Editorial

Citation

Roberts, B. (2013), "Editorial", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 27 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijem.2013.06027faa.001

Editorial

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Educational Management, Volume 27, Issue 6.

In this issue there are seven published papers with authors from the USA, Hong Kong, Dubai, Denmark, Pakistan and Germany. The first paper is by Dennis C. McCornac of Loyola University, MD, USA and Rong Zhang of Nishinippon Institute of Technology, Japan. Their topic concentrates on the need for private universities in Japan to be agents of change. The difficulties are not unique to Japan but wider access to higher education (HE), the maintenance of standards within affordability to the state would be recognised by most of us. The authors identify subject choice, motivation of students, and assessment of quality and outcomes of HE. Improvements in private universities in Japan should start with improvements in teaching and faculty development.

The next paper is a study of workplace aggression related to education reform in Hong Kong secondary schools, written by Frank Tam of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. A total of 845 teachers in 30 secondary schools in Hong Kong were surveyed to look at how constraint in an organisation and feeling of disengagement within the school hampers the successful implementation of reform towards constructive pedagogy. The findings suggest that feelings of disengagement amplify the negative input of constructional change and cause aggression within the school to intensify, but school support can significantly reduce the difficulties.

The next work is submitted by Jiafang Lu and Philip Hallinger on learner-centred HE in East Asia – assessing the effects on student engagement. The region has a tradition of lecture-based instruction. The study is a quantitative one which examines the process and effects of change in teaching and learning at a graduate school of business in Thailand. The school implemented a variety of active learning methods that were explicitly designed to increase student engagement. It was found that active learning methods could be implemented in the context of an East Asian HE institution and they entailed positive change in student engagement over time.

From Middlesex University in Dubai, Cedwyn Fernandes, Kieran Ross and Mohammad Meraj present work on student satisfaction and loyalty in the United Arab Emirates HE sector. The purpose of the paper is to verify and estimate the impact of programme satisfaction and to explore links with student loyalty in the HE sector of the United Arab Emirates. A total of 187 graduates were surveyed at a UK university based in Dubai. Teaching quality and variables directly associated with the students’ programme of study had the most significant impact on student satisfaction emphasising the need for recruitment and development of high-quality academic faculty members.

In the fifth paper, Jan Selmer and Jakob Lauring of Aarhus University, Denmark, ask whether staff diversity implies openness to diversity? In this study the authors recognise that post-secondary educational organisations are some of the most diverse settings to be found yet few have looked outside of the USA. They found that diversity-related internationalisation (cultural and linguistic) was generally positively related to favourable diversity attitudes. Inherent demographic diversity (age and gender) on the other hand was unrelated or negatively associated with positive diversity attitudes.

There have been a number of papers submitted on cheating and dishonesty in the Indian subcontinent. This work is a multi-campus investigation of academic dishonesty on academic dishonesty in HE in Pakistan by Abida Ellahi, Rabia Khan and Bashir Khan of the International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan. The research aims to investigate the influence of individual factors and ethical factors on academic dishonesty behaviour in Pakistan students. A lack of well-defined policies on this topic in HE is a major determinant of academic dishonesty in students. The results have strong implications for academics. By discouraging such behaviour academic institutions can help ensure the integrity of the degrees they offer.

In the final paper, Shun Wing Ng of the Hong Kong Institute of Education, writes on the inclusion of parents in school governance (rhetoric or reality?). The paper reports a qualitative study on explaining the development process of parent involvement in school governance in Hong Kong. Sharing school governance with teachers is perceived as a strategy for improving the education system yet parent governors can be marginalised by school professionals and often their involvement often has not resulted in any dynamic change. Recommendations are made for greater involvement, respect, training and integration to encourage better communication.

Brian RobertsEditor