Curriculum Leadership and Management in Secondary Schools: A Hong Kong case study

Relatively little is known about how and by whom curriculum leadership and management occur inside secondary schools, especially in Asian contexts. This article aims to analyse curriculum decision-making in two academically effective secondary schools in Hong Kong. It employs qualitative methods to capture the contributions made by various school personnel, and in particular the principals, to curriculum leadership and management. Data for the two schools show that whilst neither of the principals plays a significant role in curriculum monitoring and innovation, the vice-principal (male), the senior teachers and teachers in one school were perceived to place more emphasis on curriculum monitoring and innovation than their counterparts in the other school. Whilst teachers in both schools shared high expectations for students' academic achievement, one subtle difference between them related to the pursuit of academic excellence. In one school, students did not exert much pressure on their teachers whereas in the other school, teachers felt they had to fulfil students' demands for good lesson preparation and take account of students' opinions of their teaching.     

Culturally responsive teaching in special education for ethnically diverse students: Setting the stage

Two major premises are developed in this discussion. One is that many students of color are disproportionately assigned to special education because educators lack knowledge about or appreciation for their cultural values and socialization, and how these affect learning behaviors. The other premise is that the educational quality of students of color in both special and regular education can be improved significantly by using instructional programs and practices that reflect their cultural heritages, experiences, and perspectives. Several components of this ''culturally responsive teaching'' are explained, along with some research findings about its effects on student achievement. These include critical cultural consciousness of teachers; culturally pluralistic classroom climates; diverse communities of learners; and multicultural curriculum and instruction. The author concludes that without culturally responsive teaching education can never be the best it should be for students who are not part of the majority and mainstream of schools and society.     

A comprehensive approach to managing school safety: case studies in Catalonia,Spain

Background: Schools should be safe spaces for students, teaching staff and non-teaching staff. For the concept of ‘safety’ to be meaningful, it must be interpreted broadly to encompass well-being in its widest sense. A common challenge for schools and educational authorities is, therefore, to manage school safety appropriately not only to prevent physical accidents and incidents, but also with the purpose of creating an environment that promotes physical, emotional and social well-being, both individually and collectively.

Purpose: The aim of this research paper is twofold: (a) to explore the concept of safety as it is interpreted by schools and analyse the extent to which schools are committed to the goal of creating safe and healthy school environments; and (b) to identify organisational and management practices that promote the safety of school staff and users.

Design, sample and methods: The research was carried out from a qualitative perspective, based on a study of multiple cases carried out in Catalonia, Spain. The case studies (N = 9 schools) were selected by means of a purposive sampling process in order to obtain a selection of schools covering different education stages and under different types of ownership. The data collection process involved carrying out semistructured interviews (N = 39) with school principals, health and safety officers, teaching staff and non-teaching staff; focus groups with families (N = 2) and a review of general documentation and specific safety documents (N = 58). The data collected were completed and verified by means of interviews with experts (N = 3). The interviews, focus groups and notes arising from the document review were transcribed literally and analysed thematically, following a cross-case analysis structure.

Results: The data analysis indicated that creating safe and healthy environments was not always an explicitly endorsed principle or goal for schools. However, all members of the educational community were involved in ensuring adequate levels of school safety; and diverse management and organisational actions and measures were implemented to ensure physical, emotional and social safety.

Conclusions: We conclude that according to a broad interpretation of safety, which encompasses well-being in its widest sense, a comprehensive school safety management approach had not been fully adopted by schools in the studied sample. Whilst involvement in safety practices was evident, many actions appeared to be carried out without full consideration of the wider promotion of school safety. The study suggests the importance of training and awareness activities for education professionals in order to build and promote safety culture and to facilitate the introduction of a comprehensive school safety approach in the day-to-day management of schools.     

Teachers´ experiences of school choice from ´marginalised´ and ´privileged´ public schools in Oslo

ABSTRACT

Oslo introduced a combination of school choice, per capita funding, balanced management and accountability in their public schools. Recent studies point out that this has increased segregation. In this study, teachers have been interviewed about their experiences. Bernstein´s classification and framing tools have been used to analyse the consequences for schools and relations between schools and parents/students. ´Marginalised´ and ´privileged´ schools find themselves in negative and positive spirals when it comes to popularity. These spirals are classed, raced and, (in upper secondary school), also gendered. Since attracting the ´right´ students and avoiding getting the ´wrong´ ones is essential for both school categories, school choice creates a mutual interest between the school and privileged parents/students in fortifying the latter´s voice. Three findings are especially interesting: 1. Cream skimming occurs in undersubscribed schools in a strictly public-school context. 2. School choice affects internal priorities in marginalised schools so that segregation at the class level increases, thus the educational context may be more segregated than what is indicated by school level information. 3. School choice increases segregation in the local communities, as two schools near each other may have very different student compositions. Segregation is thus not only explained by segregated housing.     

The Great Education Reform Bill 1988 ‐ some issues and implications

The article explores some of the wider policy issues and concerns raised by the 1988 Education Bill, in particular the implications of the Bill for control over schooling. There is a brief discussion about the main aspects of the Bill's proposals as they affect schools. The paper then moves on to consider the extent to which the Bill gives power both to the Secretary of State for Education and to parents and school governors, whilst removing power from Local Education Authorities and teachers themselves. It is pointed out that the proposals will make long term educational planning and policy implementation across a range of schools very difficult. The paper concludes by questioning whether all the intentions of the Bill will be realized but notes that opposition to the Bill has not really fully taken on board alternative strategies for improving the quality of education.     

Empowering school-based management through decentralised financial control

Abstract

This article focuses on decentralisation of financial control as a strategy used to develop school-based management (SBM) and improve performance. SBM is a management mechanism aimed at improving schools by shifting decision-making powers regarding the budget from the central level to the schools (Raywind 1990, 142). The article examines the role of the state in decentralisation by exploring the current South African education policy on this aspect of educational reform as expressed through the Norms and standards for school funding (RSA 1998). The policy was designed in response to the demands for educational reform and restructuring initiatives.

A common feature in the implementation of this policy is the devolution of decisionmaking authority over the management of resources to schools. This includes devolution of state-allocated budgets and delegation of financial management responsibilities to school-based financial management structures through the district as a primary education service delivery system for the state. To assist both the district and the school in carrying out their responsibilities, a model for school-based financial management is presented in this article.     

Poststructuralist theory in practice: Working with 'behaviourally disturbed' children

In this paper we enter into the debate about the place of poststructuralist theorising and its relation to educational and psychological practices. We argue against a definition of poststructuralist theory as generating inaction and as antithetical to concepts such as ''agency'' and ''choice''. We suggest that poststructuralist theory may well have powerful implications for practice and we illustrate this through a close examination of practices in regular schools and in a school for ''behaviourally disturbed'' children. We show that through making the constitutive force of discourse visible, it is possible to work with students in ways that make them recognisable as legitimate students.     

The Development of the Year Curriculum Coordinator at Burntwood School

This article gives an account of a school in which Year Curriculum Teams were created, consisting of a planned combination of tutors across subject clusters. An enhanced role and perspective for the tutor is described. Subsequent changes were accommodated well by the new system, even though the position regarding tutor continuity was changed. As with other school accounts in this issue, a sense of the particular flavour of the school comes through, alongside the structural themes which may have wide application.

Charles Harper and Yvonne Barry are both members of the Senior Management Team at Burntwood School, which has recently been awarded Beacon status. Charles has taught in a number of schools including in Pennsylvania, USA. He was a Head of Art before moving into senior management. Yvonne has taught in two large comprehensive schools and was a Year Curriculum Coordinator before becoming a senior manager. Both have been involved in training staff and in giving presentations at the Institute of Education, CSCS, QME and various London schools. Charles and Yvonne are members of various working groups and advisory bodies including the Open University and the QCA.     

Some Student Comment on Friendship Patterns and Ethnic Minority Groupings in Post-16 Education

In this paper, Jean Wright and Ann Beynon discuss their past and present experience of counselling in schools and colleges. They reflect on the way counselling in schools has declined whilst at the same time growing significantly in sixth forms and colleges of further education. Drawing on these experiences and one of the writers' recent experience of the approach to counselling in the USA, they argue that a reconsideration is needed of the value of counselling approaches in schools.     

School self-evaluation for development: The case for and reflections on a training programme

Abstract

This paper explores the case for schools conducting their own self-evaluation to serve the dual purpose of professional development within schools and accountability demands from external sources. The paper is in three parts. The first outlines the argument and benefits for schools conducting their own case study evaluation of their curriculum policies and practices, indicating how this approach is both similar to and different from external case study of schools. The second describes a training programme designed and implemented by the author to support schools in conducting evaluations that are valid, credible and useful. The third presents the participants' and author's reflections on the training and its outcomes and, through an example from one of the schools involved, illustrates what school self-evaluation looks like grounded in the actual experience of undertaking the process. From the evidence presented, the paper concludes that educational professionals, with appropriate support and training, are more than equal to the task of conducting credible and valid case study school self-evaluations.     

Living with parental involvement: A case study of two 'open schools'

This account is based on case study data collected in two first phase schools (5-8 years) in England. The focus is the response of parents and teachers to a supposed opening up of schools through increased parental involvement in schooling. With acknowledgement of appropriate education policy and critical educational research, the authors argue that government policy depoliticises both educational outcomes and parent-teacher relations. The idea of the 'open' school dominates the data; it emerges as a metaphor of convenience and is pivotal in the way in which parents and teachers use it to explain and sustain parent-teacher relations of a mutually acceptable kind. Value is placed by both parties on an atmosphere of open communication, informality and routine. In the process of parent-teacher relations the advantage lies with the teachers, and parental empowerment is something of a myth. The metaphor of 'openness' is not questioned by parents and teachers, and it covers a process where trading is taking place between routine parental needs and the professional power and control of the teachers. There are clear indicators in the data which show that what drives parental involvement in these schools is teacher priorities coupled with some parental compliance, under the cover of the 'open' school, and not government policy imperatives.     

Financial Delegation: its effect on the school and the role of the head

At the end of a decade of enhanced marketisation in schools, this article considers the subjective meanings attached to educational marketing by school teachers and the ways they construct and interpret teachers' 'idealised' and 'actual' involvement and contribution to school marketing. Through semi-structured interviews with 12 secondary school teachers from the south of England, the study revealed teachers' perceptions of and attitudes towards competition, marketing and education, their awareness of the marketing activities of their schools, the teachers' role in marketing the school and the perceived impact of the market upon teachers' well being. The results show that there is no coherent, organised view of education marketing among teachers in the study but rather that there are a number of inchoate voices amongst teachers concerning their role in school marketing. Broadly, two voices are revealed that reflect a cognitive dissonance which may exist among school teachers in the era of marketisation. This dissonance may stem from teachers' ideology-based difficulty in perceiving marketing as part of school life, while at the same time, they are aware of its importance to the school's success.     

Departments as Teams: Functioning,variations and alternatives

Complex, multi-dimensional and often conflicting reform has led in The Netherlands to a situation in which the management of schools is no longer seen as the exclusive preserve of senior management. In order to manage changes within schools it is deemed necessary to expand the management function to other levels of the organization. In this context teams are held increasingly responsible for carrying out the middle management function, in particular in the educational domain of schools. In this article the results of Dutch research into these teams, in particular subject departments, and the way they carry out the middle managment function are presented and compared to results of similar research in other educational settings. The article ends with a reflection on the desirability of departmentalisation. The functioning of departments will be compared with the functioning of teams within different contexts, in particular interdisciplinary teaming. Finally, suggestions for future research into departmentalisation and its alternatives are made.     

Discourses of ‘indiscipline’: a Foucauldian response

Abstract

A recent editorial in the Scottish Educational Journal, the publication of the teacher trade union the Educational Institute of Scotland, headed 'More action, not words needed on discipline', condemned the level of indiscipline, violence and aggression in Scottish schools - in particular that directed against teachers - and criticized the government for its lack of action in tackling the problem. This article examines the way arguments such as this position the individual as 'deviant’ within educational systems. It discusses the importance of metaphor in organizing our perceptions and suggests that an analysis of power relations in schools could give rise to alternative metaphorical concepts that may help to promote the inclusion of children whose behaviour is deemed to be unacceptable.     

Teaching Emotional Virtue: A post-Kohlbergian approach

What are the educational implications of the rising tide of cognitivism and Aristotelianism in the field of emotion research and why have these not been heeded in education circles? This essay explores some of these implications and the somewhat incomplete attempts ('emotional intelligence' and 'multiple intelligences') to translate them into educational practice. It is argued that proposals about the teaching of emotional virtue in schools typically come up against a wall of 'myths' concerning the futility, if not the downright danger, of moral education in general and emotion education in particular. An attempt is made to dismantle some of these myths, paving the way for a more optimistic 'post-Kohlbergian' approach.     

Away with all teachers: The cultural politics of home schooling

In the United States and a number of nations, one of the most powerful dynamics of educational 'reform' involves the movement toward home schooling. The national media have spoken glowingly about it and the number of children being schooled at home is growing rapidly. In large part, this is stimulated by the circulation of anti-statist discourses and by the continuation and expansion of claims about school failure. In these accounts, the sources of educational problems are multiple: teacher education institutions produce teachers who are unprepared academically and unskilled in teaching the 'basics'; state funded (public, in the US sense of the word) schools have been taken over by 'progressive' models of teaching that are unworkable; these same schools do not teach 'traditional' cultural and religious knowledge, beliefs, and values; and public schools do not listen to conservative parents and are much too bureaucratic. Supporters of home schooling are usually religious fundamentalists who have increasing power in the USA and elsewhere. They have formed a national coalition and have joined in a tense rightist hegemonic alliance with neo-liberals and neo-conservatives, an alliance that seeks to reconstruct our common-sense about education and about all things social. The article shows how the movement toward home schooling has become more extensive and more dangerous than has usually been thought. In the process, home schooling is situated within the larger conservative and authoritarian populist ideological, religious, and social movements that provide much of its impetus. Connections are suggested with other protectionist impulses and connections are made to the history of and concerns about the growth of activist government. Finally, the article points to how it may actually hurt many other students who are not home schooled.     

Bureaucratic Control or Professional Autonomy?: Performance management in New Zealand schools

Since 1997 appraisal has been a mandated requirement of New Zealand schools. While the management of teacher performance is not new, schools are increasingly being faced with difficult and complex decisions regarding accountability mechanisms for teacher performance. Moreover, in a climate of school self-management the potential exists for tensions between bureaucratic systems and the professional autonomy of teachers to surface. This article reports on research conducted in 2001 that investigated teachers' perceptions of the bureaucratic and professional approaches to performance management in their schools. In a climate of increasing control of teachers' work and professional activities by the State, results from recent research indicate that school managers have adopted a professional approach to the appraisal of staff. Moreover the involvement of teachers in developing school-level appraisal systems is pinpointed as fundamental to the long-term success of appraisal in New Zealand schools.     

John Wilson and the Place of Morality in Education

This paper asks whether it would be better not to talk about morality in schools. The issue is raised through a consideration of changes in public discourse and especially in educational discourse, where categories such as ''personal, social and health education'' and ''citizenship education'' are more salient than ''moral education''. Drawing on John Wilson's arguments, the paper considers claims for the indispensability of the concept of morality. It is argued that such claims, in Wilson's own writings, are applied to both an ''individual'' and a ''social'' conception of morality. Contrary to Wilson, the paper argues that the ''wisest strategy'' for public education is to take the social conception of ''morality in the narrow sense'' as a central focus.     

Strategic Planning in Schools: An oxymoron?

This paper argues that traditional approaches to school planning no longer serve the needs of schools. In particular, it puts forward the view that strategy, as applied to school planning, is only of partial use. It argues that there should be a new way forward for schools seeking to meet the challenge of effective leadership and management in the new millennium. This would utilise the concept of 'strategic intent' encapsulated in a new model which replaces the limited 'school development planning' framework.     

Considering Legal Identity as a Critical Variable of Interest in Charter Schools Research

ABSTRACT

Fifteen years ago charter schools were considered a radical addition to the public education landscape. Today they present a viable educational choice in 40 states and the District of Columbia. Much has been written about charter schools, their purpose, effectiveness, and future. However, to date, much of the dialogue has focused on ideology and methodology resulting in a discussion framed as “charter vs. noncharter.” Overlooked have been the more substantive issues that would provide a more accurate framework for studying charter schools. We propose that the education policy and research communities need to identify the critical variables in the charter schools sector that affect both student outcomes and education policy. One such major variable is the legal status of a charter school, that is, its identity as a local education agency (LEA) or as part of an existing LEA and the charter school's linkage to other parts of the public education system that flows from that identity. Differentiating charter schools according to their legal status will allow stakeholders to categorize these schools in a manner that succinctly captures critical differences. doi:10.1300/J467v01n03_11