A review on leadership and leadership development in educational settings

Leadership gained a lot of attention during the past decades because of school principals' growing responsibilities and the accountability-driven context they work in. However, reviews providing a general overview of effective school leadership theories and effective professional development are rare. The present review was conducted to summarise the existing literature and discover lacunae in school leadership research in preschools, primary and secondary schools. 75 studies focusing on leadership theories, characteristics of effective school leadership and school leaders’ professional development were included and analysed. The present article provides an overview of main leadership theories such as instructional leadership, situational leadership, transformational leadership, distributed leadership and Leadership for Learning. Second, the article focuses on the characteristics of effective school leadership and lastly, the review offers features of effective professional development activities for school principals.     

The influence of the family,the school,and the group on the environmental attitudes of European students

The attitudes of young people arise from an intense interaction with their social groups of reference, and in this work we examine the extent to which this background conditions the individual environmental attitudes of the young. Using data provided by the PISA 2006 survey for the European Union, we test for the influence of the family, the characteristics of the school, and the social interactions or school peer group on attitudes toward the environment. The existence of social interactions, as well as the important role of family characteristics and school activities, are confirmed. The results allow us to emphasize the importance of the social context of the adolescent, and the need to take this into account as a channel that amplifies the influence of specific environmental education strategies.     

Study of Turkish Preschool Teachers’ Attitudes toward Science Teaching

This study aims to explore preschool teachers’ attitudes toward science teaching and its impact on classroom practices through the frequency of science activities provided in the classroom. In addition, the study investigates if their attitudes are related to factors such as educational level, years of teaching experience, and the school type they work in. The present research was conducted with 292 preschool teachers who work in public and private schools in different districts of Ankara, Turkey. The data were collected by administering the Early Childhood Teachers’ Attitudes toward Science Teaching Scale. Our analyses indicate that there is a significant but weak link between preschool teachers’ attitudes toward science teaching and the frequency of science activities that they provide in the classroom. Further, while teachers’ characteristics such as educational level and experience are found to play an insignificant role on the overall measures of the scale, type of school appears to be a major factor in explaining the attitudes toward science teaching.     

一个不容忽视的社会问题

本文分析了未成年人犯罪的特点,对未成年人犯罪的原因进行了探讨,提出了预防未成年人犯罪的对策。     

The effect of methylphenidate on teachers' behavioral ratings in specific school situations

Fifty-seven students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were treated with 5 and 15 mg of methylphenidate (MPH) twice a day, and ratings of their behavior were compared to placebo on the School Situations Questionnaire (SSQ). SSQ ratings improved with MPH treatment in all situations related to task performance (i.e., arriving at school, during individual seat work, small group activities, and lectures) but less so in non-task or unstructured situations. Many change scores were large enough to be clinically meaningful. Use of SSQ by school psychologists was discussed as a means of efficiently providing contextual information not available from ADHD dimensional rating scales. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

学校管理学教材体系的缺失与重建

我国各具特色的学校管理学教材在一定的时期和范围内产生了不同程度的影响。但存在理论深度挖掘不够,教材内容滞后于学校管理改革步伐,不能满足学习者要求等缺陷。要素主义课程论、百科全书主义课程论、综合技术主义课程论和实用主义课程理论为我们提供了构建学校管理学教材体系的理论基础,引导我们从两个维度来思考构建学校管理学教材体系问题:一是学校管理学教材所描述的整体应该构成学校管理活动的完备的框架和典型的知识脉络,二是学校管理学的教材内容不仅要凝练学校管理活动中的显性知识,还要映射学校管理活动中的隐性知识,帮助读者实现隐性知识和显性知识之间的转换。学校管理原理论、组织论、人论和工作论的四板块教材结构将学校管理活动较为完整地勾勒出来;教材中的案例是沟通学校管理显性知识和隐性知识的桥梁,因此正确地解构学校管理事件并重新结构化,是写好学校管理案例的关键。     

小学数学综合实践活动课实施的策略与途径分析

新课改对小学阶段的教育教学事业提出了更加多元、更加多样、更富实践性的具体要求,这促使教师在实际课堂教学中,需要结合具体的学科特性,对实践活动尝试更多选择。本文以此为出发点,围绕小学数学教学活动,探索综合实践活动课在小学数学教学中的实践策略与具体途径。     

Learning to support learning together: an experience with the soft systems methodology

An action research approach called soft systems methodology (SSM) was used to foster organisational learning in a school regarding the role of the learning support department within the school and its relation with the normal teaching‐learning activities. From an initial situation of lack of coordination as well as mutual misunderstanding and distrust among some of the actors in the situation, eight months of work yielded as a result a better working environment among the participants, the creation of a volunteer discussion group functioning on a permanent basis, and a clarification and modification of some of the learning support activities. This change can also be described as learning by learning support staff, school teachers and administrators on how to work together, as well as on how to support children's learning in a better way. Nevertheless, another event that occurred after the intervention shows the importance of considering a wider system than that limited by the participants in the intervention.     

Student Engagement with Artefacts and Scientific Ideas in a Laboratory and a Concept-Mapping Activity

The purpose of this study is to use a comparative approach to scrutinize the common assumption that certain school science activities are theoretical and therefore particularly suited for engaging students with scientific ideas, whereas others are practical and, thus, not equally conducive to engagement with scientific ideas. We compared two school science activities, one (laboratory work) that is commonly regarded as focusing attention on artefacts that may distract students from central science concepts and the other (concept mapping) that is thought to make students focus directly on these concepts. We observed students in either a laboratory activity about real galvanic cells or a concept-mapping activity about idealized galvanic cells. We used a practical epistemology analysis to compare the two activities regarding students' actions towards scientific ideas and artefacts. The comparison revealed that the two activities, despite their alleged differences along the theory–practice scale, primarily resulted in similar student actions. For instance, in both activities, students interacted extensively with artefacts and, to a lesser extent, with scientific ideas. However, only occasionally did students establish any explicit continuity between artefacts and scientific ideas. The findings indicate that some of the problems commonly considered to be unique for school science practical work may indeed be a feature of school science activities more generally.     

日本学校音乐教育发展脉络及其特点

从历时性的角度,分析日本学校音乐教育的发展脉络及其特点,了解日本学校音乐教育发展概况,从中汲取借鉴某些对我国学校音乐教育改革发展有益的经验。日本中小学音乐课对音乐实践活动极为重视,在音乐课中始终贯穿着充分发挥学生个性发展的指导思想,重视团体主义意识的集体性音乐活动,高校音乐教育专业的课程设置充分体现了面向中小学音乐教育的方针,重视音乐教育类课程的开设,重视音乐教师职后进修。     

Realities and Feelings in the Work of Primary Heads

This article examines the affective nature of day‐to‐day primary school headship. The author points to differences in the kinds of tasks that heads do each day and suggests that these determine their prevailing feelings. A distinction is made between work that merely keeps the school operating and work that helps the head to shape the school. It is argued that the former provides few satisfactions for heads, while satisfactions gained from the latter are often transient. Spending time with children is an aspect of ‘personal work’ that provides heads with their most deeply felt satisfactions. One effect of the government's reforms is to intensify those features of heads’ work that offer little emotional sustenance, while eroding those that do     

Relations between the everyday activities of preschoolers and their teachers’ perceptions of their competence in the first years of school

This paper contributes to a growing literature that suggests that in order to understand the transition to school, one should employ an ecological approach. Such an approach involves simultaneous consideration of individual and contextual factors, studied over time. Much of the current literature on the transition focuses on the transition from the perspective of school, but we were interested in relations between what occurs prior to school and performance in school. We used Bronfenbrenner’s Process-Person-Context-Time (PPCT) ecological model to focus primarily on the relations between school-relevant activities of preschool-aged children and teachers’ subsequent perception of the children’s competence once they had entered school. At Time 1 we observed 20 3-year-olds’ engagement in everyday activities (Process) and their initiation of those activities (Person) over a 20-hour period covering the equivalent of an entire waking day. Children were drawn from two social classes (Context). The preschool observations were followed by 2 consecutive years of teacher reports of academic competence following entry into elementary school (Times 2 and 3). Middle-class preschoolers engaged in more school-relevant activities than did working-class children, and preschoolers who initiated and engaged in more conversations were subsequently perceived by their teachers as being more competent.     

浅析假期旅游对青少年学生成长的积极影响

旅游日渐成为了人们生活的一种需要，它不仅代表着人们拥有了更高的物质享受，还体现着更高的精神追求。对于青少年学生来说，在假期中参加一些旅游活动对他们的成长有着十分重要的意义，越来越多的社会团体、学校、家长也开始广泛关注和重视青少年学生假期旅游。分析了青少年假期旅游的特性，然后从五个方面对假期旅游在青少年成长过程中的积极影响进行了探讨，并提出青少年出行时应注意的几个问题。     

返本归真自娱自乐--北爱尔兰早期教育课程简介

为了分析儿童自发性活动与成人指导性活动相关的早期教育课程 ,北爱尔兰教研人员在 71所不同类型早期教育机构开展了调查活动。主要调查早期教育机构全学年中具有代表性的一天的课堂活动。调查记载儿童参与的活动项目、活动内容、活动设施、参与儿童活动的成人和父母数量以及成人参与儿童活动的时间。调查结果表明 :在大多数接待班 ,早期教育儿童课程偏重于成人指导性方法 ;而大多数日托所、娱乐班、保育学校更倾向采用儿童自发性方法     

教师专业发展与教师的道德影响力

教师专业发展与教师的道德影响力密切相关。从学科教学活动看,教师需要形成专业知识、教学能力与人格之间内在的平衡性、融合性和作用方向上的一致性,才能对学生的道德产生和谐的、丰满的、持久的影响。从师生关系看,教师在人格方面的民主性特征与道德影响力有重要的相关。要实现教师的道德影响力,学校管理必须转向以教育生态和谐为目标和基点的道德模式:加强对教育价值观的引导;将学校看作是成人(教师)与学生复杂交织在一起、共同成长的团体;鼓励和提供条件促使教师通过扩大个人阅读、参与教改与反思性研究、拓展人际交往以及自我修养;对教师工作的评价需要从外显性的评价走向更加重视和逐步实现内质性的评价。     

Left/Right confusion: Part one — the general problem

Abstract

A survey of health care patients and practitioners indicates that left/right confusion can occur for an estimated 42% of adults. A review of a range of day to day occupations and activities has revealed examples of adult behaviour in which left/ right confusion occurs or that have been specifically modified to help avoid counterproductive left/right confusion. These findings confirm results from a previous study indicating that many people do not overcome the left/right confusion that is common on entering school. The conclusion is drawn that teachers and parents can help reduce left/right confusion in children, by emphasising the teaching of a skill that is valuable from the beginning of school as well as throughout life beyond school.     

Video games vs. reading and school/cognitive performances: a study on 27000 middle school teenagers

Video games are a very common leisure activity among teenagers and the aim of this study is to analyse their relations with cognitive and school performances. This study is part of a broad survey, conducted on 27,000 French teenagers (14.5?years old) in middle school (9th grade). The survey contained both a questionnaire on leisure activities practised by teenagers and school/cognitive tests: Comprehension tests, Math, School Knowledge, and Reasoning. The activity frequency (‘never’ to ‘every day or almost’) is studied on five kinds of video games (i.e. action/fighting) vs. seven reading activities (i.e. crime/thriller/fantasy). Results show that there are no correlations or very slight ones between Video Games and cognitive/school tests. Reading activities have potentially important associations with cognition and especially school tests. To conclude, video games are primarily recreational activities and the cognitive stimulation they produce is very different from the one involved in specialised academic subjects     

Community-Building in a Diverse Setting

Research demonstrates that community-building in schools is an integral aspect of student success. Based on a foundation of research findings related to the importance of implementing community-building into all aspects of a school, community-building activities, including five specific classroom strategies (parent visits class to tell about child, weekly newsletter with interactive activities, bi-monthly open-house hour where children explain school work to parents, Valentine letters filled with true compliments, and a cultural celebration unit focused on Africa), were implemented in an urban magnet school. This school was moving toward racial integration as well as implementation of a Montessori education program. As predicted from research information, incorporating community-building strategies geared at creating a welcoming climate, at improving faculty interaction, at fostering collaborative classrooms, and towards on-going and open teacher/parent communication and collaboration resulted in positive outcomes in what could have otherwise been a difficult, negative or unproductive situation.     

教师学习的学校管理

教师学习是教师发展的重要途径。通过对教师学习特征的分析,针对教师学习的学校管理应当具有挖掘、引导、沟通三种功能。学校应建立诸如学术顾问委员会的制度建设构想,以及完善教师学习保障机制建设、学校文化建设和信息沟通体系建设等一些具体措施,以推动学校管理功能的实现以及对教师学习的有序管理。