Leading a school through change – principals’ hands-on leadership strategies in school reform

Principal’s hands-on strategies reflecting their theories of changing have a substantial effect on the development of their schools and on how the large-scale reform takes root. The study explores five comprehensive school principals’ leadership strategies during a large-scale school reform in Finland. The principals’ strategies in the middle of reform acknowledged the process nature of leading and involved coherence-making. The inclusive and learning-oriented strategies were applied quite consistently in terms of the horizontal, but not so much in the vertical coherence-making. Exclusive strategies we used to decrease teachers’ workload. Principals’ theories of changing seem to focus on creating and protecting teachers’ opportunities for meaningful learning.     

The Leadership of Transition: Correction, Conciliation and Change in South African Education

This paper focuses on educational leadership in the context of social transition to post-apartheid democracy in South Africa. Transitional leaders manifest behaviours, attitudes, values and strategies that are deeply related to the contexts within which they work. Social norms and political climate may not be supportive of educational leaders wishing to rise to the challenge of unplanned transition; however this paper focuses on leaders who take up this challenge. Narratives of three educational leaders, two white and one black, provide an understanding of the complexities and challenges involved in bringing about change that goes against the grain of social, community, or institutional expectations. Five common strands that bind the narratives of the three leaders are revealed. These commonalities are: a sense of moral purpose, a sense of human frailty, a sense of racial inclusion, a sense of political complexity, and a sense of personal growth. In conclusion, seven propositions that may form the building blocks for new ways of thinking about leadership in post conflict societies are presented.     

School leadership and social justice: Evidence from Ghana and Tanzania

Headteachers working under conditions of severe hardship in Africa face tremendous challenges, often exacerbated by a sense of hopelessness and lack of agency to effect improvements within their school. This paper focuses on notions of leadership agency and ‘social justice’ within an African educational context, with a specific focus on the school level, and reports on a small-scale research project involving primary headteachers in Ghana and Tanzania engaging with action research in order to bring about changes which they feel will benefit the quality of pupil learning. The study presents some positive impacts generated by the headteachers’ actions and indicates ways in which these actions illustrate developments in areas of ‘social justice’ related to fairness, equity, recognition, and redistribution. The findings suggest that empowering headteachers through the use of action research can enable them to act creatively and positively to benefit the quality of education offered to the pupils within their schools.     

Beginning teachers’ responses to education reform agendas

National education reform agendas are increasingly prevalent in school systems around the world. Whilst we have a substantial body of research exploring the ways in which schools manage change agendas, there is less discussion of the impacts these agendas may have on beginning teachers and their retention in the profession. Here I report on a study of 14 beginning teachers at a time when two major reforms were being introduced – national standardised literacy teaching and the public reporting of those results. I describe the ways in which these reforms were experienced by the teachers and discuss the implications for school leaders seeking to support beginning teachers in their schools.     

西方质的教育领导研究的兴起及其启示

在国际范围内,教育领导研究已由过去的实证主义独尊,发展为今日的多元范式并陈。其中,质的教育领导研究已成为一股重要的力量。反观我国,教育领导研究的多元范式尚未形成,对质的研究的认识还存在颇多误区。通过回顾国际上质的教育领导研究的兴起以及国内质的研究地位的分析,本文呼吁开展更多扎根田野的质的研究,为教育领导研究探索一条新的方法论路径。     

Teachers’ career ladder policy in Ethiopia: an opportunity for professional growth or “a stick disguised as a carrot?”

In response to the ever-declining status of the teaching profession, and its adverse effects on the country's educational system, the Federal Ministry of Education in Ethiopia introduced a policy of the teachers’ career ladder in 1994. While reformers believe that the introduction of the policy has improved the condition of the teaching profession, the net gains of the policy remain deceptive and even, in part, reduce some of the benefits teachers used to enjoy in the single salary scheme in the past. Among other things, central to the claims of the policy's advocates stands an improved salary scale for teachers. While this was admittedly true by the time the policy was introduced, the gain in salary raise has gradually been lost to the bureaucratic hurdles and watchdog structures erected to screen teachers’ eligibility at each stage of the career ladder. After critically assessing the major aspects of the policy, along with the voices of Ethiopian teachers, the current study argues that the policy of the teachers’ career ladder in Ethiopia is another prototypical case of a failed experiment both in terms of improving the lives of teachers and maintaining their professional rights.     

Conceptualizing educational leadership in an academic development program

Promoting the development of educational leadership in higher education is essential for strengthening the quality of teaching and learning. Additional research is needed to conceptualize educational leadership, especially within informal roles. We analysed how faculty members in an academic development program conceptualized educational leadership. Five key characteristics emerged that inform the development of educational leadership capacity in postsecondary contexts: affective qualities, mentoring and empowering, action-orientation, teaching excellence, and research and scholarship. Three characteristics of academic programs aimed at developing educational leadership were also identified: funding and resources to implement a change initiative, building interdisciplinary communities, and embracing identity.     

A little more madness in our methods? A snapshot of how the educational leadership,management and administration field conducts research

ABSTRACT

The field of educational leadership, management and administration (ELMA) uses methods drawn primarily from cognate educational disciplines. But does this matter? This paper explores the methods used in recently published papers through a snapshot of six issues of six ELMA journals. The analysis showed a preponderance of survey, interview and case study methods, with one journal, JEAH, also publishing papers using methods drawn from history, philosophy and sociology. The snapshot also revealed the methods that were rarely used – for example, ethnography, visual and on-line methods. Through a Bourdieusian lens, the paper argues that the ELMA field appears to be somewhat removed from methods developments and debates in the wider educational and social science fields. There may thus be mileage in the ELMA field considering the use of additional methods, including the ‘wilder’ ones. The field might also benefit from understanding methods as more than tools and as practices possessed of a social life.     

Schooling for the future in United States of America: Educational policy at the crossroads

A purposive sample of 10 senior educational policy leaders was interviewed for this Phase 2 of the study from across the US. Interview participants argued the need for: (1) more clearly defining the purpose and value of public education to the communities served; (2) the development of new stakeholder partnerships to accomplish this end; (3) visionary leadership to bring different and sometimes polarized groups together around the need for a quality system of public education; and (4) attracting the very best college graduates to a career of teaching as a professional. If these were accomplished, then the prospects for the favored ‘re-schooling’ scenarios becoming ‘best practice’ would improve greatly.     

寻求创新的领导实践——UCEA第23届年会综述

UCEA第23届年会的关键词是\"创新\"。会议关注的主要话题是,创新的学校——社群多元伙伴关系、创新的领导发展课程。年会呈现出一些新的面貌,显示出教育领导创新已经成为国际性议题。     

“校长信息化领导力”现状的调查研究

本文运用调查问卷和访谈的方法,对山西、新疆、河南、浙江等部分省市的教师和校长进行了调查．．从校长信息素养与信息化意识;学校信息化愿景规划与资金和技术支持;信息化教学资源的利用与管理;信息化环境下的人际关系与沟通能力;学校信息化评估与教师专业发展五个维度对校长信息化领导力的现状进行研究．在调查数据分析的基础上,进行了问题分析和对策思考。     

Use of telecommunications for reflective discourse of science teacher leaders

Journal of Science Education and Technology - This case study explores how a group of teacher leaders (TLCs) used network exchange to reflect upon their involvement with peer leadership and...     

Leadership development challenges in South African schools: The Advanced Certificate: Education (School Management and Leadership)

Abstract

A number of schools in South Africa appear to be struggling with the changes that the government is introducing to improve the quality of education and lay a strong foundation for the country's societal transformation. Leadership has been found to be one of the factors that are associated with how schools cope with change and its complexities. This article focuses on a conceptual examination of the national Advanced Certificate: Education (School Management and Leadership) programme's capacity for promoting sustainable leadership in schools. The findings from the critical analysis of the qualification's documentation suggest that the current formulation of this school leadership development programme does not address the complexities of leadership and change, and is thus unlikely to adequately contribute towards leadership effectiveness or its sustainability in schools. It may, however, contribute to short- term school improvements, policy compliance, management effectiveness or economy and/or administrative efficiency.     

自然主义抑或主观主义——时代精神说的当代阐释

西方心理学史家为了说明心理学思想和理论发展的动因和规律,往往求助于时代精神说。研究不同时期的心理学史家对时代精神说的各种阐释,指出心理学思想和理论的发展是时代精神的引领、个人心理因素的推动和学科自身发展的完善三者相互作用的结果。     

Critical perspectives in educational leadership: a new ‘theory turn’?

In this article, I argue that we are witnessing a new phase or ‘theory turn’ in the field of educational leadership. These more critical perspectives in the field of educational leadership have typically been marginalised by the larger body of orthodox approaches due to a perceived lack of focus on best practice and ‘what works’ discourses, and especially in recent years with the rise of the school effectiveness and improvement movement. However, critical perspectives in educational leadership constitute an essential and vibrant part of educational leadership scholarship and discourse. Drawing on Michel Foucault's notion of discourse, through this article, I examine how critical perspectives have been constituted historically, with some of the main themes of research. This foregrounding also highlights a number of limitations with more orthodox and hegemonic leadership discourses. I identify a number of key writers in the field and situate them in the current theory turn, that is, an emphasis of theoretically informed research that have been prolific over the last 5–10 years.     

学校领导在欧洲

作为一名校长或者一名从事开发校长培训课程的理论工作者,是否了解本国以及世界各国关于校长工作条件、角色以及校长影响力的情况,至关重要。本文主要论述:欧洲在这个领域的最新发展;欧盟目标,即在拥有49个成员国和更多语种的欧盟,发展一个欧洲学校系统和一个欧洲学校领导模式;国家层面上的校长协会和欧洲层面上的欧洲中小学校长联合会的创建;欧洲中小学校长联合会在把学校领导的利益植入欧洲一体化进程中的地位及其项目;以及教育领导的道德维度。     

大学生完美主义与自恋的关系研究

目的探讨大学生完美主义与自恋的关系。方法采用訾非(2006)修订的《中文版Frost多维完美主义量表》与郑涌和黄藜(2005)编制的自恋人格问卷对313名福建师范大学福清分校的在校大学生进行调查分析。结果 (1)该校大学生普遍具有完美主义倾向,不同出生地、学科类别的大学生完美主义差异显著;(2)大学生完美主义总分与显性自恋总分显著相关(r=0.375),完美主义多个维度与显性自恋多个维度存在不同程度的相关(r=0.118-0.489),只有行动的疑虑与显性自恋相关不显著;(3)大学生完美主义总分与隐性自恋总分显著相关(r=0.549),完美主义多个维度与隐性自恋多个维度存在不同程度的相关(r=0.243-0.482),只有条理性与隐性自恋相关不显著;(4)完美主义中的条理性和个人标准对显性自恋具有一定的预测作用,担心错误、个人标准和行动的疑虑对隐性自恋具有一定的预测作用。结论大学生完美主义与自恋相关显著。积极完美主义与显性自恋关系更为密切,消极完美主义与隐性自恋关系更为密切。