Examining school inspectors and education directors within the organisation of school inspection policy: perceptions and views

State school inspection creates expectations in the interface between transnational ideas and national policy contexts. This article investigates how inspectors and education directors understand and reformulate their regulatory roles in relation to the new framework for school inspection policy in Norway. Using data from the LEX-EL project, interviews with 3 educational directors and 6 school inspectors in 3 County Governors' Offices were analyzed. The article draws on organizational theory, within the concept of institutionalization. Findings suggest inspectors function as change agents, channeled through inter- and intra-institutional cooperation. Additionally directors are more tightly coupled to their counterparts in other counties. Moreover, the role of school inspectors is moving from a compliancy-based focus to increased emphasis on self-evaluation and quality assessment.     

National policy and the development of inclusive school practices: a case study

National education policy in England under New Labour Governments has encompassed both a ‘standards agenda’ and an ‘inclusion agenda’, with schools required to respond to both simultaneously. Some previous studies have seen these agendas as contradictory and have seen schools' efforts to develop inclusive practices as being undermined by these contradictions. This paper questions this account with reference to a primary school participating in a collaborative action research project which aimed to develop inclusive practices in schools. It shows how the school, far from finding these agendas contradictory, drew on both in making sense of its situation. It argues that the development of inclusive practices may draw on national policy as a productive resource, and suggests that inclusion scholars and advocates may need to refocus their work if they are to offer such schools alternatives to the formulations of national policy.     

The impacts of district policy and school context on teacher professional development

Teacher professional development has become one of the most important policy issues in the context of standards-based reform in U.S. However, our understanding of the contexts that influence teacher professional development remains limited. Using a series of 3-level Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM/3L) statistical analyses of a large nationally representative dataset, this article examines the impacts of multi-nested district and school contexts on teacher professional development. This article suggests that diverse and complex relationships among contextual factors at the district- and school-level encourage or limit time for teacher professional development. Finally, some implications are presented for school leaders and educational policy makers in attempting to broaden and enhance teacher professional development.     

Education policy and school segregation of migrant students in Catalonia: the politics of non-decision-making

This article shows how the Catalan government has not developed an agenda to tackle school segregation despite the growing number of migrant pupils who arrived over the course of the last decade. Education policy has explicitly disregarded the possibilities of improving the regulatory framework for tackling segregation; it has exercised insufficient control over the effective application of education regulations on the balanced schooling of pupils with specific educational needs; and it has taken decisions on education policy which have even accentuated school segregation. This article provides empirical evidence on the characteristics of school segregation in Catalonia and on the education policies developed by the Catalan government in the domain of the schooling of migrant pupils. The study illustrates how the absence of an explicit school desegregation policy is an example of the politics of non-decision-making and a case which clearly manifests the need to overcome behavioural analysis in policy decision-making.     

Pressures and influences on school leaders navigating policy development during the COVID-19 pandemic

The pressures and influences experienced by school leaders as school policymakers, during the first responses to COVID-19 pandemic, made their task of interpreting, translating and implementing school guidance both difficult and stressful. During COVID-19 pandemic, school leaders faced challenges to prioritise and balance ever-changing government policy advice with the limitations of school buildings, the welfare of students and staff, and the needs of communities, a task made complicated by the methods of communication used by government. By surveying and interviewing headteachers, senior leaders and governors, this article identifies the reactions and responses of school leaders who construct and enact policy in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. The article addresses the nature of, and factors affecting, pressures school leaders feel in authoring and implementing policy. These pressures are non-trivial and increase tension in already highly stressful work. The report draws on data collected from a randomised, stratified sample of primary and secondary school leaders from across England in early June 2020, during the time of national lockdown and remote learning. Findings suggest quality, quantity and frequency of top-down communication contributed to school leader stress, while horizontal communication and collaboration between school leaders and across school communities supported leaders during rapid change. We recommend that government and the Department of Education strengthen and streamline stressful communication systems while building cooperative communities, mitigating against the challenges identified by school leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic.     

Time to go back to the drawing board: organisation of primary school reading development in South Africa

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2006 findings highlighted concerns about reading literacy teaching quality in South African primary schools (Howie et al., 2007 Howie, S.J., Venter, E., Van Staden, S., Zimmerman, L., Long, C., Scherman, V. and Archer, E. 2007. Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2006 summary report. South African children's reading literacy achievement, Pretoria, South Africa: Centre for Evaluation and Assessment, University of Pretoria.  [Google Scholar]). In response, the national Department of Education (DoE, 2008a, 2008b, 2008c, 2008d) has emphasised instructional practice improvement. However, little emphasis has been placed on the role of school organisation in learners’ reading success or failure. This article presents school organisation findings from a mixed methods study that explored South African Grade 4 teachers’ instruction practices and schooling conditions for reading literacy development. The analysis considered is based on the reclassification of the PIRLS 2006 sample according to class achievement levels on the PIRLS benchmarks and instructional language profiles. Findings from the PIRLS 2006 school questionnaire data are reported together with findings from case studies to illustrate differences and similarities in school organisation for reading literacy across a range of low- and high-performing schools.     

中学化学实验教学应以学生发展为本

本文强调中学化学实验教学应以学生为本，重视实验能力内涵的认识，强化对学生创新精神的培养和科学方法的教育。     

The school as a learning organisation: The concept and its measurement

A growing body of scholars, educators and policy makers has argued for reconceptualising schools as “learning organisations” in the last 25 years as. However, a lack of clarity on the concept has hindered its advance in theory and practice. This study responds to this problem by developing a schools as learning organisations scale that expands and clarifies the concept on several points. Drawing on survey data (nschool staff = 1,703) from Wales (UK), it examines the key characteristics of a school as a learning organisation through a principal component analysis and reliability analysis. The results showed that such a school is associated with eight dimensions: (a) a shared vision centred on the learning of all students, (b) partners contributing to school vision, (c) continuous learning opportunities, (d) team learning and collaboration, (e) a culture of enquiry, innovation and exploration, (f) systems for collecting and exchanging knowledge and learning, (g) learning with and from the external environment, and (h) modelling learning leadership. The resulting 65-item scale demonstrated good psychometric qualities. A reliable and valid schools as learning organisations scale can help enhance our understanding of the concept. The scale can also be used by school leaders, teachers and all others wanting to develop a thriving learning culture in their schools.     

义务教育择校政策执行失真研究

义务教育阶段存在着择校政策执行失真的问题。政策本身的有限性、执行过程中的利益博弈、教育资源分布不均、人才观念陈旧落后是导致择校政策执行失真的重要原因。因此,只有采取提高认识,转变教育观念;均衡教育资源,加快薄弱学校建设;加大监管力度,切断利益链等措施,义务教育择校政策才能够真正落实。     

Action learning and organisation development: overlapping fields of practice

This paper explores the relationship between action learning and Organisation Development (OD). It proposes that they are overlapping fields of practice, with interesting similarities and differences. Both fields of practice are experienced as challenging to conventional ways of viewing organisations and people but are also subject to increasing challenge themselves and both aspects are examined. Two accounts of practice are included, which cast light on action learning and OD and some preconditions for a more fruitful future relationship between the two fields are proposed.     

Middle leaders translating knowledge about improvement: Making change in the school and preschool organisation

Journal of Educational Change - This article deepens the knowledge of middle leaders’ impact on school improvement and organisation development. More precisely, it focuses on how middle...     

Proximity and policy: negotiating safe spaces between immigration policy and school practice

Policy around the legal status and social rights of the nation’s estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants is unresolved, making it imperative that PK-12 schools and educators prepare for challenges to undocumented students’ educational access. In 2008, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) appeared near an elementary school, which required school personnel to use the space in and around their school to demarcate boundaries to limit the impact of ICE activity on the school community. Critical moral geography is the guiding theoretical construct the authors use to examine the intersection of immigration policy and education in the context of immigration enforcement near a public school. Critical moral theory suggests that “places” are sites where people contest their values and concepts of what is morally correct, engaging in struggles over power. Thinking about space broadly allows for an exploration of how different policies converge and affect the spaces where educators are trying to engage in moral work. The authors conclude that educators can be instrumental in creating safe spaces for undocumented students.