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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold, to answer two questions: how do senior educational administration (EA) field members perceive the field's scholarly aims and boundaries and the meaning of their intellectual work? and what are the similarities and differences between “outsider” and “insider” perceptions of the field's major purposes and directions? Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured interviews with 12 Israeli academics who work in departments of EA in varied universities and colleges. Findings – The field members in the study shared similar views of the field's purposes and challenges, but were divided about the field's desired knowledgebase and scholarly boundaries. Some implications for the field's future development are suggested. Originality/value – The exploration of academics’ perceptions of their own field of study may increase the intellectual and theoretical understandings of major epistemological aspects of EA as a field of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the relationship between public school networks and entrepreneurship strategies. It explains that the study used the Public School Entrepreneurship Inventory (PSEI) as well as a questionnaire given to a random sampling of teachers and school principals from elementary schools in Israel. The practice of school entrepreneurship is described and the ways in which schools can generate resources are examined. The research concludes that educational networks are involved with non-radical entrepreneurship and that extensive connections can create pressure to conform to network norms.

Despite the current interest in many countries in assessing the principal's performance, stemming from the greater attention to educational reform and accountability, the empirical study of principal's appraisal has been slow to develop. This article was designed to fill partially this gap. Data was collected by semi-structured interviews of eight primary school supervisors and 24 primary school principals from four of the six educational districts in Israel. The subjects were asked to respond to the following questions related to the purposes of the principals' appraisal, political factors exerted on principals' appraisal, assessment usefulness and its impact upon principals' effectiveness. Results reveal that both groups had different perceptions regarding the principal appraisal purposes, processes, usefulness and effectiveness, which corroborate studies conducted in other countries. While most of the supervisors believed that the assessment process was helpful, 75 percent of the principals reported that the assessment was a waste of time. Regarding the improvement of the process, while the supervisors put emphasis on summative assessment and the need for more resources for supervision, school principals emphasized formative assessment, portfolios, being involved in the process and peer assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]