scholarly journals School Middle Leaders and Change Management: Do They Need to Be More on the “Balcony” than the Dance Floor?

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 753
Author(s):  
Rebekah Charlotte Gear ◽  
Krishan Kumar Sood
Keyword(s):  
School Improvement ◽  
English Education ◽  
Middle Layer ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Dance Floor ◽  
Reflective Journal ◽  
Curriculum Changes ◽  
Leadership Curriculum ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Middle Leaders

The term “middle leader” in the context of English education has evolved into an overarching title to describe a leadership position for practitioners who have school wide responsibilities in addition to their classroom duties. Such responsibilities can consist of pastoral leadership; curriculum leadership; leadership of additional student support; leadership of a team or phase and leadership of a specific school improvement priority. Educational middle leadership is founded on the notion of bringing together the duty of contributing to a strategic leadership remit whilst remaining firmly within the role of a classroom practitioner. It is argued that this ‘space’ for middle leadership is due to the increasingly hierarchical organisational structures of schools; consequently, being viewed as the ‘middle layer’. However, it is often unclear how much real authority or autonomy middle leaders have either to act strategically or make leadership decisions for their school. Despite many studies having previously explored the impact of senior leadership in improving school systems through deploying varied leadership styles, there is an absence in literature underpinning what constitutes effective strategic middle leadership. This study explored and interrogated the strategic ability of middle leadership, to contribute to this discourse. It critically reflected on the effectiveness of middle leadership, in a small-scale context, when making sustainable curriculum changes to a primary school’s maths curriculum. The research methodology adopted was an autoethnographic approach. It used a documentary method, that consisted of a reflective journal, kept by the first researcher, who was also a maths curriculum middle leader within an English primary school. The reflective journal was used as an authenticated document for elucidation and analysis. The main findings suggested that collective leadership was appropriate for this research context. The study further evidenced the reality of how personal, yet important understanding leadership cultures are, in all levels of leadership. The conclusion pointed to the direction of middle leaders being more successful if they were strategic, and therefore must both find and develop systems that assist them to be located on the “balcony” rather than only the dance floor.

School middle leadership: A systematic review

2021 ◽  
pp. 174114322098332
Author(s):  
Kylie Lipscombe ◽  
Sharon Tindall-Ford ◽  
Jodi Lamanna
Keyword(s):  
School Improvement ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Teacher Development ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Operational Definition ◽  
Team Development ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Middle Leaders

School middle leadership is a complex and increasingly important school leadership position, with research showing the significance of middle leadership to school improvement and teacher development. The purpose of this article is to identify and analyse empirical peer reviewed articles on middle leadership from 2006 to 2020, to understand how middle leaders are defined, the responsibilities they hold, the impact and professional development they are afforded, and to discover lacunae in studies to support further research. The review was conducted using Scopus and ERIC; a total of 35 articles across 14 countries were selected. Using Nvivo, narrative synthesis was utilised to analyse the articles resulting in four conclusions: 1) middle leadership is difficult to define; 2) middle leadership positions and responsibilities vary considerably and are best understood in context; 3) middle leaders directly and indirectly impact teacher practice, team development, school reform and professional learning, although there is limited direct research into their impact; and 4) middle leadership professional learning has not progressed to the point to adequately equip middle leaders for the complexity of their positions. The article highlights two distinguishable differences to separate teachers and middle leaders, and provides an operational definition, elaborated description and set of middle leadership characteristics to guide future research and policy advancement.

Can Values of Honesty, Hard Work, Loyalty and Discipline Predict Entrepreneurial Orientation of Muslim Owner Managers?

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rohani Mohd ◽  
Badrul Hisham Kamaruddin ◽  
Khulida Kirana Yahya ◽  
Elias Sanidas
Keyword(s):  
Entrepreneurial Orientation ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Hard Work ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Sampling Frame ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Learning Institutions ◽  
Innovative Orientation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
True Values

The purpose of the present study is twofold: first, to investigate the true values of Muslim owner managers; second, to examine the impact of these values on entrepreneurial orientations of Muslim small-scale entrepreneurs. 850 Muslim owner managers were selected randomly using the sampling frame provided by MajlisAmanah Rakyat Malaysia (MARA). 162 completed questionnaires were collected and analyzed. For this paper only two dimensions of entrepreneurial orientations were analyzed: proactive orientation and innovative orientation. Interestingly, the findings revealed that Muslim businessmen/women are honest, loyal, disciplined and hard working. Loyalty and honesty are positively related to proactive orientation, while discipline and hard-work are positively related to innovative orientation. The findings provide implications for existing relevant theories, policy makers, practitioners and learning institutions. 

The Strategies and Response of Internalizing Islamic values in English Learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aswir Aswir ◽  
Hasanul Misbah
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Education Program ◽  
Role Model ◽  
English Education ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Preparation Process ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Islamic Values ◽  
Descriptive Qualitative

This study is aimed at describing lecturers’ strategies to internalize Islamic values and students’ response toward the strategies. This a descriptive-qualitative study. The participants were 40 students of English education program and 3 English lecturers. All participants were given questionnaire and 3 students and 3 lecturers were interviewed. The data showed that all lecturers did internalize the Islamic values such as aqidah, worship, and moral values in the English learning preparation, process, and evaluation. However, students requested that the lecturers should consistently became the role model, performed positive habit, and gave best learning service so that the impact of internalizing Islamic values would be significantly and positively received.

scholarly journals Land Subsidence Estimation for Aquifer Drainage Induced by Underground Mining

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 4658
Author(s):  
Artur Guzy ◽  
Wojciech T. Witkowski
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Land Subsidence ◽  
Field Data ◽  
Underground Mining ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Aquifer System ◽  
Maximum Value ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Method Model ◽  
Impact Of Mining

Land subsidence caused by groundwater withdrawal induced by mining is a relatively unknown phenomenon. This is primarily due to the small scale of such movements compared to the land subsidence caused by deposit extraction. Nonetheless, the environmental impact of drainage-related land subsidence remains underestimated. The research was carried out in the “Bogdanka” coal mine in Poland. First, the historical impact of mining on land subsidence and groundwater head changes was investigated. The outcomes of these studies were used to construct the influence method model. With field data, our model was successfully calibrated and validated. Finally, it was used for land subsidence estimation for 2030. As per the findings, the field of mining exploitation has the greatest land subsidence. In 2014, the maximum value of the phenomenon was 0.313 cm. However, this value will reach 0.364 m by 2030. The spatial extent of land subsidence caused by mining-induced drainage extends up to 20 km beyond the mining area’s boundaries. The presented model provided land subsidence patterns without the need for a complex numerical subsidence model. As a result, the method presented can be effectively used for land subsidence regulation plans considering the impact of mining on the aquifer system.

scholarly journals Foreign investment in emerging legal medicinal cannabis markets: the Jamaica case study

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Rychert ◽  
Machel Anthony Emanuel ◽  
Chris Wilkins
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Foreign Investment ◽  
Production Efficiency ◽  
Production Quality ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Organic Cultivation ◽  
Enhanced Production ◽  
Political Interference ◽  
Medicinal Cannabis ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Introduction The establishment of a legal market for medicinal cannabis under the Dangerous Drugs Amendment Act 2015 has positioned Jamaica at the forefront of cannabis law reform in the developing world. Many local cannabis businesses have attracted investment from overseas, including from Canada, US and Europe. Aim To explore the opportunities and risks of foreign investment in an emerging domestic legal cannabis market in a developing country. Methods Thematic analysis of semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 22 key informants (KIs) from the Jamaican government, local cannabis industry, academia and civil society, and field observations of legal and illegal cannabis cultivators. Results KIs from the Jamaican public agencies and domestic cannabis entrepreneurs saw foreign investment as an essential source of capital to finance the start-up costs of legal cannabis businesses. Local cannabis entrepreneurs prioritised investors with the greatest financial resources, brand reputation and export networks. They also considered how allied an investor was with their business vision (e.g., organic cultivation, medical vs. recreational). The key benefits of partnering with a foreign investor included transfer of technical knowledge and financial capital, which enhanced production, quality assurance and seed-to-sale tracking. Some KIs expressed concern over investors’ focus on increasing production efficiency and scale at the expense of funding research and development (R&D) and clinical trials. KIs from the local industry, government agencies and civil society highlighted the risks of ‘predatory’ shareholder agreements and domestic political interference. Concerns were raised about the impact of foreign investment on the diversity of the domestic cannabis sector in Jamaica, including the commitment to transition traditional illegal small-scale cannabis cultivators to the legal sector. Conclusion While foreign investment has facilitated the commercialisation of the cannabis sector in Jamaica, regulatory measures are also needed to protect the domestic industry and support the transition of small-scale illegal cultivators to the legal regime. Foreign investments may alter the economic, social and political determinants of health in transitioning from illegal to legal cannabis market economy.

scholarly journals A Model-Based Tool for Assessing the Impact of Land Use Change Scenarios on Flood Risk in Small-Scale River Systems—Part 1: Pre-Processing of Scenario Based Flood Characteristics for the Current State of Land Use

Hydrology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 102
Author(s):  
Frauke Kachholz ◽  
Jens Tränckner
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
River Flow ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Small Rivers ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Ungauged Catchments ◽  
Model Based ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Impact

Land use changes influence the water balance and often increase surface runoff. The resulting impacts on river flow, water level, and flood should be identified beforehand in the phase of spatial planning. In two consecutive papers, we develop a model-based decision support system for quantifying the hydrological and stream hydraulic impacts of land use changes. Part 1 presents the semi-automatic set-up of physically based hydrological and hydraulic models on the basis of geodata analysis for the current state. Appropriate hydrological model parameters for ungauged catchments are derived by a transfer from a calibrated model. In the regarded lowland river basins, parameters of surface and groundwater inflow turned out to be particularly important. While the calibration delivers very good to good model results for flow (Evol =2.4%, R = 0.84, NSE = 0.84), the model performance is good to satisfactory (Evol = −9.6%, R = 0.88, NSE = 0.59) in a different river system parametrized with the transfer procedure. After transferring the concept to a larger area with various small rivers, the current state is analyzed by running simulations based on statistical rainfall scenarios. Results include watercourse section-specific capacities and excess volumes in case of flooding. The developed approach can relatively quickly generate physically reliable and spatially high-resolution results. Part 2 builds on the data generated in part 1 and presents the subsequent approach to assess hydrologic/hydrodynamic impacts of potential land use changes.

scholarly journals Whole-genome sequencing from the New Zealand Saccharomyces cerevisiae population reveals the genomic impacts of novel microbial range expansion

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Higgins ◽  
Cooper A Grace ◽  
Soon A Lee ◽  
Matthew R Goddard
Keyword(s):  
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Whole Genome Sequencing ◽  
Genome Sequencing ◽  
Range Expansion ◽  
Copy Number ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Whole Genome ◽  
Copy Number Changes ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Saccharomyces cerevisiae is extensively utilized for commercial fermentation, and is also an important biological model; however, its ecology has only recently begun to be understood. Through the use of whole-genome sequencing, the species has been characterized into a number of distinct subpopulations, defined by geographical ranges and industrial uses. Here, the whole-genome sequences of 104 New Zealand (NZ) S. cerevisiae strains, including 52 novel genomes, are analyzed alongside 450 published sequences derived from various global locations. The impact of S. cerevisiae novel range expansion into NZ was investigated and these analyses reveal the positioning of NZ strains as a subgroup to the predominantly European/wine clade. A number of genomic differences with the European group correlate with range expansion into NZ, including 18 highly enriched single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) and novel Ty1/2 insertions. While it is not possible to categorically determine if any genetic differences are due to stochastic process or the operations of natural selection, we suggest that the observation of NZ-specific copy number increases of four sugar transporter genes in the HXT family may reasonably represent an adaptation in the NZ S. cerevisiae subpopulation, and this correlates with the observations of copy number changes during adaptation in small-scale experimental evolution studies.

scholarly journals Effect of the Assimilation Frequency of Radar Reflectivity on Rain Storm Prediction by Using WRF-3DVAR

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 2103
Author(s):  
Yuchen Liu ◽  
Jia Liu ◽  
Chuanzhe Li ◽  
Fuliang Yu ◽  
Wei Wang
Keyword(s):  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Horizontal Resolution ◽  
Radar Reflectivity ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Outer Domain ◽  
Storm Prediction ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Assimilation Time

An attempt was made to evaluate the impact of assimilating Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) reflectivity together with Global Telecommunication System (GTS) data in the three-dimensional variational data assimilation (3DVAR) system of the Weather Research Forecast (WRF) model on rain storm prediction in Daqinghe basin of northern China. The aim of this study was to explore the potential effects of data assimilation frequency and to evaluate the outputs from different domain resolutions in improving the meso-scale NWP rainfall products. In this study, four numerical experiments (no assimilation, 1 and 6 h assimilation time interval with DWR and GTS at 1 km horizontal resolution, 6 h assimilation time interval with radar reflectivity, and GTS data at 3 km horizontal resolution) are carried out to evaluate the impact of data assimilation on prediction of convective rain storms. The results show that the assimilation of radar reflectivity and GTS data collectively enhanced the performance of the WRF-3DVAR system over the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region of northern China. It is indicated by the experimental results that the rapid update assimilation has a positive impact on the prediction of the location, tendency, and development of rain storms associated with the study area. In order to explore the influence of data assimilation in the outer domain on the output of the inner domain, the rainfall outputs of 3 and 1 km resolution are compared. The results show that the data assimilation in the outer domain has a positive effect on the output of the inner domain. Since the 3DVAR system is able to analyze certain small-scale and convective-scale features through the incorporation of radar observations, hourly assimilation time interval does not always significantly improve precipitation forecasts because of the inaccurate radar reflectivity observations. Therefore, before data assimilation, the validity of assimilation data should be judged as far as possible in advance, which can not only improve the prediction accuracy, but also improve the assimilation efficiency.

scholarly journals The Impact of Climate Change Adaptation Strategies on Income and Food Security: Empirical Evidence from Small-Scale Fishers in Indonesia

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7905
Author(s):  
Moh. Shadiqur Rahman ◽  
Hery Toiba ◽  
Wen-Chi Huang
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Substantial Effect ◽  
Adaptation Strategies ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Probit Regression ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation Strategies

The impacts of climate change on marine capture fisheries have been observed in several studies. It is likely to have a substantial effect on fishers’ income and food security. This study aims to estimate the impact of adaptation strategies on fishers’ income and their household’s food security. Data were collected from small-scale fishers’ households, which own a fishing boat smaller or equal to five gross tonnages (GT). The study sites were the two coastal regions of Malang and Probolinggo in East Java, Indonesia, due to the meager socioeconomic resources caused by climate change. A probit regression model was used to determine the factors influencing the fishers’ adaptation. Propensity score matching (PSM) was applied to evaluate the impact of the adaptation strategies on income and food security. Food security was measured by food consumption score (FCS). The findings indicated that participation in the fishers’ group affected adaptation strategies significantly, and so did the access to credit and climate information. Also, PSM showed that the adaptation strategies had a positive and significant impact on fishers’ income and food security. Those who applied the adaptation strategies had a higher income and FCS than those who did not. This finding implies that the fishery sector’s adaptation strategies can have significant expansion outcome and reduce exposure to risks posed by climate change. Therefore, the arrangement of more climate change adaptation strategies should be promoted by the government for small-scale fishers in Indonesia.

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