Editorial

Citation

Roberts, B. (2013), "Editorial", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 27 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijem.2013.06027daa.001

Editorial

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Educational Management, Volume 27, Issue 4.

Welcome everyone to the newest edition of IJEM, volume 27 issue 4. In this issue there are eight papers coming from various global colleagues namely: New Zealand, Finland, Thailand, UK, USA, Singapore and Mauritius (a first I think!).

In the first paper, Susan Warring writes on “Word of mouth amongst students at a New Zealand tertiary institution”. Susan is from Whitireia, Auckland New Zealand, which is a culturally diverse, government-funded tertiary institute of technology. The aim of her study was to discover the extent of word of mouth influence amongst international students at a tertiary institution. The main objectives of the study were to review the literature for a valid and reliable conceptualisation and measurement of word of mouth; to establish the extent of word of mouth influence in the tertiary education category for students at the institution and to establish if there were more significant differences in the extent of the word of mouth influences between Chinese, Indian and Pacific Island international students at the institution. The results are interesting and not what might have been anticipated.

In the next study Vuokko Kohtamaki of the University of Tampere, Finland focuses on “Managing teaching and research and development: diverging views of managers”. The paper discusses this topic from the perspective of the Finnish Universities of applied sciences (known as polytechnics) as seen through perceptions of managers working there. These polytechnics are a professionally oriented part of the higher education system established in the early 1990s to serve the needs of business, industry and others in the region – it is this orientation towards local needs that distinguishes the polytechnics and universities. The paper explores how the nature of institutional management and leadership is related to the importance of internal and external partners in setting strategic priorities, the treatment of teaching and research and development in operative management and the emergence of good management practices as viewed by senior and middle managers in polytechnics.

Sooksan Kantabutra and Molraudee Saratun of Mohidol University, Thailand, write a joint piece on “Sustainable leadership: Honeybee practices at Thailand's oldest university”. The paper adopts 23 sustainable leadership practices (Avery and Bergsteiner) derived from sustainable organisations as a framework to examine the leadership practices of Thailand's oldest University. The findings show six core sets of practices consistent with 21 sustainable leadership practices a focus on a long-term perspective; staff development; a strong organisational culture; innovation; social and environmental responsibility; and ethical behaviour.

David Stoten of the UK contributes work on “Servant leadership in English sixth form colleges: what do teachers tell us?” The paper is based upon Cerit who argued that since educational leadership was concerned with a moral purpose servant leadership should be the preferred model for educational leadership. The paper asks a number of questions related to what leadership means in colleges and offers four models of leadership – namely the transactional, transformational and distributed, as well as the servant model and seeks the views of teachers on leadership. Having served as a governor in a sixth form college for many years I found the analysis and conclusion interesting.

Page Smith and Sean Kearney of the University of Texas San Antonio and Texas A&M University, respectively, have given a joint paper on “The impact of achievement press on student success in elementary schools”. In spite of schools having to do more with less, school accountability and student achievement remains. This inquiry probes the types of school climate factors that nurture achievement in elementary schools. The paper, after analysis and a central research question offers suggestions as to how administrators can utilise the results of the investigation to change and advance schools.

The paper following is from Metsamuuronen, Kuosa and Laukkanen of Helsinki University, Tampere University and Alternative Futures, Helsinki. Jointly the authors have produced work on “Sustainable leadership and future-oriented decision making in educational governance – a Finnish case”. The purpose of the paper is to show what kind of sustainable leadership in educational governance can be seen behind the high level school results in Finland. Future-oriented actions are discussed alongside some relevant cultural prerequisites that have enabled effective change. Two cases of recent future-oriented actions in Finnish educational governance are given as examples.

David Ng of the National Institute of Education, Singapore contributes a piece on “Assessing leadership knowledge in a principalship preparation programme”. Ng's case study adopted Popper's three worlds as an analytical framework to assess leadership learning in a principalship development programme. The study involved participants in a programme called the Leaders in Education Programme (LEP) which has been in use since 2001 and developed over 300 leaders in Singapore schools.

The final paper is on “Motivation among public primary school teachers in Mauritius” by Seebaluk and Seequm of the University of Mauritius. The purpose of the study was to analyse the factors that affect the motivation of public primary school teachers and to investigate if there is a relationship between teacher motivation and job satisfaction in Mauritius.

Brian Roberts