Editorial

Citation

Roberts, B. (2012), "Editorial", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 26 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijem.2012.06026baa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Educational Management, Volume 26, Issue 2

A very warm welcome to the second issue of 2012 which sees six international papers from Israel, Northern Ireland (UK), Greece and the USA.

The first paper is a contribution from Chen Schechter and Neomi Asher of the School of Education, Bar-Ilan University – the topic is the “principals’ sense of uncertainty and organisational learning mechanisms”. The study involved data from 130 school principals from Tel Aviv and Central Israel. The results of the study reveal a negative relationship between the principals’ sense of uncertainty and the extensiveness of organisational learning mechanisms in schools. As expected by the authors the results of this study reveal that the higher the principals’ sense of uncertainty, the lower the extent of organisational learning mechanisms in the schools. Principals’ length of service in teaching rather than seniority in management as serving principals was found to be a significant factor which predicted the extensiveness of organisational learning mechanisms in schools.

In the next piece Mark Durkin and colleagues from Belfast, Northern Ireland, write on “emotional connections in HE marketing” which concentrates on the marketing of HE within a UK context at a time of funding changes in 2012. The paper argues that there has never been a better time to concentrate on marketing investment. The paper outlines how the University of Ulster has responded to this challenge and has created a department focussed exclusively on student marketing activity.

From the Indiana State University Kokomo, Chulkov and Van Alstine have put together a contribution on “Challenges in designing student teaching evaluation in a business programme” in which an empirical analysis is presented of the effects of changes in the student teacher evaluation form (STE) in a business school. They find three results, which could be of interest to departments considering a change to student evaluation instruments. Firstly a shift from a four to a five point scale leads to a decrease in evaluation scores secondly students give lower scores on comparison type questions that ask for a comparison of the instructor on the course to the students entire college experience. Thirdly soliciting written feedback on a specific section of the form is an effective way of increasing both the number of written comments and the size of each comment.

Vasiliki Brinia of Athens University has studied “men vs women – educational leadership in primary schools in Greece”. The paper presents some of the persistent gender issues that cause inequities in teachers’ professional development and prevents them from progressing to the higher levels of educational administration despite being in the majority of teachers. The rationale is that the women’s role is crucial in order to face the new demands of schools in a dramatically changing society carrying out a different style of leadership.

Professor Ray Calabrese of the Ohio State University contributes the following paper – “web 2.0 integration into the graduate classroom; an appreciative enquiry into prospective school administrator strengths and leadership experiences”. Professor Calabrese proposes that the philosophy that underpins evolving technologies with web 2.0 may advance administrators’ leadership development. The purpose of the study was to advance the preparation of prospective school administrators by extending the web 2.0 application of blogging to discover their strengths and successful leadership experiences. Four findings were identified as follows:

1. 1.

   Appreciative blogging confirms strengths and successful leadership experiences.

2. 2.

   Appreciative blogging bolsters a supportive learning environment.

3. 3.

   Appreciative blogging confirms the students’ history of successful leadership experiences.

4. 4.

   Appreciative blogging increases social capital among students.

In the final paper Professor George Marcoulides of the University of California Riverside, submits the following: “examining culture and performance at different middle school level structures”. This study proposed and tested a model of school culture and examined data from schools in Southern California to identify educationally important aspects of teacher: perceived cultural variables and how these perceptions impact differentially on school performance in K-8 and middle school structures.

Brian Roberts