{"title":"The forgotten ECEC staff working with birth-to-3-year-olds: The imbalances between the workforce policies and ECEC staff employment conditions in Spain","authors":"A. Corral-Granados, C. Rogers, Fredrik Kruse","doi":"10.1177/08920206211057979","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08920206211057979","url":null,"abstract":"In response to an international focus on Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), Spanish scholars have recently started to explore the participation of early years practitioners in their educational organisations and their views on working conditions. However, a comprehensive review of the current challenges experienced by the Under 3 s early years educators and the examination of the imbalances in workforce policy and working conditions on literature, has thus far not been conducted. Three themes are identified related to the professional developmental path within the school settings that the Spanish ECEC educators follow. The first relates to the educators’ initial ECEC education and training, who the staff caring for this age group are, and how prepared they are. The second is linked to the ECEC programs available for children from birth until they reach three years, and how and where the inclusive programs are delivered to this age group, as well as the early years educators’ working conditions and the impact of the professional roles. Whereas the third relates to in-service professional development derived from interaction and collective learning. The article concludes with suggestions on how the practitioners’ professional development could operationalise policy requirements in order to achieve more inclusive and child-centred learning.","PeriodicalId":40030,"journal":{"name":"Management in Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2021-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49549453","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Teachers’ perceptions of their school principal's leadership style and improvement in their students’ performance in specialized schools for students with conduct disorders","authors":"Uri Even, Iris BenDavid-Hadar","doi":"10.1177/08920206211054654","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08920206211054654","url":null,"abstract":"We examined the relationship between the school principal's leadership style, as perceived by the school teachers, and improvement in the performance of students with special education needs enrolled in specialized schools for students with conduct disorders. Our motivation originates in the increasing trend in their share within the general population and the premise that this unique population may respond differently to school principal leadership style. Datasets on students’ previous performance, students’ background characteristics, teacher profiles, and school features were collected. In addition, a questionnaire on teachers’ perceptions of their school principal's leadership style was distributed. Datasets were collected from 92 teachers who worked in special education needs public schools that specialized in conduct disorders. Using STATA software, we measured multilevel fixed-effects models. We found that the more the school principal is perceived as a transformational leader, the higher the students’ performance. Additionally, secondary school advantaged students (i.e. having a high level of previous performance, high socioeconomic strata), who are taught by more educated teachers, exhibit higher performance compared with their counterparts. Based on our finding, we recommend that policy makers would consider assigning transformational leaders to low-performing schools. In addition, policy makers may want to allocate extra learning resources and to provide access to learning services to support the disadvantaged students’ learning process.","PeriodicalId":40030,"journal":{"name":"Management in Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2021-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43607308","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Untangling collegiality and distributed leadership: Equality versus utility. A perspective piece","authors":"Adrian Jarvis","doi":"10.1177/08920206211057980","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08920206211057980","url":null,"abstract":"Both ‘collegiality’ and ‘distributed leadership’ have, as terms, occasioned a good deal of debate. Conceptually elastic, they are often used interchangeably, or not appreciated as embodying a range of leadership styles and relationships. Spurred by an unanswered query from a research project, this theoretical article attempts to clarify what the two words mean – especially in relation to each other. Collegiality is defined as an approach, characterised by equality, whereas distributed leadership is seen to be much more closely aligned to the goals of a team or organisation, thus making it more to do with utility. While formal distributed leadership is indifferent to collegiality - although not hostile to it - informal distributed leadership, it is argued, requires collegiality to be in place before it can exist, much less thrive.","PeriodicalId":40030,"journal":{"name":"Management in Education","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2021-11-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42178975","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Can governance be ethical if it is not diverse?","authors":"V. Porritt, Fee Stagg","doi":"10.1177/08920206211057986","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08920206211057986","url":null,"abstract":"Can governance be ethical if it is not diverse? Abstract There is growing acceptance that governing boards in English schools and academies should be diverse. Yet progress towards this strategic aim remains slow despite initiatives to address this. We ask whether boards represent their communities and whether they model diverse and ethical leadership as seen in the culture and values of a school or trust and through recruitment and we argue that governance cannot be ethical if it is not diverse. Our thinking about the question at the heart of this paper is influenced by ethical leadership as well as the Black Lives Matter movement. We draw on two diverse boards, one a maintained governing board for a primary school and the other a Multi-Academy Trust board, to support our opinion and thank them for sharing their challenges and successes. We suggest ways forward to deliberately disrupt the status quo and ensure governing boards represent the students in their communities.","PeriodicalId":40030,"journal":{"name":"Management in Education","volume":"36 1","pages":"5 - 10"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2021-11-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49555214","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Networks","authors":"H. Lovell","doi":"10.1177/089202068900300209","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/089202068900300209","url":null,"abstract":"Social scientists study many different types of networks, from policy networks to sociotechnical networks, in order to better understand processes of change. These diverse networks have a number of characteristics in common, including interconnectedness, flows, and fragility. Exploring these characteristics in relation to smart grids helps us to better understand the social nature of energy sector innovation. In this chapter, I use these themes and concepts to assess three examples: international smart grid policy networks; a local community network on Bruny Island, Australia; and a fragile network, the digital metering programme in the State of Victoria, Australia.","PeriodicalId":40030,"journal":{"name":"Management in Education","volume":"3 1","pages":"23 - 26"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2021-11-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/089202068900300209","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45736792","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“I’m just a TA”; From mixing paints to managing safeguarding and class teaching: An exploration of teaching assistant's perceptions and roles in school","authors":"Marie Bradwell, H. Bending","doi":"10.1177/08920206211057344","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08920206211057344","url":null,"abstract":"This small-scale piece of research listened to the stories, experiences and perceptions of teaching assistants to hear their lived experiences of the role of teaching assistant. To hear how expectations have altered with/without legislative and framework guidance and consideration of the individuals who take up teaching assistant roles, in a climate where there is a succinct lack of legal requirement for any training or qualifications to be undertaken prior to or during the job role. The findings indicated that there appears to be an ethos within primary educational settings that teaching assistants can ‘do it all’ at ‘all times’, that there is a lack of clarity in role and responsibilities across the ‘unqualified staff’, and furthermore that they self-position as “Just a TA”.","PeriodicalId":40030,"journal":{"name":"Management in Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2021-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48370090","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lokman Mohd Tahir, N. Samah, Siti Nisrin Mohd Anis, Mohd Fadzli Ali
{"title":"Implementing teacher leadership in Malaysian schools: Exploring secondary principals’ perspectives","authors":"Lokman Mohd Tahir, N. Samah, Siti Nisrin Mohd Anis, Mohd Fadzli Ali","doi":"10.1177/08920206211053099","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08920206211053099","url":null,"abstract":"Objective: The purpose of this study is to explore principals’ perspectives on the concept of teacher leadership, the strategies that they employed to support teacher leadership practice and the challenges and issues that principals faced while implementing teacher leadership. Methodology: This qualitative case study uses interview sessions with 10 purposely selected principals from various types of secondary schools. All schools are public schools that are administered and funded by the Ministry of Education, Malaysia. Findings: The study reveals that principals had a comprehensive understanding of the concept of teacher leadership; in fact, principals were able to list teacher leaders’ characteristics and provide definitions for the concept of teacher leadership. In exploring principals’ strategies to support teacher leadership practice, five themes emerged: developing future leaders, a mentoring programme, involving more teachers as teacher leaders, practising an ‘open door’ policy and providing more opportunities for teachers to offer mutual assistance. In terms of the challenges for teacher leadership practices, principals shared particular issues such as the unwillingness of teachers to become teacher leaders due to their heavy workloads and challenges in eading senior teachers. Significance: This study supplements the literature that explores teacher leadership within the Malaysian schooling context, which has hitherto been understudied. Thus, the concept of teacher leadership needs more in-depth investigation and evaluation to ascertain its suitability within Malaysia's educational system. For the Ministry of Education, this study notes some practical implications for improving teacher leadership in Malaysian schools.","PeriodicalId":40030,"journal":{"name":"Management in Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2021-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45237130","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
C. Forde, D. Torrance, Alison Mitchell, M. McMahon, J. Harvie
{"title":"Education governance and the role of the headteacher: The new policy problem in Scottish education","authors":"C. Forde, D. Torrance, Alison Mitchell, M. McMahon, J. Harvie","doi":"10.1177/08920206211057348","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08920206211057348","url":null,"abstract":"As part of the current Review of Education Governance in Scotland, the Headteachers’ Charter is perceived as a central policy solution. The Charter changes the responsibilities of the headteacher by altering the relationship between headteacher and local authority, and thereby bringing about changes to the governance of education. If these changes are perceived as the solution, what is the perceived policy problem? This article examines policy documents to explore the policy problem using Bacchi's (2012a) ‘what's the problem represented to be’ (WPR) approach, which uses a framework of six questions to analyse policy texts. The article begins with a brief overview of the policy programme, the ‘Empowerment Agenda’. The article discusses Bacchi's WPR analysis framework and then presents the findings, using this framework. The article ends with a discussion of the impact of the reform of educational governance including the Headteachers’ Charter on the role of the headteacher.","PeriodicalId":40030,"journal":{"name":"Management in Education","volume":"36 1","pages":"18 - 24"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2021-11-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47827342","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"MATification: Plurality, turbulence and effective school governance in England","authors":"M. Gibson, D. Outhwaite","doi":"10.1177/08920206211051473","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08920206211051473","url":null,"abstract":"School governance in England has seen considerable change over the last decade as ongoing structural reform has produced a range of models affecting composition and roles of individual schools and the middle tier. Governance is important as school governing bodies have considerable powers and responsibilities for young peoples’ education (Young, 2017). There are some 300, 000 governors in England, the largest group of volunteers in England, whose work is prominently hidden from view but make a significant contribution not only to their schools, but also the educational system as a whole (James et al., 2010). The changes in particular have seen a move from a stakeholder to a skills-based model (Connolly et al., 2017), and are aligned with changes in school and middle tier structures (Bubb et al., 2019). We wish to argue that this turbulence, creating a series of crises which although centrally formed, are seemingly organic replicating differences across systems prohibits, or at least restricts, effective school governance. We argue this through an exploration of two vignette case studies of single Academy Trusts (SATS) and Multiple Academy Trusts (MATs), exploring changes in each and the vacillations in governance discourse.","PeriodicalId":40030,"journal":{"name":"Management in Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2021-11-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49475563","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Like a puppet on a string … exploring Headteachers’ perceived demise of Local Governing Bodies within an English Multi-Academy Trust","authors":"Caroline Vinall","doi":"10.1177/08920206211051474","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08920206211051474","url":null,"abstract":"Multi-Academy Trusts (MAT) have developed organically in England since 2010. As a result, there appears to be a lack of consistency in the interpretation of delegated responsibilities of Local Governing Bodies (LGB). In a small-scale study of Headteacher (HT) accountability within one English MAT, governance was revealed as a major cause for concern. Accountability links between HT performance management, LGBs, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Trust Board were unclear. There was a perception of a lack of upward communication and an increase in local ‘rubber-stamping’ of MAT strategy. It is argued that, whilst LGBs are used as a form of ‘chain of command’ to monitor individual schools, their actual purpose may be operational; governed and limited by the Trust Board. LGBs appear to have lost their strategic influence in the conversion from maintained school to academy. I suggest that the term ‘Local Governing Body’ is potentially erroneous in its nomenclature, as some LGBs merely provide a middle level of ‘educational responsibility’ – puppets on a string.","PeriodicalId":40030,"journal":{"name":"Management in Education","volume":"36 1","pages":"25 - 33"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2021-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48995630","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}