Helping Schools Change

Governments around the world have adopted school self-evaluation as an essential corollary to the local management of schools. Typically this has been accompanied by prescribed frameworks, indicators and scoring systems, tending to promote a form of ritual self-inspection rather than an ongoing and dynamic process of self-evaluation. It is argued that these have derived more from an accountability imperative than an improvement motive and as such have tended to disempower rather than empower schools. This article examines the inherent tensions between external accountability and internally driven school improvement. The example of Hong Kong's new relationship with schools is used to illustrate how those issues play out in the implementation of large-scale reform, drawing parallels and contrasts with Ofsted's New Relationship with Schools in England. The responsiveness of Hong Kong's Education Development Bureau to evidence from independent research carries lessons for other countries in which such evidence has been ignored or marginalised by policy-makers. It is, in many respects, an exemplary case study of change management.     

Coming out as a lesbian,gay or bisexual teacher: negotiating private and professional worlds

This paper examines the ‘coming out’ decisions at work of four lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) teachers in England. It argues that such decisions are complicated by heteronormative discursive practices within schools that render LGB sexualities silent while simultaneously demanding that they are spoken. This double bind for LGB teachers as well as the professional and personal implications of choosing to come out or not to come out within the workplace is examined. The paper demonstrates that three choices dominate participants' experiences of coming out at work: to speak to no one at work about the private world, to come out to colleagues and to come out to colleagues and students. The paper posits, however, that the narrative devices deployed within coming out (at work) stories are limited by linguistic techniques that constrain the telling of sexual selves to the binary categories of straight or gay/lesbian. The possibilities for teachers whose lives and experiences interrupted the dominant heteronormative discourse are also examined.     

Use of social web technologies by international and domestic undergraduate students: implications for internationalising learning and teaching in Australian universities

Much research into the use of online information and communication technologies for the internationalisation of learning and teaching has focused on established web technologies. This paper considers the possible internationalisation implications of existing uses of social software, also known as Web 2.0 technologies, which are now widely available inside and outside of formal education settings. The paper reports on two studies: the first, conducted at a large Australian university, investigated differences between international and domestic undergraduate students’ (n = 1973) use of web‐based technologies and tools; the second investigation reports on interviews with eight Australian and eight Singaporean university students about their use and perceptions of blogs and blogging. The findings from two studies provide new evidence of both cultural similarities and cultural differences in aspects of young university students’ use of social software for communication and content creation. Discussion and conclusions draw out factors to be considered in planning to implement new uses of social software among culturally and linguistically diverse students of the Net Generation, in Australia and more generally.     

A structural equation model of the writing process in typically-developing sixth grade children

The purpose of this study was to evaluate how sixth grade children planned, translated, and revised written narrative stories using a task reflecting current instructional and assessment practices. A modified version of the Hayes and Flower (1980) writing process model was used as the theoretical framework for the study. Two hundred one sixth-grade students participated in a three-day writing task. On the first day they generated ideas for their story, on the second day they produced a first draft, and on the third day they revised their draft to produce a final copy. Scores from each day’s writing were used as measured variables representing the latent variables of planning, translating, and revising. Confirmatory structural equation modeling results suggested that the latent variable of planning had a moderate relationship to translating and that translating had a stronger than expected relationship with revising. Significant paths between measured and latent variables demonstrated the relative contribution of skills towards the writing process. The approach used in this study highlighted the linear manner in which intermediate grade children write. Findings suggest that planning had a direct effect on translating, but no direct effect on revising. There was a strong relationship between translating and revising, suggesting few differences between students’ first and final drafts.     

Evidence‐based practice and teacher action‐research: a reflection on the nature and direction of ‘change’

This study was conceived as an opportunity to reflect on the place of action‐research in the contested landscape of educational change in the UK where increasing emphasis has been put on the use of evidence to drive reform. In the context of a government‐sponsored project in Scotland, this study looked at the impact of a scholarship initiative supporting classroom teachers to undertake action‐research projects on a topic of their own choice with the assistance of a mentor. Data collected from interviews with teachers and analysis of teacher action‐research reports pointed to a multi‐faceted concept of practice unfolding from individual inquiry and dialogical conversations with colleagues and university mentors. The study argues for further analysis of the use of action‐research as a means to develop teachers’ knowledge and to recover the value of collective and creative engagements in education to guide reform.     

Getting to know my teacher: Does the relation between perceived mastery goal structures and perceived teacher support change across the school year?

We investigated the relation of students’ perceptions of mastery goal structure and of teacher support. Original formulations of achievement goal theory proposed that social–relational aspects of classrooms were integral to perceptions of a mastery goal structure, but these components have not survived in current conceptions of goal theory. Recent studies have found that student perceptions of mastery goal structure and of teacher support are highly interrelated, if not identical constructs. We propose that the interrelations between these perceptions may, in fact, emerge over time, as suggested by Tharp, Estrada, Dalton, and Yamauchi’s (2000) four stage model of the development of intersubjectivity between students and teachers. Students in grade 6 (N = 1197, 65 classrooms) and in grade 7 (N = 1036, 37 classrooms) reported perceptions of the mastery goal structure and of teacher support in the fall and the spring. Structural equation models with maximum likelihood estimation were used to test two competing models. We hypothesized that student perceptions of mastery goal structures and of teacher support were separate constructs in the fall, but converged by spring. The hypothesized model fit the data better than the alternative model for 6th and 7th grade students. Our findings both replicated those of others, and suggest that students’ perceptions of classroom environments develop over time. Theoretical implications include the reexamination of current conceptualizations of mastery goal structure and the stability of motivational constructs. Methodological implications include timing measurement occasions to assess possible changes in perceptions during the school year.     

REDUCING DISTANCE THROUGH DISTANCE LEARNING: THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE LEADERSHIP DOCTORAL PROGRAM AT COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY

Creating a virtual community among learners in a course or program can increase student retention and satisfaction. Although community colleges are increasingly turning to on-line learning experiences for students, doctoral programs in community college leadership (CCL) can model the blending of different learning modalities. Using face-to-face experiences, two-way compressed video, on-line information posting, and synchronous and asynchronous on-line discussions, the CCL program at Colorado State University creates community among its doctoral students. A vignette is presented to illustrate the life of one of these doctoral distance students and to detail the uses of the various learning modalities. The article concludes with a discussion the three main types of support necessary for empowering students and keeping them connected in their community: multiple communities support, multiple meeting spaces support, and multiple systems support. The serendipitous result of this experience has been seeing doctoral students return to their respective community college campuses and use this blending of on-line modalities to serve their own students.