Leadership in a Performative Context: A framework for decision-making

Abstract

This paper examines a model of decision-making within the context of current and emerging regimes of accountability being proposed and implemented for school systems in a number of jurisdictions. These approaches to accountability typically involve the use of various measurable student learning outcomes as well as other measures of performance to do with teachers and schools in general, often having high-stakes consequences. Given this context of performativity, the paper proposes a model that uses an objective knowledge growth framework, where teachers can engage in their own professional learning through defined structures for solving the problems of their professional practice. The model is both empowering for teachers while being sensitive to the constraints of cultures of performativity.     

Promoting diversity in creative art education: the case of Fine Art at Goldsmiths,University of London

Students studying art at university in the United Kingdom tend to be female, from higher social classes and from majority ethnic groups. This paper considers some of the complex and deeply-rooted social and economic factors that militate against wider participation in the arts and describes how we started to tackle under-representation at Goldsmiths using a participatory action research approach. Working in partnership with local colleges, the project aimed to increase student diversity and widen participation in the Goldsmiths BA Fine Art Degree. The need for university applicants to have the ‘right sort’ of cultural capital is particularly marked in Fine Art, indicating that standard widening participation aspiration-raising activities would not solve the problem. A range of interventions were developed to support potential applicants, underpinned by participatory action research. The flexibility and responsiveness of the research model allowed us to reflect on and respond to issues as they arose and to achieve immediate positive impact.     

Should Criminal Justice Interns be Paid? The Black Swan Case and Beyond

This paper examines the issues surrounding financial compensation of criminal justice student interns. This question has been the subject of inquiry for several years and was brought to the forefront of discussion in the legal and academic community as a result of the June 2013 US District Court ruling in what has become known as the Black Swan case, in which Judge William Pauley ruled that former student interns who had worked for no pay were entitled to compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act. This paper examines the legal, educational and social questions that have arisen as a result of the Black Swan case and other similar internship lawsuits. Suggestions for criminal justice academic programs and for internship agencies that may reduce the likelihood of liability are provided.     

Implementing Academic Choice: A Self-Study in Evolving Pedagogy

The goal of this research is to examine how implementing a new pedagogical structure, Academic Choice, informs my understanding of my students as learners and individuals. Using a self-study methodology over the course of eight working sessions in my Kindergarten classroom, I collected multiple forms of qualitative data, including student work samples, focal student observations, structured interviews, and research journal entries containing my own reflections as well as notes on consultations with critical friends. These data were analyzed inductively by connecting observations and patterns from across these sources. Findings indicated that providing a choice in content allowed struggling students to self-differentiate, that one-on-one interactions were essential to understanding a student's choice and work process, and that advanced students needed support to challenge themselves. Furthermore, I found that developmental stage, time allotted for working, and social construction of knowledge were important factors to consider in structuring these working sessions.     

Role of maturity timing in selection procedures and in the specialisation of playing positions in youth basketball

This study investigated the role of maturity timing in selection procedures and in the specialisation of playing positions in youth male basketball. Forty-three talented Dutch players (14.66 ± 1.09 years) participated in this study. Maturity timing (age at peak height velocity), anthropometric, physiological, and technical characteristics were measured. Maturity timing and height of the basketball players were compared with a matched Dutch population. One-sample t-tests showed that basketball players were taller and experienced their peak height velocity at an earlier age compared to their peers, which indicates the relation between maturity timing and selection procedures. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) showed that guards experienced their peak height velocity at a later age compared to forwards and centres (P < .01). In addition, positional differences were found for height, sitting height, leg length, body mass, lean body mass, sprint, lower body explosive strength, and dribble (P < .05). Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) (age and age at peak height velocity as covariate) showed only a significant difference regarding the technical characteristic dribbling (P < .05). Coaches and trainers should be aware of the inter-individual differences between boys related to their maturity timing. Since technical characteristics appeared to be least influenced by maturity timing, it is recommended to focus more on technical characteristics rather than anthropometric and physiological characteristics.     

Perceptions of the relevance of mathematics and science: An Australian study

This study examined students from schools mostly in Sydney and Wollongong (New South Wales, Australia). While the private girls' school used in this survey has had a very good record of girls staying on in physics, some of the public schools surveyed have had very low retention rates (and not only in the science and mathematics areas). This paper attempts to describe student differences in perceptions and attitudes and how these are related to gender and type of school. Additionally, students' perceived reasons for not performing well in mathematics and science were investigated.     

Qualified to lead? A comparative,contextual and cultural view of educational policy borrowing

Abstract

Background: Around the globe, education policy borrowing remains pervasive and prevalent. The strategies, interventions and innovations of education systems that perform well, in international assessments, are enthusiastically borrowed and copied in the anticipation of similar educational performance and outcomes.

Purpose: This purpose of the article is to highlight some of the implications and consequences of policy borrowing by comparing the preparation and development programmes for school leaders in various education systems. The article explores the way in which the leadership programmes and models are being adopted and developed by different countries.

Sources of evidence: The article draws upon findings from a contemporary, comparative study of leadership preparation and development across seven different education systems (Seven System Leadership Study). This large-scale, mixed-methods, comparative research study is collecting quantitative and qualitative data about the nature and impact of leadership development and preparation programmes in seven different education systems.

Main argument: The findings from the study reinforce how leadership preparation and development programmes are increasingly becoming standardised as a result of education systems borrowing and adapting from each other. This article also argues that in the contemporary policy discourse, important cultural and contextual influences that significantly affect subsequent implementation and outcomes are increasingly being side-lined and ignored.

Conclusions: This article highlights some of the limitations and unintended consequences of educational policy borrowing. It concludes that adopting some of the design features of effective interventions rather than simply borrowing policies or strategies, in part or in their entirety from very different contexts, may be a more productive way forward.