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Examines the history of educational administration in the USA during the Progressive era (1890‐1940). Using Callahan's Education and the Cult of Efficiency as a starting point, examines school district‐based administrative practices that offered viable alternatives to the business‐oriented, “scientific management” reforms that tended to dominate much of the educational dialogue and innovation of the early twentieth century. Offers cases studies of three superintendents who creatively resisted the ideology of efficiency or who skillfully utilized administrative structures to buttress instructional reforms. Using archival records and other historical sources, first examines Superintendent A.C. Barker in Oakland, California between 1913 and 1918 and Superintendent Charles Chadsey in Denver, Colorado during the years 1907‐1912. Then analyzes the tenure of Jesse Newlon during his superintendency in Denver from 1920 to 1927. Using the conception of “authentic leadership” and the frameworks of the ethics of care, critique, and professionalism, argues that these administrators demonstrated how leaders grounded in notions of scholarly skepticism, democratic engagement, and the compassionate care of children were sometimes able to avoid the excesses of the ideology of “efficiency”.

Thailand desires to improve its economic competitiveness in the Southeast Asia-Pacific region and utilizes the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) on the 12 Pillars of Competitiveness to gauge this progress. The purpose of this paper is to study the outcomes for the fifth pillar on “Higher education and training” to identify the challenges to institutional management for the design and implementation of business administration programs.

The first hypothesis on causality and impact is a comparison of curricula design from published material between Thai and similar highly rated programs from the GCR using a statistical variance method. The second hypothesis is a proposed improvement model for implementation, geocentralization, analyzed using an inferential percentage differentiation.

The findings reveal a marked misalignment in relevant vs irrelevant curriculum design, with implementation performance results showing lower outcomes from traditional learning methods as compared to geocentralization.

Final remarks outline recommendations that Thai higher education administrators can utilize for improving curriculum design and implementation.

This multi-method study is aimed at assessing the quality and alignment of 11 Pakistani library and information science (LIS) master’s programs’ orientation, curricula and course contents, by comparing them with the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Guidelines for Professional Library/Information Programs (2012).

The study is based on a documentary analysis and telephonic interviews with master’s programs’ coordinators of all LIS departments. The data were collected on the 11 master’s programs from three sources: programs’ web pages, prospectuses and curricula with detailed course contents. The principal researcher also conducted 11 structured telephonic and face-to-face interviews with master’s programs’ coordinators.

Findings of the study show that while there is some compliance with IFLA core elements, the courses are largely inclined toward the management and less toward the information communication technologies (ICTs) components. Generally, the courses are traditional in nature, indicating a problem of widespread reliance on outdated and some irrelevant contents that do not reflect the current needs of the changing environment.

The findings highlight the need of increased efforts for seeking alignment with international standards by redesigning and reorienting LIS curricula. Mission and vision statement, planning and evaluation are the areas that need to be focused on to ensure the future survival of academic programs.

This is the first study of its nature in Pakistan that will be beneficial for Pakistan and other developing countries in their curriculum review and development process and future programs orientation.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the status, trends and challenges of library and information education and training in Eastern and Southern Africa. It notes that library and information education and training in Africa is undergoing rapid change, with difficult challenges to be overcome. For example, during the past 20 years, the number of library schools has grown in some regions and declined in some, such as South Africa. Common LIS factors include amalgamation, re‐orientation, and curriculum review and revision.

The authors' extensive experience with and exposure to LIS education has been used together with observations and literature survey in the field to inform this paper.

It is evident that LIS schools have, to a greater or lesser extent, been redesigning their curricula to keep track of the latest developments in the information world and keep their teaching market‐related. New qualification programmes have been developed to provide opportunities for further specialization. In many cases departments have changed their names to reflect these new focus areas and extensions, and in many cases departments have realigned themselves within their universities. It is evident that LIS schools have taken the challenges of the changing information environment very seriously, and have adapted their curricula, their names and their institutional alignments to reflect these changes.

The paper raises fundamental issues concerning trends, challenges and opportunities for LIS education and training in eastern and southern Africa by largely drawing examples from the authors' experience and related African studies in the domain.

The paper provides useful current information to inform LIS educators, researchers, students and other stakeholders on the issues and challenges of LIS education in the region.

Information provided in this paper is of value for comparative studies on LIS education and training. The paper is current and largely informed by participant observation, participation and experiential knowledge that is fresh and well informed.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how a group of International Baccalaureate (IB) Physics teachers exercise collective agency by initiating and facilitating their own collaboration using online tools across time zones and school contexts. The paper seeks to inform teacher communities, school leaders, policy and the growing body of literature about teacher agency.

This paper uses qualitative case study approach. Data were gathered from individual interviews, classroom observations and the group’s meeting agendas, notes and reflections.

Central to the group’s work is a norm of teaching “lock-step,” meaning they teach approximately the same lesson at approximately the same time. The norm enabled them to exercise collective agency over the curriculum and professional learning by establishing conditions for sharing knowledge and experiences and fostering accountability while still allowing for some individual adaptation.

An implication for teacher communities is that the norm of lock-step may be of benefit for improving curriculum (or other educational reforms) when the intention of the norm is to advance the collective (vs marching at the same pace). The study underscores the value of school leaders providing opportunities for teacher choice and voice in the design and facilitation of their learning communities.

The case of the IB Physics group contrasts decades of research showing that teachers cling to their autonomy. Group members were willing to give up a good deal of their individual autonomy for the benefits they derived from their collaboration.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the ways that history curriculum has worked to legitimise dispossession through narratives that elide questions of Indigenous sovereignty, and which construct and consolidate white settler identity and possession.

The paper uses two case studies to compare history education documentation and materials at key moments where dominant narratives of settler legitimacy were challenged in public discourse: (1) the post-war humanitarian agenda of fostering “international understanding” and; (2) the release and educational recommendations of the 1997 Bringing them Home Report.

The paper shows that in two moments where narratives of settler legitimacy were challenged in public discourse, the legitimacy of settler possession was reiterated in history curricula in various ways.

This research suggests that the prevailing constructivist framework for history education has not sufficiently challenged criticisms of the representation of Aboriginal history and the history of settler-colonialism in the history syllabus.

The paper introduces two case studies of history curriculum and shows how, in different but resonant ways, curricular reforms worked to bolster the liberal credentials of the settler state.

A study was conducted to assess the potential of six library and information education programs in preparing manpower for the digital environment. The situation of six schools in the member nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council has been analyzed by collecting data from the schools heads and 49 faculty members, focusing on: curricular changes; faculty size and its research and publication record; hardware equipment and software packages available for instruction; use of digital resources such as databases, online services, and electronic utilities for instruction; and availability of periodicals, books, and electronic resources for instructional activity. This study has brought forth a number of crucial issues related to these factors. Unless these schools take significant developmental or remedial initiatives, they cannot fare well in coping with the changes wrought by the digital imperatives.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the operationalization of the outcome-based education (OBE) model in an accountancy study program in Sri Lanka and the impact of education frameworks on OBE.

This study follows the case study approach to the first academic accounting study program in a Sri Lankan public sector university. Primary data were collected through semi-structured interviews and secondary data through a content analysis of various relevant documents. The data were analyzed thematically using the theory of constructive alignment.

In accounting, the most significant imperative for the OBE stems from normative pressures. Since the accounting education frameworks have closely followed the approach suggested in constructive alignment, the normative institutionalization of professional standards in accounting supports OBE in accounting education. The OBE approach with its diverse range of teaching and learning activities and assessment methods in accounting has yielded multi-stakeholder benefits while posing some challenges in operationalization.

The paper’s insights are based on a single case study in Sri Lanka and may be difficult to generalize to other countries.

This is the first empirical attempt to study the operationalization of the theory of constructive alignment of OBE in accounting for a study program.

The paper aims to explore the role of outcome‐based education, criteria‐referenced assessment, and work‐integrated education in the teaching of law to non‐law students. The difficulties inherent in the use of such techniques in this particular context have not yet been thoroughly articulated or theorized because it is not clear what we want of our students: to think like lawyers, to do like lawyers, to be like lawyers – or none of the above. The paper proposes some answers.

Discussion within the paper draws on theories articulated within the established literature relating to the issues under consideration.

The paper reveals several gaps that need to be addressed by proposed empirical and longitudinal research projects to answer specific research questions.

The paper contributes to the developing theory of teaching law to non‐law students.

This study aimed to develop and validate a list of core technology competencies for systems librarian in Pakistan.

Survey method was used to conduct this investigation. A structured questionnaire, consisting of 52 competency statements categorized into six core technology areas, was developed based on an extensive literature review, experts’ scrutiny and pilot testing. The administration of the survey questionnaire was done though online environments such as related listservs and Facebook pages. The received 62 responses were imported into statistical package for social sciences and analyzed by computing means, standard deviations, Pearson correlation and t-test.

The results indicated six core technology areas where competencies of systems librarians needed to be developed, namely, basic computing, programming and Web publishing, computer networks, cloud computing, database management systems and information systems. The respondents validated 50 statements with an average mean score more than three. Only two statements received mean scores less than three. The results also indicated higher consistency of these statements as the value of Cronbach’s alpha was 0.973.

This research attempted to identify and validate core technology competencies needed for systems librarians in Pakistan. It neither attempted to determine the weightage each competency should have if it was to be included in curriculum nor it intended to identify a detailed content for each core technology competency. In Pakistan, System librarians develop their knowledge and skills with the specialized computer subject by studying on their own, attending training workshops and on job experience. It is therefore worth mentioning here that the knowledge of the needed competencies may be limited.

Library and information science schools need to consider these competencies in developing and designing information curriculum with regard to management of library systems. This set of competencies help academicians in designing need-based curricula and training programs for existing and prospect system librarians in Pakistan.

This study would be a worthwhile contribution to the literature on competencies of information professionals especially systems librarians as no such study appeared providing pragmatic, evidenced and field-based insights toward proposed research area.