement and maximization of school effectiveness. Furthermore, a dynamic perspective can be used to reconceptualize school effectiveness and explore the relationship of school effectiveness to school‐based management and strategic management. The characteristics of school‐based management based on a strategic management system can reflect the emphases of different conceptions of school effectiveness and constitute a mechanism for pursuing long‐term school effectiveness, even in different categories. Based on the matrix of school process and the principle of congruence, the management concept should be shifted from the cell management to the layer management in establishing an effective school‐based management mechanism for school development. This article also reports the experience on training school administrators to establish such a school‐based management mechanism.     

Training Theory of Mind and Executive Control: A Tool for Improving School Achievement?

ABSTRACT— In the preschool years, there are marked improvements in theory of mind (ToM) and executive functions. And, children's competence in these two core cognitive domains is associated with their academic achievement. Therefore, training ToM and executive control could be a valuable tool for improving children's success in school. This article reviews several successful training studies in preschool children showing that these two school-related competencies can be trained. We also discuss methodological factors that may be important for the effectiveness of training programs. Finally, the review outlines implications of brain research for such training interventions.     

Spirituality Amid Dogma? Some Approaches to Educating for Religious Belief within in a State Religious School in Israel

The religious school, where young people are brought into religious life and practice, the development of a religious belief system is often neglected. Religiousness is often instilled as a linear end product, a monolithic corpus of ideas to be singularly transmitted and subsequently owned by youth. However, educational research by Gareth Matthews, Nel Noddings, and others suggests that youth are thirsting for opportunities to grapple, question, and wrestle with profound theological and philosophical issues—a process that leads to a richer religious identity. This article, based on three years of ethnographic research, looks at the way in which four teachers from one religious girls' high school in Israel executed theological education, from indoctrination with a pretty face, to the theological Bunsen burner. The dynamic between teachers' voices and students' voices sheds light on adolescent religious identity, and offers vital insights for religious education.     

From Oxbridge to the Market‐place ‐‐ Management and Leadership in Higher Education

Institutions of higher education world‐wide are in a state of flux; whether in developed countries where there is unease on the part of the community and politicians as to the value of such education for the resources expended, or in newly emergent nations where the institutions are often valued for the contribution they can make to nation‐building, but where the elitism they foster can lead to the imposition of a new social stratum on formerly agrarian societies.

Against this background this paper calls for an alert, active response to the task of leadership and management in our institutions. It is postulated that to meet the situation most institutions of higher education (IHEs) may have to move from the traditional “Oxbridge” community of scholars stance, to a more market‐oriented approach in patterns of governance and in their relationship with the societies they serve.     

Ready for School? Trauma Exposure and Mental Health in a Group of War-Affected Ugandan Adolescents Re-Attending School

The objective of this study was to assess trauma-related symptoms and mental health among war-exposed Ugandan adolescents (n?=?81) as a basis for planning their re-attendance at school. Self-reports of exposure to traumatic events, trauma-related symptoms, and indicators of mental health were collected. While about half of the youths (51.9%) reported having been abducted by rebels and were former child soldiers, no differences were found in their mental health functioning compared to the remaining sample. Of the youths, 78% reported post-traumatic stress reactions of clinical significance. However, scores were within the normal range on conduct problems, hyperactivity, pro-social behavior, and self-efficacy. Even though the sample was clearly suffering from trauma-related symptoms, there were also marked areas of adaptive functioning and resilience. Whether the students are ready for education is discussed and implications for adapting educational programs for war-affected adolescents are indicated.     

A private matter? Religious education and democracy in Indonesia and Israel

The article examines state-supported religious education and its consequences for civic attitudes in Indonesia and Israel, two democracies that grant religion a prominent place in the public sphere, particularly in education. The comparison reveals that while in Indonesia the state was able to gradually introduce a secular curriculum in religious schools and establish an accreditation system by which it could exert influence on the way religion is taught, in Israel, by contrast, state-funded religious schools over time became increasingly opposed to a mandatory ‘core curriculum’ of general studies. The comparison further suggests that in Indonesia the inclusion of a secular curriculum in religious schools in the 1970s should be seen as one of the factors promoting the production and dissemination of ‘rationalist approaches to religion’ and brought religious actors on board of democratisation, while in Israel the exclusion of a secular curriculum from religious schooling has undermined civic commitments among ultra-Orthodox Jewish citizens and as such weakened Israeli democracy. The article is based on public opinion data, data from the Ministries of Religion and Education, and court decisions in both countries.     

Does Training Toddlers in Emotion Knowledge Lead to Changes in Their Prosocial and Aggressive Behavior Toward Peers at Nursery?

Research Findings: Within the flourishing area of research demonstrating the efficacy of emotion-based interventions carried out by trained teachers in educational contexts in increasing children’s emotional skills, this study makes an original contribution to the existing literature by focusing on the effects of this kind of intervention on toddlers’ prosocial and aggressive behavior. Ninety-five 26- to 36-month-olds participated in a 2-month intervention in which trained teachers read emotion-based stories to small groups of children and then either involved them in conversations about emotions (experimental condition) or did not (control condition). Even after we controlled for age and general language ability, the children in the experimental condition were found to outperform the control group on measures of emotion knowledge and emotional-state talk. Furthermore, the intervention fostered gains in prosocial behavior, whereas it did not have a significant effect on the frequency of aggressive actions, which was lower at posttest in both groups. The positive effect of the training program on participants’ prosocial behavior was no longer significant when we controlled for gains in emotion knowledge and emotional-state talk. Practice or Policy: The results encourage the implementation of early educational programs focused on emotion knowledge in order to foster children’s prosocial behavior toward peers.     

Are We Ready to Recommend a College Readiness Index? A Reply to Gaertner and McClarty (2015)

In an article published in Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, Gaertner and McClarty (2015) discuss a college readiness index based, in part, on nonacademic or noncognitive factors measured in middle school. Such an index is laudable as it incorporates important constructs beyond academic achievement measures that may be important in assessing college readiness. It also holds potential in identifying areas of need at a critical time and can theoretically inform important interventions that may be necessary prior to the later stages of high school. However, one of the noncognitive factors—motivation—appeared to be theoretically incomplete, underrepresented, and contained items irrelevant to the construct of academic motivation. We offer our concerns about the validity of this factor as measured by the index and the associated implications about the consequences of using this to inform educational interventions. Through this commentary, we hope to offer constructive feedback on future research that can build upon Gaertner and McClarty's important work.     

What Makes a Good School Leadership Program? A Qualitative Study of the Lookstein Center Educational Leadership Advancement Initiative (ELAI)

How do educators become successful leaders? This qualitative study set out to learn more about The Lookstein Center ELAI program as well as mentoring and leadership training in general, with the hope of offering insights to other school leadership programs. The mentor-mentee relationship was seen to develop into a collaborative partnership, with the reflective relationships becoming enriching for both the mentor and mentee. The findings also emphasize the value of mentoring for midcareer educators. In addition, the importance of the cohort experience was stressed. Finally, unique to the ELAI program, location was viewed as a very influential aspect of this leadership training program for Jewish educators.     

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.     

Are There Jewish Digital Badges?: A Study of Religious Middle- and High-School Girls’ Perception of an Emerging Educational Technology-Based Assessment

For Jewish education, digital badges can provide an alternative to traditional assessments. However, the emerging research on badges suggests a complex relationship between learning opportunities, the learner, and the design of the badge. An investigation of a digital badge system at an ultra-Orthodox Jewish middle and high school for girls reveals new findings on digital badges as well as how badges can be used in Jewish education. Qualitative analysis of student interviews details how badges can motivate, provide feedback, and serve as credentials in Jewish educational organizations. This research answers whether digital badges are Jewish.     

Mis-Education,A Recurring Theme? Transforming Black Religious and Theological Education

Abstract

Educating ministers and religious educators with the skills to connect with a variety of congregations and communities is a difficult task. Looking specifically at theological and religious education with African Americans, there are historical criticisms of mis-education. Mis-education defined by Carter G. Woodson describes a process of educating that becomes more of a liability than asset by devaluing the religion and traditions of the masses of African Americans. This article reviews education resources (sermons and Sunday school literature) in African American churches along with the perspectives of seminary students to explore if Woodson's claims of mis-education persist.     

Instructional Leadership in Practice: What Does It Look Like,and What Influence Does It Have?

Literature on school reform has emphasized the need for principals to expand beyond their traditionally administrative role and become instructional leaders. This article examines the relationship between the practice of site-based instructional leadership and the professional development that teachers received in the context of a district-wide reform effort in San Diego City Schools. Using data from teacher surveys and school-based interviews, we find a connection between aspects of principal instructional leadership (coherent school-wide vision and leaders' engagement in instructional improvement) and selected research-based characteristics of effective teacher professional development (coherence and focus on content and curriculum). We conclude by addressing some of the tensions and limitations associated with a particular vision for site-based instructional leadership.     

A Critical Look at Ourselves: Do Male and Female Professors Respond the Same to Environment Characteristics?

We examined the relationship between gender and both job satisfaction and research productivity using data from 1,135 psychology faculty working in 229 academic departments. We found that gender differences in job satisfaction and research productivity were related to elements of the department (i.e., teaching orientation and structure). Overall, women reported lower levels of productivity than their male counterparts. Women also reported higher levels of job satisfaction in more teaching-oriented departments whereas men reported higher levels job satisfaction in more research-oriented departments. We suggest that these findings might be the result of gender differences in preferences with women preferring more socially-oriented positions and men prefer more “things/data”-oriented positions.     

School tutoring and academic performance: A too close relationship?

In Spain, each student class is assigned a tutor teacher who is also responsible for individually following their tutoring students’ performance, guiding them in personal issues and regularly meeting their families. Although tutors may suppose an important support for students during their school life, their close personal relationship may also influence the teaching and learning process in additional ways. This research analyses whether the fact that the tutor teaches a particular subject makes any difference in students’ academic achievement in that subject and if this differential achievement is conditioned by tutor-student/family relationship or not (being a possible over/under-marking). With this objective we employ a rich administrative census database from the most populated region of Spain (Andalusia), using student fixed-effects within-students between-school subjects. Our main results show that tutors seem to be only slightly inclined to over-mark their tutoring students, being this small bias conditioned by their relationship with the student.