Strategic narrative in multi-academy trusts in England: Principal drivers for expansion

Multi-academy trusts (MATs) are now a common feature of the English educational landscape. Yet numerous high-profile failures indicate that they present substantial challenges in terms of leadership and governance. One of the areas that most exercises school leaders and boards is the setting of strategic direction for the MAT. This includes elements such as its expansion. This article draws on 30 interviews with school leaders and trustees from 6 MATs and 10 interviews with national leaders of governance in looking to respond to the research question: What are the principal drivers for strategic expansion in MATs? The article begins by contextualising the research in light of recent policy, then moves to consider why theory on strategy as narrative was chosen in preference to other strategic approaches, and how it was employed to analyse data. The article concludes that within this sample there are a number of drivers for MAT expansion and that these fall under six principal categories: opportunities, values, pressures, feelings, risks and resources. It also concludes that resources and business viability play a substantial part in decisions to expand, and that strategy appears to be an iterative learning process. As such, it contributes to theory on the governance of multi-level organisations and to practice in terms of the Department for Education's focus on MAT growth.     

Negotiating teacher professionalism: governmentality and education reform in Hong Kong

This research investigates how the Hong Kong state controls and disciplines the education sector through the regulation and manipulation of discourses. The authoritative narratives are that some schools are failing the students and parents for not being able to provide quality education, and that these schools are not subject to public scrutiny while spending public money. This article seeks to understand the role of such narratives in neoliberal politics and the marketisation of education which lead to governance in the form of initiatives in school quality assurance mechanism; how different actors (Education Bureau, Professional Teachers' Union and individual teachers) are involved in the process; how they negotiate this governance of education; how such governance transforms the self-perception of teachers as well as the perception of teachers by others; and how teachers interpret, appropriate and resist such discursive power.     

Academisation,school collaboration and the primary school sector in England: a story of six school leaders

This paper presents data from a study of five English primary schools. It examines some of the challenges associated with school autonomy and collaboration for state primary schools amid the uncertainty and complexity of governance in the present English education context. The paper features the voices of six leaders gathered from interviews that explored their thoughts about the academies movement. It highlights their fears that academisation, and particularly the imperative to join a large academy chain, will undermine their autonomy as individual schools. Accepting of the inevitability of academisation and the forms of network governance this reform offers, it highlights the head teachers’ moves to ensure their autonomy in terms of determining the timing and type of conversion. In relation to these moves, the paper reiterates the significance within effective collaboratives of member schools experiencing a sense of ownership, a common purpose, shared responsibility for students and their learning and relations of trust. The paper considers some of the tensions arising in this space in relation to competition, collaboration and school vulnerability.     

国外私立高等院校的社会捐赠、服务与销售收入研究及启示

由日本、韩国、美国等国的对比分析可知,私立高等院校的社会捐赠收入、社会服务与销售以及其他收入等在三国私立高校的总收入中占有相当的比例.所以,要想拓展我国民办高校的收入渠道,就要做到民办高校经费来源多元化,鼓励民办高校发展服务性产业和高技术产业,并且国家要完善和落实捐赠政策.     

当前我国高等教育市场主体的现状、原因及政策建议——民办高校与公办高校比较的视角

当前我国高等教育体系中,主要有公办高校和民办高校两大主体。这两大主体在高等教育体系中的地位是不一样的,这主要表现在以下几个方面：学校数量、在校生数、师资队伍、国家政府的政策支持等方面。与公办高校相比,民办高校在以上几个方面都处于劣势地位。而这归根结底是由于我国政府部门,尤其是教育行政部门对教育的相对垄断所造成的。因此,我们必须在一定程度上进一步打破这种相对的垄断。     

Evaluating the individual and combined impact of national leadership programmes in England: perceptions and practices

The National College for School Leadership (NCSL) was launched in 2000 with a remit to supervise and further enhance educational leadership development initiatives in England and Wales. Its corporate plan for 2003–07 set out a series of key objectives, which include a commitment to demonstrate the impact of the NCSL on school leadership. Some empirical evidence is beginning to emerge regarding the efficacy and impact of programmes delivered under the aegis of the NCSL but systematic studies of the ways in which school effectiveness is enhanced in schools that have been subject to multiple interventions in leadership development are less visible in the literature. This article reports on a study that included both a questionnaire survey and case studies of 10 schools which required school leaders, at all levels from middle managers to headteachers, to reflect on the impact that national programmes, both individually and cumulatively, were having on their personal professional development and on their schools as a whole. Findings of the study suggest that there is evidence that national leadership programmes are impacting positively on leadership in schools although the level of impact appears to be variable across programmes. The paper is offered as one contribution to the International Study of the Preparation of Principals (ISPP) project based at the University of Calgary.     

Rationalising public support for private early childhood education and care: the case of Finland

ABSTRACT

In Finland, early childhood education and care (ECEC) is traditionally publicly provided. However, private ECEC provision has increased during the past decade, largely as a result of financial support from the public sector. Drawing on qualitative interviews with municipal decision-makers, this article identifies three frames within which publicly subsidised private ECEC provision and marketisation are rationalised: the pragmatic frame, the government frame and the choice frame. The results show that even though market logics and tendencies seem to have gained a strong foothold in local policies, there is a keen interest in universalism and maintaining public control over local ECEC provision.     

Anticipated developments: East Africa's private universities and privatisation of public universities in the global context

Abstract

The growth and development of private universities has been one of the most dramatic features of African higher education in the last two decades. Using the three East African countries of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda as a case in point, this analysis examines the extent to which developments in the region echo international trends, as well as how they illustrate contrasts. The analysis focuses on three key themes: (a) growth and historical antecedents; (b) institutional developments in terms of continuity and innovation; and (c) internationalism. While only relatively recent phenomena, private universities in East Africa and the increasing privatisation of public universities mirror developments in other parts of the world with a longer tradition of private university developments in terms of growth and historical antecedents, continuity and innovation in institutional development, as well as in internationalism. However, there are some situations in which the East African case is exceptional.     

The reproduction of privilege: young women,the family and private education

The paper examines processes of cultural production and reproduction among members of the elite and upper-middle classes. Drawing on findings from a study of private education in England, it explores the utility of a conceptual framework to examine how practices in and across different sites may be reproductive of various forms of ‘privilege’. Three domains in particular – family, the school and individual young women’s projects of the self – together shape key meanings and orientations informing young women’s lives. These meanings and orientations in turn connect to ‘privileging practices’, both within each domain and beyond. The paper analyses data from three young women in one of the schools studied to illustrate how the framework may be used to examine privately educated young women’s different orientations to the present and the future. Findings point to some of the processes through which class and gender privilege may be variably reproduced.     

The discourse of public education: an urban campaign for a local public high school in Melbourne,Victoria

This paper explores the metonymic slippage surrounding the discourse of public education, through observations and interviews with Lawson High School active campaigners in the state of Victoria, Australia. The notion of campaigning for public education has become an ever-present issue on an international scale, and this article aims to contribute qualitative knowledge regarding the key concepts that lobbyists produce and articulate within their meetings concerning public education. Data have been obtained through direct participatory observation within a contextually specific campaigning site, lobbyists' publications and one-on-one interviews with active campaigners. Findings indicate that campaigners present distinct conceptualisations of public education as a discourse and a well-defined model of their school-of-choice.     

竞争--英美教育市场化改革的核心

教育市场化是近二三十年来英美两国在教育领域中的主要改革趋势 ,有着深刻的社会背景和理论基础。教育市场化改革的理论基础是新自由主义思想和新公共管理主义。教育市场化改革的表现形式多种多样 ,如特许学校、学券制、公助学额计划等。尽管教育市场化改革的形式多样 ,但其根本的理念却是一致的 ,那就是把竞争机制引入教育领域。只有竞争才是教育市场化改革的核心 ,才是推动教育发展最为有效的机制。     

The association between private tutoring and access to grammar schools: Voices of Year 6 pupils and teachers in south-east England

England has experienced recent growth in the prevalence of private tutoring (PT). The qualitative study reported in this article aims to explore the perceptions of 14 Year 6 pupils and their teachers from three state-maintained primary schools in East Kent on PT participation and its impact on grammar school admissions. Data were collected through individual and focus group interviews and pupils' drawings. The data revealed that teachers were not totally aware of the scale of PT in their classes and ascribed PT merely to parental decision to prepare their child to pass the 11-plus, grammar school entrance test. However, some pupils indicated that they shared in the decision to have PT, affirming that it was not only for 11-plus test familiarisation and practice. PT also contributed to greater pupil confidence, involvement and enthusiasm for learning, together with improvement in social interactive skills (i.e. intangible benefits). Both teachers and pupils also explained the disadvantages of PT, including the psychological and financial burdens on the whole family and changing the playing field level. Teachers proposed some solutions to help Year 6 pupils without PT. From this qualitative study, pedagogical implications as well as areas for ongoing research are suggested.     

College re-culturing,marketisation and knowledge: the meaning of incorporation

The further education (FE) sector in England has experienced two decades of marketisation. This article takes as its focus the first five years of incorporation (1993–1998) for one case study college in a city (‘Coppleton’) in the West Midlands of England, five years that were dominated by a contract dispute. Data from interviews with trade unionists active in Coppleton College (anonymised name) and from a trade union archive are set against selected official College documents in a genealogical enquiry into the college's corporate identity as an educational institution and employer during this time. This article looks behind the ‘legibility’ of the incorporated college and its knowledge production practices and focuses on excluded narratives, specifically the experiences of union activists caught up in a new era of industrial relations. In analysing the data, theories of New Public Management and marketisation reveal that Coppleton College has features that make it culturally distinct from its unincorporated forebear. The corporation as an institutional model – it is argued – brought with it features including institutional self-interest, an authoritarian culture, the erosion of trust, and the stifling of dissent as part of an incorporated view of knowledge production that worked against staff and the public interest.     

论陕西民办高等教育的缘起与发展

陕西民办高等教育有其自身的历史发展特点。促使其发展的成因主要有环境因素(教育环境和政策环境)和人的因素(办学者的动机、素质和性格)。陕西民办高等教育目前存在着一定的问题和困难,需要政府管理层制定相应的对策。     

韩国、马来西亚、菲律宾三国私立高等教育经费政策研究

韩国、马来西亚和菲律宾等国的私立高等院校所占比例均在85%以上,在校生数占一半以上,高者达74%。这与所在国的高等教育发展政策、经费政策和管理政策是分不开的,其政府实施的经费资助政策更是私立高等教育发展、稳定与否的"晴雨表"。三国私立高等教育发展变化显示,私立高等教育发展与政府的经费政策,尤其是多元化教育投入有着很强的联系。     

尼日利亚私立大学的发展和困境

在非洲各国高等教育体制变革的历程中,鼓励和促进私立大学的发展是一个共同的趋势。尼日利亚私立大学的发展,使其高等教育规模迅速扩大,也对改变尼日利亚高等教育财政体制产生了积极的影响。但由于尼日利亚没有形成与高等教育私有化相适应的体制和机制,私立大学的扩展和高等教育发展之间还没有形成良性互动,出现了一系列值得关注的现象。     

后统购统销时期我国二元社会结构的化解

我国二元社会结构的形成,同1953年开始实施的统购统销政策有紧密联系,重工业、城市优先发展战略和以统购统销为中心的计划经济体制以及由此衍生的户籍管理制度导致了二元社会结构的形成和固化。改变以往城乡分治的做法,实现城乡同策,统筹城乡发展,是化解二元社会结构的根本途径。     

The growth of private education in Argentina: evidence and explanations

During the second half of the twentieth century, the Argentine education system went through a clear process of privatisation expressed in the increasing enrolment and state funding of the private sector. Especially in the 1990s, when the country implemented neoliberal economic policies, the academic literature had found in neoliberalism (in ideology, public policy and the enactment of certain laws) an explanation for this process of privatisation. Since the 2000s, and after a severe economic crisis, successive governments have rejected the neoliberal policies and have established a set of regulations and public policies with the explicit purpose of changing the previous policy trend. This article shows that after one decade of this new policy opposed to neoliberalism, the evidence suggests that privatisation of education has not only not been reversed but even expanded in a significant manner, reaching striking rates of increase, both in private enrolment and in state funding. Finally, the evidence presented shows that neither neoliberal nor post-neoliberal policies seem to determine the privatisation of education for the Argentine case. The article concludes with some remarks so as to design an explanatory model to account for the dynamics of the education system.     

The role of private universities in the provision of higher education in Uganda: Growth and challenges

Abstract

Although the first private university in Uganda was founded in 1988 and the private university sector has since grown rapidly to become one of the most prominent features of higher education (HE) in Uganda, the contribution of private universities (PUs) to the provision of HE has remained largely unexplored and as such, less understood. The purpose of this paper, then, is to analyse the contribution of PUs to the provision of HE in Uganda, using theories of the non-profit organisations and Geiger's conceptual framework about rationales for growth of the PUs. The paper is based on data that were collected through qualitative interviews conducted in 2008 with six faculty deans from Uganda Christian University (UCU); reviews of paper and web-based documents from the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) and the PUs in Uganda; and reviews of national and internal literature about private higher education (PHE). Data analysis reveals that excess demand for HE, per se, was not responsible for the growth of the PUs in Uganda; instead, it created opportunities for individuals and organisations to establish PUs. Because of their diverse backgrounds and the policy environment in which they exist, PUs undertake various roles in the provision of HE.     

Legitimacy through alternate means: schools without professionals in the private sector

The new institutionalism predicts that professionalism is a key element of organizations’ ability to be seen as legitimate. Emphasizing the professionalism and formal credentials of its members lends legitimacy to the organization, protecting it from scrutiny. What happens when this norm of professionalism is absent? How do schools legitimate themselves, if not through professionalism? This paper examines a population of small, secular non‐elite private schools that overwhelmingly hire uncertified teachers. Using data from 60 private school principals in Toronto, Canada, I examine the ways in which private schools tap into alternate means of legitimacy. This study finds that small, secular ‘rogue’ private schools fail to invoke norms of professionalism as a means to garner constituent support and legitimacy. I argue that these schools substitute an innovative, unconventional ‘caring consumer ethos’ in place of teacher professionalism.