Assuring quality of school-based assessment: the perspectives of heads of department in moderating tourism tasks

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zanele Dube-Xaba ◽  
Malehlohonolo Precious Makae

Purpose The aim of quality assessment is to support the development of learners’ competencies as required in 21st century economies. This paper aims to analyse the role and understanding of heads of department (HoDs) regarding quality assessment and the moderation of school-based assessment (SBA) tasks in tourism, which is a subject in the secondary school curriculum. Design/methodology/approach To elicit valid findings in this interpretative study, focus group discussions were conducted with 16 participants. The HoDs who participated in this study were purposively sampled based on their role as managers of tourism in their respective schools. Findings Informed by the context, input, process and output theoretical model, this study identified various elements that impacted the enactment of HoDs’ role in the moderation of SBA tasks, with particular reference to tourism. Despite these HoDs’ understanding of the importance of moderation as a key aspect in assuring quality assessment practices, it was found that the moderation of tourism SBA tasks was generally not conducted meticulously and appropriately. Research limitations/implications The qualitative case study on which this paper is based used a limited sample within a restricted timeframe and the results may thus not be generalised. However, the methodology produced trustworthy results and may thus be replicated and extended to other subjects with a practical component for enhanced insights into SBA practices. Practical implications This paper highlights the necessity for schools to rely on knowledgeable and principled curriculum leaders, particularly HoDs, for the effective management of assessment and moderation strategies to ensure quality outcomes. The qualitative case study on which this paper is based used a limited sample within a restricted timeframe, and the results may thus not be generalised. However, the methodology produced trustworthy results and may thus be replicated and extended to other subjects with a practical component for enhanced insights into SBA practices. Originality/value This paper contributes to the discourse on quality assurance and SBA, with particular focus on how quality assessment can be enhanced in the moderation process of tourism. The insights that this paper share may contribute to improved policy decisions regarding the SBA process in tourism.

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-91
Author(s):  
Kerstin Kuyken ◽  
Mehran Ebrahimi ◽  
Anne-Laure Saives

Purpose This paper aims to develop a better understanding of intergenerational knowledge transfer (IKT) practices by adopting a context-related and comparative perspective. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative case study design involving 83 interviews and non-participative observation in German and Quebec organizations has been chosen. Findings Two distinctive archetypes of IKT emerge from both national contexts: “we-individualizing” (Germany) and “I-connecting” (Quebec), leading to an eightfold taxonomy of IKT practices. Research limitations/implications This research is limited to young and senior workers and to high-tech sectors. Originality/value Comparative and inductive study of IKT, adaptation of IKT practices to national contexts, retaining younger workers. This inductive and comparative study allows a better adaptation of IKT practices to national contexts and therefore a better retention of younger workers.


2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 426-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fábio Frezatti ◽  
David B. Carter ◽  
Marcelo F.G. Barroso

Purpose – An effective management accounting information system (MAIS), as well as the accounting discourse related to it, can support, facilitate, enable, and constrain diverse business discourses. This paper aims to examine the discursive and organisational effects of an organisation accounting upon absent accounting artefacts, i.e. accounting without accounting. Situated within the discursive literature, this paper examines the construction of competing articulations of the organisation by focusing on what accounting does or does not do within an organisation. In particular, the paper acknowledges the fundamental importance of the accounting discourse in supporting, facilitating, enabling, and constraining competing organisational discourses, as it illustrates how the absence of accounting centralises power within the organisation. Design/methodology/approach – From a rhetorical, discursive perspective, the authors develop an in-depth qualitative case study in a manufacturing organisation where MAIS has been abandoned for approximately two years. Interpretive research approaches, from a post-structural perspective, provided the base for the structure of the research. The authors studied how other organisational discourses (such as entrepreneurship and growth), which are traditionally constructed with reference to accounting and other artefacts, continued to be produced and sustained. The non-use and non-availability of management accounting information created a vacuum that needed to be filled. The lack of discursive counterpoints and counter-evidence provided by MAIS created a vacuum of information, allowing powerful, proxy discourses to prevail in the organisation, increasing risks to business management. Findings – The absence of MAIS to support an accounting discourse requires that contingent discourses “fill in the discursive gap”. Despite appearances, they are no substitute for the accounting discourse. Thus, over time, the entrepreneurial, growth and partners' discourses lose credibility, without the corresponding use of management accounting information and its associated discourse. Originality/value – There are at least two main contributions from the case study and the findings presented in this paper: first, they provide a new perspective for studying MAIS, as a specific organisational discourse among other discourses that shape people relationship within the organisation as an examination of accounting without accounting. Second, this discussion reinforces the relevance of accounting discourse for other organisational discourses, supporting, facilitating, enabling, and constraining them, by demonstrating the effects of its absence.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Serkan Yiğit ◽  
Nilüfer Şahin Perçin

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine and understand the experiences of tourists in the Turkish coffee houses in Istanbul, Turkey. Design/methodology/approach In this study, a qualitative case study method was used to analyze tourists’ comments with user-generated content technique by analyzing tourists’ comments. The data used in the study was collected through TripAdvisor, which is considered one of the most famous websites with tourist reviews and comments, between 20 May and 10 June 2020 from tourists’ reviews (n:219). Findings The findings show that Turkish coffee house experiences are heterogeneous based on the dimensions of coffee characteristics, place, satisfaction, recommendation and revisit intention, value/price and value-added experience. Moreover, value-added experience includes some sub-themes such as a memorable experience, authentic experience and culture learning experience. Originality/value There are some studies on Turkish coffee and Turkish coffee culture in the literature, but there have been no empirical studies investigating the Turkish coffee house experiences of tourists. For this reason, this study aims to examine and understand the experiences of tourists in Turkish coffee houses. Therefore, it is believed that this study will fill the current gap in the literature on tourists’ experiences of Turkish coffee houses.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 325-344
Author(s):  
Trista Hollweck

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report on a qualitative case study that examined the potential benefits, challenges and implications of the mentor–coach (MC) role as a supportive structure for experienced teachers’ well-being and sense of flourishing in schools.Design/methodology/approachThe qualitative case study used data collected from surveys, interviews, focus groups and documentation. Data were coded and abductively analyzed using the “framework approach” with and against Seligman’s well-being PERMA framework. In order to include an alternative stakeholder perspective, data from a focus group with the district’s teacher union executive are also included.FindingsUsing the constituting elements of Seligman’s well-being (PERMA) framework, experienced teachers reported positive emotion, engagement, positive relationships, meaning and accomplishment from their MC experience. However, the MC role is not a panacea for educator well-being. Rather, the quality and effectiveness of the mentoring and coaching relationship is a determining factor and, if left unattended, negative experiences could contribute to their stress and increased workload.Research limitations/implicationsThe data used in this study were based on a limited number of survey respondents (25/42) and the self-selection of the interview (n=7) and focus group participants (n=6). The research findings may lack generalizability and be positively skewed.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the current lack of empirical research on the MC experience and considers some of the wider contextual factors that impact effective mentoring and coaching programs for educators.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheshadri Chatterjee ◽  
Ranjan Chaudhuri ◽  
Demetris Vrontis ◽  
Alkis Thrassou ◽  
Soumya K. Ghosh

Purpose The paper aims to develop a comprehensive framework for adopting an information and communication technology (ICT)-enabled customer relationship management (CRM) system, toward strengthening and expanding the customer basis of the organization. Design/methodology/approach Advanced ICT-enabled CRM includes mobile CRM, AI integrated CRM and social CRM and several business organizations have already started exploring their advanced utilization for direct financial gain and indirect “soft” benefits. Most of them, however, are challenged in the process, due to lower-than-demanded adoption of such CRM systems. To deal with the issue, the paper methodologically applies a dual qualitative case study approach that ultimately develops an advanced comprehensive CRM adoption framework. Findings The key findings pertaining to the evaluation of organizations’ readiness to adopt advanced ICT-enabled CRM systems in terms of infrastructure and resources, the identification of the critical functional areas of the organization’s focus and the differences in the requisite approaches across industries and organization types. Practical implications In the context of the internet and social media, the analysis and management of customer big data and their transcription into useable information is crucial. Traditional and conventional CRM was deemed unable to address this need, thus necessitating the use of advanced ICT-enabled CRM. The proposed corresponding framework tangibly and practically, thus, directs businesses toward the successful deployment of ICT-based CRM systems. Originality/value This study constitutes a novel attempt to identify the issues of deployment of ICT-based CRM systems in an organization and proposes a comprehensive framework, which will enable organizations to overcome the barriers when adopting a new system.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guoyuan Sang ◽  
Jun Zhou ◽  
Abdulghani Muthanna

PurposeThis qualitative study aimed to explore how the school–university partnership (SUP) enhances the elementary teachers' professional development in a school-based setting.Design/methodology/approachBy following the qualitative case study methodology, this case study employs semi-structured interviews (the authors designed) with 10 school teachers and administrators. The authors adapted the iterative process analysis (Miles and Huberman, 1984) for compiling, coding, annotating the data and interpreting the interview transcripts. The authors also used the member checking technique that establishes credibility in a qualitative study (Lincoln and Guba, 1985) with six participants.FindingsThe findings suggest that participating in a series of professional learning activities led to the enhancement of teachers' and administrators learning experiences in view of educational theories, action research abilities, teaching efficiency, teaching research capacities and improvement of school guidelines. Further, they reveal that the participants' expectations for future SUP collaborations centred on realizing the sustainability and effectiveness of collaborations, and autonomy of teachers.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations of the current study include its focus on a single SUP within one school and the reliance on data collected only by interviews during the SUP process. This study offers implications for teacher learning within SUP collaborations. First, schools should consider how to involve and influence all teachers rather than SUP core members only. To this end, authentic professional learning communities need to be constructed. Second, universities should pay much more attention to the professional development of their faculty members towards integration of theoretical knowledge and practical experiences.Originality/valueThis original study explores practical ways of improving teachers' theoretical and practical teaching practices/experiences through SUP projects, and contributes new knowledge to the teaching professional development of school teachers and administrators.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lutfun Nahar Lata

PurposeThis paper explores the importance of building trust and rapport with participants using gatekeepers and insider-outsider dynamics in accessing vulnerable research participants in the Global South.Design/methodology/approachThis paper draws data from a qualitative case study conducted in Sattola slum in Dhaka.FindingsFindings suggest that access to participants can be gained through building rapport and trust with participants. A trusting relationship further helps the researcher to explore the processes of social exclusion experienced by the participants.Originality/valueFew studies is published on female researchers building trust with vulnerable research participants negotiating gatekeepers and their subjectivity in the field. The paper contributes original insights into this from fieldwork carried out by a middle-class female researcher in Dhaka. It raises important issues in securing the trust of participants when they are part of disadvantaged, exploited or generally vulnerable populations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (8) ◽  
pp. 992-1003
Author(s):  
Paul Manning

Purpose The global financial crisis (GFC) undermined the legitimacy of orthodox economic assumptions, which nevertheless continue to frame business school pedagogy. In consequence, there is an opportunity for socio-economic insights to be more fully incorporated into the business school curriculum. This paper reports and reflects on a socio-economic case study that was delivered to MBA students. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the developing literature on behavioural economics (BE) has the potential to enhance students’ social economic understanding of key areas of the curriculum. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents an inter-disciplinary socio-economic teaching case that was informed by insights from BE. The teaching case concerned a socio-economic understanding of corruption and white-collar crime. It was also inter-disciplinary to include inputs from business history and criminology. The aim of the teaching case was to develop an appreciation among students that corruption and white-collar crime can be analysed within a social economics lens. Findings The teaching case example discussed in this paper offered an alternative socio-economic understanding to core areas of the MBA curriculum, enabling students to apply a behavioural economic approach to corruption and more generally to white-collar crime. The findings derived from this case study are that behavioural economics has the potential to enhance the teaching of socio-economics. Practical implications The GFC presents an opportunity to re-shape the business school curriculum to acknowledge the centrality of socio-economics and consequently to offer an alternative to the dominant ontological assumptions – taken from the economic understanding of rationality – that have previously under-pinned business school pedagogy. Originality/value The originality of this paper is to apply BE to a socio-economic teaching case studies in core subject areas of the MBA curriculum.


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rubens Pauluzzo ◽  
Marta Guarda ◽  
Laura De Pretto ◽  
Tony Fang

Purpose Drawing on Fang’s (2012) Yin Yang theory of culture while taking up the roadmap proposed by Li (2016) for applying the epistemological system of Yin Yang balancing to complex issues in management research, in general, and to paradoxical issues, in particular, the purpose of this paper is to explore how organizations and individuals in the West can balance cultural paradoxes and manage culture dilemmas through the lens of Yin Yang wisdom. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a qualitative case study. Data are gathered through interviews, documents, and field observations in four subsidiaries of an Italian insurance multinational corporation and were analyzed according to the three parameters, i.e., situation, context, and time (Fang, 2012). Findings The findings show how the integration and learning from seemingly opposite cultures and sets of values lead the organization and individuals to balancing cultural paradox and managing cultural dilemma effectively. With regard to situation, the authors find that both organizations and customers choose the most relevant value(s) to take advantage of specific events or circumstances, and that different value orientations can coexist. As for context, the authors show that organizations can adapt their values either through suppression and/or promotion, which can foster individuals to find new balancing within the paradox. In terms of time, the authors show that the process of learning from other cultures over time can play a role in the shift of people’s and organizations’ choices of attitudes and value orientations. Originality/value The paper suggests the relevance and usefulness of adopting Yin Yang wisdom to uncover the dynamic process of cultural learning in Western scenarios.


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