Yes,Classroom Sales Training Can Enhance Performance

Organizations today face competitive conditions unlike those experienced in the past. Managers and team leaders must learn ways to get the highest level of performance from a team of people, work with a variety of individuals diverse projects, communicate with a wide audience clearly and effectively, and be able to provide performance feedback and elevate performance levels for people they hardly know. While few will argue that learning in organizations is critical to meeting these challenges, an increasing number of decision-makers are raising questions about the value of classroom training. The questions are especially difficult to address in sales training where results are observable (i.e., sales) but difficult to trace to performance events and interventions. The current study was conducted to address two questions: 1) Is it possible to link sales production to participation in classroom sales training? 2) If so, what are the elements of the training that seem to be most useful in enhancing employee performance and sales performance?     

构建和谐校园背景下的班主任工作若干问题的思考

党的十六届六中全会提出了构建社会主义和谐社会的口号,构建和谐校园是各级学校贯彻落实这一决策的最直接最具体的表现。班主任作为校园基本单位的领导者应该与时俱进,首先是树立和谐理念,其次应遵循一定的工作原则,最后应从构建和谐的人际关系等四个方面入手加以实践和突破,为构建和谐社会发挥应有的作用。     

The importance of school leaders’ engagement in socialising newly qualified teachers into the teaching profession

This article focuses on the importance of school leaders’ commitment to socialising newly qualified teachers (NQTs) into the teaching profession. Framed by a social constructivist perspective, the article is based on four challenges novice teachers face as described by four school leaders. The aim is to illuminate how school leaders have understood the conflicts and differences that come to light in these challenges. School leaders’ experiences of the encounter between NQTs and schools point to how the facilitation of the teachers’ professional development at their schools was challenged and how follow-up and guidance of NQTs only started after the problems were disclosed to colleagues and the school leaders. This study indicates that there is a lack of insight into NQTs’ work situation, a fact that seems to exacerbate a negative development in the school environment. We argue that school leaders must be more proactive by being aware of the dynamics of the teaching team when NQTs join a previously established team. School leaders should communicate the expectations they have for how the team can welcome NQTs’ new ideas, on the one hand, and offer support if they encounter challenges, on the other. Furthermore, our findings indicate that the composition of teaching teams must be reassessed from year to year so that they serve as an arena that promotes professional development for both NQTs and established teachers. Poor relationships with colleagues and a lack of cooperation within teacher teams may also have a detrimental effect on student learning. School leaders have a great amount of power and influence, perhaps much more than they are aware of, when it comes to the wellbeing of NQTs and their decision to remain in the profession. We underline the importance of the role school leaders have in socialising NQTs into the teaching profession by paying attention to how they are welcomed and mentored by their colleagues in school.     

THE ELUSIVE CONCEPT OF QUALITY: WHAT JUNIOR AND SENIOR COLLEGE PRESIDENTS THINK

Because it is difficult to describe higher education quality or indicators of quality to the general public, this study was developed to determine if educational leaders had definitions that might prove useful. From 20 presidents of two‐ and four‐year colleges seven different definitions of quality emerged; and among indicators of quality, none was named by all or even a majority of presidents. Most presidents rated their own institutions as being of high quality but based their rating on different factors than they had identified as indicators of quality. In rating other colleges, presidents identified indicators different from those they had for their own campuses. Most differences among presidents did not appear to be based on the type of institutions they led. The results of this study indicate that educational leaders must begin to agree on definitions and indicators of quality before they can hope to present a united front to the public.     

在医学学科带头人中加强发展党员工作的新思考

近年来医学院校教师入党人数逐年下降,高学历、高职称、教学科研成绩突出的骨干人才及学科带头人中党员比例不高,这已成为许多医学院校党组织面临的困境,为此,医学院校各级党组织和广大党务工作者应认真研究,寻找对策,切实做好学科带头人中的发展党员工作。     

HIV education in the formal curriculum

The AIDS epidemic presents a complex of issues that require global answers, involving entire societies. The only sustainable solution is to include all sectors of society in a multidisciplinary collaboration, within which the formal education system plays a key role in delivering a comprehensive response to the disease at the national level. Moreover, in order to be effective, governments must work in collaboration with parents, religious leaders, and community members. This article describes eight key issues that must be addressed to establish a successful HIV/AIDS education curriculum. It also provides examples of best practices from three countries. First, HIV education in schools should adopt a human rights perspective and address stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV (PLHIV). Second, gender issues should be fully integrated into messages about the disease and the whole community should be sensitized on this topic. Third, national curricula must be designed in respect of religious perspectives; the most successful ones will include religious leaders in the process. Fourth, the language and content used in designing education materials for schools must be culturally sensitive, as local traditions can influence the transmission of HIV; those developing curricula should explore the best ways to incorporate positive traditions into formal education initiatives. Fifth, governments are responsible for providing comprehensive and adapted messages about the disease to children and youth in school settings; they must develop a national strategic policy on it and establish specific measures established to protect PLHIV. Sixth, the family plays the primary role in providing information to children on sexuality and HIV-related issues, even if parents and children sometimes find it hard to talk about. Parents must be informed so they can play a more active role in educating their children in this area. Seventh, teachers and administrators are central to effective HIV education; as they often complement parents’ roles, they need to be trained at pre- and in-service levels on these issues, including sexuality. Finally, children and young adults should learn about sexuality and HIV and AIDS at various stages throughout their development. It is crucial to adapt the content to the age and knowledge level of the target group.     

Educational justice for all: the capability approach and inclusive education leadership

Leaders within education must weigh a number of fundamentals as they engage the needs of the stakeholders they represent within the political, social and economic context they operate within. Leaders must consider the unique needs and capabilities of individuals who might not possess similar abilities or talents to those of the majority. In this paper, we explore the capability approach as a frame to consider such contextual fundamentals in inclusive education leadership. In order to examine how educational leaders address the diverse needs of the groups they serve, we interviewed five central office educational administrators in the USA with the responsibility for leading programming for students with special needs. Using a human capabilities frame, we developed targeted questions to determine whether school leaders uphold the tenets of this theoretical foundation within their district's practices in an era of tight fiscal management and accountability. Findings indicate that those leaders whose districts had the highest level of inclusion for most students, including students with significant disabilities, most closely align with the capability approach. Recommendations for continued research and implications for both practice and policy are included.     

School Leaders as Learners: what attitudes and preferences do they have?

Leadership development is a key issue for success in leading educational reform and school improvement. Demands for more flexible, responsive, and enterprise‐driven schooling require that school leaders can create the kind of conditions which sustain vigorous processes of continuous school improvement. To meet this requirement, school leaders must be in command of a broader range of leadership and management expertise than was traditionally required of them. The changing environments make it essential for school leaders to have a high level of awareness of their preferences for leadership development and a commitment to improve their professional performance. This paper discusses findings of a survey‐based study of school leaders’ attitudes and preferences for professional development in Western Australia. Surveys conducted among principals and deputy principals of primary (n = 233) and secondary (n = 180) schools reveal some important similarities, as well as differences, in the extent to which primary and secondary school leaders have recognized the potential for work‐based and peer‐assisted learning.     

处级干部在工作中务必正确处理五种关系

处级干部是山西电大的中流砥柱和宝贵财富。新时期、新形势、新任务对处级干部提出了更高的要求,因此,在工作中务必正确处理五种关系。     

浅谈领导干部的道德修养

新时期对领导干部的道德修养提出了更高的要求。领导干部要不断加强道德修养，提高精神境界，更好地为人民群众服务。     

Strategic intelligence: A conceptual system of leadership for change

Strategic intelligence is a conceptual system of leadership qualities. These qualities must be considered in the context of the challenges facing leaders and the relationships between leaders and the people they lead. A leader's philosophy and personality influence the way he or she expresses the qualities of strategic intelligence when things are going according to plan and when leaders face significant conflicts. Leaders can be most effective by tapping into the intrinsic motivations of followers.     

VET leadership for the future – characteristics,contexts and capabilities

This paper examines leadership in Australia’s vocational education and training (VET) sector. VET leaders make a vital and growing contribution to learners, industry and society, yet research on their work is limited. This has direct implications for ensuring leadership is most effective, and for framing evidence-based capacity development. The current research draws together reviews of complex and often competing contexts, analyses of prior research, and results from a national survey of 327 practising VET leaders. Analysis of what VET leaders report doing in their jobs suggests that while they are attuned to the education-focused demands of their roles, they now need new capabilities to respond to internal and external developments. To identify the powerful forces which shape leadership, the study established criteria seen to mark out effective performance in each role. It highlighted a set of indicators identified by VET leaders as those most important in making judgements about the effective delivery of each role. Identifying indicators of effective performance is important, as it is these which, ideally, drive leaders’ aspirations and behaviours. The future capacity of VET in Australia will be underpinned by the capability and regeneration of its leadership. New programmes need to focus on concrete ‘change management’ skills, working through complex real-world problems and leading change in ambiguous environments. The more authentic and active modes of learning were advocated by VET leaders, who expressed an overwhelming preference for practice-based and self-managed, as opposed to formal, forms of professional learning.     

Performance Funding Programs: Assessing Their Stability

State programs of performance funding for public colleges and universities are both popular and volatile. A previous article identified some characteristics of stable programs by comparing the survey responses of state and campus leaders from Tennessee and Missouri about their mature programs with those from four states that later dropped performance funding. This article uses those characteristics to assess the stability of the continuing programs in Florida, Ohio, and South Carolina. This article compares the survey responses of state and campus leaders from each of these three states about their programs with those from Missouri and Tennessee. The findings suggest trouble for these three programs, for they share few of the characteristics common to the stable programs in Missouri and Tennessee.     

Building Instructional Leaders’ Capacity to Deliver Constructive Feedback to Teachers

The aim of this action research study was to enhance the instructional leadership capacity of aspiring school leaders, through a practical learning experience. The participants observed classes, collected classroom-based data, prepared and delivered written constructive feedback to teachers. Findings suggest that aspiring school leaders need to develop a knowledge foundation related to quality instruction, teachers respond in a positive way and appreciate the feedback offered, constructive feedback has potential to guide teachers’ professional development, aspiring instructional leaders must be professional as they deliver feedback, and schools need to set up system for the effective delivery of constructive feedback to teachers so that teaching and learning excellence can be achieved.     

Uniting Adolescent Support Systems for Safe Learning Environments

Counterintuitively, the more one develops as a leader, the less of a leader one becomes. What do great leaders do? Great leaders are ambitious first and foremost for the cause, the mission, the work—not themselves. Educators as “serving leaders” sense that every action they take, together with every decision that they make, either supports or undermines students and colleagues’ perceived levels of status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness.     

Natural hazard preparedness in an Auckland community: child and community perceptions

Community engagement in natural hazard preparedness is crucial to ensure sustainable initiatives. Children are important members of communities, and can actively contribute to community preparedness. This article presents research undertaken with 11- to 12-year-old students from a school in Auckland, New Zealand, and leaders associated with the school community regarding their perceptions of the role of schools, communities and children in natural hazard preparedness. The findings show that the students believe they can be effective in promoting preparedness in their school, homes and community, and act as leaders in this capacity. Community leaders stated that preparedness actions should be culturally relevant, community initiated and owned and inclusive of child perspectives. From the combined perspectives of students and community leaders, this work concludes that emergency management must engage in culturally responsive ways with Māori and Pacific communities to enable community preparedness initiatives that are tailored to the cultural values and practices of communities most at risk from natural hazards. Further, it concludes that children have an important voice in community preparedness, which could be encouraged through school and community initiatives.     

山西高等教育中的人才环境创新

文章主要从事业环境、制度环境和人文环境三个方面阐述了人才环境的创新，认为山西高等教育人才环境创新关键在于各级领导，领导能爱才，人才自然来，领导善用才，人才走不开，让武大郎式的人当领导，人才不仅难以涌现，而且有人才也会都走光。     

现代大学理念与高等学校管理

大学教育理念经历了一个漫长的历史演变过程。现代大学理念的主要内容是：以人为本，崇尚学术，服务社会，走向世界。高等学校的领导者在管理学校的过程中，必须根据现代大学理念及大学的不同分类，找准自己学校的定位，加强内部管理，向管理要质量、要水平、要效益、要发展。     

信息误导与新中国建立后社会主义道路探索中的决策失误

信息是作出决策的前提,虚假信息往往会使领导人作出错误的决策。新中国成立后,社会主义建设探索之所以会发生＂大跃进＂运动与阶级斗争扩大化的错误,与当时中央领导的决策信息失真不无关系。可以说,信息失真是导致＂大跃进＂运动与阶级斗争扩大化错误的重要原因。因此,领导在决策过程中,必须坚持实事求是的原则,完善信息监督系统,健全信息收集渠道,确保信息的真实性。     

Technology and school leadership

As the demand for schools to become more effective and efficient learning communities increases, the need for principals to cultivate broad‐based, skilful participation in the work of leadership is essential. It is important for educational leaders to recognise the significance of their role in technology implementation and utilisation. They should be proficient in the use of technology and then provide leadership in the use of technology for administrative, instructional, and learning functions. Relatively few studies have empirically examined the level of computer use by principals, their perceived computer competence and their leadership style. This paper will report on these issues from an initial analysis of baseline data gathered from 30 secondary school principals in Tehran, a large province in Iran. Findings indicate that school principals spent a few times a week working on their computers and they had moderate levels of information technology competency. This paper also suggests that transformational leadership can help school leaders increase successful use of technology in schools. Hence, policy makers must design professional development programmes, such as leadership studies, in order to teach the components of transformational leadership: idealised influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individual consideration to future administrators.