Search results

Draws on the findings of a major research project funded by the New South Wales Department of School Education in Australia which sought to examine the school‐community interface and communication in government comprehensive high schools in that state. Data were drawn initially from nine schools in Western Sydney with three of these schools being the subject of in‐depth follow‐up study. These studies revealed the significant role played by senior school executives, particularly the principal, in the development of communication methods in schools and their influence on school culture and climate. Examines decision making and communication methods in the three schools within the context of each school′s environment and draws implications for school leadership, staff morale, and staff, student and community attitudes. A key finding is that there is no “recipe” for success as a principal. Rather, a contingency approach is advocated whereby individual principals adopt a personal position across a range of important considerations, these positions being dependent on contextual and personal factors. The case studies suggest what these positions could be.

The purpose of this paper is to discern and discuss links and connections between the ideas and insights contained in the articles published in Issue 6.2, in a way which portrays the key features of lesson study in an international context, its conceptual relationship with the ideas of Lawrence Stenhouse, and its analytic potential to effect pedagogical transformation in a global context.

To create a basis for a fruitful discussion about the critical features of Lesson and Learning Studies as it globalises between readers and the authors of the eight texts published, three of which are authored by practicing school teachers.

The author pinpoints four critical implementation issues that should provide a focus for further deliberation about how to realise the potential of lesson and learning studies for improving the quality of teaching and learning in educational institutions. These are: developing methods of analysis that disrupt and challenge the cultural scripts that shape teaching and learning in educational institutions; developing conditions and support systems that enable teachers not only to develop their practice through lesson and learning study, but also to participate in the development of theories that can powerfully inform such study; creating sustainable programmes of high-quality lesson and learning studies in educational institutions when they may stand in a state of tension with the prevailing organisational culture; and exploring the potential of creative methodological mixes, using both qualitative and quantitative research methods, for improving the quality of teaching and learning through lesson and learning study.

This editorial review provides a criterial framework for evaluating the quality of programmes of lesson and learning studies in educational institutions.

This exploratory study focuses on perceptions of school counselors about their work, its relationship to subcultures within the school, and how counselors believe other professionals within the culture of the school perceive their work. Explores the existence of a possible school counselor subculture and counselors’ role within the culture of the school and attempts to identify cultural constraints that affect counselors’ work. Concludes that understanding the interrelationships of school counselors with teachers, students, and administrators may provide better understanding of school culture, values, and norms.

An extract from a book manuscript highlighting the specific challenge which Greenfield posed to established thinking. Discusses how the study of education administration has been characterized by attempts to develop a theory which describes, explains and predicts administrative behaviour within the school context. Assesses the contribution of the “theory movement” and Kuhnian concepts; the movement of research towards finding a phenomological alternative to explain administrative behaviour; and the development of interpretive approaches which look towards subjects such as the humanities for a possible solution. In the light of this background discusses in depth the contribution made by T.B. Greenfield to the debate and considers the viability of an interpretive alternative.

As comparativists of education are well aware, over the second half of the 20th century there was a dramatic increase in the pace of educational expansion around the world. This revolution has made the world a schooled place both in terms of enrollment rates and increased average total years in schooling. What has been particularly noticeable is the degree to which governments in all types of nations have come to see that education plays a central role in the future development of the nation's human capital, and in turn governments have become the main providers of schooling. This alone is a significant shift from anything ever seen before the 20th century. Further this remarkable expansion of education has fostered notable homogeneity of goals, aims, and basic organizational forms of elementary and secondary schooling and, more recently, higher education.

Successful school reform requires a paradigm shift which begins with unlocking the school’s existing culture before attempts are made to integrate reform variables. Reengineering, and rethinking and radical redesign of internal processes calls for discarding current practices and reinventing better ways to supply products and services. Holistic thinking, cross‐sectional configurations, proactive behaviour patterns, reward for innovation and creativity, and the demise of traditional infrastructures are essential for facilitating fluid social, economic and political trends into the 21st century. Educators must think differently about the purpose of schools and their delivery and redesign infrastructures which are built on shared values and beliefs, multiple interacting linkages and teamwork. School leaders are the catalysts for change and, working with the school’s power agents and modeling expected behaviours, motivate teachers to replace the old culture with new processes of schooling. Shared ownership of case values, realistic and achievable goals and collaboration places the responsibility for creating a reengineered delivery system on teachers themselves.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the concept of “school quality management culture” in relation to the general notion of “school organizational culture” and to review empirical studies that scrutinised the relation between organisational culture and quality management practices in education and business.

The paper builds on an extensive literature review that was conducted as part of a project, which intends to develop an instrument to diagnose schools’ quality management culture in initial vocational education.

The paper demonstrates that school quality (management) culture exists and differs from school (organisational) culture. A pluralist view of culture and a differentiation perspective are more appropriate to explain the complex relationship between culture and quality practices than unified or integrated approaches. However, they also pose a challenge to empirical studies because they call for longitudinal and multi-method research designs.

The reciprocal relation between quality practices and school culture asks for a longitudinal and comparative research design. The findings also suggest using multi-perspective and multi-method approaches, and recommend cooperation between different but comparable fields such as education, health or social work.

This paper offers a literature base and a theoretical model to improve existing data collection tools to support quality management in vocational and other educational institutions.

Apart from the ideological question on whether “culture” is something an organisation is or an organisation has, the paper examines the question as to whether more “quality”-conducive cultures can be discerned from less conducive ones in schools. Furthermore, it deliberates on whether an organisation’s quality management culture is part of, or different from, an organisation’s overall culture and presents models to guide empirical analyses.

This issue is a selected bibliography covering the subject of leadership.