A Question of Management Style: Women school governors, 1800-1862

ABSTRACT The article examines the way women managed schools prior to the rise of technocratic management practice and theory and explores the consequences for women of the introduction of 'rational' methods of bureaucratic management. The article begins by looking at women's access to management positions in education at the start of the nineteenth century. It then considers the structural and societal barriers constraining their work before focusing on the women governors' authority style. The work of women school governors is related to the wider question of gender and power and in particular to the historical construction of bureaucratic, technocratic management in discourses of 'reason', which is seen as a form of male power within the project of modernity. The women's work is placed in a Foucauldian framework in which women governors are simultaneously constructed as powerful and powerless due to their straddling of the discursive space of both 'public' and 'private'.     

Is There a Role for Mathematical Disciplinarity in Productive Learning for the Workplace?

This paper situates mathematical content and process knowledge within the construct of broad occupational competence. It is critical of many developments in vocational mathematics curriculum and pedagogical practice in Australia over the last decade or so, especially the trend towards the de-institutionalisation of disciplinary knowledge. This has been accompanied by a chronic lack of professional development for many involved in vocational education to enable development of this mathematical knowledge. Meanwhile, workers' actual and potential mathematical knowledges remain largely unrecognised, whilst irrelevant, often infantile, pedagogic texts form their subjectivities as doers rather than knowers, always in need of more training to adapt to ever-changing technologies of workplace plant and management. It argues that to attempt to satisfy government and industry demands for a creative, problem-solving workforce?to say nothing of workers' entitlement to democratic participation?there is a need for mathematical disciplinarity beyond current practice.     

农村妇女土地承包经营权遭受侵害的实证分析与法律应对

随着我国经济的快速发展及城市化进程的迅猛推进,侵犯农村妇女土地承包经营权的现象日益严重。本文通过对各种侵权现象的实证考察进而得出结论,认为相关立法与司法实践中性别意识的缺失、村民组织的不守法、权利救济渠道的＂堵塞＂等是造成妇女土地承包经营权遭受侵害的主要原因。切实树立以人为本的立法理念、实施严格法治、疏通权利救济渠道是保障妇女土地承包经营权的根本途径。     

Educational psychology within teacher education

In a context where the role of the teacher and teacher education are undergoing considerable change, the role of educational psychology in teacher preparation is discussed within a new framework. Educational psychology is now perceived as an inherent component within teacher training and professional development, having previously been an additional course and often considered irrelevant to teaching practice. The current paper discusses the relationship between educational psychology and teacher preparation. Educational psychology's contribution to teachers' professional development is delineated through the constructs of teachers' prior beliefs about teaching, reflective practice and self‐efficacy, while its contribution to the improvement of teacher–pupil interaction is viewed through the lenses of instruction theories, social and emotional learning, special educational needs and classroom management. It is argued that through a productive dialectic dialogue between educational psychology and education, educational psychology provides the knowledge defined by its field to be utilized by teachers, whereas at the same time, teachers gain a wider reconceptualization of their practice.     

Diverse experiences of women leading in higher education: locating networks and agency for leadership within a university context in Papua New Guinea

The ways in which women deliberately press back against practices of oppression and demonstrate agency in higher education institutions are highly contextual and culturally bound. The formal and informal networks that women develop and maintain are important elements of generating agency and enhancing women's access to and opportunities for leadership. This article presents a case study from research that explored women's leadership experiences in a higher education context in the Pacific Islands – Papua New Guinea. Situated within a feminist poststructural methodology, the research examined women's experiences of leadership and considered aspects that influenced women's access to formal leadership roles. The findings illustrated that the women faced numerous barriers to formal leadership opportunities. A range of culturally and contextually located approaches supported women to demonstrate agency with regard to their own leadership development and practice. This research highlighted the importance of considering the relationship between networks and agency and the impact of associated cultural and contextual practices within organisations, providing insights into the culturally located complexities of women's leadership in higher education contexts.     

The female secondary headteacher in England and Wales: leadership and management styles

This paper reports on data relating to management and leadership derived from a survey of all the female headteachers in England and Wales. The quantitative data presented here are complementary to previous research on gender in education which has tended to be qualitative. The use of the Gray paradigms in the research instrument has allowed an empirical redefinition of the 'feminine' style of management, but the research confirms that the majority of the female heads use a collaborative and 'people-oriented' style of management. In addition, the key values promoted by the headteachers are related to achievement and respect for all.The headteachers generally make themselves available to staff and spend a considerable proportion of their time in school outside their office. They tend to encourage staff development, often through individual consultation, but only a minority make special provision for the development of female teachers. Male resentment of female leadershipwas found to be relatively prevalent and the majority of the women felt they had to 'prove their worth' as a woman manager. Despite the difficulties encountered, once the women had achieved headship, they were aware that there were advantages in being a woman headteacher. They reported the ability to defuse 'macho' behaviour, the benefits of being unusual and therefore singled out and the fact that girls, mothers and female teachers found them approachable. The relative disproportion of female secondary headteachers raises issues of equity. However, in view of the effective management style of the majority, the question is also raised of the potential loss of leadership to our schools.     

Making a Difference: Women in management in Australian and Canadian faculties of education

This article reports a study of Australian and Canadian women in management positions in university faculties of education. It provides a perspective on the contradictory and multilayered experiences of the first cohort of academic women to reach management positions in any significant numbers in education. The article explores the way in which women are positioned as different but at the same time negotiate their place by using marginality and difference as strengths. Many of the women continue to hold to feminist agendas that were forged in relation to the university of a quarter of a century ago. They have strong commitments to 'making a difference'. The authors raise the question of how these agendas will operate in the years to come and whether we can anticipate a new feminist politics of leadership.     

Putting working-class mothers in their place: social stratification,the field of education,and Pierre Bourdieu's theory of practice

This article explores how a small sample of working-class mothers encounters the field of education. In the management of family and their children's schooling, mothers bring to bear and replicate ways of knowing that are embodied, are historical and that offer many-sided insights into profoundly stratified societies. Here I draw on Bourdieu's theory of practice as a heuristic device and focus only on the field while leaving in suspension his other conceptual arsenal. Bourdieu argued that understanding the social space in which interactions occur is pivotal, characterised as it is by ‘permanent relationships of inequality'. This study shows that mothers bring to the field their embodied history, their habituated practice, and their access to capitals. The women I interviewed know the precariousness of how they occupy the field of schooling, negotiated through a matrix of intersected positionings and classifications that are embodied.     

Languages of Female Colonial Authority: The educational network of the Ladies Committee of the British and Foreign School Society, 1813-1837

This article focuses on the way women in the network surrounding the British and Foreign School Society Ladies Committee used constitutional, familial, religious and educational languages to claim an authoritative role for themselves in the development of education for non-Western women and girls. It highlights some of the ambiguities of colonial power for British women educators, which were implicit in women's self-representation of themselves as authoritative and their depictions of the non-Western female 'other'. It argues that in the two-way relation of metropole and periphery, the notion of the universal 'rational' mother employed within the network constituted an early 'professionalisation' of motherhood in relation to non-Western women, which worked to confirm the authority, responsibility and the 'Britishness' of British women themselves.     

The Things Girls Shouldn't See: Relocating the penis in sex education in Hong Kong

This article reports on how young women in Hong Kong relate to the penis. A total of nine focus group interviews were conducted at the University of Hong Kong to enable participants to reflect on and talk about their 'experience of the penis'. It is found that despite society's various attempts to restrict their access to the penis, it is very much present and available to the young women in Hong Kong. While most of the participants reported the normative response of disgust, which was expected as part of the 'proper femininity', positive experiences of the penis characterised by agency, mastery and fulfilment were also reported. Some of the things they do, such as watching an exhibitionist or actively consuming sexually explicit materials and pornography, subvert the discursive practice of positioning women as passive sexual objects. It is believed that with more open access to knowledge and experience, women will stand a better chance of achieving a more agentive relationship, not only with the penis as a potential transitional object in intimate relationships, but also with their own sexuality.     

Closing the Circle: Action research partnerships towards better learning and teaching in schools

This paper addresses the call for evidence-based practice by describing an initiative in school-university partnership that has led to the establishment of a community of teacher researchers whose investigations provide the evidence upon which they make decisions to improve their teaching. This is a new way of approaching the idea of evidence-based practice, where the evidence comes through personal testimony that 'rings true'. In this mode of research the processes of research are shared so that the outcomes of the research may be disseminated through 'transferability' rather than 'generalisability'. The first part describes the partnership, which involved the adaptation of existing structures in the school (staff development) and the university (accreditation) to create a new more democratic, more productive relationship. The second part of the paper describes the work of one teacher who applied the principles from her own learning within the teacher group to her management of her students' learning in such a way that the excitement of independent learning that had been a feature of the teacher group was transferred to the students. The third part of the paper addresses the politics of such research and makes a case for including teachers' and students' knowledge of their own practice as evidence to inform policy development.     

Research and Learning Information Resources

Identification of the factors that contribute to the fear of success in women's career development is important for community college educators and counselors wanting to assist women in their professional goals. In this article the factors associated with fear of success in women are categorized as follows: familial socialization, psychological influences, and cultural norms. It is generally conceded that any one or combination of these factors can precipitate a fear of success which becomes manifest in the woman's defeatist behaviors, and in turn, undermines her career development. It is imperative that professionals recognize the factors causing the fear of success orientation in women so that they may develop coping strategies with the client.     

尼赫鲁的社会主义思想及其实践

尼赫鲁的社会主义思想涉及社会发展、经济建设、民主政治等方面,其实质是将资本主义"民主"与社会主义"公平"相结合,试图走中间道路。尼赫鲁的社会主义思想在实践中遇到诸多挑战和问题,但尼赫鲁的社会主义实践是符合印度国情的现代化道路的实践,不仅奠定了印度经济社会发展的基础,而且为印度未来的改革与发展提供了经验与借鉴。尼赫鲁的社会主义思想和实践,对社会主义的发展也具有重要启示。     

Lecturing in Post‐Compulsory Education: profession,occupation or reflective practice?

Abstract

This paper argues that a new conceptualisation of teaching in post‐compulsory education is required. Taking into account the radical ideology‐driven change experienced in the sector in recent times, it is suggested that there are difficulties with the model of the lecturer as a ‘professional’, chief amongst which is that lecturers do not seem to think of themselves in this way. It is suggested that any alternative conceptualisation must: (i) take into account lecturers' own conceptions of their working practices, (ii) reflect the range of these practices, and (Hi) reflect the epistemological and ethical basis of teaching, in particular lecturers' sense of the value and worth of what they do. Finally, some implications of the proposed model of teaching for management practice and development, and the potential of the approach for theory practice and practitioners, are explored.     

Teaching Development in Higher Education as Scholarly Practice: A reply to Rowland et al. 'Turning Academics into Teachers?'

The author replies to an attack, made by Rowland et al. in Teaching in Higher Education 3(2), on the practice and profession of university teaching development (also known as 'academic development' and 'educational development'). It argues that by omitting reference to Scholarship, Rowland has confused his subject-matter, since the so-called 'dichotomy' between research and teaching on which the argument is based has been transcended since Boyer's work. It argues that teaching development is a legitimate second-order practice in the same family as literary and artistic criticism and similar fields. It appeals for a close collegial relationship between teachers and teaching developers, based on mutual respect, understanding and appreciation of each other's contribution to the academic enterprise. This is necessary in the face of the onslaught of the corporate managerialism that has (on his own admission) triggered Rowland's work. Written from an Australian perspective, the paper contributes to a dialogue about vital contemporary issues in Higher Education.     

English-in-the-workplace for Garment Workers: A feminist project?

This article draws on a recent study of an English-in-the-workplace (EWP) programme currently in operation at three Canadian garment factories. The EWP programme offers formal instruction in English during the workday to a labour force comprised mainly of immigrant women employed as sewing machine operators. Among other things, results from the study suggest that newly acquired English skills may be reinforcing linguistic behaviour that reconstitutes traditional relations between workers and management, men and women. The article highlights a possible connection between workers' linguistic behaviour and the pedagogical practices evident in the EWP classes. We suggest that an exclusive and/or particular emphasis on the 'personal' in the form and content of lessons, taken up as it is in the EWP classes is problematic and may not ultimately work in the best interests of women workers. We look to the development of more critical EWP programmes.     

Women in the Academy: the politics of speech and silence

This paper examines women's voice and silence in the academy. It begins with a discussion of the theoretical underpinnings of feminine voice and silence, and then analyses the gendered production of girls'/women's voices throughout their schooling careers from the primary to university classroom. This is followed by a discussion of the contradictory politics of voice when differences clash among women (students) of colour. I argue here that ‘granting’ spaces for women's speech may be pedagogically desirable but has potentially silencing effects. In closing, I consider some pedagogical strategies that can potentially enable women to better partake in the management of their own academic, social, and political interests.     

Feedback from the coal-face: how the lived experience of women casual academics can inform human resources and academic development policy and practice

Abstract

Casual academics form the backbone of learning and teaching practice in higher education in many developed countries and in many respects can be considered the norm around which academic policy and practice might be formed. Yet a narrative inquiry into the lived experience of women casual academics within Australian universities reveals that recruitment and management of casual teaching staff is generally ad hoc, and although they are committed to and enjoy teaching, casual academics rarely engage in professional and career development. Consequently, recommendations to contemporise recruitment and professional development policy for casual academics are made.     

Mill, the State, and Local Management of Schooling

Contemporary educational policy is centrally concerned with local management of schooling; a practice apparently supported by and following easily from John Stuart Mill's views on liberty and representative government. This paper argues that contemporary practices of local management of schooling are conservative rather than empowering, and that Mill's actual proposals result in an unresolvable paradox in this area. It is then argued that if the State is conceptualised as a relatively autonomous body seeking to secure conditions conducive to accumulation of capital, and if ‘promoting the general welfare’ is formulated in a manner which would not lead inexorably to a free-market capitalist State, then Mill's ideas can provide guidelines for a radical form of democratisation and devolution of power in relation to local management of schooling.     

Women and professional development in higher education: A search for understanding

Abstract

Participation in professional development related to teaching is higher for female academics than for male academics at the University of Canberra. There is some evidence that this trend is widespread although variable across different universities and professional development activities. Various explanations are suggested as to why this occurs, including: that more teaching in universities is done by women than men; that women are naturally more committed to teaching than men; that structural inequities cause women to be more concentrated in the lower academic ranks and, therefore, more involved in teaching‐related activities; that women more than men believe professional development is important to enhance their teaching practice; that they are less confident in their academic role than men; that they feel more alienated and isolated in their work environment; and, that they are seeking role models and mentors. The paper explores these various explanations and suggests that a combination of factors probably causes the observed differential participation by women in professional development activities. What is more important than a search for explanations is an acknowledgment of the need to value and reward such behaviour. The paper concludes with an argument for valuing women's emphasis on teaching and their continued involvement in professional development related to teaching.