scholarly journals SCHOOL AUTONOMY AND SCHOOL LEADERSHIP: CASE STUDY OF SCHOOL OPERATION IN SLOVAKIA

2018 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-308
Author(s):  
Alena Hašková ◽  
Miriam Bitterová
Keyword(s):  
School Leadership ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
School Autonomy ◽  
Whole School ◽  
Current State ◽  
School Financing ◽  
Staff Recruitment ◽  
Primary And Secondary School

During as near as three decades after the political changes in Slovakia its system of education has undergone many reforms. As an integral part of them have been changes regarding school autonomy as it influences quality of education. To achieve an optimal model of autonomy offered to schools is very difficult, as appropriate level of autonomy is dependent on time and social conditions. To improve democratic participation of primary and secondary school leaders in Slovakia, a research aimed at assessment of the current state of the level of school autonomy was carried out. The research data were obtained from a questionnaire survey, the respondents of which were 93 headmasters and deputy headmasters. These school leaders assessed the power they (the schools) have in five fields, namely in the fields of school activity in the whole, school curricula matters, school financing and budgeting, staff recruitment, selection, employing and sacking, administrative and operational management. The assessment they give once with respect to the level in which to them given autonomy matches the tasks and problems they have to cope with, and the second time with respect to their opinion where the scope of the autonomy should be changed. Although the school leaders assessed the level of the powers they are given in a positive way, as average or broader, they still feel a need to have a broader scope of the powers and responsibilities, mainly in the field of financing and budgeting. Keywords: power extension, school autonomy, school deliberation, school leaders.

scholarly journals Water Retention in Nature-Based Solutions—Assessment of Potential Economic Effects for Local Social Groups

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 3347
Author(s):  
Zwoździak Jerzy ◽  
Szałata Łukasz ◽  
Zwoździak Anna ◽  
Kwiecińska Kornelia ◽  
Byelyayev Maksym
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Retention ◽  
Economic Effect ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
Operating Costs ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Impact

The upcoming trends related to climate change are increasing the level of interest of social groups in solutions for the implementation and the realization of activities that will ensure the change of these trends and can reduce the impact on the environment, including the health of the community exposed to these impacts. The implementation of solutions aimed at improving the quality of the environment requires taking into account not only the environmental aspects but also the economic aspect. Taking into account the analysis of solutions changing the current state of climate change, the article focuses on the analysis of the potential economic effect caused by the implementation of nature-based solutions (NBSs) in terms of reducing the operating costs related to water retention for local social groups. The analysis is based on a case study, one of the research projects studying nature-based solutions, created as part of the Grow Green project (H2020) in Wrocław in 2017–2022. The results of the analysis are an observed potential positive change in economic effects, i.e., approximately 85.90% of the operating costs related to water retention have been reduced for local social groups by NBSs.

The roles of school leaders in developing future-ready learners: the case of Singapore

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 249-269
Author(s):  
Choun Pei Wong ◽  
David Ng
Keyword(s):  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Leadership Preparation ◽  
Traditional Teaching ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Future Society

PurposeAn education system can only be successful if it can develop future-ready learners who can continue to learn after graduation, take on their future lifework and thrive in the future society and environment. This article examines the economic, social and environmental trajectories of Singapore and proposes that it is important for future-ready learners to develop habits of practices that will support the skills, knowledge and values that are pertinent to these trajectories.Design/methodology/approachSchool leaders are responsible for creating environments and implementing practices that are conducive for fostering habits of practices that are crucial for future-ready outcomes. The authors discuss the inadequacies of traditional teaching and learning practices in supporting these habits and elucidate how newer paradigms such as constructivism, connectivism, coagency and communities of practice might be more useful in achieving this. The authors also present a case study of a school leadership preparation programme that aims to develop future-ready learners.FindingsThis paper provides insights into how newer paradigms of teaching and learning can be supportive for developing desirable habits of practices for future readiness.Originality/valueThis discussion piece introduces a fresh concept – habits of practices – that is relevant in preparing future-ready learners in Singapore.

scholarly journals Information System and Technology Optimization as a Tool for Ensuring the Competitiveness of a Railway Undertaking—Case Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 8915
Author(s):  
Juraj Čamaj ◽  
Eva Brumerčíková ◽  
Michal Petr Hranický
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Railway Transport ◽  
Mathematical Methods ◽  
Current State ◽  
The World ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Research And Education

Information and communication technologies are becoming an increasingly important part of everyday life, as they facilitate many activities, mainly in the world of work, but also in scientific research and education. At present, informatics is one of the fastest growing sectors of the national economy. This development has had a significant impact on improving the quality of transport and transportation processes. The article is focused on the railway transport. It deals with the possibilities of planning the shifts of the train personnel and circulation of the vehicles. It describes the background of the topic. The scientific acquittance lies on the methodology proposed by authors. It presents a new idea of creating the shifts and circulations while being based on the current state and mathematical methods.

scholarly journals Close-to-practice research: The need for student voice and the strange case of Academy x

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 480-494
Author(s):  
Simon D. Edwards ◽  
Chris Brown
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Student Voice ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Male Students ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Student Perspective ◽  
The South ◽  
Barriers And Enablers

The idea that teaching and school leadership should be informed by research and other evidence has developed traction recently in England and other jurisdictions. Yet, such research has too seldomly involved the student perspective in leadership decision-making. This article presents a case study of an ‘all through’ academy in the south of England (Academy x ) that attempted to address this issue through research that was close to practice in nature. Here, school leaders, teachers, parents and, specifically, disadvantaged male students’ perspectives of barriers and enablers to their attainment were explored with a view to working collaboratively with these stakeholders to respond to the findings. However, we had not taken into account that the credibility of the students’ perspectives and the nature of the messages emerging from the findings would be questioned, and would influence a decision by school leaders not to act upon them. We consider how these issues might be addressed if student voice as a form of close-to-practice research is to become a reality.

Learning to Transform Through Interplay Between the Confucian and Western Cultural Heritages: A Case Study of School Leadership Development in Beijing, China

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haijun Kang ◽  
Qi Sun ◽  
Lei Lyu
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Development ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Leadership Practices ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Local School ◽  
School Leadership Development ◽  
School Leadership Practices ◽  
Beijing China

Taking a case study approach and utilizing Hoggan’s transformative learning (TL) typology and criteria as a framework, we examined the self-reported TL experiences of 12 local school leaders in Beijing, China. These local school leaders gained cross-cultural learning from a school leadership development program that was designed to prepare school leaders for education internationalization. Our data analysis indicated that these 12 local school leaders had experienced significant changes in their educational epistemology, self-identity, and school leadership practices. Further examining these changes at the intersection of the Confucian and Western cultural heritages, we discovered that these school leaders had developed an integrated approach to education, started to consciously reflect on what their social- and self-identities entail, and began the process of transitioning from conservative to appreciative school leadership practices.

scholarly journals School leadership, school inspection and the micropolitics of compliance and resistance: Examining the hyper-enactment of policy in an area of deprivation

2020 ◽  
pp. 174114321989847 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aly Colman
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Leadership Teams ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
School Inspection ◽  
Policy Enactment ◽  
Insight Into

This paper examines the influence of intense scrutiny from Ofsted on school leadership and policy enactment. Data was collected in a coastal area of deprivation, providing the setting for a detailed case study of school leadership in a state secondary school and a state primary school, both with recent or ongoing experience of intense scrutiny from Ofsted. Seventeen interviews were undertaken with staff involved in leadership roles. The analyses of data and discussion form an understanding of how policy is enacted in relation to the dual responsibility that school leaders negotiate between the local context at Seatown and Ofsted. This paper suggests that Ofsted forces a privileging of a compliant and consistent enactment of policy; a hyper-enactment of policy, that reduces the capacity of school leaders to address the significant social context of the school. Foucault’s work on self-disciplinary technologies provides insight into the micropolitical spaces which open up for some school leaders. The discussion on the micropolitics of compliance and resistance offers insight into the tensions pertinent to school leadership teams and explores issues relevant to those interested in policy and inspection activity, particularly those within areas of deprivation.

scholarly journals School Autonomy and Leadership in Lithuania: Can School Leaders Help Schools to Take a Step forward ?

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlies Honingh ◽  
Jolanta Urbanovič
Keyword(s):  
School Leadership ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
School Organization ◽  
Strategic Thinking ◽  
School Leader ◽  
School Autonomy ◽  
Head Of School ◽  
General Management ◽  
Clear Vision ◽  
Further Development

Abstract In the literature, the school leader (head of school) is considered a key figure in strengthening school autonomy and stimulating the further development of the school organization. To improve the functioning of school leaders a centralized assessment of all candidates who want to become school leaders was introduced in Lithuania in 2011. The findings of a qualitative study into the first experiences with the assessment provide a deeper understanding of current school leadership problems in Lithuania. A comparison of these findings with the literature on school leadership and the assumptions underlying the recently changed school-leader appointment procedure reveal the lack of a clear vision on school leadership. Some general management competences - such as managing and motivating people, making decisions and strategic thinking - are underdeveloped.

An Extended Case Study Exploring the Effects of a Whole School Staff Pilot Wellbeing Programme on Eight Local Authority Primary Schools

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-106
Author(s):  
Jane Anderson
Keyword(s):  
School Leadership ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Local Authority ◽  
Daily Practice ◽  
Professional Staff ◽  
School Staff ◽  
Whole School ◽  
Standardised Testing ◽  
Staff Wellbeing

This paper is a case study about a Local Authority whole school staff pilot wellbeing programme (PWP) based on the reflexive practice (Schon, 1983) journals and records kept by the school staff wellbeing manager (SSWM) who conceptualised, coordinated and implemented the initiative and who is also the author of this paper. The paper is written as a first-person narrative. All identities have been anonymised for ethical reasons. The purpose of the paper is to tell the story of this intervention and how the people involved (author included), and the schools that participated, were affected by their involvement. Also how what was learned from the episode could be usefully put into practise in other schools. Over the past twenty-five years a continual rise in accountancy thinking as applied to education in the form of productivity related outcomes (pupil standardised testing and assessment; Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) inspection of school standards etc) along with continual pressure to implement latest educational thinking, has contributed to increased demands on school staff. Simultaneously, school leadership and teaching have gradually come to be regarded as highly stressful professions. The PWP was about looking at what people in school could do to help themselves maintain their health and wellbeing on a day to day basis. In particular the focus was on investigating individual perspective and personal accountability and offering opportunities for people to explore and practice methodologies that could support more positive behaviour. The issues across the schools were complex and manifold and the approach in each case was tailored and nuanced according to the emerging needs of the organisation involved. The PWP was important and unique because its scope was fully inclusive of all school staff (professional, support and maintenance) and participation was voluntary. Research had shown that prior to the PWP, school wellbeing interventions had tended to be compulsory and confined only to professional staff. The effects of the PWP intervention are on-going, which was the aim of the work, but some of the methodologies introduced, in particular solutions focus (Rhodes & Ajmal, 204) and appreciative inquiry (Cooperrider & Srivastva, 1987) have in some instances become integrated both individually and collectively in daily practice in school and continue to beneficially shape the culture of these organisations.

Community currency activities, community attachment, and quality of life: A case study of the Crooked River Alliance of TimeBanks

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 1181-1220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mizzo Kwon ◽  
Chanam Lee ◽  
Yu Xiao ◽  
William A McIntosh
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Community Attachment ◽  
Local Economies ◽  
Current State ◽  
Community Currency ◽  
Socioeconomic Benefits

Adopting community currency has been considered an effective strategy to improve local economies and social environments. Socioeconomic benefits of community currency for users have been well documented in previous studies; however, the community and quality of life benefits of community currency and the differences in such benefits between the users and non-users of community currency have not been sufficiently examined. To develop evidence-based approaches toward promoting community currency, this study has two main objectives: first to discuss the current state of knowledge on community currency in terms of its trends, correlates, and benefits; and second to present an empirical study based on a survey of 77 community currency users and 42 non-users, which examines the potential roles of community currency activities in promoting community attachment and quality of life. Results demonstrated that among community currency users, more active community currency users had higher levels of community attachment and quality of life. Also, compared to non-users, community currency users showed higher levels of quality of life. Evidence from this study suggests community currency holds strong potential to serve as an important mechanism to provide unmet, or additional, social services. It may also contribute to delivering multiple social objectives, such as improving social cohesion and empowering active citizenship.

scholarly journals MODEL PENDIDIKAN MULTIKULTURAL DI ‘SEKOLAH PEMBAURAN’ MEDAN

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saliman Saliman ◽  
Taat Wulandari ◽  
Mukminan Mukminan
Keyword(s):  
Multicultural Education ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Interactive Analysis ◽  
Whole School ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Whole School Approach ◽  
North Sumatra

Abstrak: Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan model pendidikan multikultural di Sekolah Pembauran Medan. Penelitian menggunakan metode kualitatif dengan pendekatan studi kasus. Penelitian dilaksanakan di Sekolah Pembauran Medan. Pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan teknik observasi, wawancara, dan dokumentasi, sedang kredibilitas data diperoleh lewat triangulasi metode. Instrumen penelitian adalah peneliti sendiri dengan menggunakan bantuan pedoman observasi dan wawancara. Analisis data dilakukan dengan menggunakan teknik analisis interaktif versi Miles dan Huberman. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan di Sekolah Pembauran Medan merupakan nama yang digunakan untuk menyebut sekolah di bawah Yayasan Perguruan Sultan Iskandar Muda menggunakan Whole School Approach yang meliputi visi dan kebijakan sekolah, kepemimpinan dan manajemen, kapasitas dan kultur, aktivitas peserta didik, kolaborasi dengan masyarakat luas, serta kurikulum dan pengajaran. Kata Kunci: Sekolah Pembauran, pendidikan multikultural, whole school approach AMULTICULTURAL EDUCATION MODEL IN SEKOLAH PEMBAURAN MEDAN Abstract: This study was aimed to describe a model of the multicultural education implemented in Sekolah Pembauran Medan, North Sumatra. This study employed the qualitative approach using the case study approach. The study was conducted in Sekolah Pembauran Medan. The data collection techniques consisted of observations, interviews and documentation. The main research instrument was the researchers themselves supported by observation sheets and interview guidelines. The data analysis was performed using the interactive analysis developed by Miles and Huberman. The research findings showed that Sekolah Pembauran Medan is the name used to refer to the school under the Education Foundation of Sultan Iskandar Muda using the Whole School Approach which includes: the vision and policies of the school; leadership and management; capacity and culture; activities of learners; collaboration with wider communities; and curriculum and instruction. Keywords: Sekolah Pembauran, multicultural education, Whole School Approach

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