The school psychologist as a facilitator of a community-wide project to enhance positive learning climate in elementary schools

This study describes a community-wide experimental change program that was initiated by a school psychologist who served as a system facilitator and change agent. The program strived to improve social climate in the classroom, and was executed in the fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade classrooms of an entire school system in northern Israel. This paper describes the program's design and rationale as well as its activities. Thirty-three classrooms participated, all of which were assigned randomly into three treatments: two experimental programs working on topics in classroom life, one in small-group settings and the other in whole-class settings, and one control (no program). Classroom climate was measured twice (pre-and posttest) during the school year by answering a modified Hebrew version of the Walberg and Anderson questionnaire developed by Hertz-Lazarowitz and Sharan (1979). Results indicated that increase in positive social climate control occurred in the experimental small-group program in all grade levels. The whole-class treatment showed improvement in higher grades, whereas the no-program control classrooms showed a significant decrease in classroom climate during the year. Three main factors were explained as contributing to the impact of the program on positive social climate. From an organizational perspective, (a) the participation and collegial support of teachers within the school with (b) the active leadership of the school psychologist helped improve social climate. Lastly, (c) the children's responses revealed the importance of experiencing cognitively and affectively the content of the program. This program, with certain modifications, became a consistent part of the school curricula.     

Blackboard bullies: workplace bullying in primary schools

This paper offers a comprehensive examination of the ‘lived experience’ of workplace bullying in primary schools in Ireland. Underpinned by the qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with a class teacher, a chairperson of a Board of Management and a school principal – all of whom who believe themselves to have been targets of workplace bullying in their schools – the paper presents their personal narratives as representative inductive exemplars. Each of these case studies highlight the far-reaching impact of negative workplace interaction for both individuals and the wider school community and, in so doing, provide a voice for a hithertofore silent minority. Through a Foucauldian analysis of the complex exercise of power which is at the heart of all bullying relationships, this study reveals the key role of management and organisational cultures to both the experience and incidence of adult bullying in primary schools, as well as the critical importance of leadership in framing the nature of professional relationships in school organisations.     

Working with rules: lived democracy in school

This study focuses on an attempt by a Swedish secondary school teacher to fashion a more participatory education situation by involving his students in deciding the rules for their group work. Five group sessions were video recorded and examined using a conversation–analytic approach. The findings show a complex interplay between democratic and undemocratic elements in the interaction between the teacher and the students, as well as among the students themselves. Throughout the material, the students often reconnected to the democratic discourse of the teacher and employed it for various purposes. This also meant that the students’ work with the assignment was sometimes set aside. However, because it can be assumed that the students pick up new democratic competencies as they partake in the sessions, the teacher's participatory agenda can still be defended. The findings are discussed in relation to previous research.     

民办学校财产归属是影响其发展的关键

民办学校财产归属是影响民办学校发展的关键,许多专家学者对民办学校财产归属有论述。《民办教育促进法》维护民办学校财产归属的困难是难以维护民办学校的法律权利、难以界定民办学校的合理回报、难以明晰民办学校的产权关系、难以促进独立学院的发展。为了促进民办学校的发展我们应该有选择性地做下列工作:对于义务教育阶段的学校,全部采用"学票制"(Voucher mechanism),学生可以自主选择经政府认可的任何学校,包括民办学校和公办学校;对于非义务教育阶段的教育,要严格区分民办与公办;逐步对民办学校的财产实行股份制改造,以利于清查办学财产,保证国有资产的保值和增值;推行民办学校的所有权与经营权相分离的治理机制,克服资本的寻利性和教育的公益性之间的矛盾。     

From school militarization to school securitization: national security finds its place in schools

This ethnography explores daily life at Milton High School, a US public school with its own specialized Homeland Security program. From ‘military grunts’ serving in distant theaters of war to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents defending the US borderlands to National Security Administration (NSA) technicians monitoring worldwide cyber communications, Milton’s Homeland Security program trained students for the multiple permutations of the global war on terror. Based on my ethnographic fieldwork conducted at Milton, this article offers an analysis of what I call ‘school securitization’. While growing critical education scholarship importantly investigates the intensification of militarized education evident in the rise of military charter schools and harsh disciplinary regimes, this ethnography documents how other actors like major defense contractors, security companies, and federal agencies contributed to the school’s remaking. Broadening the analytical framework of school militarization to school securitization accounts for the range of actors, institutions, epistemologies, and security-oriented beliefs beyond the military that shape public education for the production of violence.     

Extending pre‐school experience as preventive intervention: Relationships with later reading achievement

This study investigated the predictive validity of decisions made by a pre‐school teacher concerning the cognitive and social maturity of her pupils to enter formal schooling, based on their performance on the Neale Scales of Early Childhood Development.Thirty‐five children selected from the rolls of a Melbourne pre‐school which had maintained records over a ten‐year period were followed up in primary school and their reading ability assessed. Findings showed that subjects who had undertaken an additional pre‐school year following advice based on their Neale Scales’ performance were reading significantly better than those who had displayed similar developmental anomalies but who bad not been exposed to further pre‐school experience; moreover, the former were reading as well as or better than children selected on the basis of their pre‐school profiles as being ready for school.     

Authoritative schools: A test of a model to resolve the school effectiveness debate

School effectiveness research has fueled debate on the importance of a press for academic excellence versus communal values. Research on parenting styles offers a theoretical framework that may resolve the debate. We hypothesized that dimensions of parenting styles—demandingness (academic press) and responsiveness (communal values)—predict students’ mathematics achievement, engagement, and locus of control. HLM analyses of NELS: 88 data on 19,435 eighth-graders partially supported the hypothesis: Students’ perceptions of school responsiveness predicted their engagement and internal control. In addition, students in responsive schools had smaller differences in mathematics achievement and internal control attributable to SES, suggesting that responsive schools may increase equity. We offer suggestions for further investigation of the model in hope of resolving the debate.     

From ‘school correspondent’ to workplace bargainer? The changing role of the school union representative

This paper draws on research in three English Midlands local education authorities to analyse the changing role of the teacher trade union representative in schools. It focuses on representatives of the largest teachers’ union in England and Wales—the National Union of Teachers. The paper draws on mainstream industrial relations literature, and more recent research into school sector industrial relations, to assess how the role of the union representative is changing in an era of autonomous schools. The research indicates that new issues are emerging in schools, and these have the potential to transform the role of the representative. Where representatives can respond to the emergence of these new issues there is the prospect of a new, more participative trade union culture developing in schools. However, it is far from certain that school union representatives will want to assume these increased responsibilities, and this poses a major challenge for the development of teacher trade unionism.     

The public schools as a work environment

This study examined the perceptions of elementary and secondary school teachers, and school board members, of the school as a work environment. The Work Environment Preferencess Scale, an instrument based on Weber's components of bureaucratic organizations, was administered to all the teachers and board members of a small Maine school district. Board members, then secondary teachers, preferred bureaucratic organization and principles. Implications for education are discussed.     

Differences between secondary schools: A study about school context,group composition,school practice,and school effects with special attention to public and Catholic schools and types of schools

The results indicate that in Flanders secondary schools of different denomination and of different school type (based on their curriculum offerings) differ with respect to several characteristics. With respect to the educational framework, learning environment and learning climate differences between schools are small and differences are more situated within schools. Multilevel analysis reveals that almost 19% of the variance in mathematics achievement is at school level. The effect of denomination is small and disappears when student background (which is related to school practice) is taken into account. The effect of school type remains important when controlled for student background and denomination. Group composition, the social and learning climate, and the opportunity to learn seem to matter and explain almost 90% of the school effect. They also explain more than four fifths of the effect of school type (and denomination together) which accounts for 65% of the school level variance.     

Muslim learners in English schools: a challenge for school leaders

Faith identity is emerging as significant for Muslim students in the post 9/11 scenario, with implications for their education and wider social cohesion. This poses challenges to school leaders, raising issues not only linked to student achievement and performance, but also with regard to students’ identity constructions and their educational engagement. The paper draws on data collected from a small number of teachers and Muslim students from two secondary schools in England, looking at how Muslim students experience their identity in the school context and with what implications for their educational engagement. It also discusses the challenges for educational leaders/teachers in managing ‘Muslimness’ on educational sites. The data indicate that the increasing engagement with faith identity can be a response to experiences of discrimination, marginalisation and negative media. The paper highlights the need for communication and understanding across differences, underpinned by an equally pressing need for the recognition of religious and cultural diversity.     

How schools and students respond to school improvement programs: The case of Brazil's PDE

This study uses rich empirical data from Brazil to assess how a government program (PDE) that decentralizes school management decisions changes what goes on in schools and how these changes affect student outcomes. It appears that the PDE resulted in some improvements in management and learning materials, but little change in other areas including evaluation and community relations. However, we find no evidence that schools’ participation in the PDE improved student achievement. The results for grade passing are stronger. Students in PDE schools saw greater increases in grade passing rates than students in non-PDE schools during the period of our study. We also estimate a positive relationship between PDE spending and student gains for those schools in the program, especially for spending on teaching and learning materials and furniture. We find no benefit of electronics spending or spending on teacher training, two of the three largest areas of school investment.     

Principals in schools with a positive school culture

This study focuses on the profile of principals who seem to be able to shape the school culture to best encourage teaching and learning. Data from a representative sample of primary schools (N = 46) were collected through questionnaires for principals and for teachers (N = 700) and semi‐structured interviews with the principals. Functioning, well‐being and personal characteristics of the principal, structural and cultural characteristics of school, and organisational context are examined. Compared to their opposites, principals in schools with cultures stimulating professional development, combine (1) type A, achievement‐oriented behaviour, (2) transformational leadership, (3) a preference for tasks related to education matters and people management and (4) effective time management allowing them to devote most of their time to their preferred role and task component.     

The school as a social institution

Rarely has a demand regarding school been so persistently repeated through history as the demand that school be related to life. From Seneca to our day this demand has been stressed with variations, never with complete success. Evan our era, characterized by rapid and profound changes in the whole of social life, has not been spared the renewed postulation of this task: school is not only expected to establish a balance between itself and life, it is also expected to hasten social changes. Teachers, politicians and futurologists of all kinds compete in attempting to envisage a type of school which would satisfy this centuries-old aspiration. The essence of the question lies in the fact that school is an institution which originated at the time of the invention of written characters, extracting a certain strata of people who could engage in science and the arts beyond the sphere of productive labour. To this day, school has retained some basic characteristics of this origin. Many of our contemporaries would be surprised if we told them that there was a time when schools did not exist and that perhaps in the far-off future they will cease to exist. Marshall McLuhan has already announced the end of the era of written letters and books, and consequently the disappearance of school in the traditional form to which we are accustomed. Dr. Franković is a former director of the Yugoslav Institute for Educational Research and has served as president of the Yugoslav Union of Pedagogic Societies.