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1 – 10 of 691David Osworth, Kathleen Mary Winn Cunningham, Suzy Hardie, Peter Moyi, Mary Gaskins and Natalie Osborne Smith
This study aims to analyze the experiences of a closed cohort of aspiring leaders and connects the university and school district partnership relationship to building the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyze the experiences of a closed cohort of aspiring leaders and connects the university and school district partnership relationship to building the leadership capacity of the cohort. This study builds on previous literature in district-university partnerships and leadership preparation. Powerful learning experiences (PLEs) and interpersonal-intrapersonal leadership development models serve as frames to examine how aspects of successful leadership preparation programs were present.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative study was conducted with a team of researchers from the university and school district and relies on data from semi-structured interviews with students from the closed cohort.
Findings
Researchers identified three major themes of aspiring leaders' preparation experience: confidence building, reflection and mindset change.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the emerging literature on PLEs by illustrating how this type of partnership creates opportunities for powerful learning experiences for aspiring school leaders.
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School-level leaders should not be expected to be mired in emotional turmoil and sacrifice their own health, happiness and well-being to do their jobs effectively. While the…
Abstract
School-level leaders should not be expected to be mired in emotional turmoil and sacrifice their own health, happiness and well-being to do their jobs effectively. While the emotional aspects of school-level leadership have continued to evolve and become increasingly complex since the turn of the twenty-first century, the supports available to these individuals remain outdated, ineffective, and moribund. If mentoring, anonymous telephone support lines and other ‘old school’ approaches for supporting school leaders were still effective, they would not be struggling to deal with the emotional aspects of their work and workload. Further, there is a need to provide ‘just-in-time’ supports that are available to school-level leaders when concerns arise. Absent structural changes, isolated and individualized approaches to self-care cannot mitigate the challenges principals face or the physical, mental and emotional toll associated with their work and workload. Communal strategies and policy levers are recommended in an effort to go beyond mindfulness and other (potentially) individualistic and neoliberal approaches to self-care. This chapter also explores how principal preparation programmes and other formal professional learning opportunities are an untapped resource in terms of strengthening school-level leaders' emotional regulation capacity and building a general appreciation for the emotional aspects of school-level leadership.
Omotayo Adewale Awodiji and Suraiya R. Naicker
Teachers at all levels of the education system are expected to model leadership qualities to students. Leadership qualities of level advisers (LAs) are regarded as charismatic…
Abstract
Purpose
Teachers at all levels of the education system are expected to model leadership qualities to students. Leadership qualities of level advisers (LAs) are regarded as charismatic, pragmatic, ideological and innovative (CPII) in this study. This study compared the leadership qualities of LAs in universities in Nigeria as perceived by students. The purpose of this paper is to compare the leadership qualities of LAs in universities in Nigeria as perceived by students.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey-comparative design of a quantitative research approach was used. Two universities were purposively selected and the convenience sampling method was applied to select 207 participants.
Findings
Findings revealed that LAs of the private university exhibit a slightly higher level of leadership qualities than those from the public university based on the students' assessment (t (207) = 2.19 and ρ = 0.029 < 0.05).
Research limitations/implications
The study concluded that universities should organise regular workshops for LAs on innovative leadership to stimulate 21st-century learners to achieve their educational objectives.
Practical implications
It is therefore recommended that universities should organise a regular workshop for LAs on an innovative leadership model that promotes 21st century students to achieve their educational objectives.
Originality/value
In practice, the study of this kind is timely, given that academic advisers or advisers are very influential on student achievement and success. Thus, the outcome will educate the academic advisers on the leadership qualities that will enhance their role in the 21st century. In addition, it will add to the literature on university LAs' leadership skills in Nigeria and other nations of Africa. Most literature available in the context is mainly from America.
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Nechama Nadav, Pascale Benoliel and Chen Schechter
This study examines the relationship of principals’ systems thinking (PST) to student outcomes of academic achievement and school violence. The investigation relies on the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the relationship of principals’ systems thinking (PST) to student outcomes of academic achievement and school violence. The investigation relies on the contingency theory, according to which effective leadership is contingent on the nature of the situational influences to which managers are exposed. Specifically, the study investigates the influence of school structure – bureaucratic vs organic – on the relationship between PST and student outcomes of academic achievement and school violence after accounting for students’ socioeconomic backgrounds and principals' demographics.
Design/methodology/approach
A three-source survey design with self-reported and non-self-reported data was used, with a sample of 423 participants from 71 elementary schools in Israel. The sample included senior management team members and teachers. The data were aggregated at the school level of analysis.
Findings
Hierarchical regression analyses showed that organic school structure moderates the relationship between PST and student academic achievement, and bureaucratic school structure moderates the relationship between PST and school violence beyond the impact of students’ socioeconomic backgrounds.
Originality/value
This study provides important evidence for the benefits of aligning PST with school structure for improving student outcomes beyond the impact of students’ socioeconomic backgrounds. In addition, the study suggests principal system thinking leadership to achieve effective student outcomes that circumvent the effects of inequality on disadvantaged student groups.
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Nechama Nadav, Pascale Benoliel and Chen Schechter
The role of leadership through senior management teams (SMT) has received increasing attention over the past several decades. Such leadership requires principals to play a key…
Abstract
Purpose
The role of leadership through senior management teams (SMT) has received increasing attention over the past several decades. Such leadership requires principals to play a key role in promoting SMT effectiveness. Therefore, according to the input–mediator–outcome model (Ilgen et al., 2005), this study's purpose is to investigate the mediating role of school SMT learning in the relationship between principal systems thinking (PST) and SMT effectiveness after accounting for students' socioeconomic backgrounds and SMT members' tenure.
Design/methodology/approach
A three-source survey design with self-reported and non-self-reported data was used, from a sample of 282 participants from 71 elementary schools in Israel. The sample included principals and SMTs. Data were aggregated at the school level of analysis.
Findings
The results from structural equation modeling and bootstrapping analysis indicated that SMT learning fully mediates the relationship between PST and SMT effectiveness, irrespective of the students' socioeconomic backgrounds.
Originality/value
This study provides important insights into the role of SMT learning as a mediator in the relationship between PST and SMT effectiveness. In addition, the study responds to the call of previous studies to examine the effects of PST on characteristics and outcomes at the group level. Moreover, the proposed integrative model highlights the importance of SMT learning and suggests new ways to encourage it.
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Nicola Sum, Reshmi Lahiri-Roy and Nish Belford
Identity, positioning and possibilities intersect differently for South Asian women in white academia. Within a broader migrant community that defines Australian life, these…
Abstract
Purpose
Identity, positioning and possibilities intersect differently for South Asian women in white academia. Within a broader migrant community that defines Australian life, these identities and positioning imply great possibility, but pursuing such pathways within academia is a walk on the last strand of resilience. This paper explores this tension of possibilities and constraints, using hope theory to highlight the cognitive resistance evident in the narratives of three South Asian women in Australian academia.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use collaborative autoethnography to share their narratives of working in Australian universities at three different stages of careers, utilising Snyder's model of hope theory to interrogate their own goal-setting behaviours, pathways and agentic thinking.
Findings
The authors propose that hope as a cognitive state informs resistance and enables aspirations to contribute within academia in meaningful ways whilst navigating the terrain of inequitable structures.
Originality/value
The authors' use of hope theory as a lens on the intersectional experiences of career making, building and progression is a new contribution to scholarship on marginalised women in white academe and the ways in which the pathways of resistance are identified.
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