The value of management education: Views of graduates on the benefits of doing a MBA

MBA alumni are exceptionally well placed to evaluate management education in terms of its real impacts on students against current, and expected, needs. This paper reports the results of a survey of graduates of one MBA course to identify which aspects of the course its graduates valued highly and the extent of the contribution of their MBA to career changes that have followed their completion of the course. The benefits of the program to graduates, in terms of relevance, knowledge gained, behaviour changed and outcomes achieved were judged to be substantial. The MBA is seen as a significant factor in career change and development.     

Conceptualizing curriculum management in an effective secondary school: a Western Australian case study

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the linkages between management processes and the curriculum using an academically effective secondary school as a case study. The aims of the study are twofold. First, in view of the acknowledged importance governments and others place on the quality of school leadership and management on the one hand and curriculum, teaching and learning reforms on the other, there is a need for empirical data as to how school leaders and managers work to secure improvements in curriculum, teaching and learning. This study purports to provide such data. The second aim acknowledges the need to develop conceptual frameworks and data collection instruments as aids to better understanding of complex relationships within school organizations.two deputy principals do play an indirect and important part in promoting academic performance by reinforcing school values in a wide variety of ways. Third, curriculum management is the responsibility of senior teachers and there is tight linkage between both senior teachers and teachers and high quality teaching and learning. Finally, the loose linkage between departments, and also between departments and senior management, provides little opportunity for a school‐wide approach to curriculum matters. It is evident that a whole‐school curriculum management perspective is absent in this school.     

Diversified professionalism of physical education teachers in the Asian context of Hong Kong

This study investigates the socialization and professional experiences of primary school physical education teachers (PSPETs) in the Asian context of Hong Kong. A qualitative research design is adopted. The researcher used semi-structured interviews, supplemented by documentary sources (diaries) for conducting data collection. Eleven PSPETs participated in this study. Data were analysed through open axial and selective coding. The concepts of organizational sensitivity, sources of satisfaction, dealing with influential persons or critical incidents, status of the profession, educational reform as a trend, and versatile roles are revealed in the theory of ‘Diversified Professionalism’. The substantive theory thus contributes to an increased appreciation of the PSPETs’ work and to the literature on physical education teachers’ professionalization and professionalism.     

Introduction−justifying a cross-cultural comparative approach to school leadership and management

England's Education Action Zones are a flagship New Labour policy geared towards raising standards and reducing social exclusion in areas of educational under-performance. This introduction outlines key features of the policy, considers its broader significance in relation to new models of educational governance and pulls out some of the key issues that arise from the contributions to this special feature.     

School Principals’ Self‐Efficacy and its Measurement in a Context of Restructuring

The self‐efficacy of the principal to cope with change can be an important mediator in accomplishing change and in reducing the stress levels of the principal. Moreover, the concept of self‐efficacy of school principals assumes added importance in a context of restructuring and school‐based management, with greater decision‐making responsibilities passing to the school community. A measurement scale is presented that is specific to the self‐efficacy of principals when coping with change in the context of restructuring. The psychometric properties of the scale are outlined, and its usefulness demonstrated with a series of regression equations between attributes of restructuring and principals’ self‐efficacy.     

Mathematics‐teachers’ Knowledge Bases: implications for teacher education

Understanding the knowledge bases of mathematics teachers is an important task in working towards the construction of adequate models for: (i) teacher education and development, and (ii) teacher operations in the classroom. To date, little systematic attention has been focused on this task. The primary aim of this study is to obtain a view from the field of mathematics teacher knowledge with respect to content knowledge in mathematics, content‐specific pedagogical knowledge in mathematics and curriculum knowledge relevant to teaching tasks. This study has used data obtained from a survey of primary teachers and secondary mathematics teachers. Analysis of the results has indicated that less than half of the teachers in the study believed that they were sufficiently prepared in mathematics content, and that almost two‐thirds of the teachers in the sample believed that their level of knowledge in contemporary teaching methodologies in mathematics is not sufficient for their role as school teachers. Key differences emerge between the primary and secondary sectors and also within the secondary sector. Implications for preservice and in‐service mathematics teacher education are drawn.