Five literatures of organisation: putting the context back into educational leadership

In this article we develop the arguments of Glatter on the importance of adopting a more ‘organisation-oriented’ approach to educational leadership development. Through a critical review of current publications and national courses in the field, we argue that educational leadership is still very skills focussed at the expense of more sophisticated understandings of organisational context. This skills focus, or ‘agency without structure’, as Glatter puts it, encourages a ‘can do’ culture of simplistic solution-seeking rather than appreciation of complexity and paradox in the leadership experience which can produce better judgements. To identify such ‘understandings’, we then examine five traditions of thinking about ‘organisation’ through their related literatures. The first four, thinking psychologically, thinking structurally, thinking culturally and thinking politically, build on organisational ‘frames’. The fifth literature explores how these frames are constantly and variously brought into play through ‘complex responsive processes’ of organising in our daily work lives. Implications of this more organisation-focussed approach for educational leadership development are discussed through examples from the authors’ own research and teaching.     

助学贷款的不同目标--对贷款的设计、评价及政策可能产生的影响

本文对世界各地助学贷款的不同目标作了简要的回顾和评论 ,着重论述了两种不同目标取向的助学贷款之间的差异 :第一类助学贷款追求经济目标 ,如贷款的设立是为了促进高等教育的成本补偿 ,为紧张的大学财政获取额外财源 ;第二类助学贷款追求社会目标 ,如设立贷款的目的是为了增进高等教育入学机会均等 ,帮助更多贫困家庭的学生上大学。以经济目标为导向的助学贷款一般不含政府补贴 ,以社会目标为导向的助学贷款可能享受政府的补贴 ,但需要对贷款对象进行认真仔细的确认。文章最后指出 ,助学贷款的设计和评价必须考虑到贷款政策的目标。     

The Future of Professional Photojournalism

The work practices of the professional photojournalist are currently undergoing rapid change in the digital era. New technologies, new platforms and new methods of visual storytelling are exerting a range of pressures and influences that require photojournalists to adapt and respond in different ways. The changes provoke a number of questions that are critical to the future of professional photojournalism: What are the new risks being faced by photojournalists? How are the transformations in the media economy affecting photojournalists’ employment? What does this mean for image quality? How do photojournalists think about the manipulation of images or the staging of events? Given the rise of citizen journalism, digital technology and social media, will there even be professional photojournalists in the future? This paper presents some of the results and new analysis from the first international study into the current state and future of professional photojournalism, with a specific focus on risk and on perceptions of risk among photographers. The results indicate a high degree of risk is experienced among professional photographers with a very strong correlation to the country in which they are based.     

Separating arguments from conclusions: the mistaken role of effect size in educational policy research

ABSTRACT

Effect size is the basis of much evidence-based education policymaking. In particular, it is assumed to measure the educational effectiveness of interventions. Policy is being driven by the influential work of John Hattie, the Education Endowment Foundation, and others, which is grounded in this assumption. This article demonstrates the assumption is false and notes that, when criticized, proponents either attempt to inoculate themselves by listing (without checking) assumptions or use the specious reasoning that, however flawed their argument, no-one has disproved their conclusions.     

Do universities maintain common standards in awarding first degrees with distinction? The case of Israel

This article investigates the extent to which there exist differences in standards for awarding first degrees with distinction amongst universities in Israel (as measured by the percentage of total graduates each year that receive a distinction). Based upon an analysis of annual data for the period 1979–1983, considerable diversity was found in the tendency to award first degrees with distinction between and within universities and faculties, and between the major subject department of the social science faculty, selected for more detailed analysis.This heterogeneity parallels that reported in Nevin's work relating to the situation current at universities in the United Kingdom nearly two decades ago.     

Verbal Short-Term Memory Span in Speech-Disordered Children: Implications for Articulatory Coding in Short-Term Memory

One influential explanation of the development of verbal short-term memory in children argues that short-term memory capacity is a direct function of speech rate. This theory predicts that children with pathologically slow speech will show reduced verbal short-term memory capacity and will show less evidence of speech-base coding on verbal memory tasks. To test this prediction, verbal short-term memory span was assessed using a task that did not require a verbal response in 37 speech-disordered children and 37 age- and sex-matched controls (age range 4-15 years). The speech-disordered group had a significantly lower short-term memory capacity, a smaller word length effect, and reduced speech-motor activity during rehearsal periods. Covariance analyses revealed that these differences were not a function of general intellectual or motor speed differences between the groups, and that speech rate as a covariate abolished group differences in short-term memory. These results suggest that speech rate may be a causal determinant of verbal short-term memory capacity.