Rites of Passage: Coercion, Compliance, and Complicity in the Socialization of New Vice-Principals

2010 ◽  
Vol 112 (3) ◽  
pp. 685-722 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denise E. Armstrong

Background/Context Over four decades ago, Arnold van Gennep used the term rites of passage to describe the ceremonial and ritualistic behaviors that marked the passage between social roles. Although the transition from teaching to administration is not as clearly delineated as passages in traditional societies, it is also characterized by socialization rites, rituals, and ceremonies that communicate information about approved administrative behaviors and reinforce organizational roles and structures. Focus of Study This research examined the socialization structures and processes that impacted the transition from teaching to administration. Eight newly appointed vice-principals from an urban Canadian school district were interviewed throughout the school year to determine the people, structures, and events that facilitated or hindered their transition and the challenges they encountered in leading and managing diverse urban schools. Research Design Qualitative methodology was used to explore new vice-principals’ experiences. Purposive sampling was used to represent the diversity of voices based on gender, ethnocultural background, type of school, and number of years of experience as a vice-principal. The vice-principals participated in two semistructured interviews during the school year. Individual responses were coded according to the research questions and further analyzed to determine recurring themes and patterns. Findings/Results The findings revealed that the novice vice-principals experienced separation, initiation, and incorporation rites that tested them physically, mentally, and emotionally. The pervasive pressure of these socialization tactics forced them to comply with normative expectations of the vice-principalship as a custodial disciplinary role and violated their professional rights. Conclusion/Recommendations Coercive socialization practices impact new administrators and their communities negatively and are antithetical to institutional goals of creating equitable schools. School districts, along with regulatory, training, and professional bodies, need to address core issues related to the vice-principalship and the ways in which new school leaders are socialized into administrative roles. Coordinated partnerships and interventions are also needed so that new administrators can develop leadership skills in emotionally and physically safe environments.

Author(s):  
H. Filipchuk

The review article highlights some problems and tasks related to national education, its social significance for the prospects of current and future development of Ukraine and the world. It is noted that the state currently lacks a holistic and systematic vision of quality reform of this priority sector, which is the main component for progress in all segments of life, the basis for increasing human capital. Emphasis is placed on some essential areas of the educational process, the characteristics of the social environment, which significantly affects the content of education, civic development of the individual. In the context of events, tasks, and challenges that arose on the eve of the new school year, several issues that directly and indirectly affect education are considered.It is proved that the urgency of the problem of "culturality" does not concern only the content of education, curricula, and textbooks. It concerns many other areas and processes of education of Man and Society, namely: socio-cultural environment; accessibility of the people to quality education and cultural heritage, spiritual and material values; cultural and educational state policy; protection of the informational national space from the primitive "masculinity" that distorts human souls by aggression, cruelty, alienation from the native culture and native language.Modern realities are such that culture, education, science should become an essential component of the national security of Ukraine, given their human-nation-state-building mission. But for this, we must be convinced of the correctness of landmarks and values on the way to truth, freedom, justice, spirituality.


ASHA Leader ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 36-37
Author(s):  
Stacey Ellison Glasgow
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
pp. 003022282110543
Author(s):  
Ori Katz

This paper discusses the case of missing persons in Israel, to show how the category of “missingness” is constructed by the people who have been left behind, and how this may threaten the life-death dichotomy assumption. The field of missing persons in Israel is characterized not only by high uncertainty, but also by the absence of relevant cultural scripts. Based on a narrative ethnography of missingness in Israel, I claim that a new and subversive social category of “missingness” can be constructed following the absence of cultural scripts. The left-behinds fluctuate not only between different assumptions about the missing person’s fate; they also fluctuate between acceptance of the life-death dichotomy, thus yearning for a solution to a temporary in-between state, and blurring this dichotomy, and thus constructing “missingness” as a new stable and subversive ontological category. Under this category, new rites of passage are also negotiated and constructed.


Author(s):  
María Luisa García Rodríguez ◽  
Natalia Paíno Sánchez

Durante a permanência em dois centros educativos para cursar as disciplinas de formação básica Prática I e Prática II, do Mestrado em Educação Infantil da Universidade de Salamanca (Espanha), observaram-se desconsiderações, por parte das famílias, em relação às advertências das professoras. Coloca-se, assim, a conveniência de abordar o estudo das relações escola-família com o objetivo de contribuir para sua otimização. A indagação é abordada mediante a metodologia qualitativa, avaliada como a mais oportuna pela sua flexibilidade e sua grande riqueza de resultados. Coletaram-se os dados mediante entrevistas com professores/professoras e as famílias dos alunos entre 3 a 6 anos, de Salamanca e de Cáceres. Tal aproximação da realidade permitiu conhecer as sensações e vivências das pessoas entrevistadas. Mediante uma profunda análise da informação encontrada, chegamos a conclusões notáveis. Há coincidências em reconhecer que existem barreiras e um certo desencontro. Também se oferecem soluções para alcançar a harmonia e a coordenação entre ambas as instituições educadoras.Palavras-chave: Relações escola-família. Coordenação. Análise das soluções. Harmonia.AbstractDuring the stay in two Educational Centers to study the subjects Practicum I and Practicum II of the Early Childhood Education Degree at the University of Salamanca, thoughtlessness manners from the families to the warnings from the teacher are being observed. That way, it’s convenient to arise a study of the relationships between the School and the Families to contribute their improvement. The research has addresses through a qualitative Methodology. That Methodology is valued as the most accurate because of its wealthy results. Data was collected from different interviews with teachers, and 3-6 years-old students’ parents from Salamanca and Cáceres. The proximity to their reality allowed to know the feelings and experiences of the people interviewed. The conclusions arrived after a deep analysis of that information were coincident and remarkable. There is a recognized barrier in the relationships. There are also solutions to get the harmony and the coordination within both educational institutions.Keywords: Relationships between school and families. Coordination. Solution analysis. HarmonyResumenDurante la estancia en dos centros educativos para cursar las asignaturas de formación básica Prácticum I y Prácticum II de la titulación de Grado en Maestro de Educación Infantil de la Universidad de Salamanca (España), se observan desconsideraciones por parte de las familias hacia las advertencias de las maestras. Se plantea así la conveniencia de abordar el estudio de las relaciones Escuela-Familia con el objetivo de contribuir a su optimización. La indagación se aborda mediante metodología cualitativa. Se valora como la más oportuna por su flexibilidad y su gran riqueza de resultados. Se recogieron los datos mediante entrevistas a maestros/as y familias de alumnado de 3 a 6 años de Salamanca y de Cáceres. Dicha aproximación a la realidad permitió conocer las sensaciones y vivencias de las personas entrevistadas. Tras un profundo análisis de la información hallada se llegó a notables conclusiones. Se dan coincidencias en reconocer que existen barreras y cierto desencuentro. También se ofrecen soluciones para alcanzar la armonía y coordinación entre ambas instituciones educadoras.Palabras clave: Relaciones escuela-familia. Coordinación. Analise de las soluciones. Armonía.


Author(s):  
Oscar M. Rodriguez-Elias ◽  
Ana I. Martinez-Garcia ◽  
Aurora Vizcaino ◽  
Jesús Favela ◽  
Mario Piattini

Knowledge sharing is a collective process where the people involved collaborate with others in order to learn from them (Huysman & de Wit, 2000). This kind of collaboration creates groups of people with common interest called communities of practice where each member contributes knowledge about a common domain (Wenger, 1998). Communities of practice enable its members to benefit from the knowledge of each other (Fontaine & Millen, 2004). To achieve this, different techniques and technologies can be used, such as shared documentation, groupware tools, lessons learned systems, and so forth. Therefore, to increase and improve knowledge sharing in communities of practice, it is important to study the mechanisms used by a particular community and understand how the knowledge flows through its members (Guizzardi, Perini & Dignum, 2003). This article presents a qualitative approach for studying and understanding how knowledge flows in communities of practice within organizations. The goal is to provide a methodological guide for obtaining useful information for the development of knowledge management tools for supporting knowledge flows in these communities. The content of the article is organized as follows. First the importance of supporting knowledge flows in communities of practice is highlighted. Then, a qualitative methodology for identifying knowledge flows in communities of practice is described, followed by some examples from a study conducted in the field of software maintenance. Finally, we present our conclusions of this work and future research.


2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandru V. Roman

Recently there has been an impressive growth in the scholarly literature on public procurement. The study of the administrative roles assumed by public procurement specialists is, however, one area that remains largely underexplored. Somewhat curiously, the professionals making a career in the field are often an afterthought when it comes to empirical research. Outside of anecdotal accounts, there is little that is known in terms of the roles that procurement specialists assume on daily basis. In this respect, there is an important knowledge gap within the field's body of literature. This article attempts to address this knowledge gap through an exploratory empirical evaluation of the administrative behaviors of public procurement specialists.


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