The director of education as a leader of pedagogical issues: a study of leadership in municipal educational sector activities

The purpose of this article is to increase our knowledge about the role that directors of education play as leaders of educational activities. For its analytical framework, the study uses the qualitative research approach known as phenomenography and examines the study's findings against the rationalist perspective, against systems theory and against tight and loosely-coupled systems. On the issue of accountability, the study shows that while the directors were perceived to be accountable for mismanagement of finances, being accountable for student results was not something that worried the directors participating in this study.     

Workplace conditions for successful teacher professional development: School principals’ beliefs and practices

Research has increasingly shown that school principals exercised a significant role in teacher professional development (TPD). Nevertheless, the insights into the particular influence they exert in this process and how it is exercised still need to be developed. This article focuses on what school principals consider important working conditions for TDP and which leadership practices they use to realise these conditions in their schools. Using a multiple case study design, including 20 semi‐strcutured interviews with primary school principals, the findings show that they consider both structural (sufficient time and evaluation of TDP interventions) and cultural (an open work climate and collaboration) conditions to be important for TDP. Additionally, school principals emphasise the significance of teachers’ learning attitudes, differentiation in professionnalisation efforts and knowledge sharing in their schools. Furthermore, the results highlight that they have trouble in realising these working conditions, especially those for internal learning activities (such as an open work climate). Based on the results, recommendations are made for further research and policy makers concerning the preparation and support that principals need to realise (internal) TDP in their schools.     

Introduction to this Special Issue

A one-group quasi-experimental design and survey methodology were used to investigate the effect of virtual laboratory practices on preservice teachers’ (N = 29) graphic comprehension and interpretation skills with different learning approaches. Pretest and posttest data were collected with the Test of Understanding Kinematic Graphs. The Learning Approaches Scale was administered to the preservice science teachers to determine if they used an in-depth, superficial, or strategic approach. These data were analyzed using non-parametric statistics. The effect of virtual laboratory practices on these preservice teachers’ graphic comprehension and interpretation skills was evaluated, and a significant pretest–posttest gain for “Selecting the graphic related to the explanation of movement” was found. Suggestions are made to address the effects of teaching models and technology-integrated learning environments on students’ learning approach in science courses at different levels of education.     

The small size of the small scale market: The early-stage labor market for highly skilled nanotechnology workers

We examine the labor market for the highly trained in nanotechnology and the response of universities toward providing training. We draw comparisons with the labor market and university response in bioinformatics. The demand analysis is based on position announcements in Science in 2002 compared to 2005. We also analyze online position announcements in late 2005 and early 2006. Our analysis leads us to conclude that at the present time the market is small and growing for positions in academe and at FFRDCs, small and stable for positions at firms. Our analysis of training leads to the conclusion that the pipeline is being filled primarily through a principal investigator approach, where a student is attached to one faculty member's lab, rather than to a formal program. The fundamental difference between nanotechnology and bioinformatics in this respect may be due to differences in the opportunities available to universities and faculty.     

Effect of different types of cricket batting pads on the running and turning speed in cricket batting

The aim of this study was to compare a batsman's running and turning speed during three runs while wearing either traditional batting pads or one of two models of newly designed cricket batting pads. Fifteen cricketers participated. The running and turning speeds were measured on three different days with players using the three pairs of batting pads for each trial in random order. The weights of the pads were 1.85 kg, 1.70 kg and 1.30 kg for P¹, P² and P³ respectively. Each player had to run three runs (3 × 17.68m), with the times recorded at the completion of each run, as well as the time to cover the distance from 5 m before and after the turn at the end of the first run. The fastest time from two trials for each pair of pads was retained for analysis. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures was used to determine the differences between the mean times of the three trials. The results showed no significant differences between the types of batting pads and the time to complete the run‐three‐runs test (P¹ = 10.67 ± 0.48 s; P² = 10.67 ± 0.43; P³ = 10.69 ± 0.44 s), the turning time (P¹ = 2.34 ± 0.18 s; P² = 2.32 ± 0.18 s; P³ = 2.35 ± 0.19 s) and to complete the third run (P¹ = 3.49 ± 0.44 s; P² = 3.53 ± 0.34 s; P³ = 3.51 ± 0.36 s). Of the 45 trials of three runs used for analysis, P, recorded the fastest time on 16 trials (36%), P² on 19 trials (42%) and P³ on 10 trials (22%). The results showed no significant differences in the running or turning speeds, although there may be some practical relevance to using the newly designed cricket batting pads.     

Philosophy and Ethics in Western Australian Secondary Schools

Abstract

The introduction of Philosophy and Ethics to the Western Australian Certificate of Education courses in 2008 brought philosophy into the Western Australian secondary school curriculum for the first time. How philosophy came to be included is part of a larger story about the commitment and perseverance of a relatively small number of Australian educators and their belief in the value of introducing philosophical communities of inquiry into school classrooms through a revised pedagogy which could sit comfortably with an outcomes-based education system.     

Information management and learning in computer conferences: Coping with irrelevant and unconnected messages

The present study examines how learnersinteract with one another within the context ofa computer conference for the purposes ofpassing a test. In a faked computer conferencewith predetermined messages, both the number ofmessages irrelevant to the topic, and theexplicit threading of messages were varied in a2 × 2 design (n = 54). Subjects participated in anasynchronous fashion over a course of fourlog-in sessions. In general, learners indicateda fairly consistent pattern of reception. Theyopened virtually all messages, grouped them ina non-chronological order, and processed themaccording to their topic relevance. Thispattern was also mediated by the conferencecharacteristics. Explicit threading led tosequences of message readings that were morecontent oriented. Similarly, fewer irrelevantmessages lead to prolonged reading times ofrelevant messages. Whereas learning success wasnot affected by conference characteristics,explicitly threaded messages decreased theperceived cognitive demands.