Waiting for Superleader: leadership as anti-resource discourse

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to explore the constructs of school leadership that have gained primacy over the past 20 years. In doing so, I discuss how structures limit the role of the leader in school organisations has been overlooked, particularly ignoring the resource dependency of schools and the external control of resources they do acquire. What I argue is that leadership is an anti-resource discourse. That is, the focus on leadership allows the neoliberal discourse to ignore and obscure the inequitable funding of schools in the USA.     

To be or to have: what types of objects comprise invidious comparison? / Ser o tener: ¿qué se comprende antes en la comparación envidiosa?

Envy is a negative and self-conscious emotion that emerges from social comparison. Children compare their possessions and skills with others to construct the Self. The aim of this study is to explore what type of objects — tangible and intangible — are more salient in invidious comparison in order to evaluate the intensity of envy and differences found according to age. Participants included children between the ages of three and nine years (N = 236), who were asked to score how an envious character in a story felt upon witnessing the misfortune of the envied person. In one case, the envied object was tangible (i.e., a scooter), in the other, it was intangible (i.e., being chosen due to possessing greater skill). The results indicated that envy is more intense for all of the age groups in the situations related to possessing greater skill rather than those related to possessing material objects. The younger children (3–6 years) showed more intense malicious envy than the older children. We then discuss the results regarding the role of intangible and tangible possessions in invidious comparison during childhood development.     

Reconsidering the Female Tradition in English Physical Education: The Impact of Transnational Exchanges in Modern Dance

Histories of the female tradition in physical education in England tend to celebrate the unique early twentieth-century achievements of dedicated women successfully creating their own profession to train the female body in healthful gymnastics and games through the establishment of specialist training colleges. Yet, the female tradition has also been painted as a ‘time-limited achievement’ where female physical educators erroneously tied their fortunes to particular movement practices and modes of training. Their perceived inability to change with the times has been blamed for their loss of power in determining the direction of post-WW2 physical education. Yet, the so-called ‘demise’ of the female tradition was not so straightforward. Female physical educators had already moved well beyond obedience to Ling's gymnastic regulations or Laban's notions of effort and flow by mid-century and were increasingly alert to emergent movement philosophies. Once interest in a variety of somatic practices along with the promise of modern dance had seeped into the worldview of forward-thinking female physical educators their authority to direct their profession may have been diminished, but it was also enhanced and diverted into important transnational streams of dance and therapeutic movement-related professional opportunities which have been less acknowledged.     

Home–school relationships: a school management perspective

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) is in the process of initiating major education reform designed to improve schools. Parental involvement in support of student learning ranks high on the reform agenda. This study explores managerial aspects of implementing home–school relationships in seven primary Public Private Partnership (PPP) schools in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Participants involved in this study were principals, social workers, teachers, parents, and students. Managerial aspects discussed in this paper relate to: (a) benefits of home–school relationships; (b) roles and responsibilities of stakeholders; (c) home–school communication; and (d) constraints and challenges faced in the management of home–school relationships. The findings elicit recommendations for improvement which may inform the work of policymakers, principals, social workers, teachers and parents in their continued efforts to build home–school relationships.     

The role of metacognition in the first-year design lab

Educational technology research and development - Metacognition, or the ability to think about thinking, plays a significant role in the performance of first-year design students. Although the...     

Profiles and Records of Achievement: a real alternative

Records of Achievement will shortly be introduced for all school‐leavers in England and Wales. In preparation for this a number of pilot schemes are currently being conducted. The national evaluation of these pilot schemes, for which the author is jointly responsible, will be the focus for this paper. It will consider the longer term possibilities for such alternative forms of assessment, both in the UK and other countries, in spelling the end of the era of more traditional forms of examination.     

Preliminary Evidence on the Social Standing of Students with Learning Disabilities in PALS and No–PALS Classrooms

Many researchers have documented the apparent fact that numerous students with LD have social–skill deficits and a lower social standing than their nondisabled peers. In principle, participation in peer tutoring would appear to be at least a partial solution. It requires classmates to work together on valued tasks and research indicates that it can promote academic growth among students with and without disabilities. Yet, little research has been conducted on the social benefits of peer tutoring. This study attempts to do precisely that by collecting sociometric data in 39 second– through sixth–grade classrooms, 22 of which were engaged in Peer–Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS), a form of peer tutoring. In each of the 39 classrooms, sociometric data are reported on four children—a student with LD and a low–achieving, average–achieving, and high–achieving student. Findings indicated that students with LD in PALS classes were (1) more socially accepted than their counterparts in No–PALS classes, and (2) enjoyed the same social standing as most nondisabled classmates. Strengths and weaknesses of this study are discussed, as are directions for future research.     

International standards

As the activities and markets of publishers are increasingly internationalized, it becomes vital to understand the process of developing standards that are accepted throughout the world. Patricia Harris describes the procedures used by the International Organization for Standardization to develop such standards, using as examples the development of the ISBN and the ISSN. She then discusses some of the international standards now being developed and offers some predictions about future trends in international standards.