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The purpose of this contribution is to draw on several recent contributions from the Journal of Educational Administration to reflect on the relationship between school supervision and educational leadership.

The German context of school supervision was first laid out. A comparative analysis of all contributions was then performed against the backdrop of the German context.

One finding from the analysis of the relationship between school supervision and educational leadership from a German perspective is the need to have structures of (mandatory) further training and development in place at the level of school principalship and school supervision. These structures represent building blocks for capacity building and for shifting cultures over time. Without reliable vehicles of professional development for all concerned parties, both school supervisory authorities and principals risk staying stuck in old professional identities that no longer match their current missions or emergent national aspirations.

This paper sheds a light on the complex relationship between school supervision, school leadership and school performance. The findings from the papers analyzed for this paper point to issues which scholars have been pondering about for decades now: Can supervision and support be successfully implemented within one agency? How can a supervisory authority change its professional identity? What combination of supervision, support and space creates conditions favorable to successful educational leadership and school improvement?

Information and communication technologies (ICT) has an increasing impact on schools. School leaders play a key role in this context as drivers of innovation including those related to ICT. Against this background, the study presented in this article focuses on school leadership and management activities with ICT and related challenges. It sought to analyze how frequently German school principals use ICT compared to principals in other countries, what distinct clusters of German principals could be identified in terms of ICT usage and how principals viewed ICT in schools and related challenges.

A mixed-methods approach was chosen, using quantitative data from both the international comparative large-scale assessment study ICILS 2018 and the explorative qualitative data from Germany. For the international comparison, the school principal data sets of the 12 international participants of the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) 2018 were taken into account: Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Luxembourg, Portugal, Uruguay and the United States. To look beyond averaged frequencies, a latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted to identify possible clusters of school leaders with distinct usage patterns of ICT for leadership and management activities.

The results indicate that, in general, German principals use ICT for leadership and management activities on a similar level as their international colleagues. However, they seem to communicate with education authorities significantly more often than their international colleagues, whereas representative activities (presentations, home page) are rather infrequent. The qualitative data point to significant barriers to fully harnessing the potential of using ICT for leadership, management and school improvement such as lack of competencies and lack of adequate support.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that focuses on school leadership and management activities using ICT with such a data set. The results provide insights into how German principals use ICT to lead and manage their schools compared to their international counterparts. The qualitative data offers additional insights into possible reasons hindering a more effective use of ICT.

This article reports on a study around a further education, blended-learning program aiming to establish globally active professional learning networks (PLNs). The questions guiding the research were: (1) What levers and barriers to establishing viable networks are identified by its members? (2) What – if any – indications of knowledge transfer within the networks can be identified?

The networking aspect of the study program was analyzed using semi-structured interviews with its recent participants and graduates (n = 22), with the objective of gaining insights into elements that supported the creation and maintenance of a global, student-centered network and community in the program. Additionally, a document analysis of the master theses of all participants since the start of the program (n = 96) was undertaken to look for indications of knowledge transfers from one cultural and/or geographical setting to another.

Blending online exchanges with face-to-face exchanges was seen as helpful in establishing a sustainable network. Additionally, having a low-barrier communication platform where it was socially acceptable to not only communicate about professional but also informal matters was described by virtually all participants as a promoting exchange and cohesion. Furthermore, about a fifth of all analyzed master theses contained indications of knowledge transfer, with instances of incorporating models or concepts from other contexts being the most prominent occurrence.

The findings offer insights into establishing sustainable blended-learning networks. They elaborate on key elements that supported and hindered the creation and viability of such networks. Furthermore, they highlight the importance of formal but also informal spaces for exchange.

The purpose of this paper is to show how school principals in France spend their work time and when and under what circumstances they deal with school improvement-related matters.

For the study presented in this paper, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was used. Five French collèges (secondary schools) from one school district were visited for a week each. Each principal was shadowed, his/her actions and the context were recorded and categorized. The shadowing was conducted using a structured observation approach derived from Mintzberg. In addition semi-structured interviews were conducted with all principals. The data were analyzed following a grounded theory approach.

The results show how principals spend their work time and as well as possible areas of improvement. Among other things, they reveal very fragmented workdays. Most principals put a low emphasis on school improvement and struggle with conflicting expectations (preservation vs innovation). Shared leadership was only observed in one case.

The specificity of the sample limits the possible ranges of interpretation and generalization. Also, it remains unclear whether one week of observation per school is enough to get a reliable estimate of a principal's daily work. There is a need for further empirical studies of the matter.

This paper offers rare insights into the day-to-day work of French school principals. It contributes to the understanding of school leadership practice as well as to the transcultural understanding of school leadership.

The purpose of this paper is to ascertain, describe, and compare the components of existing leadership preparation programs in the USA and other countries; and to understand the policy‐based processes, challenges, and needs of support for program development for conceptualizing globally minded school leadership.

The purpose of this paper is to ascertain, describe, and compare the components of existing leadership preparation programs in the USA and other countries; and to understand the policy‐based processes, challenges, and needs of support for program development for conceptualizing globally minded school leadership.

Limited growth regarding globally minded school leader research and development can be accounted for. Furthermore the increasing internationalization of university programming to include expanded course offerings and greater opportunities of international exchanges that bring students face‐to‐face with perspectives different from those indigenous to their home cultures speaks directly to the need for a shift in leadership preparation to better address the impact of globalization and intercultural exchange on youth learning in schools.

An intercultural analysis of leadership preparation programs with a focus on globally minded leadership is a new endeavor. The findings can be used to inform the next generation of policy formation for twenty‐first century leadership preparation program development.

This paper explores the emergence and shift in critical theories and problems-of-practice over the last 50 years.

Quipu is an Incan record-keeping system used across the Andes. Using multiple strings of different colors, hundreds of different knots were used to count, record historical events. The underlying idea of Quipu was that the intersection of knots and strings is a way of making memory tangible. I use the image of Quipu as a framework to organize my analytic memories and interpretation of research on school organization across spaces, people and generations.

I explore my own research and that of others who have influenced me, linking the strings of organizational theory to the knots representing changes in the educational environment that motivate research.

The paper is, in part, not only a reflective review of the literature but also a summation of the problems-of-practice that have engaged me and other scholars over a relatively long period of time.