Search

The governing bodies of publicly funded schools in England are currently facing a number of substantive challenges of various kinds. Many of the challenges are long-standing, while others relate to the current context for governing wrought by recent education policy developments initiated by central government. A number of the challenges are immediate and intense, and may well develop over time. The challenges result from both policy imperatives and the challenge of governing effectively--procedural imperatives. The intention of this article is to analyse the challenges facing governing bodies in England. We argue that the challenges interact and synergize and could develop into "a perfect storm", which could have significant implications for the security and stability of the education system and for society generally. Our thinking is shaped by the notion of interactive governance (Kooiman, 2003), which posits that the workings of the school governance network, of which school governing is a part, is best understood in terms of interactions. Following this introduction, we provide some background information for those not familiar with the school governing system in England. We then very briefly describe the three research projects in which we have been involved that form the empirical base for the article (Balarin et al., 2008; James et al., 2010, 2012, 2013). The challenges facing governing bodies are considered under the headings: school governing's low profile; the institution and the environment; accountability; and the role and the responsibility of school governing bodies. The way these different challenges interconnect and add together is discussed in the penultimate section. In the final section, we make some concluding comments.

The research reported here analysed the role of the chair of the school governing body in England, drawing on a national survey of governors and the study of governing in 30 schools. The role encompassed: being a governor; appointing and working with the head teacher; acting as a change agent; active participation in the school; organising the governing body; dealing with complaints; working with parents; and chairing meetings. We discuss the role and the way it is experienced and conclude that the position of chair is substantially under-played; given insufficient status; and is a significant educational and community leadership responsibility.

The concept of organizational culture continues to be widely used for descriptive and explanatory purposes in academic, policy, and managerial debates in education and other contexts. The range of perspectives on its meaning, which are readily apparent in both educational and non-educational literature, is directly relevant to the analysis of organizational culture change. This article contributes to organizational culture change theory in education by conceptualizing different perspectives on organizational culture--external reality, interpretation, organization, competing subcultures, and process. It then analyzes aspects of an 8-year culture change process in a school staff group using the different perspectives to illustrate their utility. In the paper, we describe the methodology, outline the case study, explain each perspective, and explore the culture change process from that perspective. The paper concludes with a discussion of the usefulness of the analysis for understanding and organizing culture change in educational settings.

This article reports research into the nature and functioning of school governing bodies in different socio-economic and performance contexts. The research analysed 5000 responses from a national questionnaire-based survey and undertook 30 case studies of school governing. The research confirmed that school governing in England is a complex and onerous responsibility that places governing bodies under considerable pressure. The socio-economic and performance contexts can be particularly demanding additional pressures. Governing bodies interact with those contexts in a complex way which we explain using the notions of governance capital and governance agency. Governance capital is the network of individuals and their capabilities, relationships and motivations that are available for the governing of a school. It is likely to be greater for schools that: are well regarded; are in high socio-economic status settings; and have high levels of pupil attainment. These effects may add and mutually reinforce creating an "amplifier effect", which may significantly impact on the governing of a school. Governance agency is the capacity of those involved in the governing of a school to act. It is significant; can ameliorate the effects of low governance capital; and complicates the relationship between governing, performance and socio-economic context. (Contains 2 tables.)

Debates about governance, across the public sector, including education, continue to generate a substantial literature. The intention of this article is to engage with these debates by reviewing the articles in this special edition. In this review article, we first consider the wider context of the articles by revisiting some of the central debates in the governance literature. We then consider some of the themes that emerge from the articles, which are: the significance of improving school performance and pupil attainment; the dynamic nature of governance and the problematic nature of managing change in school governance; difference and variety; the contested territory of school governing and the conflicting roles and responsibilities; the complexity of school governing especially the complexity wrought by diversity of provision; the complex and demanding capabilities required for, and participation in, governing; micro-macro issues; and joint modes of institutional governance.

This article analyses the concept of organizational culture and the relationship between the organizational culture and the performance of staff work groups in schools. The article draws upon a study of 12 schools in Wales, UK, which despite being in disadvantaged settings have high levels of pupil attainment. A model is developed linking the organizational culture of the staff group to performance as measured by pupil attainment using the conceptual analysis and the interpretation of the research findings. In the model, organizational culture, as a root metaphor, is defined by the organizing metaphors "productive", "strong" and "highly inclusive". The absence of substantial subcultures, the head teacher's leadership and reflective practice are important influences on the overall organizational culture and play a part in linking organizational culture and performance. In the model, the organizational culture underpins practices that bear directly on the primary task which is in itself of considerable cultural importance. The primary task has two dimensions. The first is concerned with optimizing current teaching for learning and the second with improving future teaching for learning. A task of this kind, its cultural significance and an organizational culture that underpins work on the task are likely to lead to high performance. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the introduction of a quality assurance system in a new, private university in Syria, and considers the extent to which the theoretical model based on institutional theory and isomorphism is reflected in practice. Design/methodology/approach: A five year longitudinal study which reviews the design, implementation and embedding of a quality assurance system was undertaken. The approach reflects on the prevailing practice and adoption of quality assurance systems at key points throughout the existence of the institution. Findings: The findings show that for any organisation or institution which is creating a new model, which is outside the conventional or prevailing models of the sector, there will be multiple challenges. Research limitations/implications: The research was conducted during the many visits made throughout the period, but the changes witnessed to key staff at Kalamoon throughout the five years has impacted on the institutionalisation model, and generated both increased and reduced isomorphic responses from staff at various points in the study. Practical implications: The paper is a useful source of information to any new organisation creating policies and processes which they hope will quickly become embedded within the organisational culture, especially in countries where strong state leadership has been the historical norm. Originality/value: The paper reports on the first private university in Kalamoon, Syria, and the strategies adopted to deliver the quality assurance agenda. In addition, it uses the theoretical approach of institutionalization in a novel manner.

This article captures the different perspectives of those involved in a collaborative project which implemented an e-learning initiative with higher education and further education institutions in partnership. The initial part of the article provides context and considers some of the debates in the literature on collaboration. It reflects on what makes collaboration work, namely environment, management, trust, history, individual experience, process, communication, purpose and resources. The focus of the article is a case study which critically examines the experiences of one project. Data collection for the case study involved interviews, questionnaires, focus groups and documentation. On the positive side, the project was an excellent staff development experience for many staff, enabling them to see the potential of e-learning. This project has been a huge learning curve for staff and students alike and the project gave them the opportunity to look at technology from different perspectives and find ways to work in a collaborative manner to tackle the issues. However, the case study raised concerns for the future development of the project, namely equality, resources, communication between all groups, technology infrastructure and course development. (Contains 1 table.)

The paper is an exploration of how a group of tutors involved in a major e-learning project reacted to developing and teaching in this environment for this first time. All were experienced face-to-face teachers but had different levels of experience in using technology. Our aim was to capture their individual views on working in an online environment. The import of this cannot be under-estimated, as different views on learning influence the role and potential of technology in an e-learning environment. As the research is an exploration in understanding the impact that e-learning can have on the role of the teacher, it seemed appropriate to frame the work in a grounded theory approach and to deal with themes as they emerged. The data for the paper are the product of focus groups, questionnaires and observation. The sample for data collection was the total population of tutors in seven institutions involved in the delivery of the course. The questionnaire captured tutors' profiles (experience of information technology, e-moderating, e-learning, gender, college, module taught), their personal online tutoring style, their opinions on pedagogy and the student learning experience, training and development issues and general reflections on being an online tutor. The initial findings reveal varied reasons for becoming involved with online learning and a wide variety of styles for interacting online with students. All respondents were keen to keep an element of face-to-face teaching in their modules and felt it was difficult to gauge depth of learning without 'normal face-to-face interactions at some point'. A number of staff felt that e-delivery is much more difficult than they envisaged and challenged them in ways that face-to-face teaching did not. Materials and approaches that work well in a classroom environment are not always effective online. Tutors faced challenges in both design and delivery. (Contains 1 table and 2 figures.)

The purpose of this article is to make the case for a broader perspective on school leadership and school-environment interrelationships and to develop the concept of systemic leadership for schools and the related notion of systemic authorization. The article explores the background to the concept and relevant aspects of the conceptualization, which are: the primary task, leadership and task-related roles, and the system. We draw on research we have recently completed into the nature of primary schools where the level of student attainment in national test scores is high despite the students experiencing considerable socio-economic disadvantage. The schools we studied sought and received considerable support, validation and valuing from the wider system that provided leadership and authorization for the schools with beneficial outcomes. Importantly, this leadership and authorization was reciprocal in that the schools responded similarly to those in their system.

In this paper the authors describe the outline of an analysis of disruptive technologies presented by Christensen in his book, "The Innovator's Dilemma." They go on to argue that the analysis can be applied to the practice of e-learning as it has been developed in higher education in the United Kingdom, and possibly elsewhere. They suggest that current moves away from fully developed e-learning and towards "blended learning" can be understood in terms of Christensen's analysis, and that the move may be an indication that large, established organisations have difficulty in adjusting to disruptive technologies. They conclude that much research needs to be done in the area of e-learning, especially small scale studies of how e-learning can be used away from the established culture of formal education. This is an approach to market research that is also contained in Christensen's analysis. In summary, they argue that Christensen's analysis offers some important insights into the process of adopting e-learning solutions in higher education, and also suggests some fruitful directions for future research.

In the UK, and elsewhere in the world, schools with a higher level of pupil socio-economic disadvantage generally have lower levels of pupil attainment. However, some primary schools in Wales buck this trend. They have both high levels of disadvantage and high levels of attainment. The authors studied 18 of these schools to answer the questions: (1) "what do they do?" (2) "how they do it?" and (3) "why does it work?" In this article, the authors briefly describe the schools, pick out what they think are their special features and also explain why what they do works. The authors give a fuller account and explanation in "How Very Effective Primary Schools Work" which is published by SAGE as part of the BELMAS Book Series.(Contains 1 figure.)

This paper describes the experience of one university in quality assuring higher education courses that were to be delivered by E-learning, or blended learning. The form of blended learning relies upon the use of staff from partner institutions who may not have been employed primarily solely to deliver higher education courses, be it by face-to-face or E-delivery. The paper examines approaches to quality assurance, transformation and enhancement used at the university. It describes a four phase, or dimension, model of quality assurance specifically designed to ensure that the quality of the new forms of delivery was as robust and rigorous as that of the more traditional face-to-face delivery methods. Finally, the paper reflects upon the efficacy of the new approach to quality assurance and comments upon the changes that have been provoked by these new approaches to learning and assurance.

Introduction: A diagnosis of chronic illness posed a serious threat to people during the recent COVID‐19 pandemic. People with chronic illnesses were faced with increased mortality and reduced access to healthcare. Self‐care is the process of maintaining health and managing a chronic illness. Nurses working in specialist services provide healthcare education to people with chronic illnesses. Access to these nurses was decreased during periods of the COVID‐19 virus escalation due to the reconfiguration of services and redeployment of nurses. The purpose of the research was to learn from the experiences of people with a chronic illnesses in self‐care behaviors and accessing altered healthcare services to inform future practices. Design: A population survey design. Methods: A mixed methods survey was designed, combining validated questionnaires and scales with open‐ended questions. A convenience sample was utilized via using social media platforms. Data analysis included descriptive and inferential statistics. Content analysis was used to analyze open‐ended responses. Results: There were 147 responses, with approximately half reporting no changes in face‐to‐face healthcare contact, 41% reporting decreased contacts and 12% increased contacts. Non‐face‐to‐face contacts were reduced by almost 9%, did not change by almost 60%, while 33% indicated an increase. Participants reported mixed perceptions in contact with healthcare providers during restrictions. In the Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care and the Self‐Care of Chronic Illness scales, participants scored statistically lower scores than in previous studies. Participants indicated that public health restrictions negatively impacted their confidence, created challenges with re‐engaging and that access to care was more difficult. Conclusion: This research highlights the importance of providing continued support to people with chronic illness irrespective of other challenges to healthcare services. A structured approach to virtual self‐care education is required. Clinical relevance: This research concluded that the experience of access to one healthcare professional as opposed to diverse multidisciplinary input was similar for a number of chronic illnesses groups of people during the COVID‐19 pandemic. There was an altered dynamic of virtual contacts with healthcare providers and a lack of confidence interpreting what monitoring was required by people with a chronic illnesses due to a lack of preparedness for virtual healthcare delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews issues related to communication modality and placement of children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, discusses reasons that school districts end up in due process hearings, and cites pertinent court cases. It offers suggestions to help educators provide effective testimony and concludes by highlighting possible positive outcomes from the due process hearing. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

Evaluates a pilot study conducted at the University of Glamorgan that investigated whether group process support technology has the potential to improve the learning experience of students in seminar groups by increasing participation and focusing debate. Describes how the use of the technology was varied among groups and suggests further research. (Author/LRW)

A study used a Personal Construct Theory/Repertory Grid approach to examine the work of 12 Welsh primary headteachers. Analysis of thematic work-activity grids suggests principals have a more coherent view of their work (as centered on children and education) than Henry Mintzberg's observational studies portrayed. (Contains 36 references.) (MLH)