Leadership styles and decision-making styles in an Indonesian school context

School leadership has been well researched in developed countries. However, in Asia, particularly in Indonesia, school leadership has not been well explored. Using survey data from a sample of 475 teachers in six Lampung school districts, this paper examines the relationships between school principal leadership styles and school principal decision-making styles in an Indonesian school context. Findings are that most of the relationships between school principal leadership styles and school principal decision-making styles are significant. These findings suggest that teachers perceive that principals should exhibit much more transformational leadership style and rational decision-making style but avoid laissez-faire leadership style and avoidant decision-making style.     

The heart of ESD: personally engaging learners with sustainability

Education for sustainable development aims to help learners engage with the concept of sustainability. This paper considers whether specific values-centred sustainability training techniques can promote personal engagement with sustainability when undertaken by higher education students on an extra-curricular voluntary basis. Conducted over an eight-month period, the study evaluates the impact of the training on 67 second year undergraduate design and engineering students at Plymouth University using pre- and post-training values and worldview scales measured against a control group. Four months after the training, one-to-one interviews were conducted with a subset of the sample. A quantitative analysis of the values and worldview surveys indicates that a degree of values clarification and mind-set shift resulted from the training, with design students appearing more receptive than those studying engineering. This finding was reinforced in the interview data, which illustrates where and how learners engaged with the training and provides examples of learners deep thought, reflection and mind-set changes.     

Data and scholarly publishing: the transforming landscape

This article sets the scene for the special issue on research data and publishing. Research data – that material commonly accepted by the scholarly community as required evidence for hypotheses and insights, for verification and/or reproducibility of experiments – has become an increasingly critical issue for publishers given recent developments in funders' mandates, technological advances, policymakers' interests, and so forth. I outline some of the recent initiatives that are responding to policy directives, particularly Project ODE, and consider how publishers are working with data and integrating their practices with other collaborative efforts. A summary of the new policies, products, and partnerships demonstrates that the onus is now with scholarly publishers to gain an understanding of these developments and how they are affecting fellow key stakeholders within the research communications ecosystem.     

Serious leisure: the sport of target shooting and leisure satisfaction

This study is designed to identify the underlying satisfaction dimensions gained through engagement in target shooting as a serious leisure pastime. The instrument design was based on the Leisure Satisfaction Scale. A total of 5502 useable surveys were collected through the Internet and a website related to target shooting and gun ownership. The results revealed eight dimensions: self-actualization, social interaction, location aesthetic, respite, physical benefit, connection and hedonic pleasure, which supplied the primary satisfiers of engaging in target shooting as a serious leisure activity. The demographic profile and dimensions of satisfaction may serve to dispel commonly held stereotypes of shooting hobbyists and those involved in gun ownership. The findings have important implications for leisure researchers and practitioners, to industry, both leisure and firearm related, and the target shooting community at large. This study adds to the literature of both target shooting and serious leisure.     

Forming an effective partnership with a dedicated LabAssistant: A software shell for engineering laboratory exercises

This paper describes the structure and use of LabAssistant, a software shell purposely written to run alongside engineering laboratory exercises and provide support to students undertaking the exercises. The structure of LabAssistant enables tutors to deliver their own laboratory sessions within the shell using only basic spreadsheet skills. LabAssistant is intended to be used in conjunction with in-depth, analytical laboratory exercises and its features include text entry, numerical input and checking (including verification of calculated values and provision of appropriate feedback), graph sketching, data plotting and report generation. Feedback from students confirms that LabAssistant has enhanced the learning experience, encouraging active engagement, building confidence and assisting progression through the exercise, even using the data and information input during the session to generate the majority of their laboratory write-up automatically. From the tutor's perspective, the provision of immediate and continual help to the students is a significant enhancement to the quality of the learning experience. LabAssistant complements the tutor who is now able to deal effectively with deeper conceptual difficulties and larger student numbers. The facility to verify all calculated values and the creation of a report in a standard electronic format are significant aids to the marking of student submissions.     

The role of "children's hearings" in child abuse and neglect

The juvenile justice system established in Scotland in 1971, in which lay volunteers play a central part, provides a framework for making decisions about children in need of care and protection as well as those who have committed delinquent acts. Although cases of child abuse and neglect have come increasingly to the attention of children's hearings in recent years, they nevertheless constitute a small fraction of a workload dominated by cases of delinquency and truancy. A recent Scotland-wide study of the hearings system therefore gave only limited attention to the processing of abuse and neglect referrals. As a step towards rectifying this imbalance, a separate enquiry was carried out in 1981, when 43 such hearings were systematically observed and the participating panel members interviewed. Examination of these results indicates a heavy dependence on social workers' recommendations, a reluctance to open up sensitive areas for discussion, even though these may be of central importance, and an apparent lack of curiosity about the arrangements made for children removed from their homes, and the implications of these. In general, it is concluded that the anxiety generated by child abuse and neglect has prevented panel members from recognizing the distinctive features of their role in the decision-making process and has led them to fall back on an inappropriate model of practice derived from delinquency hearings. An alternative model is outlined.     

Grand Innovation Prizes: A theoretical,normative, and empirical evaluation

This paper provides a systematic examination of the use of a Grand Innovation Prize (GIP) in action – the Progressive Automotive Insurance X PRIZE – a $10 million prize for a highly efficient vehicle. Following a mechanism design approach we define three key dimensions for GIP evaluation: objectives, design, and performance, where prize design includes ex ante specifications, ex ante incentives, qualification rules, and award governance. Within this framework we compare observations of GIPs from three domains – empirical reality, theory, and policy – to better understand their function as an incentive mechanism for encouraging new solutions to large-scale social challenges. Combining data from direct observation, personal interviews, and surveys, together with analysis of extant theory and policy documents on GIPs, our results highlight three points of divergence: first, over the complexity of defining prize specifications; secondly, over the nature and role of incentives, particularly patents; thirdly, the overlooked challenges associated with prize governance. Our approach identifies a clear roadmap for future theory and policy around GIPs.