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1 – 10 of 640Doreen L. Mazzye and Joan Gujarati
Research in this field is becoming increasingly clear that a teacher residency program (TRP) has a strong potential for developing effective teachers in a teacher preparation…
Abstract
Purpose
Research in this field is becoming increasingly clear that a teacher residency program (TRP) has a strong potential for developing effective teachers in a teacher preparation context. There are specific features of a TRP that yield results in the development of teachers. However, there are often barriers to full implementation of a TRP that schools and university partnerships must consider and resolve. The purpose of this article is to disseminate the lessons we have learned and processes we have developed in navigating the barriers and complexities of shifting toward a TRP.
Design/methodology/approach
The university faculty members with a dual role as Professional Development School (PDS) liaisons examine, reflect on, and present their multiyear process of moving from an undergraduate traditional teacher preparation model to a teacher residency model.
Findings
In response to the barriers of funding, defining roles and responsibilities, and changes in leadership, we developed an undergraduate residency blueprint to navigate these challenges productively. One of the goals of this document is to provide clarity for all stakeholders as well as be a transparent solution for leadership transitions. The blueprint serves as a guide for the details of residency program design.
Originality/value
In movement toward a TRP, there are often barriers to full implementation that schools and university partnerships must consider and resolve. This article provides a model for partnerships seeking to navigate teacher residency work.
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Terhi Nissinen, Katja Upadyaya, Kirsti Lonka, Hiroyuki Toyama and Katariina Salmela-Aro
The purpose of this study was to explore school principals’ job crafting profiles during the prolonged COVID-19 crisis in 2021, and investigate profile differences regarding…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to explore school principals’ job crafting profiles during the prolonged COVID-19 crisis in 2021, and investigate profile differences regarding principals’ own perceived servant leadership, stress and work meaningfulness.
Design/methodology/approach
Using latent profile analysis (LPA), two job crafting profiles were identified: (1) active crafters (55%) and (2) average crafters (45%). By auxiliary measurement-error-weighted-method (BCH), we examined whether and how job crafting profiles differed in terms of servant leadership, stress and work meaningfulness.
Findings
Active crafters reported higher than the overall mean level of approach-oriented job crafting (increasing job resources and demands), whereas average crafters reported an overall mean level of approach-oriented job crafting. Avoidance-oriented job crafting by decreasing hindering job demands did not differentiate the two profiles. Active crafters reported significantly higher servant leadership behavior, stress and work meaningfulness than average crafters.
Originality/value
Study findings provide new knowledge and reflect the implications that the unprecedented pandemic had for education. This study contributes to the existing literature within the scholarship of job crafting through empirical research during the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. For practitioners, these study findings reflect contextual constraints, organizational processes and culture, and leadership in workplaces.
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Niamh Hickey, Aishling Flaherty and Patricia Mannix McNamara
There is currently a shortage of applications for the role of principal. There are a range of factors contributing to this, one of which may be the considerable levels of stress…
Abstract
Purpose
There is currently a shortage of applications for the role of principal. There are a range of factors contributing to this, one of which may be the considerable levels of stress and burnout reported by principals and deputy principals. Distributed leadership may offer some solutions to this challenge. This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of distributed leadership from a role sustainability perspective of school principals and deputy principals.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper follows a qualitative interpretivist approach based upon 15 semi-structured interviews with principals and deputy principals working in Irish post-primary schools. Data were analysed via thematic analysis.
Findings
Results indicate challenges to the sustainability of the role of senior school leaders comprising administrative overload, policy proliferation and challenges due to the complexity and breadth of the role of these school leaders. It was reported that engagement with distributed leadership could aid the sustainability of participants in their roles and the importance of focusing on well-being practices was also highlighted.
Practical implications
Recommendations include the need to reconsider policy proliferation and the need to reconceptualise school leadership. Further consideration regarding how distributed leadership can aid the sustainability of the role of senior school leaders, without adversely contributing to the already busy role of schoolteachers is also recommended.
Originality/value
The findings of this study are valuable as they reflect previous findings relating to the current challenges to sustainable school leadership as well as highlight distributed leadership as a potential aid to mitigate against these challenges.
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Aya Khaled Youssef Sayed Mohamed, Dagmar Auer, Daniel Hofer and Josef Küng
Data protection requirements heavily increased due to the rising awareness of data security, legal requirements and technological developments. Today, NoSQL databases are…
Abstract
Purpose
Data protection requirements heavily increased due to the rising awareness of data security, legal requirements and technological developments. Today, NoSQL databases are increasingly used in security-critical domains. Current survey works on databases and data security only consider authorization and access control in a very general way and do not regard most of today’s sophisticated requirements. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to discuss authorization and access control for relational and NoSQL database models in detail with respect to requirements and current state of the art.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper follows a systematic literature review approach to study authorization and access control for different database models. Starting with a research on survey works on authorization and access control in databases, the study continues with the identification and definition of advanced authorization and access control requirements, which are generally applicable to any database model. This paper then discusses and compares current database models based on these requirements.
Findings
As no survey works consider requirements for authorization and access control in different database models so far, the authors define their requirements. Furthermore, the authors discuss the current state of the art for the relational, key-value, column-oriented, document-based and graph database models in comparison to the defined requirements.
Originality/value
This paper focuses on authorization and access control for various database models, not concrete products. This paper identifies today’s sophisticated – yet general – requirements from the literature and compares them with research results and access control features of current products for the relational and NoSQL database models.
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Ingela Bäckström, Pernilla Ingelsson, Anna Mårtensson and Kristen M. Snyder
The purpose of this paper is to explore existing and desired methodologies for systematic quality work to promote quality in preschools from the principal’s perspective.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore existing and desired methodologies for systematic quality work to promote quality in preschools from the principal’s perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
A collaborative approach was used in this research project, and principals were asked to complete portfolio assignments. Their answers to those portfolio assignments were analysed by the research team and subsequently compared to total quality management values.
Findings
Existing and desired methodologies for systematic quality work are presented and sorted into 13 and 17 groups, respectively. The principals desire four times more methodologies than they are presently using to promote systematic quality work, and the results show that they must extend their methodologies to support TQM values.
Research limitations/implications
This research is based on answers collected from 18 principals in one municipality in Sweden.
Practical implications
The use of the cornerstone model provides a framework to illustrate the application of TQM in preschools.
Originality/value
Principals struggle to find time for systemic quality work. The presented results can be used to work systematically with quality in preschools and other organizations.
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David Nkengbeza, Eugene L. Maemeko and Percy Mashebe
The purpose of this study is to assess teachers' and principals' perception towards the role of collective learning (CL) and application in building professional learning…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to assess teachers' and principals' perception towards the role of collective learning (CL) and application in building professional learning communities (PLCs) in schools in one selected circuit in the Zambezi Region.
Design/methodology/approach
Quantitative research method was used, and the data were collected using PLCs’ questionnaires revised for circuit and region in Namibia. A total of 340 teachers and principals in primary, combined and secondary schools were involved in this research. Based on teachers and principals' assessment, high- and low-performing factors of CL are presented and explained.
Findings
The major findings are that the majority of participants either strongly agreed or agreed with almost all the statements. It was only in the statement that “teachers and the broader community role players come together to discuss better ways to solve problems” that a majority of participants disagreed. This research challenges all those involved in building up PLCs to think more about CL when they are in the process of structuring their schools as PLCs.
Originality/value
This article is the original work of these authors and has not been submitted to other journals for publication.
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Michael DiCicco and Shawn A. Faulkner
The paper identifies and explores the perspectives of middle school educators regarding the benefits and challenges of an ongoing, emerging school–university partnership. Over…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper identifies and explores the perspectives of middle school educators regarding the benefits and challenges of an ongoing, emerging school–university partnership. Over five years, professors at one comprehensive, Midwestern university, formed a partnership with a local middle school. While progress has been made to develop the partnership, the authors recognized a lack of shared governance (Essential 7). In particular, they were unsure the partnership was mutually beneficial. The authors interviewed teachers, the principal, assistant principals, guidance counselors, the instructional coach and the youth service center director to gain their perspectives on the partnership.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used an intrinsic, evaluative case study to examine educators perceptions of the benefits and challenges of the partnership (Guba & Lincoln, 1981; Patton, 2002). This approach was used because within this bounded system the authors have an interest in obtaining information to help improve the program and partnership.
Findings
Results suggest the partnership was beneficial in a number of ways including hiring of and offering fresh ideas to teachers. Educators also felt there were many benefits for university candidates. Challenges included scheduling, technology access and candidate disposition. Implications are discussed.
Research limitations/implications
Inherent within the research methodology, researchers’ inclusion in the data collection process may affect participants responses.
Practical implications
Researchers discuss the implications of this work, including the role of hiring candidates and clear articulation of a mission for the partnership.
Originality/value
This work adds to research on school site stakeholders’ perspectives on the value of school–university partnerships and includes teachers and the schools’ entire leadership team.
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Chuan-Chung Hsieh, Yu-Ran Chen and Hui-Chieh Li
This study examined the impact of school leadership on teacher professional collaboration, with collective teacher innovativeness and teacher self-efficacy (TSE) playing the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examined the impact of school leadership on teacher professional collaboration, with collective teacher innovativeness and teacher self-efficacy (TSE) playing the mediating role. Two most commonly used leadership styles, instructional leadership (IL) and distributed leadership (DL), were analyzed using a multilevel design, i.e. teachers are nested within schools.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed model was validated using data of Taiwan TALIS 2018 collected from both teachers and principals and analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling.
Findings
Results showed that IL and DL influence teacher professional collaboration through different paths. IL had a significant direct impact on teacher professional collaboration alone, while DL had a significant direct impact on both teachers' collective innovativeness and their professional collaboration. While TSE had a direct effect on collective teacher innovativeness, TSE and collective teacher innovativeness had a direct effect on teacher professional collaboration.
Originality/value
This study highlights the significant impact of principal leadership as both principals and teachers work in the same environment and culture co-shaped through the interaction and collaboration. Research evidence regarding the effects of IL and DL on teacher professional collaboration is limited; this is even less evidential when the indirect effects of variables mediating between school leadership and teacher outcomes, including teacher collective innovativeness and TSE, are added to the total effects. The present findings provide useful references for principals and teachers when promoting professional collaboration to achieve desired outcomes in school and student improvement.
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