A framework for Information and Communication Technology integration in schools through teacher professional development

Abstract

The demands of the twenty-first century require effective and sustainable use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in education. Various ICT strategies and initiatives across South Africa have not resulted in system-wide, sustainable ICT integration in schools. Although the roles of principals are acknowledged in educational management, the question remains how principals influence teachers' effective and sustainable integration of ICT through teacher professional development (TPD). A matrix of theoretical criteria selected seven participants across diverse contexts. In-depth interviews produced an integrated dataset that revealed principals' patterns of influence, their perceptions and experiences, their leadership and management styles, their attitudes towards ICT integration, their knowledge on related ICT and related TPD issues, as well as their strategic thinking on ICT integration. The proposed theoretical framework illustrates the interrelatedness of aspects that influence principals' leadership through open distance learning.     

Contemporary challenges and changes: principals' leadership practices in Malaysia

This article outlines the findings from a contemporary study of principals' leadership practices in Malaysia as part of the 7 System Leadership Study. Recent policy developments within Malaysia have increased principals' accountability and have underlined the importance of the role of the principals in transforming school performance and student learning outcomes. This article draws upon emerging empirical evidence about principals' leadership practices and highlights some of the challenges associated with the new accountability expectations and demands placed upon principals in Malaysia. It provides a contemporary insight into the way in which principals in Malaysia view their leadership practice. The article proposes that despite the pressure on them to secure better school and student outcomes, principals in Malaysia increasingly view their leadership practices as transformational and distributed.     

Leading sustainable schools: exploring the role of primary school principals

The purpose of the paper is to identify the kinds of leadership that are likely to support implementing and sustaining education for sustainable development (ESD) effectively in a primary school. The paper identifies links between ESD and principal leadership literature and constructs a conceptual model of the leadership practices needed for reorienting a school to ESD/education for sustainability. Aspects of the model are explored through Cypriot principals' views on leadership and reported leadership practices. Data were obtained by a nationally administered questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Outcomes indicated some enabling factors for ESD implementation such as encouraging teachers to engage in ESD programmes, collaborate with others and other ways of support which nevertheless reflect what is generally expected of school administrators without seeking deep change. Constraining factors included principals' reported lack of confidence in administrative skills for sustainable schools, limited willingness to challenge the status quo, limited engagement in actions important for supporting ESD activities and features of the national educational policy. Constraining factors pointed towards principals' limited commitment to ESD. The practical significance of the findings is that they identify specific areas of needed professional development for principals such as empowering staff, encouraging critique of current approaches and exploring alternative possibilities for curriculum, pedagogy and policy.     

Why principals often give overly high ratings on teacher evaluations

Recent research found that principals who are required to evaluate their teachers often give higher ratings than what they think these teachers deserve. This study aimed to explore principals' considerations while evaluating teachers. Participants were 39 Israeli principals. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and were analyzed in four stages – condensing, coding, categorizing, and theorizing. Four considerations emerged for principals' over-evaluations: (1) time constraints/prioritization (low perceived value for high time investment); (2) evaluation's ineffectiveness for improving teaching (via teacher development or dismissal); (3) the imprecision of teacher evaluation measurements; and (4) impingement on interpersonal relationships. This study demonstrated how principals serve as local mid-level policymakers by actively buffering, rather than bridging, the policies imposed on their schools from above.     

School principals and racism: responding to Aveling

This study responds to Nado Aveling's call in ‘Anti-racism in Schools: A question of leadership?’ (Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 2007, 28(1), 69–85) for further investigation into racism in Australian schools. Aveling's interview study concluded that an overwhelming number of school principals denied the presence of racism in their schools, and that there were no discernible differences in how principals in different schools constructed racism. In contrast, our research found that school principals' constructions of cultural racism are strongly influenced by their school contexts. We elucidate these differences examining the various intersections between race, class and religion deployed by principals in different sites, and argue for the utility of examining and theorising cultural racism using an intersectional approach. By bringing context into our analysis we provide a more nuanced insight into the different ways in which racism is constituted and understood by Australian school principals.     

Interrogating conceptions of leadership: school principals,policy and paradox

Currently educational research literature demonstrates wide discussion and endorsement of ‘distributed’ leadership while concurrently traditional, hegemonic forms prevail in practice. This article investigates understandings about educational leadership held by Australian school principals. The article describes the contradictory conceptions about educational leadership currently in circulation. It interrogates underlying assumptions and questions how both hegemonic and newer leadership conceptions and assumptions serve educational leaders. Data from principals around the country and across education systems reinforced the predominance of un-theorised or under-theorised notions about leadership, with similar assumptions found in important policy artefacts and practices. This article emerges from interviews with 100 principals focusing on their professional learning needs, which revealed interesting ideas, issues and dilemmas concerning ‘leadership’. It fills a gap in research on distributed leadership by exploring contradictions inherent in policy, practice and understandings in this area. The article is structured into four sections. First, extant literature on this topic and the research are explained. Second, the article focuses on principals' conceptions about leadership and those inherent within important policy and practical artefacts. A discussion of the findings focuses on the discrepancy between theory and policy endorsement and the views of practitioners. Finally, the article canvasses the implications of the research.     

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.     

Schools reaching out: Comprehensive parent involvement in South African primary schools

Abstract

Legislation to reform schooling in a democratic South Africa has focused attention on the rights and responsibilities of parents as empowered stakeholders in education. However, it is argued that comprehensive parent involvement is a prerequisite for improving the culture of teaching and learning in schools. Against the background of a literature review which examines legislation affecting parents, this article draws on a qualitative inquiry of parent involvement in a small sample of public primary schools in South Africa selected by means of purposeful sampling. The findings indicated that the schools were doing more to involve parents than is legally required. Strong leadership from principals together with formal organisation of parent involvement has established parent-friendly schools, regular home-school communication and innovative parent volunteering. Certain reservations to parent involvement were detected in principals' attitudes. The study suggests that, together with enabling legislation, schools can develop valuable initiatives to make parents more active and equal partners.     

Rural-Urban Differences In Intelligence

Abstract

This study examined possible divergencies between the way elementary school principals evaluated their performance in carrying out certain administrative practices and an evaluation of the principals' performance as judged by the teaching staff. The principals' performance was evaluated on 46 administrative practices. Teachers and principals in 66 elementary schools participated in the study.

The null hypothesis proposed that there was no significant difference between principals' evaluation of their performance and an evaluation made by teachers. The chi square test of significance was used to test the hypothesis. The results were: (1) the two groups differed significantly on their evaluation of the principals' performance on 22 of the 46 administrative practices, and (2) principals rated their performance as more satisfactory than did the teachers.     

The role of the principal's leadership style in the implementation of ICT policy

This paper presents findings of a study in information communication technology (ICT) implementation, on the principal's leadership style in relation to other factors that influence implementation. The principal's leadership style is perceived—on the basis of the characteristics of the context where the study was conducted—as a personal quality, rather than a change/transformational leadership behaviour or related to the principals' positional authority. The study employed firstly a large‐scale survey based on which case studies of four schools were selected for further research. The findings have implications for practice, more specifically, for principals' training and for the support provided to schools for embedding ICT. The paper draws on an institutionalist implementation approach to describe the principals' role in theorising the concept of ICT in education.     

CSR Principal Perceptions of Support from the State Department of Education

Elementary school principals who received a Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) award in January or August 2002 (n = 21) were invited to be interviewed in the late spring and summer of 2003. A total of 19 principals consented to audiotaped interviews. The interviews focused on several CSR dimensions, including principals' beliefs about the extent to which schoolwide achievement would increase with CSR implementation, where achievement gains were most likely to occur, and the degree of teacher support for the program. In this article, our focus is on principals' perceptions of their relationship with the Arizona State Department of Education (ADE). In summary, principals perceived the relationship between ADE and CSR schools to be one of benign neglect. The state was only a vehicle for transferring funds and did not provide guidance or oversight after funds were awarded. Hence, federal CSR policies, as mediated by the ADE, resulted in single-school reform, not district or state reform.     

A better social unit for American schools

Concerns about leading ethnically diverse urban schools imply that principals of color may play an important role in accomplishing their schools' goals. Findings from this study revealed that in areas of image management and relationship development, teachers of color and European American teachers in urban schools perceive their principals' leadership differently. Results revealed that (a) leaders of color were critical in creating an inclusive school among groups of ethnically diverse groups of teachers; (b) due to their racial affiliation, leaders of color played an important role in recruiting and retaining teachers of color; and (c) leaders of color were responsible for ensuring that European American teachers were culturally responsive to students of color.     

中小学校长教育科研能力现状与对策建议

依据研究能力的内涵界定,采用自编问卷,以294位参加北京教育学院校长培训项目的中小学校长为样本,调查了当前中小学校长的教育科研能力。调查结果表明:整体上,校长对教育科研的价值和目的有着较为清楚的认识,具备一定的研究能力,但对研究文献的收集和利用相对薄弱;没有研究时间、知识与能力不足,是制约校长进行研究的最主要因素;来自城区学校、乡镇学校和农村学校的校长,在研究能力上有较为明显的差距。基于此,建议加强学习和培训,增强校长对研究的知识积累和实践能力;加强行政支持,给校长从事自主研究的时间和空间;正视城乡差异,增强对农村校长的培养和支持力度。     

The Characteristics of Hong Kong School Principals' Leadership: The Influence of Societal Culture

This paper aims to identify the characteristics of principal leadership in Hong Kong. More specifically, it analyzes and integrates a number of studies to identify the consistency of principal leadership across the years and samples using a number of different leadership conceptions. These conceptions include both traditional and alternate approaches to educational leadership. The paper shows how societal culture and context combine with the principals' personal attributes to shape their school leadership. Findings indicate considerable diversity among Hong Kong principals even though they operate within the same social system. The paper stresses the importance of understanding culture and context if worthwhile leadership development programmes are to be developed.     

The principal's role in restoring a learning culture in township secondary schools

Abstract

The establishment of a learning culture in schools is important for education to take place. The erosion of the learning culture which often culminated in the poor academic performance of Grade 12 learners in township secondary schools has been a cause for concern for many years. The Department of Education's countless efforts to rectify the situation have been to no avail. This article endeavours to establish the contribution that school principals can make towards resolving the problem. As manager and instructional leader of the school, the principal is in a suitable position to address this problem, and it is also his or her primary responsibility to lead and guide the school towards the attainment of good academic performance. The article discusses the principals' role in restoring a learning culture in township secondary schools. It discusses the management strategies or functions that principals can employ to restore a positive school culture. The management strategies were obtained by means of an interview from the principals of effective secondary schools. The literature study and the views of the principals obtained by means of a questionnaire confirm the effectiveness of the strategies in restoring a learning culture.     

Developing the potential for sustainable improvement in underperforming schools: Capacity building in the socio-cultural dimension

This mixed-method study examines Arizona principals’ capacity-building skills and practices in Tier III schools aimed at developing potential for sustained improvements in student outcomes. Data sources included surveys (62 individuals) and semistructured interviews (29 individuals) of principals and staff (e.g. teachers, instructional coaches, assistant principals) who participated in grant-funded leadership training over an 18-month period. The theoretical framework consisted of leadership in the sociocultural dimension (Ylimaki et al. in Leadersh Policy Sch 11(2):168–193, 2012) and capacity building for sustainable improvement in high-capacity Schools (Mitchell and Sackney in Sustainable improvement: building learning communities that endure. Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, 2009). Findings indicated that: (1) schools were not at high-levels of capacity building; (2) those schools in process of building capacity for sustainable improvement demonstrate a directive leadership approach; (3) school development towards high capacity focused on micro-level processes (e.g., professional learning communities); and (4) little attention was given to leadership in the socio-cultural dimension. Implications of the study suggest future research test a leadership development model for Tier III schools that links capacity building leadership and student achievement. The next generation of educational leaders must also have the knowledge, skills, dispositions, and analytical tools to lead schools in both the accountability culture and the macro socio-cultural dimension.     

Monitoring bullying behaviours may not enhance principal's awareness of the prevalence

Monitoring bullying behaviours is the key aspect of a successful anti-bullying intervention. Questionnaires among pupils and principals of the same schools were utilised to measure the agreement between pupil-reported frequency and principals' estimations of the prevalence of frequent bullying in the same schools and to identify monitoring methods associated with the best agreement. The correlation between the pupil-reported frequency and the principal's estimate of the prevalence was weak. Two-thirds of the principals estimated the prevalence of frequent bullying in their schools to be four percentage points lower than the prevalence, based on pupils' reports. Questionnaires that were developed and administered by the schools themselves and unspecified monitoring methods were associated with the best agreement between pupils' reports and principals' estimates of the prevalence of frequent bullying. There is a clear need to communicate better the nationally collected data back to schools. It seems that despite the monitoring efforts, school principals were not aware of the prevalence of frequent bullying as perceived by their pupils. Awareness of the problem may require more than just available evidence.     

The road (not) taken: Principals' perceptions of at-risk pupils' participation in collective decision-making

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child anchors children's right to participate in decision-making. This right refers to decisions at the individual level as well as collective decisions taken by a group of children. Various studies have indicated that youth from disadvantaged backgrounds face high barriers to participation in collective decision-making and thus have fewer opportunities to enjoy the educational and developmental benefits of such participation. This study explored school principals' perceptions of at-risk youths' participation in collective decision-making in schools. Specifically, it analysed differences between the perceptions of principals who had established participatory frameworks and those who had not. The research design drew on interviews with 18 principals who manage high schools for at-risk youth in Israel. All interviewed principals acknowledged the potential cultural mismatch between the dominant models of pupil councils and the culture of at-risk youth. Principals who had established participatory frameworks viewed participation as a gradual process, trusting their pupils' capacity to attain higher levels of participation even if participatory activities did not come as ‘second nature’ to them. However, principals who did not institute such frameworks viewed their pupils' participation as an ‘all-or-nothing’ enterprise, inappropriate for at-risk youth. Fulfilling participation rights in schools for at-risk youth requires efforts to adapt the participatory capital to the pupils' background. The principals' perceptions of the participation process and of their pupils were intertwined with their willingness to engage in such adaptations and take the less-travelled road of participatory practices in schools for at-risk youth.