Consultative Paper on the Secondary School Curriculum

After introducing the author, some themes central to the article are explored through one school's eight year involvement with the Improving the Quality of Education for All (IQEA) school's improvement initiative. A short account of Sharnbrook Upper Schools evolving journey is presented, based around three different models. From this issues related to maintenance and development, and to leadership are explored. The final phase of the article suggests limitations to the models of transactional and transformational leadership as a means of providing leadership for the long haul in school improvement. Deriving from an analysis of contemporary research about leadership and from grounded understandings about alternative approaches to leadership (in both principle and practice) new leadership themes are presented, which are based around values, shared leadership contexts and capacity creation through learning.     

Diversifying Schools and Leveraging School Improvement: a Comparative Analysis of The English Radical,and Singapore Conservative,Specialist Schools' Policies

ABSTRACT

Within the context of fierce global economic competition, school diversification and specialist schools have been seen by governments as cornerstones of education policy to engineer school improvement in both England and Singapore for more than a decade. In both systems, the policy has manifested in different school types, school names and sometimes buildings – in England, specialist status schools, academies and most recently free schools; and in Singapore, specialist schools and niche schools. Diversification is promoted by each school emphasising distinctiveness in its curriculum – often with implications for its funding and degree of autonomy – which differentiate it from others. There is normally the intention to scale-up curricular innovations school-wide. The paper addresses three aims in respect to both countries: first, it profiles the evolution of specialist schools' policies in both states in relation to school improvement and secondly, social justice; thirdly, it undertakes a comparative policy analysis in order to draw conclusions as to how the relationship between central government and schools has re-configured in both countries – arguing that the policy in England is radical, that in Singapore, conservative.     

Effective School Improvement: English Case Studies

This article compares 2 programmes in their roles played in stimulating effective school improvement. These programmes are the Local Education Authority (LEA-school district) in Birmingham and the university-inspired project “The Improving the Quality of education for All” (IQEA). The aims and characteristics of both programmes and the national accountability context within which these programmes function are described. Ten primary and secondary schools which are assisted by these programmes were visited during 1 day to compile a picture of each school's improvement journey and the key influences and constraints upon its progress. Emerging factors that appear to promote and discourage the capacity to change are described.     

Effecting School Change: The Halton Approach

ABSTRACT

Two related but distinct questions are often asked by educators as they try to make their schools more effective. These are: “Which of the many activities that we do have greater benefits for students?” and, “How can we make our schools better than they are now?” The first question focuses specifically on the impact of schools on student outcomes and the characteristics of effective schools, whereas the second addresses the implementation of change and school improvement. This article addresses the research related to these two questions and describes the application of this research in a large school district in Ontario, Canada.     

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.     

Difficulties in promoting inquiry in teacher education partnerships: English and Canadian perspectives

This comparative study of two pre‐service teacher education programmes in England and in Canada focuses on the relationship between inquiry and the partnership structures within which the universities and schools work together. Despite the very different jurisdictions and cultures of the two systems, the two universities seem to experience similar difficulties in relation to their commitment to inquiry and to working in partnership with schools. At both the Canadian and the English sites, definitions of inquiry varied within institutions as well as between universities and schools, and inquiry was a university rather than a school priority. These differences between the schools' and the universities' views on inquiry are significant for the partnerships in which the programmes operate. It is these differences and difficulties—which often seem context‐related but which, through the authors' comparative work, have come to seem more systemic—that are explored in this article.     

Book Reviews

ABSTRACT

Drawing on data derived from on-going research projects investigating the privatised inspection process recently introduced for all schools in England and Wales, the paper considers the role of school governing bodies. Reference is made to the part governors can play in school improvement, particularly in those schools deemed by the inspectors to be in need of 'special measures'. It draws upon the experiences of a small sample of such schools and their governing bodies to suggest ways in which governors are able to play an important role in increasing their school's effectiveness and contribute to its continual improvement.     

Implementing Citizenship in the English Secondary School Curriculum: A Follow-Up Study

This article represents a follow-up snapshot of a group of state secondary schools in the North of England. It examines the progress of the schools in the second year of the statutory inclusion of citizenship in the revised National Curriculum. The writers use the same modus operandi as in the previous article (Calvert and Clemitshaw, 2003) to present a picture of both the management and curriculum aspects of the changes. The article draws on data from interviews with the citizenship co-ordinators (CCs) of each school, and there is an overview in the form of a grid. Readers are encouraged to look back at the previous article to track the changes that have taken place since September 2002.

The study reveals that there are some common patterns and difficulties emerging, particularly with regard to assessment and reporting and some of the problems that have always beset PSHE and pastoral care. These same issues are predictably affecting the progress of the initiative. Principally, the status of the subject, resourcing and levels of understanding, training and commitment of staff are ongoing problems. A leitmotiv running through the interviews is the constant pressure of other initiatives and their effects on change at a time of internal turbulence for a number of the schools. Some progress is being made and it would have been unrealistic to expect all schools to adopt the subject without difficulty but, in spite of the CCs' best efforts, there are still issues that might give cause for concern and that are graphically highlighted by individual cases.     

A Canonical Correlation Analysis ofBehavior Problems and School Achievementfor Different Grades,Sexes, and Races

Abstract

Using education survey data from 6,883 Grade 6 students in 148 schools and from 6,868 Grade 8 students in 92 schools in New Brunswick, Canada, the author applied student and school characteristics to explain differences among students and schools regarding students' sense of belonging to school. Results of hierarchical linear modeling showed that in Grades 6 and 8, discrepancies in students' sense of belonging were mainly within schools, rather than between schools. At the student level, sense of belonging in both grades was affected more by students' mental and physical conditions and less by their individual and family characteristics. Students' self-esteem was the single most important predictor of their sense of belonging, followed by their health status. At the school level, school climate (academic press or expectation in Grade 6 and disciplinary climate in Grade 8) was more important than school context in shaping students' sense of belonging.     

School Effectiveness and School Restructuring: Contributions to Educational Improvement 1

ABSTRACT

Over the last twenty years, school effectiveness work has dominated efforts to improve schools. Within the last five years, school restructuring has moved front and center in the school improvement literature. This paper examines these two lines of improvement efforts to ascertain the major contributions of each to schooling and education. It is argued that the effective schools movement has been influential in helping dismantle the existing foundations of schooling. In particular, it is suggested that academics and practitioners working within the effective schools framework have been influential in pushing prevailing behavioral approaches to learning off center stage. Effective schools workers have also helped re‐establish the primacy of learning and teaching in schools and helped channel improvement efforts into consistent and overlapping streams of action. It is argued that school restructuring, in turn, offers the possibility of taking us considerably further ‐ of weaving seminal contributions from effective schools into dramatically different forms of schooling. In particular, it is suggested that the school restructuring movement promises viable alternatives to behaviorally‐grounded models of learning and teaching, to hierarchical models of organizing and managing education, and to bureaucratic and professionally‐dominated models of governing schools.

     

Understanding the School's Capacity for Development: Growth states and strategies

ABSTRACT

This article focuses upon differential strategies for school development and improvement. It argues that much school improvement work has placed an emphasis upon systemic change and has neglected to consider the extent to which schools have different capacities for change and development. We suggest in this article that different improvement strategies and types of intervention are needed for schools at different stages of growth. Our position is based upon a substantial body of school improvement research which has demonstrated the importance of differential strategies for schools at various developmental stages. We hope that this article will stimulate further discussion, debate and enquiry about the importance of differential approaches to school improvement.     

An Analysis of Private School Mission Statements

This article is a study of private school mission/vision statements using content analysis. Statements from private schools in British Columbia, Canada, that provided instruction to Grade 12 students were analyzed to explore the diversity that lies within the private school sector. The concepts that emerged from the analysis were grouped into five categories: concepts that declared the school's distinctive beliefs, concepts that presented the school's goals and objectives, and concepts outlining the environment, services offered, and parental involvement. It was found that there is considerable diversity between private school groups in the school distinctives and in the goals and objectives pursued by the schools.     

Policy Making at the School Level: Some Issues for the 90's

Abstract

In this article we discuss how central governments can promote the development of policy at school level which will lead to quality improvement. The development of school level policy does not mean abandoning the role of central government as a driving force in school improvement, which would clearly be unacceptable in many countries. Instead, it may mean a change in the relationship between policy making at different levels. The main question is: under which conditions can schools develop their own policy that permits them to coordinate and act in unity, but which also fits in the framework of central government policies. This question may be examined from the perspective of central government policy makers, or from that of professional educators working within schools. In this article we choose the latter perspective. We will examine the factors that confront school level policy makers and the ways in which they can deal with them. Our intention is to provide a framework for policy action at the school level, within the assumption that there is a national government policy direction.     

Parental Motivation in School Choice

Abstract

Concerned that public schooling leads to mediocrity rather than meritocracy, many middle-class parents are seeking other options such as private schools, alternative public schools, and charter schools to develop their children's academic, creative, and athletic talents. Based on a mixed method investigation of school choice among parents (N = 1,871) in the two largest cities in the Province of Alberta, this paper examines the logic, values, and concerns that inform parental decision-making and the impact of social class differentiation in the process of selection of elementary schools. Issues surrounding the placement of gifted students in various school options are discussed.     

How Large are Secondary School Effects in Northern Ireland?

ABSTRACT

This study is concerned with estimates of secondary school effect size in Northern Ireland. Utilising data from a random sample of the region's schools, four indices of pupil achievement variation in public examinations are employed. These outcome measures are (i) overall examination achievement ‐ a composite weighted measure ‐together with achievement in General Certificate of Education examinations in (ii) English, (iii) Mathematics and (iv) Chemistry. Examinations of this type are taken, typically, by pupils aged 16 years (the statutory leaving age), at the end of their fifth year of secondary education.

Using a two‐level hierarchical linear regression model, the paper considers variation in school effect size by outcome criterion. Variation is measured in standard deviation units and in terms of the proportion of achievement variance “explained” by schools after adjustment for pupil‐intake differences. Comparisons are made with recent findings for Scotland and for England.     

The Community School Curriculum 11‐16

This article addresses the responses of four mixed comprehensive schools to the apparent 'under-achievement' of boys. The issue is briefly placed in context, both nationally and locally through a consideration of the improvement trajectory in each school. Approaches are classified into one of (i) organisational (ii) individual (iii) pedagogical and (iv) socio-cultural, and the potential of each approach for raising the achievement levels of boys and girls is evaluated. A concluding discussion considers the extent to which these approaches might contribute to authentic school improvement.     

A Comparative Sociology of School Knowledge

Despite a recently renewed theoretical interest in both North America and in Britain in the sociology of school knowledge, we still have little, if any, comparative empirical material from these two continents. This paper reports the findings of a sociological study, designed to replicate the previous English empirical work by Vulliamy, into music teaching in Ontario high schools. Unlike in England, no overt culture clash was found in Ontario schools between ‘school’ music and ‘students’ ‘ music, both because of the wider scope of ‘what counts as school music’ in Canada and because music is not a compulsory school subject there. However, by focusing upon the deep structure of the pedagogical process, as opposed to surface features of classroom interaction, it is argued that particular ideologies of the dominant musical culture are transmitted in very similar ways in both contexts. What is shared is a conception of music as equatable with musical notation. The ideological significance of this is pinpointed in an analysis of the structurally homological relationship between different musical languages and the social/‐cultural contexts of their creation. The processes of school music teaching not only contribute to the legitimation of a dominant musical ideology, but also to much more pervasive ideological assumptions underpinning capitalist societies.     

Engaging Practitioners in State School Improvement Initiatives

For most of U.S. history, local communities were the primary arbiters of school quality. Beginning in the mid-twentieth century, states began assuming more and more control over school standards and outcomes. The question we seek to answer is whether and the extent to which a particular kind of local voice—the voice of education practitioners—is represented in states' current, significant initiatives to improve low-performing schools. In the article, we focus on the role that practitioner knowledge played in the development of school improvement policies across three state education agencies. We draw on interviews, surveys, and document analyses collected for a larger exploratory study of knowledge utilization. Contrary to earlier research showing weak or uneven connections between state agencies and practitioners, we found that practitioner advice networks were generally stronger than states' research advice networks. We found ample illustration of staff using this advice to make sense of research for their own contexts, and for their own approaches to school improvement. Agencies formed ties to practitioners in districts and schools, in professional membership associations, within their own agencies, or in other agencies wrestling with similar problems. Who they turned to differed depending on earlier improvement policies and institutional histories.     

Tensions in Teaching and Teacher Education: Professionalism and professionalisation in England and Canada

The argument in this article derives from a comparative case study of two pre-service teacher education programmes in England and in Canada. Using Goodson and Hargreaves' propositions about the seven principles of postmodern teacher professionalism, we discuss the tensions between government professionalisation agendas for teaching and teacher education, on the one hand, and on the other hand, the creation of conditions in schools and faculties of education in which professionalism is diminished or even systematically undermined. We extend the analysis to consider the particular tensions teacher educators experience as they manage competing definitions of professionalism within university and school contexts.     

Evaluating Emotional Literacy in Schools: The Development of the School Emotional Environment for Learning Survey

In this article the author outlines the recent increase in initiatives related to young people's emotional and mental health, for example emotional health and well-being. He examines these concepts and ideas, arguing that there are negative as well as positive aspects to their widespread introduction in schools, and that in adopting mental health approaches and terminology care must be taken before programmes are implemented.