Bottling fog? The quest for instructional management

Elsewhere, the authors have unpacked instructional leadership and have documented that such leadership is associated with more effective schools. Indeed, there has been for a considerable time nearly universal acceptance that learning-centered leadership should provide the central platform on which leadership is enacted. In this paper, a less sanguine narrative is provided on instructional management. Specifically, it documents that for all the evidence and recognition of importance, learning-focused leadership remains a small domain of action for leaders at the school and district levels. It then focuses on both the culture of the profession of school administration and the nature of schooling to explain why in the face of considerable energy and effort only marginal improvements have been realized in deepening instructional leadership. It closes with an analysis of possible paths going forward.     

学校改进活动中校长与教师转型的实现——基于分布式领导思想的思考

学校改进是促进教育变革,提升教育质量的重要手段之一。当前,我国正处在教育改革的重要时期,普遍开展的学校改进活动中,如何正确认识和理解校长领导力转型和教师专业转型的关系,并采取何种策略促进校长领导力转型和教师专业转型是一个具有现实意义的重要问题。分布式领导思想对于我们更好地认识这一问题提供了新的启示。     

校长在学校改进中的领导力

在学校改进中,校长的领导力起着关键作用,其中,浇铸理念、创建愿景、凝练信任、分享权力是学校改进取得成功的重要领导力。这些领导力使校长能倾听自己的声音,给团队成员以动力,促进团队成员精诚合作,为团队成员提供发展的机会。学校改进是内生式的发展,大学研究者是校长及其学校团队的合作伙伴。学校始终处于变革之中,改进没有起点和终点,每一个针对学校问题的思考与行动都是学校改进的生长点。因此,校长的领导力提升是学校改进的重要内容。     

影响学校改进、提升与发展的领导文化

学校领导是学校战略的部署者,也是学校文化的引领者.目前我国薄弱学校领导与管理存在两个极端表现:一是校长的颁导太少、管理太多,二是学校管理粗放、无序、随意.研究表明,领导文化是影响学校改进、提升与发展的学校文化之一.构建领导文化应体现以下四大特点:专业引领的基本范式,多元分权的民主思维,精细管理的实践模式,追究问责的评价机制.     

Describing an ‘effective’ principal: perceptions of the central office leaders

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how district leaders of two school systems in the USA describe an effective principal. Membership categorisation analysis revealed that district leaders believed an effective principal had four major categories of characteristics: (1) documented characteristics (having a track record and being a good manager), (2) instructional skills (instructional leadership and data leadership), (3) interpersonal skills (team player and community leader) and (4) perceptual characteristics (being a perfect fit for school and passionate leader). Based on the findings, a graphical model of portraying an ‘effective principal’ from the point of view of district leaders is constructed. Implications for policy, research, practice and leader preparation are offered.     

The Purpose and Functions of Budgets – Some Theoretical Perspectives for Education Managers

While educational leadership and management has experienced impressive development over the last three decades the fact that a robust comparative branch of the field has failed to emerge is equally conspicuous. This article builds a case for comparative and international educational leadership and management, arguing that the development of conceptual frameworks and instrumentation are imperative if the field is to keep abreast of globalisation of policy and practice. Accordingly, a conceptual framework is described and justified based on a cultural and cross-cultural approach focusing on the school level as the baseline unit for analysis. Specifically, the proposed framework is architectured around the interrelationship between two levels of culture, societal and organisational, and four elements comprising schooling and school-based management, namely, organisational structures, leadership and management processes, curriculum, and teaching and learning. Finally, limitations and implications of the model are discussed, including the need for the framework to be operationalised by developing appropriate research instruments.     

Quality Control in Education: — The Span of Control Controversy ‐Some Practical Considerations

This article gives the background to the introduction of a statutory system of staff appraisal in schools in England. It explains and provides insights into the various stages of the appraisal process from a management perspective. It begins from the premise that a manager is responsible for the performance of staff which he or she manages. Finally, it discusses a number of issues which are problematic and which need to be resolved if a staff appraisal scheme is to be successful from both the individual's and the school's viewpoints.     

学校改进中的校长领导力提升:一种分布式领导的研究视角

学校改进中的校长领导力提升是当前学校变革与发展的诉求。要落实"教育规划纲要"成功实现学校改进,就要在校长领导力开发过程中,主动寻求新的领导理论支撑,架构一种分布式领导模式,将校长培养成一名分布式领导者,这可为解决教育管理实践中存在的问题开拓一个新视角。     

父母教育期望与留守儿童的学习投入:父母教育卷入和自我教育期望的中介作用

为系统考察父母教育期望与留守儿童学习投入的关系,以及父母教育卷入和自我教育期望在其中的双重中介作用,采用父母教育期望问卷、自我教育期望问卷、父母教育卷入问卷以及学习投入问卷,对我国河南、四川、贵州、山西等地1535名留守儿童进行了调查研究。结果发现:(1)单亲外出和双亲外出留守儿童知觉到的父母教育期望、自我教育期望、父母教育卷入和学习投入得分均显著低于非留守儿童,而单亲外出和双亲外出留守儿童之间差异未达显著性水平;(2)父母教育期望和留守儿童学习投入呈显著正相关关系;(3)父母教育卷入与自我教育期望在父母教育期望和留守儿童学习投入之间起到双重中介作用。因此,父母教育期望既直接影响留守儿童的学习投入,又通过父母教育卷入和自我教育期望的中介作用影响留守儿童的学习投入。