Inclusive educational leadership to establish a co-operative school cluster trust? Exploring perspectives and making links with leadership for learning

ABSTRACT

One remarkable feature of the contemporary school landscape in England is the number of schools that have chosen the co-operative framework to shape their work and relationships. When a group of schools decides to become a co-operative trust, leadership challenges arise both in the process of establishing an inclusive collaborative cluster and in living out co-operative values. To add to the limited literature on co-operative school leadership, a study in a school cluster trust explored headteachers’, governors’ and teachers’ perspectives and beliefs through interviews, group discussions and questionnaires. These data sources revealed some of the motivations for, benefits of, and strategies to support inter-school collaboration guided by the co-operative values of democracy, solidarity, equality, equity, self-help and self-responsibility. Importantly, a range of perspectives on the extent to which leadership was viewed as, and appeared to be, an inclusive practice undertaken by all members of the cluster was identified. A particular contribution of this work is that it exemplifies resonances between the values and principles of the co-operative movement and those of the Leadership for Learning framework. Since these two models are being increasingly adopted and integrated into a variety of educational settings, the research findings may inform leadership practice more widely.     

Conceptualizing curriculum management in an effective secondary school: a Western Australian case study

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the linkages between management processes and the curriculum using an academically effective secondary school as a case study. The aims of the study are twofold. First, in view of the acknowledged importance governments and others place on the quality of school leadership and management on the one hand and curriculum, teaching and learning reforms on the other, there is a need for empirical data as to how school leaders and managers work to secure improvements in curriculum, teaching and learning. This study purports to provide such data. The second aim acknowledges the need to develop conceptual frameworks and data collection instruments as aids to better understanding of complex relationships within school organizations.two deputy principals do play an indirect and important part in promoting academic performance by reinforcing school values in a wide variety of ways. Third, curriculum management is the responsibility of senior teachers and there is tight linkage between both senior teachers and teachers and high quality teaching and learning. Finally, the loose linkage between departments, and also between departments and senior management, provides little opportunity for a school‐wide approach to curriculum matters. It is evident that a whole‐school curriculum management perspective is absent in this school.     

Looking Back to Direct the Future: A Playbill for Preservice Teachers

English learners (ELs) from Confucian heritage culture (CHC) are often perceived to be reserved and conforming to the authority of the classroom. But a careful look at struggles between a CHC student and the mainstream teacher reveals that the teacher's views and pedagogical approaches shape academic and social hierarchy in the classroom. Implications regarding working with Asian- and CHC-background learners are included.     

Education for Changing Sex Roles for the Year 2000

In this article, the authors describe a case in which school district officials used state regulations for new teacher mentoring programs as justification to cut funding and incrementally dismantle a model program.     

高中思想政治有效课堂教学的策略探析

高中思想政治有效课堂教学主要关注的是教学能否在三维目标上得到有机整合和落实、学生是否得到了全面发展,但课堂上明显存在着三维目标没有完全落实、教学内容空泛、教学活动形式化等问题,使课堂教学效果受到一定的影响,不能完全达到课改的要求。通过分析其原因,高中思想政治有效课堂教学应合理设计并落实三维目标,充实教学内容并使之联系实际,教学活动要注重实效避免形式化,同时应重视教学反思,以此提高课堂教学效果。     

试论课堂教学环境的内涵、结构及建设策略

课堂教学环境就是学校教学活动中所必须的诸客观条件和力量的综合。课堂教学环境主要包括课堂物理环境和课堂心理环境两层结构,二者相互影响、相互促进。课堂教学环境建设的主体是教师和学生,在教学过程中,师生共同追求各种课堂教学环境因素的动态平衡,进而形成课堂教学环境二层结构的良性循环。     

Changing Classroom Environments in Urban Middle Schools

This study involved three phases. First, we developed and validated the Elementary and Middle School Inventory of Classroom Environments (ICE) for assessing upper primary and middle school (Grades 6–8) students' perceived and preferred classroom environment. Second, typical classroom environments in an urban setting were described based on quantitative and qualitative data, including differences between the perceptions of students of different genders. Finally, teachers' participation in action research techniques, involving the use of feedback on perceived and preferred classroom environment, was evaluated in terms of effectiveness in promoting improvement in classroom environments. The sample consisted of ten middle grade teachers and their 43 classes of students in an urban North Texas school setting. Perceived and preferred forms of the ICE, assessing Cooperation, Teacher Empathy, Involvement and Task Orientation, were administered. Factor and item analyses supported the internal consistency reliability of a four-factor version of the perceived and preferred forms of the ICE for both the individual student and the class mean as the units of analysis. The perceived and preferred environments of different classes are described based on profiles of classroom environment scores. When teachers were selected from the original sample to participate in an attempt to alter their classroom environments, changes in classroom climate occurred, thus supporting the efficacy of the environmental change strategy. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

课堂环境研究的现状、意义及趋势

文章在对国内外相关文献进行系统分析的基础上,对课堂环境的含义及其与相关概念的关系进行了辨析;回顾了国外课堂环境研究的状况;论述了课堂环境研究的现实意义;指出了现有研究的不足和未来研究的方向.     

The Repetitive Name Game

Because of the Common Core State Standards there is a renewed emphasis on the importance of visual literacies in today's classrooms. Students need prior knowledge before approaching these types of texts. This article describes the results of one 6th-grade language arts class's engagement in pre-reading prior to viewing a theatrical performance. The study examined whether obtaining background knowledge through print can be used effectively to increase the knowledge of drama, visual literacy, and nonprint text. The study utilized an experimental control-group design; t-test results revealed that using pre-reading as a comprehension strategy is more effective than just viewing drama. In addition, factorial ANOVA results showed that the treatment did not signficantly interact with reading ability or gender. Overall, this 6th-grade class's comprehension skills were enhanced with the help of pre-reading. This study indicates that pre-reading is a powerful strategy that can build background knowledge and ultimately increase comprehension of visual literacy for all students, and it and offers insight for a larger study.     

教师教学领导力:高校课堂教学有效性视域

高等教育教学质量的提升取决于课堂教学有效性。通过文献分析发现,关于教学有效性提升路径涉及教师、学生及教学环境,但三者难以形成合力机制。而教师教学领导力却能将三者有机结合形成交互作用机制。教师教学领导力具有大课堂教学有效观,有助于教师教学生命的实现,帮助师生形成学术愿景的领追关系。高校课堂教师教学领导力研究已成为亟须关注的研究领域和实践方向。     

国外课堂环境研究的发展概况

文章从理论基础、研究方法和重要结论等方面，着重对近30年的课堂环境研究进行系统的综述，并指出课堂环境研究的发展趋势。     

How do school leaders respond to the growing intrusiveness of accountability policies? Evidence from Italy

ABSTRACT

The role of school principals is an evolving one, calling them to become agents of change, focusing on educational leadership as they take the schools forward. All this is happening in a context that is becoming more challenging and stressful as school leaders try to juggle the state-mandated accountability devices. In relation to the Italian context, this paper analyses the growing penetration of accountability systems in school management and the implications for leadership practices. The results of a research project conducted with school leaders show that accountability systems can provide an opportunity for school improvement if school leaders defuse their potential bureaucracy, consistently integrating them into their practices of leadership, respecting the organisational idea of the school as professional learning community. An authentic educational leadership is a fundamental condition for governing the risks and contradictions that accountability systems bring with them in the complex reality of schools.     

论有效教学的实践建构

有效教学是教育理论研究的一个热点问题,也是人们非常关注的教育实践问题。有效教学的最终目标是什么?有效教学的实践何以可能?有效教学怎样才能够可持续?为了回答这些问题,我们需要对有效教学的相关因素进行系统分析,并从整体上建构一种有效教学的分析框架,以此帮助教师更好地进行教学设计,改进教学实践,开展教学反思。     

From Indignation to Indifference: Teacher Concerns About Externally Imposed Classroom Interruptions

Abstract

In an era in which schools are expected to achieve more for their students, many teachers remain frustrated by the increasing results-driven demands made on them. A facet of teacher work life in which many feel disempowered is addressed in this study—the regular infringement of outside intrusions into the classroom learning environment A stratified random selection of teachers in the Canadian Province of Saskatchewan was surveyed regarding their experiences and feelings about such time-consuming episodes. This study was designed to provide supplementary data to an earlier investigation into the nature and frequency of externally imposed classroom interruptions by attempting to ascertain their perceived impact. The results dramatically illuminate the extent of the problem as well as the array of teacher perceptions of and reactions to it.     

创新职业教育体系,提升职业教育内涵——第八届中国中青年职教论坛暨2012中国职业技术教育学学科建设与研究生培养研讨会综述

2013年1月5日至6日,由中国职业技术教育学会学术委员会主办,福州职业技术学院承办的"第八届中国中青年职教论坛暨2012中国职业技术教育学学科建设与研究生培养研讨会"在福州召开,来自高校、科研机构和媒体的270余名代表围绕"创新职业教育体系,提升职业教育内涵"这一主题,分享彼此成果,展开思想交锋。     

自主学习下政治复习课堂的构建

自主学习是新课程改革的主题方向,它强调在教育过程中全面促进人的发展。促进学生的自主学习和培养自主学习能力是知识经济社会和素质教育的必然要求。在课堂教学实际当中"激发学生自主学习兴趣,增强自主学习意识;搭建学生自我展示的舞台,锻炼自主学习能力"。     

论课堂中学生自由支配时间利用的问题和对策

课堂中学生自由支配时间的缺失,严重影响学生的生动活泼地主动地学习。增加学生的自由支配时间是实施有效教学,促进学生的个性全面发展的必然要求。教师有必要确保在教学的最后环节从制度上给学生自由支配时间。教师也要在课堂教学各个环节中科学合理地分配和使用时间,让学生真正拥有足够的自由支配时间。     

Uniting Adolescent Support Systems for Safe Learning Environments

Counterintuitively, the more one develops as a leader, the less of a leader one becomes. What do great leaders do? Great leaders are ambitious first and foremost for the cause, the mission, the work—not themselves. Educators as “serving leaders” sense that every action they take, together with every decision that they make, either supports or undermines students and colleagues’ perceived levels of status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness.     

关于数学课堂“有效教学”的认识与实践

随着课程改革的发展,人们对课程改革的"关注点"逐渐由转变教学方式转移、聚焦到提高教学的有效性方面来。经过精心筛选的高中数学内容,已经成为培养公民素质的基础课程之一。贯穿于数学课程的主要脉络是函数、几何、运算、应用、统计、概率等,其内容之间相互渗透,但并不独立。如何使学生在已有知识经验和能力的基础上,最大限度地达成或超越预期的教学目标,这是数学课堂"有效教学"研究的最终目标。     

有效教学视域下农村中小学语文课堂教学研究——以xx市语文课堂教学为例

在农村中小学语文课堂教学中,许多教师积极参加课堂教学改革,但课堂教学效率不高。为提高农村中小学语文课堂教学效率,运用调查研究法,深入农村语文教学课堂,分析农村中小学语文课堂教学效率低下的原因,探求农村中小学语文课堂有效教学策略。