Search

This paper focuses on the experiences of six Chilean female headteachers. It addresses their career progress, and the facilitators and barriers, as well as the challenges they encountered in accessing and enacting school leadership. The six participants were drawn from all three of Chile's school types – public, semi-private and private – in what is a differentiated system. The findings demonstrate both differences and similarities in participants' experiences, across all three school sectors. A major difference relates to the additional barriers faced by public sector school leaders, compared with participants in the private and semi-private schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The political, economic and social challenges in Zimbabwe are well documented. Public schools have been damaged by a shortage of resources, and by a brain drain of teachers. This has led many parents to seek private education for their children but the country's economic problems mean that they often cannot afford to pay the fees. This demanding context informed the authors' study of leadership in 12 private schools in Harare and the surrounding area. Individual and focus group interviews were conducted with 19 leaders in these schools. The findings show that most of the schools have experienced significant falls in student numbers, despite cutting fees. This creates a severe management challenge for principals, other leaders and school owners. There have been redundancies at several of the schools, which the leaders find stressful, while salary levels remain modest although still higher than those in the public sector. The infrastructure and facilities are generally good compared to those in the public sector but leaders lament that they cannot be enhanced in the current financial climate. Most of the schools have a distinctive Christian ethos, and a vision to provide the best possible education for their children, but the leaders' ambitious plans are thwarted by Zimbabwe's harsh economic realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article will examine different international approaches to leadership preparation and induction, linked to concepts of socialization and identity. Although leadership is widely understood to be the second most important factor influencing student outcomes, principal preparation is neglected in many countries. A teaching qualification and teaching experience are often considered to be sufficient attributes for new principals. The article will argue that being a principal is a different role from classroom teaching and requires specific preparation. This involves three phases of socialization. First, aspiring leaders require professional socialization, preparing to become a principal. Second, they need to change their identity, from teacher to principal – a process of personal socialization. Third, they need a period of organizational socialization, learning to lead in a specific school. The article will draw on international research and literature to consider the experience of new principals in different settings. It will also examine examples of preparation and induction in several settings to establish what works effectively and in what contexts. It will also consider the role of mentoring in successful principal preparation and induction, bearing in mind the need for induction to be an extended process, not a ‘one-off’ event. The article will conclude with a model for leadership preparation and induction, which could be applied in many places, subject to careful adaptation to fit the local culture and context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In seeking to improve student outcomes, governments may choose to exercise direct control over schools, as in many centralised systems, or to provide frameworks for intermediate bodies to engage in improvement activities. One such body is the National College for School Leadership (NCSL), now the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) in England. The Department of Education of the South African province of Gauteng (GDE) has also chosen to implement its school improvement programmes partly through two specialist units, the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre, which focuses on maths, science and technology (MST), and the Matthew Goniwe School of Leadership and Governance (MGSLG), which specialises in school leadership, management, governance and teacher development. The purpose of this article is to report on an evaluation of the work of these two bodies, commissioned by the GDE as part of its 20th anniversary commemorations, through an analysis of relevant documents and interviews with 11 key actors in the operation of these specialist bodies. The article adopts loose coupling as its theoretical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including collegiality, professional learning communities, and vertical groups of schools in Portugal.

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editor discusses various reports published within the issue including one by Joe Christopher on the effectiveness of internal audit on improving the quality of education in Australia and another by Jane Preston and colleagues on the use of technology in education in Prince Edward Island, Canada.

An introduction is presented that discusses issue articles on topics including school leadership in South Africa, the leadership style of women school principals in Gauteng, South Africa, and conditions in disadvantaged schools in Eastern Cape, South Africa.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including changing in action research on academic teaching, improvements in teaching methods and schools promotion of cultural norm.

An introduction to the journal is presented in which editor discusses articles in the issue on topics including school leadership in Asia, development of professional learning communities (PLCs) and teachers' perceptions of leaders.

An introduction is presented for the November 2013 issue, highlighting its central themes of school autonomy and accountability in educational policy reform, citing contributions by Rob Higham, Andrew Peterson, and Jaswinder Dhillon.

The Education Reform Act 1988 increased the scope of headteachers' work and led to an emphasis on ‘management', often interpreted as the implementation of government policies, checked through the Ofsted inspection regime. Following the election of a Labour government in 1997, the discourse changed to ‘leadership'. Leadership development in England is dominated by the National College for School Leadership, which was opened in 2000, a product of New Labour's stress on ‘education, education, education'. The College offers a raft of provision for leaders at all levels, including the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH), which was introduced in 1997. As the title implies, the NPQH is seen as a professional qualification and focuses more on what heads can ‘do' than what they know. The NPQH become mandatory for new heads in 2009 but reverted to optional status in 2012. This paper reviews the evidence on the impact of the NPQH and considers how it could be developed to blend leadership learning with leadership practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses various papers published within the issue including one on senior executive leadership teams in Sydney, New South Wales, another that examines headteachers' approaches to diversity in schools, and another on private schools in Kenya.

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editor discusses an article on policymaking in education in England, autonomy and accountability of schools, and organizational culture in education.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics related to education including the learning requirements of school principals, cultural aspects of knowledge creation, and the role of school governance in terms of special education needs.

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editor discusses several articles within the issue, including one on the impact of collaborative leadership on the student achievement and school improvement by Ronald Heck and Philip Hallinger, one on the relationship between the leadership and the academic achievement of pupils and management in English Catholic schools by Andrew Morris, and another on the landscapes of leadership in schools in South Africa by Pam Christie.

The author discusses the information concerning the applicability issue of the educational leadership theory and management. The author highlights the foundation of the said theory including research, policy, and practice. The author also notes the significance of the theory for educational institutions in terms of policy implementation.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including structured professional development for aspiring school principals, leadership development programme for independent school teachers, and new training courses for head teachers.