Educational Management Administration & Leadership recent issues

Assessing Teacher Performance

Bush, T. — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:07:45 PDT

Investigating Secondary School Leaders' Perceptions of Performance Management

Moreland, J. — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:07:45 PDT

Much of the research into teacher appraisal and performance management has focused on the experience of the classroom teacher. In this article, I will: (1) concentrate on the perspectives of the senior managers in secondary schools; (2) consider their views of the purpose of performance management; (3) compare their methods of implementation of the statutory regulations; (4) reflect on their leadership ethos; and (5) review the links between their ideology and their perceptions of performance management. I have reflected on the links between performance management and strategic management—looking particularly at the work of Storey (2002) on using a balanced scorecard approach in education and Hartle et al. (2001), on leadership effectiveness and on the use of teaching and management competences. A major additional area for investigation that emerged as a result of this study is a possible link between implementation and practice of performance management in a particular school with the leadership style of the headteacher and her/his ideological relationship with the senior leader responsible for performance management.

Assessing the Performance of Secondary School Headteachers: A Survey Study Based on Teachers' Views in Punjab

Khan, S. H., Saeed, M., Fatima, K. — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:07:45 PDT

This article focuses on assessing the performance of government secondary school headteachers in the context of heads’ leadership qualities, instructional behavior, capabilities of interpersonal relationships, professional attitude and managerial abilities. The small-scale survey was carried out in 2006 in district Mianwali, Pakistan. The sample comprised 150 secondary school teachers drawn at random from 15 government schools. Data was collected through a questionnaire comprising 38 items on a five-point rating scale on various aspects of headteacher performance. The instrument was validated through a pilot study and its reliability was established at 0.901 (Cronbach’s alpha). Results revealed that the performance indicators of professional attitude, interpersonal relationship, leadership qualities and managerial abilities were found to be better, but the aspect of instructional behavior was weaker among the headteachers. The performance of female headteachers in regard to instructional behavior, professional attitude and managerial abilities was found to be relatively better than those of their male counterparts. There were significant intercorrelations among all the independent variables of headteacher performance.

Quasi-regulation and Principal--Agent Relationships: Secondary School Admissions in London, England

West, A., Pennell, H., Hind, A. — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:07:45 PDT

Market-oriented reforms and school choice policies have had a high political profile in a number of developed countries. This article examines the issue of school choice through the lens of the English market-oriented reforms; it focuses on the quasi-regulation and regulation of admissions to publicly funded secondary schools. It examines admissions to state-maintained secondary schools in London in terms of the criteria and practices used in the event of there being more applicants than places available. It also explores changes in admissions criteria and practices between 2001 and 2005 given the legislative and policy changes introduced in the intervening period. Principal—agent theory is used heuristically to explain the differing responses of schools with responsibility for admissions and local authorities to the legislative and policy framework. It is argued that while local authorities act broadly in line with government guidance and regulations as the agent of the government, schools acting as agents do not necessarily do so and more appear to select particular groups of children as opposed to others. This, it is argued, is because the regulatory mechanisms have been insufficient to motivate them to act as intended in relation to their admissions policies and practices in the light of the other policy goals and incentives accompanying the market-oriented reforms.

Leading Small Scottish Primary Schools: Still a Unique Style?

Wilson, V. — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:07:45 PDT

Between 1996 and 1998, research commissioned by the Scottish Office Education Department was undertaken on the management of small Scottish primary schools, the results of which were published in this journal (Wilson and McPake, 1998). This article reports the findings from a follow-up study of a sample of 100 schools that participated in the original study (Wilson, 2007). The aim was to explore whether the leadership and management styles of small school headteachers had changed in the intervening years. The research is based upon a postal survey of 100 headteachers of very small schools, i.e. those with rolls of fewer than 50 pupils, in 10 local authorities in Scotland, and also nine case studies. The researcher argues that although the style demonstrated by these headteachers is largely a contingent one that is appropriate to their situations as teaching headteachers, the pressures on them have increased in the intervening years. Questions regarding the sustainability of the role are raised.

Community Involvement in School Development: Modifying School Improvement Concepts to the Needs of South African Township Schools

Prew, M. — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:07:45 PDT

The article posits a paradigm for school development (SD) in the context of a developing country, which is somewhat different from the dominant SD and school improvement (SI) paradigm in the West. Within this paradigm the norm of a school—parent engagement over pedagogical issues as in the West is replaced by imperatives based on full community involvement in the school on the local community’s own terms. This article uses evidence collected from a case study of 96 schools in Soshanguve township outside Pretoria. The Soshanguve School Development Project (SSDP), a partnership between the local education district office and a non-government organization (Link Community Development), aimed to implement a school development planning process in all the schools in the township. Over the course of the project, the school development approach used led to a novel, highly contextualized response to the needs of the local communities and schools and ultimately to full community participation in most of the schools—and so to real school development within a developing world context.

Adolescent Leadership Development: Building a Case for an Authenticity Framework

Whitehead, G. — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:07:45 PDT

This article reviews the literature on adolescent leadership development and connects the concept of leadership authenticity as a way to influence anti-social adolescent behavior for pro-social outcomes. Because adolescent leaders develop from both pro-social and anti-social constructs, educators must recognize the unique power of both leadership funnels. Pro-social leaders are inclusive and build affiliation, while anti-social leaders are exclusive and rely on power. Leadership studies overly focus on adult-level leadership development. This article centers on the idea that leadership development is essential at the adolescent level, and opportunities for productive adolescent leadership development research, though difficult, do exist. In this article a functional definition for authentic leadership is developed along with a proposed research framework with researchable variables for studying leadership authenticity in adolescents. A case for using an authentic leadership paradigm for helping adolescents build their own leadership attitudes, skills, and experiences is advanced. Finally a review of the processes whereby adolescent leaders are selected, and the existing leadership development solutions existing in the American high school setting are discussed.

Editorial: Recruiting and Retaining Teachers and School Leaders

Bush, T. — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:41:34 PDT

Attracting and Retaining Teachers: A Question of Motivation

Muller, K., Alliata, R., Benninghoff, F. — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:41:34 PDT

Attracting and retaining competent teachers is a key concern when it comes to managing the supply and demand for teachers. This article examines the motivation that prompts people to enter or leave the teaching profession with the aim of identifying a decision framework for defining teacher policies. The results are based on the teacher workforce planning system put in place by the Education Department of the Swiss Canton of Geneva. Having identified the most influential factors affecting teacher motivation, we rated these with regard to their responsiveness to policy measures in a bid to identify levers for deriving effective teacher policies. This decision framework highlights three main issues to serve as a focus for policy measures—the characteristics of the job activities, working conditions and professional image. Finally, priority policy measures have been derived from motivational inducement systems, which include task, leadership, reward, professional development and social systems.

The Effects of Servant Leadership Behaviours of School Principals on Teachers' Job Satisfaction

Cerit, Y. — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:41:34 PDT

This article examines the effects of servant leadership behaviours of primary school principals on teacher job satisfaction. The population of this study is 29 primary schools in Düzce, Turkey. Data were collected from 595 teachers working in primary schools in Düzce province of Turkey. Servant leadership behaviours of principals were determined with the servant leadership scale developed by Laub (1999) while teacher job satisfaction was determined using the job satisfaction scale developed by Mohrman et al. (1977). Mean, standard deviation, correlation and multi-regression test was used in data analysis. Strong positive relationship was revealed between servant leadership behaviours of school principals and teachers’ job satisfaction and servant leadership was a significant predictor of teacher job satisfaction.

Accountability in Arab Bedouin Schools in Israel: Accountable to Whom?

Mizel, O. — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:41:34 PDT

‘School-based management’ (SBM) rose to become a prominent trend in educational reform in Western countries during the last few decades of the 20th century and has likewise been introduced into a number of Asian and African nations. A key component of SBM is the increase of internal accountability within the school with the aim of improving academic outcomes. This research initially questions whether the social/cultural context of traditional Bedouin society in Israel influences the implementation of SBM in the community’s schools, and then discusses the ramifications of this influence. The research findings point to a lack of educational accountability in Bedouin schools in Israel, while concomitantly identifying two omnipresent forms of traditional cultural accountability within this sector—tribal and religious. Moreover, the research contends that these forms of accountability conflict with individual educational accountability among Bedouin school principals and teachers, and thus contribute to poor academic outcomes. Being a member of this community—with intimate knowledge of and sensitivity to its culture—the researcher concludes with specific suggestions for enhancing accountability implementation that will lead to improvement in the academic level of Israeli Bedouin schools.

Investigating Architectural Quality Theories for School Evaluation: A Critical Review of Evaluation Instruments in Sweden

Flygt, E. — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:41:34 PDT

This article presents a critical review of instruments used to evaluate compulsory schools in Sweden and is part of a doctoral programme project investigating the relationship between school architecture and learning. In Sweden, as in many countries, evaluation instruments are used both to improve school quality and as a means to provide accountability according to new public management policies. Since the early 1990s, the Swedish municipalities have been responsible for compulsory schools and, despite a strong evaluative tradition in Sweden, current reports indicate that many school buildings do not fit the activities of teachers and pupils. Existing evaluative efforts do not seem to be effective. A basic assumption of this article is that ‘quality’ is an elusive concept and that instruments for evaluation of schools need an adequate theoretical framework in order to be feasible. Drawing on both theoretical and empirical literature the article explores this theoretical framework. The findings suggest that relevant criteria for the evaluation of school architecture should be motivated on a local level to reflect actual needs of end users in a specific learning context. The article concludes that the theoretical foundation of instruments for evaluation of schools could be reconsidered using architectural quality theories.

Linking the Policymaking Capacities of Schools and the Quality of School Self-evaluations: The View of School Leaders

Vanhoof, J., Van Petegem, P., Verhoeven, J. C., Buvens, I. — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:41:34 PDT

Schools are increasingly expected to take responsibility for aspects of educational quality assurance. The fact that the Flemish government requires its schools to conduct self-evaluations of their equal opportunities policies is an example of this. This article reports on the findings of a study that investigated the quality of these school self-evaluations and the impact of key factors of policy effectiveness on quality aspects of these self-evaluations. The headteachers of a representative sample of schools (N = 580) that pursue equal opportunities for all pupils were questioned by means of a written survey. The results indicate that most headteachers take the view that their school performed well on the quality aspects of the school self-evaluation. However, there are considerable differences between schools. School scores with regard to the quality indicators of school self-evaluations show a correlation with aspects of schools’ policy-making capacities. On this basis, the concepts of policymaking capacities and policy effectiveness seem to be a promising tool with regard to the description, monitoring and improvement of the quality of school self-evaluations.

Leading Change in Higher Education

McRoy, I., Gibbs, P. — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:41:34 PDT

This article considers the situation in the UK higher education system and investigates specifically the leadership practice in a cluster of UK institutions as they changed their status. The research goes further to advocate a form of contextualized leadership that is relevant to higher institutions under change.

Improving HEI Productivity and Performance through Project Management

Bryde, D., Leighton, D. — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:41:34 PDT

As higher education institutions (HEIs) look to be more commercial in their outlook they are likely to become more dependent on the successful implementation of projects. This article reports a benchmarking survey of PM maturity in a HEI, with the purpose of assessing its capability to implement projects. Data were collected via questionnaires from 110 employees involved in projects. The key results indicate the university to be low in overall PM maturity, particularly in the areas of leadership and project support structures and to have a maturity profile similar to business sectors that are late adopters of PM. These findings suggest the HEI, and probably others in the sector, may have difficulty in sustaining activity in which PM maturity is a pre-requisite. Their capability to implement new teaching methods through project-related change management is potentially impaired by a lack of PM maturity, as is their ability to adapt to the increased project focus in non-teaching areas of activity, such as research and enterprise. To this end, defining a systematic process for increasing PM maturity that aligns corporate practices in a manner that is appropriate to the ethos and culture of HEIs is clearly a priority for attention.

Book Review: Distributed School Leadership: Developing Tomorrow's Leaders: by Alma Harris, London, Routledge, 2008, ISBN: 978--0--415--41958--1 (pbk) {pound}17.99

Timperley, H. — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:41:34 PDT

Book Review: Education and Training 14--19 Curriculum, Qualifications & Organization: by Ann Hodgson and Ken Spours, London: Sage, 2008, ISBN: 978--1847871817 (hbk), ISBN: 978--1847871824 (pbk) {pound}22.99

Lumby, J. — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:41:34 PDT

Book Review: School Leadership: by Jim O'Brien, Daniel Murphy and Janet Draper, Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press Ltd, 2008, Second Edition, ISBN: 1479--6910, (pbk) {pound}14.95

Jarvis, A. — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:41:34 PDT

Book Review: What Makes a Good School Now?: by Tim Brighouse and David Woods, London: Network Continuum, 2008, ISBN 978--1855390843 (pbk) {pound}19.99

Bisschoff, T. — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:41:34 PDT

Editorial

Woods, P. A., O'Hair, M. J. — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:57:23 PDT

Nurturing Democracy: The Contribution of Distributed Leadership to a Democratic Organizational Landscape

Woods, P. A., Gronn, P. — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:57:23 PDT

This article reviews the comparative merits of distributed leadership and democratic leadership as understandings of, and preferred alternatives to, the leadership of and in organizations. It is particularly concerned that, while distributed leadership may provide a welcome and worthwhile respite from and alternative to the kind of heroic orthodoxy that has been calculated to secure organizational membership control and compliance, distributed leadership entails a democratic deficit. The core components of these two conceptions of leadership, the points of connection and tension between them, the conditions that might facilitate or impede their realization, and the problems and possibilities entailed in their attainment are discussed. Neither the purpose nor the claim of this article is to resolve the complex questions concerned with democracy and leadership in organizations generally, or schools in particular. Its case is that the influential notion of distributed leadership needs to be interrogated critically from the perspective of a concern with building organizations that are more democratic and respectful of the human status of their members and other stakeholders. It concludes by suggesting a multi-stranded approach for educational leaders and policymakers concerned to advance the democratic potential of distributed leadership.

The Boundary-spanning Role of Democratic Learning Communities: Implementing the IDEALS

Williams, L., Cate, J., O'Hair, M. J. — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:57:23 PDT

This multi-case study investigates characteristics and practices in schools that expand the traditional boundaries of school leadership and transform schools into democratic learning communities based on the level of implementation of the IDEALS framework. This investigation serves as a modus to illuminate democratic processes that change schools and address the needs of the students, not the needs of the adults in the system. A sample of five purposefully selected high schools, from the Midwest USA, was utilized. The schools serve Grade 9—12 students, but vary in size, residential area and socioeconomic status of the students. This study illuminates some of the challenges and strategies that facilitate or impede the process of creating more democratic schools that expand the boundaries of inquiry and discourse to include a broader range of community stakeholders and that respect and embrace issues of equity.

Struggling for Democracy: Administrative Communication in a Diverse School Context

Ryan, J., Rottmann, C. — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:57:23 PDT

This article describes a study that explores efforts to promote democratic practice in a diverse school context. More specifically, it documents administrative endeavors to include members of the school community—teachers, parents and students—in the various school processes by encouraging inclusive communicative practices. The findings of the study indicate that administrators attempt to achieve such ends by establishing relationships with members of their school community that will enable dialogue. They do their best to display their caring natures, vulnerability and senses of humor. They also make themselves visible and approachable, work on greeting people, understanding them and dismantling the hierarchies that exclude people. In the end, however, their efforts fail to foster meaningful democratic and inclusive practices. Administrators in the study end up bypassing democratic options and drawing on the hierarchical power associated with the bureaucratic system in which they work in order to ensure that the school will be able to attract students in the quasi-market system in which it operates.

Public Space and Educational Leadership: Reclaiming and Renewing Our Radical Traditions

Fielding, M. — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:57:23 PDT

Among the most important features of a democratic way of life is public space within which we collectively make meaning of our work and lives together and take shared responsibility for past action and future intentions. This article looks briefly at the argument for democratic public space within political and educational theory before focusing on its central importance for contemporary school leadership. In seeking to ground the enormous potential of democratic public space in schools it then looks to the radical traditions of state education for compelling exemplification in the pioneering work of Alex Bloom, headteacher at St George-in-the-East Secondary School, Stepney, London. The article concludes with a three-fold analytic nexus of interrelated practices and orientations that support the development of inclusive public spaces in 21st-century schools.

Increasing Student Voice in High School Reform: Building Partnerships, Improving Outcomes

Mitra, D. L., Gross, S. J. — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:57:23 PDT

While we often write about adolescents as full of turmoil and angst, focusing on `student voice' instead highlights ways in which young people can learn democratic principles by sharing their opinions and working to improve school conditions for themselves and others. This article examines the connection between the types of student voice initiatives desired and the contexts in which student voice is pursued. Drawing upon cases from the USA and Australia, we suggest that turbulence theory can influence the way that student voice is received at a school and its ability to achieve desired goals. Student voice can help to increase the tension and focus on pressing issues when needed; it also can help to calm turbulence occurring within individual adolescents and also in school contexts that need resolution.

The Impact of Institutional Design on the Democratization of School Governance: The Case of Nicaragua's Autonomous School Program

Gvirtz, S., Minvielle, L. — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:57:23 PDT

Nicaragua presents an interesting case study of a society pursuing reform of the democratization of its school governance through citizen participation. A radical transformation with a complex institutional arrangement was put in place within a context of major political change and endemic poverty. In order to achieve our objective of empirically evaluating the actual democratization of school governance that took place in Nicaraguan schools, we offer a detailed description of Nicaragua's Autonomous School Program's (ASP) institutional arrangements, which ran for almost 20 years nationwide. Our conclusion is that the implementation of collegiate governance with ample participation requires much planning and a great deal of caution, since misguided efforts may become the norm generating greater levels of exclusion and autocracy in defiance of democracy and participation. Unfortunately in Nicaragua this was the case.

Editorial: Partnerships and Collaboration in Educational Leadership

Bush, T. — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:26:32 PDT

Collective Leadership of Local School Systems: Power, Autonomy and Ethics

Lumby, J. — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:26:32 PDT

The rhetoric of `partnership' is ubiquitous in UK policy at national, regional, local and organizational levels. Self-styled partnership activity is espoused by most schools in England and Wales. This article considers the implications of the growth of partnership for conceptualizing leadership. It draws on evidence of interviews with young people, parents, teachers/trainers and support services staff in relation to the upper high school phase (14—19-year-olds) in two local education authorities in England and one in Wales. It uses the data as a vehicle to consider how leadership of a school might be conceived, given that what is increasingly demanded by policy is corporate leadership of a local system, rather than leadership of an individual organization. The adoption of collective aims to raise achievement for all within a local area, rather than just those in one's own school, poses radical challenges to the autonomy and culture of schools and their leaders. The article suggests that there are implications for research and theory, and particularly distributed leadership theory, if the situation within which leadership is constructed is taken to be the multiple players and organizations involved in a partnership, rather than only those of one school.

Appointing Senior Managers in Education: Homosociability, Local Logics and Authenticity in the Selection Process

Grummell, B., Devine, D., Lynch, K. — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:26:32 PDT

While there is extensive research on educational leadership and management, the selection of leaders has received comparatively little attention. This article examines how educational leadership is constructed through the selection process in the context of a qualitative study of Irish education. It highlights the tensions that can exist for selection board assessors as they try to balance increasing performativity and new managerialist demands with the traditional ethical and moral dimensions of educational leadership. Key concepts of `local logics' and `homosociability' frame the analysis as it is shown how assessors often select `safe' candidates according to familiar qualities. This normalization is problematic when educational leadership is faced with intense organizational and socio-cultural change. It is also problematic in gender terms, especially in higher education, where the prevailing leadership model is a masculine one. Differences between education sectors are evident, with the primary and second levels translating criteria to the local logics of the institution and emphasizing the personal qualities of candidates. The higher education sectors were more formalized in their application process, highlighting their own local logics of strategic and professional management criteria.

Gender Balance in Leadership?: Reform and Modernization in the UK Further Education Sector

McTavish, D., Miller, K. — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:26:32 PDT

The further education (FE) sector employs a high proportion of women yet relatively few women progress into leadership positions. The article seeks to provide explanations for this gender imbalance and argues that despite change and modernization initiatives, the further education sector remains gendered in many aspects of leadership, governance and managerial practices. The article concludes that while change has increased opportunities for women, masculinized managerial practices have led in many instances to the re-gendering of organizational practices with unequal gender impacts.

What Policymakers Can Do to Make Education Inclusive

Pijl, S. J., Frissen, P. H.A. — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:26:32 PDT

Inclusive education challenges all schools to cater for a wider range of students. This implies that schools and teachers have to change. This literature study analyses how, if at all, policymakers can bring about changes in schools. Specific steering concepts of policymakers, whose interventions seem to address schools as `machine' bureaucracies, while in fact they are professional ones, force schools to create the illusion they have adapted to include students with special needs. Schools and teachers themselves must be the driving forces of change.

The Development and Reform of School Administration in Greece: A Primary School Perspective

Saiti, A. — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:26:32 PDT

The purpose of this article is to present and investigate the current situation in Greece regarding the management of primary schools and to underline the need for reforms in the field of school administration. The coordination of the relationship between the state and schools is an issue vital for both: primarily for schools, as they require a degree of independence to do their work on behalf of society, justly and properly; and for the state, which wishes to assure itself that the schools are adequately serving the needs of society and providing an efficient and comprehensive system of education. This article assesses the Greek primary school system in terms of avoidable bureaucratic processes and recommends strategies for improving the efficiency of school administration.

Planning an Innovative School: How to Reduce the Likelihood of Regression toward the Mean

Tubin, D. — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:26:32 PDT

Establishing an innovative school requires a great deal of planning effort, human power and resources. Nevertheless, many innovative schools suffer a process of regression toward the mean and lose their innovative zeal. Based on the life cycle approach, which claims that part of this trend of regression is embodied in the planning phase, and on the institutional theory that asserts that innovation has to negotiate institutional constraints, this instrumental case study examines the negotiation of institutional regulations while planning an innovative school. This article reports on a study of three years' planning of an Israeli innovative school, which in 2006 celebrated 10 years of successful innovation. The findings suggest three ways of handling the regulation constraints: setting an exception; reallocation of resources; and adoption of alternative standards. Further research directions and implications on educational policy and planning are discussed.

Book Review: Coaching Educational Leadership: Building Leadership Capacity through Partnership: by Jan Robertson, London: SAGE, 2008, ISBN: 978--1-84787--403--0 (pbk) {pound}22.99, 978--1-4129--2182--4 (hbk) {pound}65.00

Taysum, A. — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:26:32 PDT