Resilient principals in challenging schools: the courage and costs of conviction

The work of leaders in schools takes place in shifting and sometimes conflicting reform contexts which tend to increase and intensify their professional work and personal lives as they seek to influence a range of stakeholder groups and individuals in processes of school improvement. Such diverse and sometimes competing demands of policy, local context and educational values not only challenge the breadth of qualities, knowledge and skills possessed by leaders, but also test their adaptivity, flexibility and intellectual, and emotional energy on an everyday basis. Although much of the literature on resilience suggests that it is a necessary quality in extreme adverse circumstances – for example, physical or emotional trauma as a result of conflict – it seems obvious that everyday resilience will be an essential quality and a necessary capacity for leaders to lead to their best. However, this may be sorely tested as the range of their roles and responsibilities expands and their space to exercise ‘responsible agency’ at work shrinks, together with personal space outside the workplace – traditionally viewed as a time to reflect, recover and renew. A recent survey showed that, in England, for example, only 7% of secondary heads perceived that they had any time to engage in interests outside their work; it is unlikely that much will have changed in the years since then, as more recent root-and-branch reforms in the governance and curricula of schools in England and Wales demonstrate. How leaders of schools, which serve high-challenge communities of socio-economic disadvantage, sustain their resilience and the costs of doing so in raising and sustaining their levels of success has received only scant attention in the research literature. This paper reports the outcomes of research into the work of 12 successful principals who work in schools in challenging environments in different countries and were asked to talk about their contexts and the challenges which they had overcome in order to achieve their success. It uses one of these as an illustration of the role courage and conviction plays in all their lives.     

Marketisation of adult education: principals as business leaders,standardised teachers and responsibilised students

The marketisation of education is a global phenomenon and has attracted increased interest during the last three decades, not least in terms of research on school choice and its consequences. However, while much research has been conducted on the marketisation of schooling, less attention has been directed at adult education. In this paper, focus is directed at institutional logics and institutional responses to the process of marketisation of adult education. More specifically, we focus on how a procurement system, implemented in order to create competition and to increase quality in adult education, influences how students construe themselves, as well as the way principals and teachers work. Our results indicate that teachers emerge as the main source of resistance towards an institutional logic emerging in the wake of marketisation, while principals and students to a large extent conform to the emerging institutional demands.     

Storied emotional distances in the relationships between beginning teachers and school principals

Recent research has acknowledged the importance of the relationships of school principals with beginning teachers. However, little is known about how emotions inform these relationships from the beginning teacher's side. Applying the concept of emotional geographies, this paper explores the kinds of storied emotional distances that appear in the relationships between beginning teachers and their principals. Based on interviews with beginning Japanese teachers, the results indicate that such relationships may be: (1) very direct and personal; (2) acted out indirectly by the principal as personal facilitator ‘behind the scenes’ or as public gatekeeper; or (3) mediated by the teacher community. The analysis reveals beginning teachers’ personal experiences of these relationships, as well as how such relationships are influenced by organisational and cultural context. Although principals are described as distant figures within the school organisation, they are seen to play an important role in facilitating beginning teachers’ work by connecting with them at a personal level and providing good working conditions by influencing the emotional atmosphere of the teacher community or by sheltering them from parental pressure.     

Relationships and early career teacher resilience: a role for school principals

Given the current climate of high levels of teacher attrition, it is critically important that we understand what keeps early career teachers in the profession. This paper reports early findings from a project addressing the question: ‘What conditions are conducive to promoting teacher resilience and retention in the first two years of teaching?’ The research aims to identify the internal strengths and external strategies that promote resilience in early career teachers. School leaders and first year teachers from 59 schools across two states in Australia contributed to in-depth, open-ended interviews in which they talked about the experiences of beginning teaching. From this data, narrative portraits were developed and emerging themes documented and analysed. A strong emerging theme is how relationships with principals influence teachers’ feelings of personal and professional well-being, with both negative and positive effects reported. This paper uses portraits of two early career teachers to examine this theme. The findings provide important insights for principals who wish to foster resilience in early career teachers.     

Beginning teachers and inclusive education: frustrations,dilemmas and growth

Scholars report desirable outcomes for all participants in classrooms where diverse learners are welcomed members. Data suggest teachers leave the profession early because of the demands of their work made increasingly difficult by the diverse range of students, lack of assistance to support the diverse range of student needs and the resulting burnout. This paper presents qualitative data from six beginning teachers, juxtaposed with the author's personal narrative, to illustrate the ongoing problems beginning teachers face, contending with political, historical and cultural barriers when teaching students with diverse learning needs. Despite policy advances and mandated courses in inclusive education in initial teacher education, beginning teachers are overwhelmed by the magnitude of teaching diverse learners in contemporary classrooms. Of note in the data are the preservice teachers’ fluid conceptions of inclusive education. The polarity of success and failure of inclusive education is re-envisaged through Deleuze and Guattari's [(1987 Deleuze, G., and F. Guattari. 1987. A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Trans Brian Massumi. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. [Google Scholar]). A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Trans Brian Massumi. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.] rhizome. The data illustrate the challenges and messiness of learning to become an inclusive educator. It is important to listen to the experiences of beginning teachers given the value of supportive classroom environments for students with diverse needs and the impact creating these environments has on beginning teachers’ longevity in the profession.     

高职教师素质能力结构探析

高职教师必须具备多方面的素质与能力,才能符合职业教育发展的要求,才能真正提高受教育者的素质,为生产、管理一线的职业岗位输送实用型、技能型专门人才。德高、学高、技高是现代高职教师必备的素质和能力。高职教师的素质与能力只有不断得到提升,才能适应高职教育发展的需要。     

Accessing resources for identity development by urban students and teachers: foregrounding context

Many attempt to address the documented achievement gap between urban and suburban students by offering special programs to enrich urban students’ academic experiences and proficiencies. Such was the case in the study described by DeGennaro and Brown in which urban students participated in an after-school technology course intended to address the “digital divide” by giving these youth supported experiences as technology users. However, also like the initial situation described in this study, instructional design that does not capitalize on what we know about urban education or informal learning contexts can actually further damage urban youths’ identities as learners by positioning them as powerless and passive recipients instead of meaningful contributors to their own learning. The analysis presented in this forum is intended to further the conversation begun by DeGennaro and Brown by explicitly complexifying our consideration of context (activity structures and setting) so as to support the development of contexts that afford rich learning potential for both the urban students and their learning facilitators, positioned in the role of teachers. Carefully constructed contexts can afford participants as learners (urban students and teachers) opportunities to access rich identity resources (not typically available in traditional school contexts) including, but not limited to, the opportunity to exercise agency that allows participants to reorganize their learning context and enacted culture as needed.

Education for all: Experiences of principals at rural secondary schools in Mpumalanga province

Abstract

This article deals with the challenges in the implementation of education for all as experienced by principals in rural secondary schools in Mpumalanga. Interventions which have been implemented on national and provincial level to improve teaching and learning are not equally successful in schools countrywide. The central phenomenon of interest involved the determination of the management and leadership views of rural secondary school principals concerning their ability to ensure Education for All. A theoretical grounding of the situation was developed through a literature review. Interviews were conducted with principals in rural Mpumalanga to collect empirical data for the research. Two main aspects that emerged from the study, was the impact that change, tradition and culture have on teaching and learning in the rural secondary schools in Mpumalanga.     

A comparison between primary school principals’ and teachers’ perceptions of students’ online risk behaviours: the role of perceived self-efficacy

ABSTRACT

The present study aimed to investigate and compare school principals’ and teachers’ perceptions regarding online risk behaviours in school-aged children, examining simultaneously the predictive role of their perceived self-efficacy in their perceptions under study. The participants were 237 principals and 295 teachers, mainly from Central Macedonia and Attica, who completed a self-reported online questionnaire. According to the findings, participants declared awareness of students’ online risk behaviours. However, compared to teachers, principals to a greater extent felt confident to manage this issue and support school community involvement in the prevention of/intervention in it. Furthermore, principals’ self-efficacy in promoting students’ learning/ethical behaviours in school and teachers’ self-efficacy in managing students’ behavioural problems inside a classroom predicted positively their perceptions under study. The findings indicate the necessity of applying differentiated related training programmes for principals and teachers, highlighting simultaneously the importance of their perceived self-efficacy in how they approach the issue studied.     

校长信息素养与学校信息化互动发展的认知与分析

在教育信息化发展进程中，中小学校长在学校信息化建设中起着领导作用。该研究沿着校长信息素养——学校信息化建设——学校发展的互动路线，从认知的视角探究学校教育信息化过程中校长信息素养与学校信息化建设乃至学校发展之间的互动关系，为教育信息化的有效展开以及校长专业发展提供实证依据。     

Engaging school teachers and school principals in an action research in-service development as a means of pedagogical self-awareness

The European Commission has determined the following priorities to increase the quality of teacher training programmes in the European Union: ensuring that all teachers have access to the knowledge, attitudes and pedagogic skills they require to be effective; ensuring that provision for teachers’ education and professional development is coordinated, coherent and adequately resourced; promoting a culture of reflective practice and research among teachers; promoting the status and recognition of the teaching profession; and supporting the professionalization of teaching. In this context, the RELEASE project pursued the adaptation of the teachers’ in-service training programme in Cyprus to the teachers’ and schools’ needs. The project also aimed at the enhancement of the school principals’ pedagogic role in supporting teachers’ professional development, the promotion of teachers’ development at school and the acquisition of self-regulated learning skills. The present paper draws on the benefits of the action research procedure for teachers’ development and the changes revealed in the teachers’ discourse throughout the project as illustrated in their oral and written reflections. The discourse analysis of the teachers’ speech in different stages of the project indicates a movement from remoteness and distance to collaboration, participation, openness and exchange, and a movement from low trust in their own choices to reflection and self-confidence to make justified selections and act in alternative ways. The discussion of the project’s results attempts to distinguish the effective key components of this project, providing empirical evidence/support for the reflective paradigm of teacher development.     

Professional identity among student teachers of physical education: the role of physicality

In this study, we investigate the role of physicality in the professional identities of physical education (PE) student teachers. Twenty PE student teachers participated in semi-structured interviews during their final teaching practice. Data were analysed using qualitative thematic analysis and typologies. The results showed substantial diversity in the student teachers’ conceptions of physicality and the ways these conceptions were embedded in their developing professional identities. The results also brought to light criticism directed at traditional notions of the body and physicality in PE and PE teacher education (PETE). We suggest that conceptions of the body and physicality represent a central element of PE teachers’ professional identity. The results also indicate a relationship between conceptions of physicality and pedagogies implemented in the future. Time and place for student teachers to discuss body-related matters should be provided in PETE.     

World culture and social justice in a divided society: evaluations of Israeli Jewish and Arab teachers and students

ABSTRACT

Using the Israeli case, our study delves into teachers’ and students’ notions of social justice, exploring how they are shaped by both world culture trends and local conditions. We first identify social justice notions in the world culture perspective and Israeli society. Then, we empirically examine how these notions are understood by educational agents – teachers and students – across sectors that mirror Israeli society’s major divide: Jewish and Arab-Palestinian. Findings suggest that educational agents and ethnonational affiliation play a major role in recreating national heritages and the different ways in which they understand social justice their lives.     

Looking for their voice: the formation of identity in the new Israeli principals’ organisation

ABSTRACT

Based on an in-depth analysis of newspaper articles and internal documents, in this article I examine the formation of a new collective and glocal identity for the Israeli principals’ organisation, Manhigim, which was established in October 2018. I show how, in the process of establishing the organisation, the leaders formed a collective glocal identity comprised of three distinct identities, namely a labour union identity, a professional identity, and a political identity. These identities respond to the question, ‘Who are we?’ As such, they have relationships to the past, present, and expected future. Each one of the identities is glocally constructed; that is, it is influenced by global norms and values, but also by local problems and concerns. My findings suggest that, by stressing the global values of autonomy, trust, and partnership, the organisation’s leaders facilitated an interesting reformulation of the principals’ professional identities. Moreover, they positioned the organisation as the most knowledgeable and important actor in the Israeli educational field. As such, the glocal identity legitimises the primacy and acceptance of the new principals’ organisation as an integral part of the system of Israeli education policymakers.     

Exploring pre-service teachers’ justifications for one-to-one technology use in schools: implications for initial teacher education

ABSTRACT

Set against the backdrop of a succession of educational technology policies in Ireland, influenced by international discourses, this study aimed to explore how Irish pre-service teachers justify the use of mobile technologies in schools. In order to achieve this, 23 pre-service teachers were presented with a vignette that asked them to justify the use of a one-to-one tablet initiative in school. The research found that pre-service teachers tended to justify the initiative, as they saw the increasing technification of schools and society as an inevitable process. In addition, they presented pragmatic reasons for using the technology rather than highlighting their educational/pedagogic value. This study points to the need to challenge pre-service teachers’ innovation-centric and techno-centric attitudes towards technology use. It also highlights the need for teacher educators, as a whole, to take a more active role in addressing this issue in teacher education programmes.     

中职学校职业指导教师培训的若干问题与对策

依据教育部2008年的一次专项调查,分析了中职学校职业指导教师培训存在的主要问题,提出了对中职学校职业指导教师培训的建议,即:中职学校职业指导教师培训应具有灵活的课程设置和分类指导的培训模式;重视职业指导专业能力的提高;促进中职学校职业指导教师学生观、评价观、师生观的转变;提高中职学校职业指导教师运用多种教学方法的能力.     

中小学班主任开展情感教育存在的问题及策略探讨

情感教育是学校教育的一项重要内容,通过情感教育能丰富学生的情感体验,培养良好的情感品质.在中小学阶段,情感教育主要通过班主任采实施,本文指出了目前班主任在情感教育方面存在的问题,提出了开展情感教育的具体策略.     

Catholic religion teachers in Chile: an approach to identity building with regard to existing mission-profession tension

Religion classes are found throughout the entire school system in Chile. These are mostly conducted by Catholic teachers who form their own professional identity from internal demands (imposed by the Catholic Church) and external demands (imposed by the school culture, social media, students and their families). This paper presents a reference framework for the professional teacher identity and analyses the linguistic structures and persuasion strategies present in three documents that directly question this group of teachers, building an identity profile of them. Discursive mechanisms are identified which legitimise identity traits. The way in which said productions influence the thoughts and actions of their readership is also analysed. A documentary study design is used based on critical documentary analysis. The investigation shows breaks in the discourse and an existing tension between the mission and the profession, underlining that the Catholic religion teacher is first and foremost an evangeliser. The performance capacity of this discourse on the listeners is discussed along with the effect of the almost complete absence of references to teaching professionalism and the possible influence on the development and results of the subject.