The future role of the school administrator

The paper suggests that there is currently a good deal of uncertainty over the role of the principal, which is frequently described as one of educational leadership. This notion seems obsolete. Currently, there are pressures on principals to substantially modify this role, and these pressures seem to push the principal toward the definition of his role as that of administrator. On the basis of the beliefs of those involved in training programs for educational administrators, it is possible to predict that the future role of the school principal will, in fact, be that of building or school administrator. The role can be defined as that of administrative leader, as opposed to instructional leader. Administrative leadership involves at least the following elements: purpose-definding for the organization; coordination of the work of specialists, including decision-making; and responsibility for external relationships. The paper concludes by pointing out that this redefinition of the role of the school administrator, or administrative leader, has significant implications for in-service training for administrators, collective negotiations, and affiliation with teacher associations.

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Résumé D'après cet article, il y aurait actuellement une bonne dose d'incertitude quant au rôle du principal, rôle assimilé fréquemment à celui d'un leader en éducation. Or cette notion semble être périmée. De nos jours, les principaux d'écoles sont soumis à des pressions pour modifier considérablement ce rôle et ces pressions semblent pousser le principal à considérer son rôle comme celui d'un administrateur. D'après les croyances entretenues par les responsables des programmes de formation des administrateurs scolaires, il est possible de prédire que le rôle futur du principal d'école sera, en fait, comparable à celui d'un administrateur d'école ou d'immeuble. Ce rôle peut être assimilé au rôle de directeur administratif qui se distingue du directeur pédagogique. La direction administrative implique, au minimum, les éléments suivants: définition des objectifs d'organisation, coordination du travail des spécialistes, y compris la formulation de la politique et enfin responsabilité des relations externes. En conclusion, l'auteur souligne que cette redéfinition du rôle de l'administrateur scolaire ou du directeur administratif a des répercussions considérables sur la formation pratique des administrateurs, les négociations collectives et l'adhésion aux associations d'enseignants.

     

女性管理者在职培训问题研究

在当今社会,随着企业中女性管理者数量的增多,其在职培训问题也越来越引起人们的关注。本文即是针对女性管理者在职培训存在的一些相关问题进行分析和探讨,以期对女性管理者在职培训有所帮助。     

An urban school renewal program: A case analysis

Conclusion One of the most gratifying returns was a chance comment offered by a teacher as we walked across the lawn toward a local fast food restaurant. We were chatting about what he had experienced during the preceding two years. You know, he said, when we began this, I didn't see many hopeful signs, but I think that most of us (teachers) feel now that we work in the best high school in the city. The source may have been biased, and rigorous controls were obviously lacking, but that is the way one teacher perceived the changes. Many gained planning, leadership, problem solving, and other important behavioral and coping skills that contributed in interactively subtle, but nevertheless real ways.Can good things be made to happen in urban schools? The quantified data are equivocal, but we believe that the associations among interventions and perceived changes support cautious optimism.     

Regulation in school systems: a theoretical analysis of the structural framework of the school system in French-speaking Belgium

In the context of a weakening social consensus about the purpose of schooling, what kind of social forms and procedures enable educative action to be co-ordinated and stabilized, at least to some extent? In order to answer this question, the authors develop a two-fold approach to regulation within school systems, defining regulation as ‘the process through which rules are produced and social action is oriented’. From a methodological point of view, grasping this process encompasses both an analysis of the structural framework and a comprehension of the social interactions which produce rules. On the one hand, regulation is understood as the articulation of several forms of co-ordination resulting from a particular historical process. The analysis of the structural (institutional) framework in French-speaking Belgium illustrates this first moment of the approach. On the other hand, attention is given to interactions and games between actors, particularly at a local level, in order to understand how rules are constructed and how organized action can emerge.     

Merit pay: A case study in a California school district

This paper is a report on a study which examined the possibility of instituting a merit pay plan in a small school district in California. The paper is a preliminary investigation aimed at focusing attention on the substantive issues of merit pay and their effect on instructional performance. The first part of this paper summarizes merit pay in business and industry, merit pay in education, merit pay plans in California schools, and characteristics of the district under study. In the second part, practical difficulties in the district under study are described and analyzed. The third part constitutes the enumeration and examination of conditions which are required for the development and implementation of a merit pay plan in the district. Due to the difficulties in accumulating raw data, decisions on methodologies were made during the process of data collection. These methodologies are described throughout the paper.     

Science teaching self-efficacy in a primary school: A case study

Bandura's theory of self-efficacy predicts that teachers with high, self-efficacy should persist longer, provide a greater academic focus in child-centred classrooms and exhibit different types of feedback than teachers who have lower self-efficacy. This paper reports on the science teaching self-efficacy in a group of teachers at a state primary school. The research was conducted in two stages using firstly the Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument (STEBI-A) to identify cases, and secondly, a semistructured interview coupled with classroom observations. Thirty seven teaching staff were surveyed with the STEBI-A instrument. The five highest and five lowest scoring teachers on the personal science teaching self-efficacy subscale of the STEBI-A were interviewed. The analysis of interviews and observations indicated that teachers with high personal science teaching self-efficacy have had a long interest in science and a relatively strong background of formal science studies with opportunities for exploring out of school activities. Although they may have experienced negative science experiences in their own schooling other ameliorating factors existed which maintained their interest. Their instructional strategies in science lessons were more child-centred than those reported by teachers with lower personal science teaching self-efficacy. The implications of the results for the inservice training of teachers are discussed.     

Shaping the female student: an analysis of Swedish beauty school recruitment texts

This study focuses on the recruitment of adults to the beauty industry in Sweden. It is concerned with a move in (beauty) education away from state and towards private provision in a wider context where education is becoming more heavily marketised. Drawing on a poststructural approach inspired by the work of Foucault and feminist theory, the shaping of student subjectivity in recruitment material for private beauty schools is analysed. A poststructural approach provides analytical tools that make visible the process of how power shapes subjectivities, and the use of feminist theory gives special focus to the gendered aspects of this process. The study includes a textual analysis of website homepages of beauty schools, beauty schools’ Facebook pages and web pages that provide compiled information on educational programs and courses connected to the beauty industry. The analysis shows how consumption is constituted and feminised through specific marketing strategies and thereby becomes both a starting point and a resource for the shaping of student subjectivity. Thus, a particular form of gendered entrepreneurial self is shaped in this femininised educational context, and this study therefore highlights the importance of vocational research that takes into account the shaping of student subjectivity.     

Narrative understandings of a school policy: intersecting student,teacher, parent and administrator perspectives

In this article, we examine one school’s experience with policy, as a means of shedding light on the intersection of factors contributing to challenges of implementing policies to support the academic achievement and social adaptation of immigrant and minority students in their school context. We begin with the presentation of a ‘big fight’ between two students of different ethnic and racial backgrounds, and consider multiple perspectives of how the disagreement was addressed by teachers and administrators, to offer insight into how issues of race and policy might have been understood by members of the school community. We use a narrative inquiry approach to examine ways in which a policy designed to enhance student participation was interpreted by various members of this school community. This study reveals nuances of the intersection between culture and (hidden) curriculum as it relates to the implementation of policies aimed at creating and maintaining safe school communities.     

高校学分制学籍管理工作刍议

学分制特征是从人的个性出发 ,充分调动人的创造力和潜能 ,如此才能适应知识经济时代对人才的要求。如何做好高校学分制下的学籍管理工作 ,就是其中的一个关键问题。     

A case study of inclusive school development: a journey of learning

A global recognition of students' rights requires school organizations to recognize, value and provide for diversity. The move towards more inclusive schooling in Queensland, Australia, requires schools to address professional development on two levels: reculturing of the school to reflect inclusive beliefs and values; and enhancement of teacher skills and knowledge to better address the learning needs of all students. The recently developed Index for Inclusion 2000) is one resource that can facilitate the process of professional development and facilitate change in school culture, policy and teaching practice. The process used incorporates a critical friend and peer mentoring model within an action research framework, which together provide benefits for all involved in the professional development process. The journey of learning incorporating the phases of the Index for Inclusion are reported along with discussions for future directions.     

中外合作远程教育教学管理的特点及人员素质探讨

本文从分析中外合作远程教育的教学过程、教学管理特点入手，对国际化教育环境下中外合作教学管理人员应具备的知识技能、综合素质、管理能力、动态学习意识和创新精神加以探讨。本文强调在中外合作程教育的办学模式中，教学管理人员的管理艺术和文化沟通、资源整合以及信息传递能力是合作办学项目成功的不可或缺的重要组成部分，从新的角度指出国际化教育和现代化远程教育环境下，教学管理人员素质和综合能力的提升是不容忽视的问题。     

Metaphors as a reflection of middle school students' perceptions of school: A cross-cultural analysis

This study analyzes the perceptions of Turkish and American middle school students of school and schooling by examining the metaphors they produce. A total of 18 American and 24 Turkish students were interviewed as part of this study. The results show differences in the participants' perceptions of schooling by culture. Turkish participants perceived the school environment as family-like, care-giving, psychologically nurturing, educationally exemplary, and physically appealing. School was also seen as a fundamental prerequisite in the preparation for life and the possibility of employment, promising upward social mobility as an adult. Overall, while some American participants perceived school as a wild, crowded, chaotic, boring, painful, regulated environment in which students must learn to survive, others see it as a place of joy, caring, involvement, and learning. The study also indicates that metaphors are useful tools in understanding how students as real actors of school make sense of schooling and their experiences in school.     

Providing school-based learning in elementary school mathematics: the case of a professional development school partnership

Abstract

School–university partnerships also known as professional development school (PDS) partnerships provide potential for universities and schools to establish partnerships that can benefit university faculty, school teachers, university students, and school students. This study examines the impact of a PDS partnership in which the author served as a school-based mathematics coach for two years in a high-need elementary school. Data sources included interviews, surveys, and field notes from classroom observations. Inductive qualitative analyses which were situated in a multi-level framework for researching professional development found that teachers posed more cognitively demanding mathematical tasks and high-level questions in year two compared to year one of this project. Further, student achievement was noted on both state-wide and district-created assessments. Also teachers reported that the school-based approach to professional development led to some teachers taking on more informal leadership roles to support their colleagues’ mathematics instruction. Implications for school-based learning opportunities across the world include the need to establish specific university–school partnerships, and carefully designing research studies to examine the impact of these learning opportunities.     

Incorporating a vocational component into a school psychological evaluation: A case example

Vocational assessment services increasingly are being provided to handicapped secondary school students as a result of recent federal legislation. This article describes the need for such services and describes a vocationally oriented psychological evaluation completed on a handicapped adolescent by a school psychologist. The relevance of traditionally derived school psychological assessment data in vocational programming, the value of expanding assessment batteries to include vocationally specific assessment techniques, and the writing of vocationally oriented psychological reports are discussed.     

Socioeconomic school segregation in a market-oriented educational system. The case of Chile

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the socioeconomic status (SES) school segregation in Chile, whose educational system is regarded as an extreme case of a market-oriented education. The study estimated the magnitude and evolution of the SES segregation of schools at both national and local levels, and it studied the relationship between some local educational market dynamics and the observed magnitude of SES school segregation at municipal level. The main findings were: first, the magnitude of the SES segregation of both low-SES and high-SES students in Chile was very high (Duncan Index ranged from 0.50 to 0.60 in 2008); second, during the last decade, SES school segregation tended to slightly increase in Chile, especially in high schools (both public and private schools); third, private schools – including voucher schools – were more segregated than public schools for both low-SES and high-SES students; and finally, some market dynamics operating in the Chilean education (like privatization, school choice, and fee-paying) accounted for a relevant proportion of the observed variation in SES school segregation at municipal level. These findings are analyzed from an educational policy perspective in which the link between SES school segregation and market-oriented mechanisms in education plays a fundamental role.