THE EMERGENCE OF DISTRIBUTED LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION: WHY NOW?

ABSTRACT:  The recent emergence of distributed leadership has been very marked. In England, it has received official endorsement. But the evidence-base which supports this endorsement is weak: there is little evidence of a direct causal relationship between distributed leadership and pupil attainment.What therefore might explain its rise to prominence? Here three possible explanations are considered: first, it accords with the contemporary reform of the public services; second, it is legitimated by an appeal to a culture wherein all categories and classifications are rendered increasingly permeable; and third, it is regarded as functional for the 'new work order'.     

Pupils’ Subject Preferences at Key Stage 3 in South Wales

The perceptions of pupils towards the foundation subjects of English, mathematics, science and technology were determined by structured interviews. The pupils were selected by their responses to a Likert‐type attitude scale previously administered; pupils were banded from the results of the scale into one of three bands: those with positive attitudes, neutral attitudes and negative attitudes towards the subjects under study. Approximately 48 pupils per subject were interviewed for each of the subjects, representing 4.5% of the original survey sampled in the previous research. The results of the research showed a marked predilection for English and games and a lack of enthusiasm for modern foreign languages. There was also little positive response for subjects which occupy a small amount of curriculum time—music and religious education—with art being an exception to this. There were indications that mathematics and science were more ‘love‐hate’ subjects than others. It was found that girls were more forthcoming with criticisms whereas boys were more forthcoming with praise. Overall, there was no evidence that the National Curriculum had either improved or damaged attitudes towards subjects. However, this research indicates that the National Curriculum had removed some of the pre‐existing gender divisions, such as those relating to the separate sciences.     

Student Evaluations of Tertiary Teaching: a Nepalese investigation

An investigation is reported which tests the applicability of two American instruments designed to assess tertiary students’ evaluations of teaching effectiveness with 297 Nepalese graduate students. The scales were found to have generally adequate internal consistency reliability coefficients, most of the items were seen to be appropriate, and every item was considered of importance by at least some of the students. In addition, all but the Workload/Difficulty items clearly differentiated between ‘good’ and ‘poor’ lecturers. Further analysis failed to support the convergent and discriminant validity of three of the scales hypothesised to measure similar or dissimilar components of effective teaching. Factor analysis confirmed this finding as a strong main factor of teaching effectiveness plus minor factors referring to workload difficulty and grading were obtained. This research therefore indicated more overlap between aspects of teaching skill and enthusiasm than is evident in Western studies. Taken together with the results of similar investigations in developing countries, there must be doubt about the cross‐cultural validity of a multidimensional model of teaching effectiveness.     

Strategies for infusing curricula with a multicultural perspective

We describe pedagogical strategies for infusing a multicultural perspective into courses across a variety of disciplines; these methods have proven effective with students who are predominantly Anglo and oriented toward careers in the human services. The strategies include personalizing information through vicarious learning and case studies; inculcating critical thinking skills; simulations; literary analysis; and cooperative learning in large classes. Changes were documented in student attitudes, emotions, knowledge, professional skills, and the classroom environment. We review lessons learned about the process of curriculum revision, especially the importance of faculty support systems and impediments to implementation.All of the authors are faculty members in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Colorado State University; Drs. MacPhee, Oltjenbruns, and Kreutzer are Associate Professors and Dr. Fritz is a Professor. Each of the authors is a trainer for the multicultural infusion project. David MacPhee holds a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. His primary research interests include primary prevention for at-risk youth and families, and multicultural and gender issues. Kevin Oltjenbruns completed her doctoral degree in educational and psychological studies at the University of Colorado. The principle focus of her work has been on grief and loss, career development, and student retention. As Associate Dean of the College of Applied Human Sciences, she spearheaded the multicultural infusion project described in this article. Janet Fritz's graduate work was completed at Cornell University. Her research interests include cognitive development, children's self-worth, stress and coping, and cross-cultural variations in socialization. Jill Kreutzer earned her Ph.D. in education from Colorado State University. She is interested in adolescent development, especially resilience among at-risk youth, and career development.Portions of this work were presented at the 5th Annual National Conference on Racial & Ethnic Relations in American Higher Education (June, 1992).Requests for curriculum and training materials should be directed to the Dean's Office, College of Applied Human Sciences.     

Value judgments in textbooks: The coefficient of evaluation as a quantitative measure

Treatment of minority groups in textbooks has traditionally been studied by subjective means. This factor has rendered the research, despite its volume, essentially noncumulative. Evaluative Coefficient (ECO) Analysis was designed to provide a valid quantitative index of the evaluative treatment of a subject by a communication source. Use of the instrument in an analysis of evaluative treatment of four minority groups in history textbooks used in Ontario schools revealed significant differences among evaluations accorded to the different minorities, and between different classes of textbooks. The ability of ECO Analysis to produce a quantitative measure of evaluation, along with its relative simplicity, suggests its potential for further comparative analysis of textbooks and of other communications content.

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Résumé Le traitement des groupes de minorité a traditionnellement été étudié par des moyens subjectifs. D'où les recherches en ce domaine, malgré leur volume, sont essentiellement noncumulatives.Evaluative Coefficient (ECO) Analysis a été conçu afin de fournir un indice valide quantitatif du traitement évaluatif d'un sujet par une source de communication. L'emploi de cet instrument pour analyser le traitement évaluatif de quatres groupes de minorité dans les textes d'histoire employés par les écoles de l'Ontario a révélé des différences significatives parmi les évaluations accordées aux différentes minorités, et parmi les différents groupes de textes scolaires. La capacité de l'ECO à produire une mesure quantitative d'évaluation, et sa relative simplicité, suggère son potentiel pour d'autres analyses comparatives de textes et contenus de communication.

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Queen's University     

Changes on quality of life,self-efficacy and social support for activities and physical fitness in people with intellectual disabilities through multimodal intervention

Background: People with intellectual disability have poor levels of physical activity, quality of life, fitness condition and self-efficacy and social support when they want to undertake physical activity so it is very important to improve these parameters in this population.

Method: A prospective study was conducted. Data were measured before and after the multimodal intervention. Participants were 40 people with mild intellectual disability. The intervention was carried out over 8 weeks (2 h weekly).

Results: The results of this study show that after the multimodal intervention, there was significant improvement: quality of life, professional and peers’ support for activity, abdominal strength and walking METS (Metabolic equivalent of tasks). Conclusions: There are few studies that have carried out an intervention that combines physical activity and education in people with intellectual disability; these interventions are very important because they can improve some parameters that are difficult to improve with only a single intervention.

Conclusions: There are few studies that have carried out an intervention that combines physical activity and education in people with intellectual disability; these interventions are very important because they can improve some parameters that are difficult to improve with only a single intervention.