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The purpose of this paper is to present a case for a change of educational system, rather than a change in the current system. A rudimentary framework for an alternative educational system is proposed.

Cybernetic and educational literature supports an alternative approach to education. Design principles are identified for an alternative system.

For the desirable integration of curricular and pedagogical principles to be realized in an educational system, a non-hierarchical organizational structure is required. The icosahedral structure that embeds Stafford Beer's syntegration process provides such a default structure. Such a structure would be subversive in the current society.

The implementation of the proposed system of schools could transform society by offering an alternative way of thinking about the structure of organizations like schools, as well as political and economic organizations. In so doing, fully participative democratic processes could be realized and sustained.

The use of the icosahedral structure as a framework for creating a system of schools world-wide is new and has value for anyone contemplating alternative educational systems.

We are living in an era of very profound and fast changes, when the computer is a link between human expertise and the advanced world of mechanical and electronic technology. We are witnessing many changes which will transform our world during our lifetime in a dramatic way which cannot be compared to revolutions of the past. Previous revolutions of mankind have involved mainly changes in the distribution of power and property. The approaching technological revolution will affect us not only in this way; it will also affect the essence of our individual and social existence. It will have tremendous consequences for the way and the meaning of our life.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the professional context of the educator and architects who designed and conceived Woodleigh School in Baxter, Victoria, Australia (1974-1979) and to identify common design threads in a series of schools designed by Daryl Jackson and Evan Walker in the 1970s.

The research was derived from academic and professional publications, film footage, interviews, archival searches and site visits. Standard analytical methods in architectural research are employed, including formal, planning and morphological analysis, to read building designs for meaning and intent. Books, people and buildings were examined to piece together the design “biography” of Woodleigh School, the identification of which forms the basis of the paper's argument.

Themes of loose fit, indeterminate planning, coupled with concepts of classroom as house, and school as town, and engagement with a landscape environment are drawn together under principal Michael Norman's favoured phrase that adolescents might experience “a slice of life”, preparing them for broader engagement with a world and a community outside school. The themes reflect changing aspirations for teenage education in the 1970s, indicating a free and experimental approach to the design of the school environment.

The paper considers, for the first time, the interconnected role of educator and architect as key protagonists in envisioning connections between space and pedagogy in the 1970s alternative school.

Challenging the stigma of mental illness is a major public health concern. School‐based anti‐stigma education is in its infancy. Little attention has been given to the pedagogical structure of such education, and evidence shows some initiatives have been unsuccessful, or worse, increased stigma. This paper seeks to examine the impact of a novel approach to anti‐stigma education, which aims to overcome these problems, “inclusive dialogue”. It encourages young people to grapple with the complexities of mental illness, with emphasis on personal narratives rather than abstract concepts.

A small group of year 10 pupils participated in a series of inclusive dialogue sessions. Qualitative interviews with participants were conducted and their responses along with their contributions during the sessions were analysed.

Participants reported that taking part enhanced their confidence in talking about mental illness, increased their understanding and capacity for empathy towards others with mental health problems. They felt the understanding they gained was relevant to their lives and an important educational experience which they would carry forward into their adult lives.

Inclusive dialogue is a novel approach to education about mental illness which has been evaluated using innovative qualitative methods. It shows promise and requires further investigation.

The purpose of this article is to explore diversity in competence models across Europe and consider the extent to which there is sufficient common ground for a common European approach to underpin the European Qualifications Framework.

The paper uses a literature review and interviews with policy makers.

Despite the central role of competence in policy initiatives, conceptual approaches to competence vary not only between but also within different member states. This diversity embodies not only language issues but also fundamental cultural differences in approaches to skill formation. Whether the models have sufficient common ground to permit a “best‐fit” European‐wide approach is open to question, although this is clearly an essential prerequisite for removing barriers to labour mobility. Despite initiatives like the European Qualifications Framework there is still no consensus for adopting a common competence model and policy discussions continue to reveal confusion.

The focus on policy discussions at the European level may be a limitation, and readers should see this as the introductory scene setting to more detailed discussions in the following papers of important developments within member states. Beyond this, much is happening at the level of sectors and occupations that is the focus for practical implementation.

The paper highlights the urgent need to develop a coherent conceptual underpinning for competence descriptors in qualifications frameworks that will work as a best‐fit approach across Europe. Without this, occupational and inter‐sector mobility will be hindered.

The paper offers the most comprehensive assessment of European approaches to competence to date.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and explore the factors and conditions of moral leadership that affect the potential for teacher retention among Alternative Route Certification teachers.

Alternative Route Certification teachers participated in a single focus group. Participants' dialogues were recorded and analyzed for themes. These themes were triangulated with external data from a related study.

Not only are Alternative Route Certification teachers drawn to the profession due to their own moral ideals, findings reveal that they are simultaneously responsive to principals' moral leadership. The praxis of moral leadership is expressed through relationships between principals and teachers and is defined by dispositions as well as actions. Three themes from this study define moral leadership as: a respect for teachers as professionals; relationships with teachers; and focusing on the right things.

This paper lays out a theoretical framework and low cost implications for the development of a leadership praxis toward sustaining teacher retention, particularly among Alternative Certification Route teachers working in urban schools.

Research on Alternative Route Certification teacher retention is underdeveloped, at best. This project adds to this body of research by exploring the specific traits, attitudes, dispositions, and actions that define the moral leadership needed to foster teacher retention.

Empirical research on leadership for social justice is in progress in many parts of the world. The purpose of this paper is to explore principals’ school-leadership journeys in response to social-justice issues caused by specific contextual changes at times of uncertainty. It seeks to answer the following key questions: What social-justice issues do principals identify as arising from their schools’ transformation due to contextual changes? How do principals practise leadership for social justice in response to these contextual changes at different levels?

This paper is based on qualitative data from a cross-case study of two principals’ school-leadership journeys. The authors pay particular attention to the understanding of leadership for social justice grounded in principals’ efforts to foster equality in learning development for a diverse student population.

Timely adverse conditions may be required to foster leadership for social justice in schools. The principals reacted to contextual changes at several levels, planning and implementing innovative and flexible interventions to ensure equality in students’ learning development. These findings contribute to international accounts of educational leadership.

This study of leadership for social justice in schools is contextually specific. Therefore, more empirical comparisons of school leadership are required in future studies, as principals’ practices vary between education settings.

This paper offers insights into the evolution of leadership for social justice in schools in response to contextual changes. Principals’ leadership strategies can be reoriented and their actions reshaped to overcome threats to social justice in schools. Accordingly, although leadership for social justice in school communities is culturally and pedagogically inclusive, it is also socially distinctive.

The chapter discusses the uniqueness of qualitative research that does not allow meeting the terms of consent as they are applied in traditional, positivist research with pre-defined goals that aim to validate hypotheses.

It is proposed adopting an ethics that promotes trust-based, reflective and dynamic relations between researchers and participants, centering on caring, humanity and concern. The suggested alternative approach views consent as an ongoing process that takes place throughout the entire course of the study; responsibility for protection of participants is expected of participants too, and is not the duty of researchers alone; mutuality must take place in the form of an ongoing, continuous dialogue; it is in order to consider fair recompense for participants too, thus reducing the one-sidedness of the research interest, and the chances that participants will decide to withdraw before completion of the study.