The strategy of selective excellence: Redesigning higher education for global competition in a postindustrial society

Resource allocations in American higher education are now governed, on the one hand, by the constraints of a structural fiscal crisis and, on the other, by pressures from business and political leaders that universities help meet the challenges of a new economic order. The result is a seemingly contradictory imperative that higher education do more with less. While achieving this objective may seem impossible for the individual institution or faculty member, the dilemma is being resolved at a systemic level through a combination of institutional responses to market forces and by strategic planning at the state, regional, and federal levels.     

A review on leadership and leadership development in educational settings

Leadership gained a lot of attention during the past decades because of school principals' growing responsibilities and the accountability-driven context they work in. However, reviews providing a general overview of effective school leadership theories and effective professional development are rare. The present review was conducted to summarise the existing literature and discover lacunae in school leadership research in preschools, primary and secondary schools. 75 studies focusing on leadership theories, characteristics of effective school leadership and school leaders’ professional development were included and analysed. The present article provides an overview of main leadership theories such as instructional leadership, situational leadership, transformational leadership, distributed leadership and Leadership for Learning. Second, the article focuses on the characteristics of effective school leadership and lastly, the review offers features of effective professional development activities for school principals.     

服务于学习化社会的教育资源共享——论陕西远程教育教学资源库构建的价值

学习化社会是一个以终身教育体系为基础,能够充分满足全民终身学习多样化需求的社会。陕西省远程教育教学资源库的构建对建立学习化社会具有极为重要的价值,它能整合全省优质资源,实现教育资源最大限度地共享;它将优势资源与区域发展相结合,促进本土特色教育资源与经济的发展;它可以为学习化社会搭建教学资源平台;此外,远程学习不仅能满足全体社会成员的学习需要,而且也实现了学习者个别化学习的需求,成为学习化社会的重要途径。     

Teaching educational leadership and administration in Australia

Despite the ubiquity of programmes in educational administration and leadership little is known about the resources used to teach them. This article reviews the sources currently employed in such programmes in Australia by examining the textbooks, book chapters and journal articles specified for 53 separate units (papers) offered at 15 of the key institutions that responded to requests for copies of their reading lists. Surprisingly, few of the units prescribed textbooks (35), relying instead on book chapters (243) and journal articles (362). While there was a very eclectic spread of sources across institutions, 10 major themes emerged. However, there appeared to be little emphasis on Australian research on educational leadership and little reference to major Australian authors of the previous decades. This may be because the field has become global. The second part of the article therefore examines an audit of the contributions made by Australian authors to the global literature represented by leading journals in the field. The audit shows that during the period 1977–2007 an average of 12–13% of papers in key journals were contributed by Australian authors, perhaps more than might be expected given the comparative size of the Australian community.     

Making sense of technology in educational leadership programs

Conclusion Identify standards, align curricula, support technology—these are the three strategies that bring clarity to the process. As technology changes, the standards, curricula and support must change. ACTIVStudio, interactive whiteboards and cyber diaries are not just buzzwords — they are the new language of technology. The Citadel School of Education is paying attention — making sense of the challenge of keeping current technology in educational leadership programs. She is a former teacher and school administrator and currently teaches graduate courses, including microcomputers and school management, to aspiring administrators. Ms. Alice B. Hambright, a former public school teacher.     

Schoolteachers' constructions of desirable educational leadership: a career-stage perspective

The current study aimed at exploring desirable constructions of educational leadership among Israeli schoolteachers at three different career stages, as well as tracing the origins of these constructions. Based on semi-structured interviews with 10 teachers at early-career stage, 10 at mid-career stage and 10 at late-career stage, the study first found major commonalities among the interviewees with regard to emotional, moral, participative and structural constructions of educational leadership. But, ‘a second reading’ of the data unearthed subtle distinctions among the interviewees, deriving from the teacher's position in the career cycle. The early-career teachers hold an egocentric view of educational leadership while their late-career counterparts present a more multi-focal outlook. Empirical and practical implications are suggested.     

The long term educational needs of a high-technology society

This paper provides a synthesis of information from extant research and policy documentation on information technology (IT) workforce issues in the US and abroad. In particular, it addresses some of the issues that concerned the USA's 21st Century Workforce Commission, which was established to look at the IT labour market. It defines the IT market fairly broadly and is concerned with the overall IT workforce. The paper covers both supply and demand issues and looks to address a variety of questions concerning the longer-term nature of IT employment and any potential labour market imperfections that may arise through inappropriate educational strategies. It looks at the skills needed to obtain IT jobs, ways to increase the supply of IT workers, and describes and assesses a number of foreign programmes for training individuals for IT employment.     

论教育领域公民社会建构

教育领域公民社会是教育取得独立自主性的组织依托。建构教育领域公民社会是我国社会深化改革的取向。作为建构公民社会重要内容的教育社团组织建设需遵循务实与开拓创新、自治性与责任性、信仰性与权益性有机统一的原则。建构公民社会需要全社会突破思想的束缚，需要教育工作者挣脱体制上的心理依赖。     

The evolution of educational leadership preparation programmes

ABSTRACT

This article offers a review of extant literature specific to educational leadership preparation programmes. The author explains how leadership development and preparation programmes have evolved over time. Highlighted are: (1) historical contexts of educational leadership, (2) challenges faced when implementing quality graduate programmes in educational leadership, (3) a brief international perspective of educational leadership, and (4) reform efforts aimed at creating a new kind of graduate education in educational leadership. The authors conclude with final reflections.     

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.     

Critical perspectives on changes in educational leadership practice

This paper examines a group of Chinese educational leaders’ leadership practice changes after undertaking a leadership development course offered by an Australian university in China. It presents their self-reported changes in leadership practice profiles and features selected vignettes. The study was primarily qualitative and interpretative, based on the interview responses of 20 participants. The findings showed that exposure to different perspectives appeared to expand participants’ views and equip them with a wider range of leadership strategies. Despite some observable differences in practices reported by participants from the three sectors (school, educational system, and university), there seemed to be more similarities than variance. The respondents were cautious about radical changes in leadership practice, reiterating that local contexts and cultures must be considered when accommodating Western educational ideas. The study suggests that participants’ self-reported changes in leadership practices resulted from mediation of contextual and cultural conditions rather than the direct transfer of Western ideas and practices into the Chinese context.     

The role of leadership in small scale educational change

By investigating the factors facilitating and hindering a small scale educational change, this study highlights the crucial role of leadership in designing and implementing an educational change at a transnational university in Vietnam. During its initiation stage, the programme leaders seemed to fail to (1) set up a clear schedule for changing, (2) assist external advisory groups in providing training sessions and (3) clarify the responsibilities of external advisory groups. At the implementation stage, programme leaders and teachers were less likely to (1) develop the collective knowledge and understandings required for ongoing instructional improvement, (2) adjust the teaching quality control system and (3) cooperate with advisory groups. The lessons that can be learned include (1) mutual trust between stakeholders is vital to its successful implementation as it may determine the level of efforts stakeholders would make, (2) preparations should include clarifying stakeholders' responsibilities and the accountability system and (3) the external advisory groups need to be properly managed from the very beginning of the change.