Educational Leadership, Teacher leadership, informal social and political networks in schools, cultures and Policy development

This article analyses reforms addressing and affecting the curriculum and organisation of Swedish upper secondary education over 40 years, up to an initiative by the present non-socialist government. The aim is to analyse the current reform of upper secondary education and relate it to previous reforms during a 40-year period in terms of continuity and breaks, mainly with regard to major functions of the reforms and the structuring and control of educational contents. Aiming to create a sharper division of students into three separate streams (academic and vocational education, and apprenticeship training), the reform constitutes a major break with the previously dominant trend towards greater integration. It is argued that it will result in a restriction and reformulation of the knowledge which is regarded as desirable. Similar moves are evident in relation to teacher education, which, if enacted, would involve moving from a model of high flexibility and a common core of knowledge to substantially stronger divisions between contents and programmes.

Tom Malarkey draws from his experience as an inquiry coach for the Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools (BayCES, now the National Equity Project) to suggest a framework for teacher-researchers and leaders conducting inquiry for equity. Noting that “inquiry does not necessarily lead to equity-oriented learning and results for students,” Malarkey first proposes some meanings and characteristics of equity and then explains some of the ways inquiry can contribute to equity. He then offers several specific suggestions for inquiry leaders working to support an equity focus in their school or professional development context. This essay introduces some of the key concepts that inform the work presented in this guide. (This is excerpted from "Working Towards Equity: Resources and Writings from the Teacher Research Collaborative", a joint project of the National Writing Project and BayCES. http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/books/workingtoward)

Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, Iraq has been in need of a new education system that reestablishes the country to its former prominent seat as a center of learning. Due to the wars with neighboring countries as well as the Gulf War, the Hussein regime severely reduced the country’s education budget to support war efforts. Re-energizing the country’s educational system will require a clearly defined curriculum with performance standards, supported by newly defined sociocultural values that creates a framework towards building successful schools. Considering Iraq’s need to adopt a world policy model in reforming the country’s various infrastructures, the Iraq Ministry of Education must also establish a more efficient and effective accountability system.

ABSTRACT
Informal social networks among the construction craftworkers from various ethnic groups can
give rise to barriers of entry for craftsmen and trainees. This study investigated informal
social networks on three construction sites in an ethnically diverse area, to explore how these
give rise to economic exclusion and promote inequality of access to social economic
resources such as work opportunities. Using the Social Network Analysis (SNA) method,
adopting through the egocentric approach data was collected and analysed using of the social
network analysis program UCINET. Findings from the three case studies showed that the
primary access to information on work opportunities was through the informal social
networks formed among construction artisans, foremen and construction managers. Moreover,
artisans on these sites were mostly friends and neighbours with similar ethnic backgrounds
strongly suggesting that social relations facilitated the transfer of information around work
opportunities. Whilst for those who are a part of these networks, the informal social networks
can be advantageous, however, they also act as barriers of entry to those who are not a part of
these networks to work opportunities and can act as barriers to skills acquisition for those who
do not already possess craft skills. Further findings showed a strong relationship between
trade and ethnicity. Minimal interaction was observed between different ethnic groups
suggesting a further hindrance in the transfer of information about work opportunities across
ethnic groups. To an extent government policies identify this phenomena and seek to
overcome it at the level of businesses and entrepreneurs through actions such as Broad Based
Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) and preferential procurement. However the
findings of this limited study suggest that social networks and the resultant social capital that
they engender exists in all manner of forms, and within many different communities, raising
the question of the ultimate effectiveness of such interventions.
Key words: Craftsmen, Artisans, Social Networks Analysis, Work Opportunities

The aim of this study is to investigate teachers’ perceptions of their practice of values education, and to explore their degree of professionalism in this matter. Qualitative interviews with 13 teachers have been conducted and analysed by a comparative analysis. According to their view, values education is (a) most often reactive and unplanned, (b) embedded in everyday school life with a focus on students’ everyday behaviour in school, and (c) partly or mostly unconsciously performed. Furthermore, professional knowledge appears to be missing in the domain of values education among these teachers.

An effective educational leadership philosophy involves mindful adherence to a set of approaches and core beliefs about teaching, learning and work environments. Educational philosophies are as diverse and unique as the individuals who espouse them. My core beliefs about educational leadership are drawn from a wide array of loosely connected concepts and " theories of action " that work in complimentary fashion to facilitate a well-run educational institution that positively impacts teacher effectiveness and student learning. Below I have clustered some key concepts that I embrace because various literatures, and my own research, indicate that they make a difference. In general, I believe the problems of today, dreams for tomorrow, and challenges of the future are best met by positive leaders who are informed, in touch, and involved in facilitating the success of those served. I strive to live and teach this philosophy of leadership in all I do. –XX The ultimate aim of education, as I see it, should be to teach students to use their minds well. In the 21 st century it is imperative that students access, comprehend, evaluate and judiciously act upon information, and then learn to generate and communicate new knowledge. Education at all levels should involve dynamic student-centered learning environments, which spark individual student achievement. Constructivist approaches, such as Active Learning, and Authentic Pedagogies hold much promise for improving student achievement because they emphasize student engagement and application in real-world contexts. When implemented well, on an institutional level, I believe students in social cognitive constructivist programs have numerous advantages over peers in traditional settings because the stimulating learning activities tend to engage and motivate learners. Educational leaders must clearly articulate institutional goals, philosophies and approaches to avoid competing ideologies from within the school from nullifying potential gains and creating cultures that are disjoint and competitive. Educational leaders can magnify the impact of the systems human and other resources by unifying faculty and staff under a common direction and approach. Clearly articulating a philosophical approach (such as social cognitive constructivism) involves critical evaluation and coordination of multiple aspects of the system operations for philosophical consistency, including vision and mission statements, curricula, instructional materials, professional development, programs, policies and practices so that they are aligned to the core tenants of the embraced philosophy. Leaders who dare to take a systemic approach are more likely to unite their staff in thought and action toward common goals. Leadership that Builds Collegiality and Shared Leadership A diverse faculty and staff unified by a common vision and mission is an extremely valuable asset. Team approaches reduce isolation and allow professionals to work collectively to develop the knowledge, skills and resources to meet challenges, while still fostering individuality and unique contributions. Healthy school cultures are typically found in high challenge, high trust, and high engagement work environments, that emphasize collaboration and problem solving. Effective teams can go a long way towards building productive collegial relationships., characterized by non-threatening and respectful professional debate. Shared leadership approaches can also provide faculty with a sense of empowerment and purpose, as well as providing a mechanism for problem solving. Shared leadership and improvement planning can also give voice to multiple groups within educational communities including students, parents, support staff, sister communities, and such and can increase community support for educational programs. In general, the administrative approach should place a high premium on building a non-competitive collaborative environment. Maintaining high faculty morale and vibrant teams of caring staff is among the most important aspects of school operations, including curricula and policy, because a caring and engaged staff the feels valued will have higher motivation. A motivated, challenged, collegial staff can do more to spark student learning than most any other aspect of operations, thus this must remain a priority of effective educational leaders. Professional Orientation has to do with the attitude and work habits of teachers and staff, and is greatly influenced by leadership priorities and approaches. Teacher norms in schools with a strong Professional Orientation involve assuming personal responsibility for student learning by increasing internal capacity to meet student needs. In school cultures high in Professional Orientation teachers tend to be perpetually preoccupied with finding more and better ways to engage learners. This typically creates a stimulating and vibrant work culture, characterized by highly committed and resourceful teachers with a large repertoire of instructional skills. Frequently, these schools have higher teacher morale and job satisfaction, which is associated with greater teacher retention. I espouse educational leadership styles that structure resources including, time, space, staff schedules, funding and so forth in order to maximize teacher professional learning and exposure to new instructional approaches and resources. Administrative practices that prioritize collaborative planning, ongoing job embedded learning, and in-class peer instructional support are more likely to facilitate higher Professional Orientation. Leadership for Professional Orientation also involves encouraging innovation and learning by trial and error. Routine monitoring and recognition of teacher leadership play crucial roles. Instructional Leadership that involves modeling, mentoring and clinical supervision such as frequent informal class visits and feedback, go a long way toward establishing strong Professional Orientation. Knowledgeable, engaged and supportive leadership over time helps to cultivate a culture where professional learning flourishes. Managing this type of robust culture requires leaders who are well-informed, open-minded, collaborative, flexible, highly involved with teachers, staff and students and are willing to take initiative to build to the intellectual community of the school.

Efficacy of a leadership approach may be highly dependent upon cultural factors, making additional research in foreign contexts necessary. A methodology was developed to investigate the relationship between Confucian values and leadership preferences. Responses on the Chinese Values Survey (CVS) were compared to those of the Vannsimpco Leadership Survey (VLS) for both Korean (N = 48) and American (N = 47) university respondents. Correlations for both groups revealed a link between Confucian values and hybrid leadership styles. Among Korean faculty, this link was even more pronounced, yielding significant correlations to autocratic-transformational (rs [30] = .513, p < .05), autocratic-transactional (rs [30] = .420, p < .05), democratic-transformational (rs [31] = .567, p < .001), and democratic-transactional (rs [31] = .482, p < .01) leadership. Results suggest that simple theoretical approaches to leadership do not address the complex interplay between autocratic (Li) and democratic (Ren and Yi) Confucian virtues.

The career progression of teachers and academics of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) heritage in England has been a matter of intense scrutiny among a range of actors including
the public, politicians and researchers. Many reasons and explanations have been provided for the
apparent lack of improvement in this area, despite an increase in the numbers of students of BAME heritage in schools and other educational institutions, despite the passage of the Equality Act 2010, despite student led campaigns such as ‘Why is my professor not black?’, and despite the substantial
body of evidence on the benefits for students of BAME heritage of having same race teachers and
lecturers. At the individual level, barriers have included interpersonal racism, and at the organisational
level, institutional racism has been identified as contributing to, if not responsible for the lower than average progression of staff of BAME heritage in England’s educational institutions. Nevertheless, over the last decade, an emergent and sustained body of research has emerged that examines ‘how’ and under 'what conditions’ promotion/progression occurs or can be achieved. In arriving at a conceptual model of progression among teachers of BAME heritage, critical evaluation of the four available studies reveals four key factors or enablers: meritocratic agency; contrived agency; endorsement and institutional habitus.

Keywords: Agency, affiliation, ‘White sanction’, institutional habitus, institutional racism

Compared to the few public higher education institutions in the prewar era, postwar Somalia boasts a large number of academic institutions at the tertiary level, mainly as privately owned universities. Although these community-initiated academic establishments are making tremendous contributions to the higher education sector, particularly in the absence of an effective national government, one can argue that much still remains at stake in terms of evaluation and quality assurance, key elements necessary for institutional accreditation and acceptance of credentials by other educational establishments issuing the same level of certificates. In this essay we aim to provide an overview discussion of the trends of higher education in Somalia and the way forward for newly emerged institutions, which have taken the bold initiative of changing the landscape of Somalia’s higher education.

This qualitative multiple case study investigated the impact of teacher leadership practices in enhancing school leadership in the context of Nigerian public secondary schools. It discusses the positive impact the practice of teacher leadership has on stakeholders and how it enhances school leadership. Participants included nine teachers, three principals, vice-principals and an educational administrator in an Educational District in Lagos, Nigeria. Data for the study was generated through semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis. The study revealed that the practice of teacher leadership would enhance peace in the community and leaves teachers feeling professionally. The net effect is that teacher leadership improves progress in the school. In addition, it will reduce the workload of the principal and enhance teacher experience in leadership which help in achieving educational goals. The study recommends promoting teacher leadership in an environment of trust, harmony and solidarity. The study contributes to recognising teacher leadership as an important practice in schools.

This paper discusses the core tenants of the philosophy of Active Learning Approaches. Major influences in the field of philosophy, such as John Dewey as well as the contributions of Cognitive Psychologists are identified. This section was drafted as the introduction to an upcoming book on Active Learning in Finnish schools, edited by Eija Kimonen.

The aim of this paper is to investigate and describe the content in school rules by developing a category system of school rules, and thus making the logic behind different types of rules in school explicit. Data were derived from an ethnographic study conducted in two primary schools in Sweden. In order to analyse the data, grounded theory methodology was adapted. The analysis resulted in a category system of school rules, containing the following main categories: (a) relational rules, (b) structuring rules, (c), protecting rules, (d), personal rules and (e) etiquette rules. In the light of this categorisation, more consciously pedagogical and professional work with rules can be conducted. The category system can counteract vagueness and unreasonableness, as well as highlighting the content, logic and functions of different school rules.

Creativity in adults is highly valued in our society. Personal creativity contributes to inventiveness, innovation, social and cultural change as well as political development and economic progression. The creator is an innovator, a problem solver, an entrepreneur, an artist. Creative people have rapid and effective responses that help them to achieve their life goals and allow them to enjoy the journey. Creativity is both a skill set and a unique and individual character structure that is developed throughout childhood and fine-tuned in adolescence and adulthood. Education has a key role to play in its development. Positive creativity inspiring experiences at every stage of the educational journey are needed. This is especially true in early childhood. Educators who rise to the creativity challenge will be well rewarded in rich teaching experiences and the joy of seeing children reach their creative potential in supportive and integrated learning communities.

School leaders in Nigeria are encountering challenges that emanate from rapid technological advancement, knowledge economy, complex cultural and political developments which demand for improved students performance and effective leadership in schools. The paper explores teacher identity from the perspective of teachers and the society and the role they play in school improvement. It investigates the challenges facing teachers in the discharge of their duties in five public secondary schools in educational district V in Lagos State, Nigeria.  Data were gathered through semi-structured interview with three principals, three vice principals, nine teachers and a Tutor General/Permanent Secretary (TGPS) of the Education District.  The findings revealed that organisational structure, political, social, religious factors as well as teachers’ attitudes affect effective teacher leadership in Nigerian secondary schools. One recurring identity in the study was politicisation of education and it was recommended that teachers be given opportunities to effectively manage their professional responsibilities, so as to improve on the Nigerian public secondary schools education and create appreciable educational development in Nigeria by 2020.

The educational management theory still needs ideas and concepts that can help to better understand and describe, but also stimulate the organizational development of schools. A good example for this is the concept of leadership is It has been used in discussions aiming to define skills and competencies of people responsible for school management, especially since the early 1990s. Regardless of this fact, it must be noticed that the educational management theory still needs ways of thinking about leadership that would be adequate for educational contexts. The author argues that the attempts to define educational leadership have to reject the attitude of transferring theories and concepts from the general management theory and start from pointing out core educational values and building a specific understanding of educational leadership on that basis.
The author proposes to put individual human development and learning as the core values defining educational leadership. The problem is that core educational values can be defined in a different way. In this case it it crucial to identify different understandings of core values among professionals responsible for leading educational organizations, since different understandings can influence people’s actions.
This paper presents the results of the research on the understanding of development and learning among school heads in Polish schools. The research was carried out with the participation of a group of headmasters taking part in a project that tries to build a new model of school head professional preparation, induction and continual professional training.
This paper shows different perspectives on these values and tries to discuss practical consequences on different ways of understanding.
Keywords: Educational management, educational leadership, core educational values.

The School Leadership Toolkit is designed to provide policy makers, school authorities, schools, researchers and teacher training institutes with the tools to reflect upon, identify challenges and engage in policy action planning to support and enhance school leadership for equity and learning. Furthermore, the School Leadership Toolkit is designed to support analyses of the ways different school leadership policies and programs interplay and influence the overall capacity of school leaders and their schools to effectively and persistently address equity and learning challenges in their schools.

In this reflection paper I address the need for school renewal through the creation of proper frameworks for supervision. These improved formats foster a healthy schoolwide learning culture. I discuss why I feel such renewal is necessary in traditional Jewish schools despite the relative success rates- including a discussion of why these initiatives fail, and how investing in strong leadership can be the solution.

This article responds to a call for conceptual clarity regarding current ussage of the terms "culture" and "climate" in educational research. A multi-phase literature review and classification process was employed over a period of about 5 years leading upto my doctoral dissertation. I knew I wanted to explore the relationship between school culture and school improvement, but defining culture in a valid way that allowed me to measure and  compare across cases presented a challenge.

The process described in this paper was utilized to arrive at the cross-disciplinary definition for school culture I eventually settled upon, which is a composite of components frequently studied or described in school improvement, school effectiveness, or organizational culture literatures. In the piece, I describe how I dealt with the rampant ambiguity that surrounds contemporary ussage of the terms culture and climate. Based on my review of over 300 academic pieces published between 1980 & 2005, I conclude that the concepts/constructs are similar enough to be considered synonyms to some extent, but that based on my reading of the literature & current ussage of the terms, that the more overarching concept is that of culture. I further employ, Edgar Schein's (1992) (Harvard Sloan School of Business Mgmt) theory of organizational culture to assert the possibility that school climate could possibly be thought of as the second level of the organizational culture of the school. This view conflicts with Tagiuri's (1968) (Also from Harvard School of Business Mgmt) desription of organizational climate, in which he places culture as a subset of climate; Tagiuri's theory has come to be the traditional view of the relationship, especially in the school effectiveness literature. However, I question why, if Tagiuri's classification is accurate, do so many researchers use the term culture to talk of broader aspects of schooling, whereas climate seems to be associated with a much narrower set of specific school attributes.

In the year since this article was published it has sparked a fair amount of controversy; some have highly applauded it while others find it unsettling. I never set out to develop a new model, nor to be provokative, I merely wanted to understand how the terms were actually being used by my contemporaries - I was looking for ..."conceptual clarity".  I welcome academics to weigh in on the subject, as I want to hear all sides and consider the matter thoroughly. Feel free to email me with your thoughts or post on the blog on this website.

My friend and mentor, Charles Teddlie, joins me as second author on this piece. He served as the chair of my dissertation committee and has published extensively in the school effectiveness field.

A. Kompetensi Inti : 1 Menghayati dan mengamalkan ajaran agama yang dianutnya 2 Mengembangkan perilaku (jujur, disiplin, tanggungjawab, peduli, santun, ramah lingkungan, gotong royong, kerjasama, cinta damai, responsif dan pro aktif) dan menunjukan sikap sebagai bagian dari solusi atas berbagai permasalahan bangsa dalam berinteraksi secara efektif dengan lingkungan sosial dan alam serta dalam menempatkan diri sebagai cerminan bangsa dalam pergaulan dunia. 3 Memahami, menerapkan, menganalisis dan mengevaluasi pengetahuan faktual, konseptual, prosedural, dan metakognitif berdasarkan rasa ingin tahunya tentang ilmu pengetahuan, teknologi, seni, budaya, dan humaniora dengan wawasan kemanusiaan, kebangsaan, kenegaraan, dan peradaban terkait penyebab fenomena dan kejadian, serta menerapkan pengetahuan prosedural pada bidang kajian yang spesifik sesuai dengan bakat dan minatnya untuk memecahkan masalah 4 Mengolah, menalar, menyaji, dan mencipta dalam ranah konkret dan ranah abstrak terkait dengan pengembangan dari yang dipelajarinya di sekolah secara mandiri serta bertindak secara efektif dan kreatif, dan mampu menggunakan metoda sesuai dengan kaidah keilmuan

By using the voices from the reports of the annual New Ideals in Education Conferences, born in 1914 from a Montessori Conference in East Runton, Norfolk, we can start to build a cultural history of the fight for children's rights in schools in England. This history, these voices of teachers and their schools and institutions will empower present teachers and their students to look at developing rights within schools. A much needed human rights struggle that will help to strengthen the justice, equality and democracy of our society.

In Ethiopia, specifically in Addis Ababa, there are many Eritrean and Somali Urban refugees. They put Addis Ababa in the top first priority area to live because Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia and is the centre for national as well as international organizations. Urban refugees have different kinds of livelihood challenges and opportunities and this research examines it.
In order to achieve the objectives of the research, descriptive type of research which is led by qualitative approach was employed. In-depth interview, key informant interview, focus group discussion and document review were the central data collection techniques. In this study, Gofa Mebrat Hail for Eritrean refugees and Bole Michael for Somali refugees in Addis Ababa were selected based on their numerical upper hand as well as the prolonged settlement of the refugees in the respective areas. In-depth interview was made with Eritrean and Somali urban refugees, key informant interview with officials from ARRA, NRC, DICAC and Woreda officials from the hosting community. Purposive sampling technique was employed to select the research participants.
The finding of the study shows that there are several socio-cultural and economic challenges urban refuges have been facing: High cost of living, problem of cultural adaptability like language barriers, refugees low self-esteem, psychological instability and mobility, economic crises, conflict, security challenges, violence, theft and robbery are the main challenges associated with livelihood strategies.
This research also indicates that there are opportunities available on the ground to be used for sustainable development and self-reliance: availability of supportive policy frameworks and cultural Similarity between the hosting community and urban refugees. Moreover, this research revealed that urban refugees have both negative and positive impacts for the hosting community. The positive impacts include strengthen socio-economic and political relationship with neighbouring country, strengthened people-to-people relationship, transfer knowledge and skills, increase work habits, contribute for labour market, and inject foreign currency to the market. The negative impacts burdened on the hosting community are aggravated the price of rental house, increase unemployment rate, injects deviant behaviour such as addiction, conflict and violence. This research has come to conclude that urban refugee’s livelihood strategy is vulnerable for risk and shock as the result of less sustainable nature of their means of income.
Key words: refugees, urban refugees, livelihood, Somali Refugees, Eritrean Refugee

The article is part of the 2nd Kasetsart University International Conference, 2011.  Category: Educational Psychology, article 3.4, p.195. This correlational research investigates the predictive capacity of problem-focused and emotion-focused coping for the seven types of acculturative stress. It tests gender differences in the predictive relationships between coping styles and stress levels.  A quota sampling was used for data collection among a total of 330 (179 males and 151 females) international undergraduate students at Assumption University in Bangkok.  The study employed the Acculturative Stress Scale for International Students (ASSIS) and the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations-Adult (CISS) research instruments.  Data analysis revealed the following findings: 1.Both male and female international undergraduate students experience culture shock and homesickness but not the other stressors; 2. Female respondents experience homesickness more than their male counterparts; 3. Female respondents are more likely to employ problem-focused coping to deal with stressors;        4. Problem-focused coping does not significantly predict any of the seven acculturative stressors;      5. The use of emotion-focused coping by males seems to worsen their perception of hate, fear, culture shock, and non-specific concerns;  and 6. Female respondents do not seem to consider their coping styles, problem-focused or emotion-focused, to be important determinants of how well they cope with acculturative stress.

Key Words: Acculturative Stresses, Problem-Focused Coping, Emotion-Focused Coping, Coping Styles, Stress Levels

The aim of the research is to investigate the use of informal learning space by students in UiTM Shah Alam Campus. It is also establish the importance of informal learning space in university campus in the context students learning activities. It is also equal importance to investigate the polity, planning and design principle with regard to the establishment of informal learning space. The research was done on the Faculty of Architecture, Planning and surveying (FSPU) and Faculty of Art and Design (FSSR) with assumption that students of these faculties spend more time on campus due to the nature of their study. The research involved interview with respondents from the faculties using formal questionnaire. Observation study was also carried out through assessing the quality of informal learning space in terms of its design and the facilities provided. This research reveals that informal learning space is important but has not been effectively utilized by the students due to lack of facilities and poor design of the space. The research also must formed some proposals to imply the used of informal learning space.

This cross-sectional quantitative research examined the extent to which a model relating leadership behaviors and teacher commitment previously investigated in the United States of America by Freeman (2014) applies in Malawi, a culture
differing from the USA on several dimensions. Freeman found that transactional leadership behavior of school principals in the USA has a positive and significant relationship with teacher commitment to students. In addition, he found that collective efficacy fully mediated the relationship between transactional leadership behavior of school principals and teacher commitment to students’ academic achievement and social well-being. No previous study had examined the external validity of these findings. Utilizing a sample of 184 teachers from public primary and secondary schools in Malawi, Freeman demonstrated results that did not support these findings. In fact, this research found the following: (a) intellectual stimulation behavior of school principals, a dimension of transformational leadership behavior, was positively and significantly related to teacher commitment to both students’ academic achievement and students’ social well-being; (b)
transactional leadership did not have any effects on teacher commitment to students, and (c) no mediating effects were present for either organizational trust or collective efficacy in Malawi. Implications of the study findings, research methodologies, limitations of the study, and recommendations for future research are discussed.
Keywords: Cultural dimensions, transformational leadership, transactional leadership, organizational context, trust, collective efficacy, and commitment.

Both nationally and at the state level, educational reform is focusing on the improvement of classroom instruction. Recently, Washington State enacted the Teacher/Principal Evaluation Pilot (TPEP) to define evaluation criteria intended to measure effective professional practices, including classroom instruction. This exploratory survey study sought to describe the perceptions of Washington State elementary principals regarding their professional development needs for implementation of the new evaluation criteria. The
survey consisted of 5 parts totaling 25 questions and was disseminated to 1,897 elementary principals with a return rate of 354. While the state effectively disseminated initial
information about the evaluation criteria through local Educational Service Districts (ESDs), some policy inconsistency appears to have developed between the school district and building level in terms of implementation support for principal leadership activities, learning
behaviors, and preferred learning topics. Responses indicated that principals rarely engage in social learning activities that would prepare them as a group to consistently and reliably interpret the criteria on the evaluation. Also, few principals identified a strong desire to learn about collaborative structures within their school, which increases concerns about the sustainability of the TPEP policy, because of the need to develop shared understandings of the language and the expectations. Fostering such an understanding may comprise the next phase of development.

Since the Human Rights Watch study has revealed that sexual harassment and sexual violence pose considerable problems in South African schools (HRW, 2001) educators have become increasingly aware of these problems. Other studies and sources have also indicated that sexual harassment of learners by both educators and peers is a serious problem in schools. Sexual harassment is a form of serious misconduct, and requires definite attention. During 2005 a quantitative empirical study was undertaken to investigate the prevalence of learners’ being sexually harassed in secondary schools in the Potchefstroom area. A further aim was to determine what effect this sexual harassment had on the victims. Victims were then asked to indicate if and to whom they had complained about the harassment, and what effect such complaints had on the frequency of harassment they experienced. The purpose of this paper is threefold: first to report some of the results obtained from the study, second to indicate that schools have a duty to protect learners from sexual harassment, and third to make some recommendations with regard to dealing with peer sexual harassment in schools.

An examination of how business-oriented models of education attempt to promulgate a Neoliberal ideology emphasizing entrepreneurship, 'leadership' and anti-unionism.  Notions of Social Learning and Hegemony are usee to highlight ideo-utopian visions and the directed narratives needed to effect paradigm change.  Principal examples come from the discourse emanating from TFA and foundations in favor of corporate education reform.  Additional examples focus on how teachers and principals are depicted on TV and in films.  Special attention is given to Jim Belushi's gut-wrenching portrayal of a new principal in The Principal.  Belushi plays Rick Latimer, a high-school teacher with a drinking problem who is made the new principal of crime-ridden and gang-dominated Brandel High.  The climax cannot be believed, but neither can the discourse of corporate reform groups.

From the Introduction:

The subway ads for the New York City Teaching Fellows were designed to appeal to people’s altruism and sense of idealism: “Picture their eyes lighting up when you explain electricity.” “How many lives did your last spread sheet change?” Along with the second person structure, there is also an appeal to egos, as well as tinges of elitism: “Convene the city’s future leaders. Every day.” “They’re not rocket scientists. Yet.” In trying to recruit people from other fields into education, the subtext was that a candidate’s skills in finance or law, as well as the native superiority that i is assumed to imply, make them a better pool from which to take teachers.
Underlying this is a set of assumptions that diminish the complexity of teaching. An explanation is sufficient to make a child’s eyes light up.  A call for teacher dedication pervaded the ads and engaged in some significant omissions. The Image of the Unproblematic Child played a crucial role; the ads seemed to suggest that that child was waiting for the one inspirational teacher to step in and give a direction to the child's latent aspirations that had, perhaps, been stifled because of their uncaring and robotic teachers. The ads played on people's desire to change the world and ignored what I had learned with great difficulty – that every class has disruptive children, some more than others, that the best laid plans are often laid waste, that reaching kids was a slow, incremental process with, at best, mixed success.
The argument that the solution to our educational woes is to be bring in new, supposedly better and more dedicated teachers, has been one of the most compelling of the last few decades. Its most forceful proponents, Wendy Kopp, Michelle Rhee, Joel Klein and, now, Arne Duncan, have offered a vision of the future in which good teachers will be venerated, but not so good ones will leave or be pushed out of the profession and no teacher will have the protections of tenure, seniority and dependable pay scales. Security will be a thing of the past and in its place will be some sort of ‘merit system,’ the details and dependability of which are much in doubt, but which would come to some sort of merit rating based on a mix of results on standardized exams and subjective evaluations by administrators who have their own agendas.
Thus the narrative of dedication – a narrative of how new dedicated teachers will close the achievement gaps due to socio-economic status, race and class is certainly worthy of comment. It is something we might call the Highly Effective Teacher narrative or the TFA narrative (after Teach For America). It glosses over social problems and. by pointing to new teachers as the answer, points to old teachers as the problem. As Steve Klees puts it, it is one of the “underlying refrains of the neoliberal era: schools are failures, and it is the fault of teachers.”  It moves the responsibility from a set of social institutions meant to deal with the consequences of poverty –institutions which are it wants to be dismantled-- and gives the project of educating young Americans to a set of individuals who will be subject to supervisors with much greater discretionary power and will then be gauged on their effectiveness in a matter yet to be determined, but in which cost effectiveness will be a major component.
I focus first  on Teach for America and the discourse that developed around it as a master narrative. The goal of this narrative was to advance approaches to education that emphasized the exceptional individual as the key to a new form of national education that would rescue the public education system. At the same time, the public education system was descried as a relic of bureaucratism with socialist tendencies that served the interest of adults rather than children.

In addition, we look at the struggle for the TFA message, the images of teachers on television and on film.

In 2009-2010, Riverton Elementary School in Portland, ME was awarded a School Improvement Grant (SIG), supported by the Federal Department of Education (Federal DOE) through the Maine Department of Education. With this funding, Riverton undertook the challenge of the turnaround school model between 2010-2013, which resulted in positive change in academic achievement for their students and an improved teaching and learning climate and culture. This dissertation examines why the turnaround model may work, what is currently known about SIG funded turnaround schools, and what the specific actions and changes that led to the successful turnaround of this school were. While Riverton followed the turnaround model with fidelity and maintained a clear, singular focus on the academic goal of English Language and Literacy Acquisition, they employed changes above the model that facilitated improvement in teaching practice, resulting in impressive gains in student achievement on standardized tests. With the change in academic trajectory came a change in the teaching and learning culture at Riverton School, which may support a long-term, sustainable change. Sustainability is further explored through discussing the funding sources of many of the changes and plans made by local leadership to continue the success of the program when the SIG funding expired. Finally, I explore the potential long-term economic effect of the improved literacy achieved by students as a result of this intervention in terms of savings to society, which may be quite large. As the population of Riverton School is typical of many urban schools, with many recent immigrants to this country, this SIG likely made a large difference in the lives of the students at Riverton.

Estudi de casos, al sistema educatiu de Catalunya, en el marc del Projecte ILE (Innovative Learning Environments - OECD, European Comission.  Ref: http://www.oecd.org/edu/ceri/The%20ILE%20project.pdf ).
Capítol dedicat al centre "El Col·legi Sant Pere Claver (Barcelona)", per Lorenzo, N & Martínez, M. (2013),"El Col·legi Sant Pere Claver (Barcelona)" a 'Lideratge per a l'aprenentatge', pp. 123-140. Ed. Fundació Jaume Bofill, Col. Polítiques, 81. Barcelona. Màrius Martínez, Joan Badia,i Anna Jolonch (coordinadors). ISBN: 978-84-15526-45-2

In this multi-site case study, we examine the personal capacities of six high school principals who have developed the leadership capacities of other leaders in their respective schools. Participants were purposefully selected by two teams of researchers in two states of the United States, one on the east coast and one on the west coast, who engaged their professional networks of current and former educational leaders to obtain recommendations of high school principals known for developing the leadership capacities of formal and informal leaders in their schools. The findings indicate that the principals possessed a strong commitment to developing leadership capacity, that they understood leadership development as a process, and that they tolerated risk. This study adds to the rapidly growing corpus of literature focused on distributed leadership; it does so by illustrating the complexities of developing leadership capacity in attempts to increase organizational leadership capacity , and by highlighting the relevant characteristics of principals who have intentionally sought to do so.

Research has linked the use of play to equipping learners with mathematics skills; yet early grade performance in mathematics remains low. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of play materials on acquisition of mathematics skills by preschool learners in Baringo Central Sub County. The specific objectives were: to establish the type of play materials for acquisition of mathematics skills by preschool learners and to determine the availability and adequacy of play materials used for the acquisition of mathematics skills by preschool learners. The target population comprised of 136 head teachers and 272 teachers of the 136 pre-schools. The study adopted descriptive survey design and the sample size was through simple random sampling for class teachers and pupils and purposive sampling technique for Head teachers. A sample size of 41 head teachers and 82 teachers was used representing 30% of the target population. Data collected was analyzed descriptively with the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. The study findings showed that the main types of play materials used were factory made / assembled and purchased from shops and stationers. The study established that most play materials were not available and those that were available were inadequate in most schools. The study recommended that the schools' management committees should involve all stakeholders to support preschool centers in acquisition of relevant play materials; mobilize resources to provide pre-service and in-service teachers with knowledge how to use play materials in teaching mathematical skills and how to use available play materials appropriately in teaching mathematical skills to preschoolers.