School Improvement in a neo‐liberal world

This paper uses the concept of paradigm to examine the current state of School Improvement and its relationship to quantitative School Effectiveness studies. It argues that a significant and explicit paradigm change occurred in the early 1990s, resulting in a managerialist approach; a reductionist use of the concept culture; and an inadequate response to the challenges of poverty and under‐achievement. Some arguments are presented to show how this paradigm relates to a broader neo‐liberal context, and an alternative paradigm is outlined.     

Hearing Truth from Power? Organisation Theory,School Effectiveness and School Improvement

School effectiveness and school improvement researchers have increasingly looked towards establishing some kind of synergy between their respective fields. However, most recent attempts to create such links have not sufficiently addressed their different perspectives on organisational development and change. School effectiveness research has tended to view organisational development in terms of structural change, while the school improvement field has conversely placed an emphasis upon the cultural dimensions of organisational change. This has resulted in a methodological and theoretical divide that has proved difficult to resolve. This article argues that by incorporating the concept of 'power' into the analysis the two fields can be brought together more successfully. The article suggests that this 'third dimension' provides a bridge between structural and cultural analysis. It also highlights some important research questions that arise out of this tripartite relationship. The article concludes by suggesting that an analysis of power may provide the long awaited conceptual and theoretical fusion sought by both fields.     

School engagement and rights‐respecting schools

Disengagement in school is associated with behavioral problems and decreased academic achievement. In contrast, pupils who are engaged in school develop the academic and social efficacies that underlie successful adulthood. Moreover, engagement promotes educational resilience. This study examines pupils’ self‐reported level of engagement in schools that are explicitly respecting of children’s rights compared with pupils in traditional schools. The Young Students’ Engagement in School Scale was developed and used with 1289 9‐ to 11‐year‐olds from 18 schools, six of which had fully implemented the Hampshire Education Authority’s Rights Respect and Responsibility (RRR) Initiative. Factor analysis indicated four dimensions of engagement: rights‐respecting climate; interpersonal harmony; academic orientation; and participation. Pupils in RRR schools had higher scores on all but the academic dimension. The findings suggest the potential of rights‐respecting schools in promoting engagement and the potential utility of the measure in identifying areas in which pupils’ engagement may need intervention.     

New Goals for a New School Year

Im a student of Senior 3and Ive set lots of new goals to achieve inthe new sem ester.First of all,Ill get up early in the m orning.In the past,I was usedto staying in bed for a little tim e longer, especially on weekends or onwinter m ornings. But from this autum n, Im determ ined to form a goodhabit of getting up early and then doing som e m orning exercises. Y ouknow,that will do m e good!O nly through these sports can I achieve m ygoalto becom e healthier and stronger.Secondly,Illm ake …     

A School‐Based Management Mechanism for School Effectiveness and Development

The paper aims to report on an integration of my recent research and thinking on school effectiveness and school‐based management and to develop a school‐based management mechanism for continuous pursuit of school effectiveness and development.

The matrix of school effectiveness in terms of four categories and seven different conceptions provides a framework for examining the basic issues of conceptualization, measurement and maximization of school effectiveness. Furthermore, a dynamic perspective can be used to reconceptualize school effectiveness and explore the relationship of school effectiveness to school‐based management and strategic management. The characteristics of school‐based management based on a strategic management system can reflect the emphases of different conceptions of school effectiveness and constitute a mechanism for pursuing long‐term school effectiveness, even in different categories. Based on the matrix of school process and the principle of congruence, the management concept should be shifted from the cell management to the layer management in establishing an effective school‐based management mechanism for school development. This article also reports the experience on training school administrators to establish such a school‐based management mechanism.     

机器人,Goal! Goal! Goal!

正2018年俄罗斯世界杯激战正酣,不少中国球迷慨叹:中国队距离世界杯究竟有多远?那么,就来看看这条消息吧!就在2018年俄罗斯世界杯点燃全世界足球激情之时,机器人领域的世界杯足球赛也在加拿大蒙特利尔开赛了。当地时间6月21日下午,经历酣战的浙江大学ZJUNlict队在Robocup2018比赛中获得了机器人足球赛小型组冠军。这也是继2014年蝉联这一领域世界冠军后,浙江大学第三次夺冠。     

Work‐to‐School Mentoring: Childcare Center Directors and Teachers’ Return to School

As supervisors of preschool teachers, childcare center directors are well‐situated to mentor their staff to pursue higher education. Telephone interviews with 78 directors examined their role as mentors in encouraging preschool teachers to take college classes. Educational mentoring was shown to be distinct from career mentoring. Logistic regressions showed that the director’s educational mentoring of teachers and teachers’ aides was associated with greater college attendance, whereas career mentoring was related to less attendance. Furthermore, the director’s confidence staff members’ ability to complete an Associate’s degree promoted college enrollment. Finally, some directors appeared to be transformational leaders who created an education‐friendly climate for their entire staffs. These findings suggest that the workplace is an under‐researched, critical context for work‐to‐school mentoring.     

School Leader Appraisal — A Tool to Strengthen School Leaders' Pedagogical Leadership and Skills for Teacher Management?

With increasing school autonomy, often coupled with greater accountability requirements, school leaders are increasingly responsible for new human resource management tasks. Policies to improve the teaching workforce, therefore, cannot do without policies to improve the school leadership profession. Teachers' effectiveness depends, among others, on effective school leaders who shape teachers' working environment and influence their motivations. Furthermore, as recent research indicates, school leaders are the second most important school-level factor affecting, even if mainly indirectly through their influence on teachers, student learning after classroom instruction. Considering the role school leaders play for the effective school-level management of teachers and for teaching and learning through their pedagogical leadership, it is essential that school leaders are adequately prepared and supported for their role. As part of their school reform programmes, more and more countries have been introducing a range of evaluation and assessment policies to improve school, school leadership and teaching practices. The individual appraisal of schools leaders and teachers is a key component of evaluation and assessment policies. This article explores if, and how, individual school leader appraisal can develop school leaders' pedagogical leadership, a key element of which is teacher management. It analyses the policy approaches of several European countries and the extent to which formal frameworks in these countries focus on developing pedagogical leadership. The article concludes with ideas for policy to strengthen appraisal as a tool to improve school leaders' practices and behaviours and their competencies for pedagogical leadership and teacher management.     

School‐Industry twinning

The Non‐statutory Guidance for Information Technology Capability identifies the information technology (IT) co‐ordinator as key in implementing IT across the whole school, and defines the role as a member of the management team with policy and personnel rather than technical skills. This paper presents evidence from a survey of secondary school coordinators across an English local education authority and shows that they deal principally with technical management of the resource. They are allocated a low managerial status, despite being expected to produce and implement a whole school strategic policy. The discussion highlights that IT management requires complex curricular managerial skills, and recognition within school management structures.     

A Multi‐Level Analysis of School Improvement: Changes in Schools' Performance over Time

The improvement of schools takes place over extended periods of time. Consequently longitudinal studies which track successive cohorts of pupils through their schooling are required if estimates of the extent of improvement are to be established. To date, hardly any studies have collected the necessary data. Those studies which have had appropriate data have tended to emphasise the extent of stability of schools' effectiveness over time rather than the extent of any changes. A shift in conceptual framework is called for if improvements in schools' effectiveness are to be the central focus of concern.

The study is based on three successive cohorts of pupils passing through some 30 English secondary schools. It uses examination results as the outcome measure and includes a prior attainment measure amongst the variables used to control for differences between schools' intakes. A multi‐level strategy for conceptualising and modelling data on schools' changes in performance over time is offered.

In common with earlier studies the research shows that there is a good deal of stability in schools' effectiveness from year‐to‐year; only a small proportion of the schools in the study (between a fifth and a quarter) were improving or deteriorating in terms of their effectiveness. A particularly striking finding of the research was that whilst several schools improved in effectiveness only one initially ‘ineffective’ school did so consistently. The implications of the study for future research on school improvement are discussed.     

Psychological Weil‐Being and the Transition from School

Abstract

In this paper we look at some of the consequences of the collapse of the youth labour market in terms of the psychological well‐being of young people with different transitional experiences. We use the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) to compare the psychologicalwell‐being ofa nationally representative sample ofScottish 17year‐olds in a range of education and labour market situations.     

State Education Agencies’ Acquisition and Use of Research Knowledge for School Improvement

Over the last two decades, state education agencies (SEAs) have been given considerable responsibilities for improving low-performing schools and for adopting research-based practices in doing so. Yet we know little about how and where these organizations search for, select, and use research and other kinds of evidence. We examined these questions as they relate to school improvement designs and strategies in three SEAs using a combination of surveys and interviews conducted in 2010–11. We found that SEA staffs relied most heavily on their colleagues for information but that information often flowed across departments and offices, contrary to the usual image of the SEA as a segmented and siloed bureaucracy. A large number of external organizations were identified in SEA research advice networks and played a catalyzing role in the design or elaboration of research for policy. Although most sources were named by just one person, each SEA also had central internal staff who played an important role in brokering research on school improvement. Identifying and cultivating such influential actors, and connecting individuals who are now isolated or only weakly engaged in these communication networks, could create a more robust exchange of knowledge around school improvement.     

Goal setting and planning for Norwegian students with and without intellectual disabilities: Wishing upon a star?

Being able to set personal high-quality goals and having the skills to make plans for goal attainment are associated with higher performance, increased student involvement at school, and higher levels of self-determination. This study examines self-reported goals of 83 Norwegian elementary and lower secondary school students with and without intellectual disabilities. The study also looks into whether students feel that they learn goal setting and planning skills at school. Findings suggest that students are able to identify process and product goals for themselves. Most students set academic goals for themselves, followed by career goals and sports-related leisure time goals. No significant differences were found between typically developing students and students with intellectual disabilities. While roughly two-thirds of all students reported that they feel encouraged to set goals for themselves at school, almost 60% of all students expressed that they did not learn planning skills at school. This finding indicates the need to assist teachers with instructional materials for how to teach students these important skills for self-determination.     

University students setting goals in the context of autonomy,self‐efficacy and important goal‐related task engagement

In this study, the authors attempted to examine the roles of trait autonomy, trait self‐efficacy, important goal‐related task engagement and gender in predicting whether undergraduate university students are willing to set difficult goals. One hundred and thirty‐six undergraduate communications students from the North‐Eastern USA completed an online survey. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to create the multiple item variables. The relationships were examined using structural equation modelling. As predicted, results revealed that trait autonomy indirectly and positively predicted setting difficult goals through trait self‐efficacy and a person’s willingness to engage in important tasks. A willingness to take on important goal‐related tasks and self‐efficacy beliefs was associated with those who reported a readiness to set difficult goals. Results suggest that before males engage in challenging goal attainment they must perceive themselves as self‐efficacious, whereas females are inspired by tasks that are important to them. If the tasks are important, by implication, so are the goals, notwithstanding their difficult nature. In the ‘Discussion’ section, we suggest implications for team‐based learning.