Departments In Secondary Schools Research Articles

The if, why and how of fitness testing in secondary school physical education in the United Kingdom

Historically fitness testing has been identified as a common but controversial physical education (PE)-for-health practice across the globe. Despite this, little is known about the current prevalence and implementation of fitness testing. This paper therefore reports on findings from a survey which gathered both quantitative and qualitative data to explore the ‘if?’, ‘why?’ and ‘how?’ of fitness testing and provide new insights into teachers’ learning intentions, pedagogical practices, and attitudes towards it. The survey was distributed to PE departments in secondary schools across the UK, and responses were analysed and reported descriptively and thematically. Responses from 260 schools highlighted that fitness testing remains a common practice in PE, with 80% of PE teachers reporting it to feature in their curriculum. There was less consensus surrounding the ‘why?’ and ‘how?’ of testing, with variation evident in teachers’ stated learning intentions, pedagogical practices, and attitudes. Despite its prevalence, PE teachers expressed concerns over negative pupil outcomes potentially arising from fitness testing, and over 60% of teachers were uncertain or agreed that fitness testing can have a negative impact on pupils’ psychological health. Given the findings and the reported widespread prevalence of fitness testing, further research should explore pupils’ perspectives, responses, and outcomes of fitness testing, including their motivational and emotional responses to testing. Working with teachers and encouraging them to critically reflect on the ‘if?', ‘why?' and ‘how?’ of fitness testing is recommended and will hopefully help to bridge the gap between research and practice.

A Content Analysis of Secondary School Department Leader Position Descriptions

This study examines a sample of secondary school department leader position descriptions in the United States to compare understanding of the change and continuity in the role of the secondary school department chair as a curriculum leader and manager of learning. Position descriptions include general descriptions for all content areas as well as a specific position description for K-12 computer science, art, and social studies. These are compared for their thematic similarities and differences with implications for how the role of secondary school department leader has been officially envisioned and what these data suggest in comparison to the literature. As such, this study addresses a gap in the literature on department leader roles in reference to their official job descriptions. Implications for teacher leadership are discussed for instructional leadership and the department chair's role in learning measurement.

Formation of Probability Physical Notions by Pupils on the Statistical Approach

The article offers suggestions for the introduction of probability-statistical ideas and concepts needed to improve the teaching of molecular and quantum physics departments in secondary schools.

FORMATION OF TRADITIONS OF MUSEUM PEDAGOGY IN THE WESTERN UKRAINIAN LANDS (END OF XVIII – EARLY XX CENTURY)

The review article presents the genesis of the formation of museum pedagogy in the western Ukrainian lands, which were part of the Austrian (Austro-Hungarian) Empire. Emphasis is placed on the fact that an essential prerequisite for the emergence of museum-pedagogical thought was the awareness of the museum as an institution of education, which was especially evident at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and found a theoretical basis in German scientific thought. It was found that the formation of museum pedagogy is associated with the establishment and operation of natural cabinets-museums of Lviv and Chernivtsi universities, the development of natural, artistic, industrial, historical, ethnographic, and other public museums, as well as museum departments in secondary schools. The peculiarities of the formation of the network of museums and traditions of museum pedagogy in the western Ukrainian lands, which found its expression in the activities of university museums, educational museums of secondary schools, and public museums, are clarified. The evolution of views on the educational functions of museum institutions, forms of cooperation of public museums with educational institutions, and certain categories of visitors are revealed. It is proved that the need to introduce effective forms of museum pedagogy, taking into account historical experience, is due to the negative trend of isolation of the current cultural environment from educational institutions.It is determined that in the second half of the XIX century. University museums in Western Ukraine have largely initiated and participated in the creation of natural, art and industrial, historical and local lore, ethnographic and other public museums, as well as helped to establish the traditions of museum pedagogy in secondary schools – gymnasiums and teachers' seminaries.

An Investigation of the Extent of the Establishment And Utilization of Guidance And Counseling Departments in Secondary Schools in Mwingi West Sub-County, Kitui County

An Investigation of the Extent of the Establishment And Utilization of Guidance And Counseling Departments in Secondary Schools in Mwingi West Sub-County, Kitui County

Stakeholder Influence in Institutional Strategic Planning Practices in Public Secondary Schools in Kenya (A Survey of Public Secondary Schools in Migori County)

This paper tries to explore the influence of stakeholders in institutional strategic planning practices in public secondary schools in Kenya, a case of Migori County. The study employed a descriptive survey study. The target population was made up of public secondary school head teachers, deputy head teachers and heads of departments in secondary schools within Migori County whose total was 1056. A sample size of 106 respondents was drawn using stratified random sampling. The study used both primary and secondary data. Questionnaire was the primary data collection tool and was administered using the drop and pick method which helped minimize financial and time limitations that the researcher was likely to face. Secondary data was derived from documentations such as school strategic plans and minutes of B.O.G, P.T.A and staff meetings. Data collected was both qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative data was analysed using content analysis while quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics such as mean, mode and median. The results of the study indicated that strategic planning process in public secondary schools involves stakeholders to a minimal extent mostly because of the time that it would involve.

The Role of Departmental Leadership for Professional Learning Communities

Purpose: Department heads play a pivotal role in the functioning of departments in secondary schools. However, quantitative research about the role of departmental leadership for the development of professional learning communities (PLCs) in subject departments in secondary schools remains scarce. As PLCs are seen as promising contexts for teachers’ continuous professional development, it is highly relevant to study how department heads can facilitate PLC characteristics in their department. Research methodology: This study examines how two dimensions of departmental leadership (group- and development-oriented) relate to interpersonal PLC characteristics in departments. Survey data were collected from 248 experienced mathematics and French teachers in 62 departments in secondary schools in Flanders (Belgium). Two multilevel regression analyses were conducted with collective responsibility and reflective dialogue as dependent interpersonal PLC characteristics. We controlled for several demographic teacher variables and structural departmental variables. Findings: Our results nurture optimism about the potential of departmental leadership for interpersonal PLC characteristics. More specifically, teachers who perceive high group-oriented departmental leadership experience more collective responsibility in their department. Furthermore, teachers’ perceptions of both group-oriented and development-oriented departmental leadership are significantly related to the reported frequency of teachers’ reflective dialogues. Implications: This study suggests that department heads play a critical role in facilitating interpersonal PLC characteristics in departments. As a result, department heads need to be carefully selected and adequately supported. As this article is one of the first to offer a quantitative perspective on this matter, it offers an instrument for future studies and informs policy about departmental leadership practices.

Analysis of the roles and leadership capacity of heads of departments in secondary schools

This multi-case qualitative study explored the roles and leadership capacity exhibited by heads of departments (HODs) in secondary schools. The findings of the current study revealed that HODs have different roles to fulfil in secondary schools. As a result, HODs experienced both role conflict and role ambiguity between the espoused nature of the job and the reality of the job. Furthermore, some critical features of high leadership capacity, such as enquiry-based decisions, reflective practices, and broad-based skilful collaboration, are often missing in the leadership responsibilities of HODs. Although the study tends to validate the findings of other research studies, it also makes a contribution to the existing knowledge base, by highlighting the challenges faced by HODs, and also by using critical features of high leadership capacity to analyse the current leadership capacity exhibited by HODs in secondary schools. The integration of critical features of high leadership capacity in this study is therefore a methodological contribution to the study of leadership capacity. Furthermore, this multi-case study provided insights and recommendations which might serve as strategies to reduce workloads of HODs, and to enable them to balance their leadership duties and build leadership capacity in secondary schools.

Analysis of the roles and leadership capacity of heads of departments in secondary schools

This multi-case qualitative study explored the roles and leadership capacity exhibited by heads of departments (HODs) in secondary schools. The findings of the current study revealed that HODs have different roles to fulfil in secondary schools. As a result, HODs experienced both role conflict and role ambiguity between the espoused nature of the job and the reality of the job. Furthermore, some critical features of high leadership capacity, such as enquiry-based decisions, reflective practices, and broad-based skilful collaboration, are often missing in the leadership responsibilities of HODs. Although the study tends to validate the findings of other research studies, it also makes a contribution to the existing knowledge base, by highlighting the challenges faced by HODs, and also by using critical features of high leadership capacity to analyse the current leadership capacity exhibited by HODs in secondary schools. The integration of critical features of high leadership capacity in this study is therefore a methodological contribution to the study of leadership capacity. Furthermore, this multi-case study provided insights and recommendations which might serve as strategies to reduce workloads of HODs, and to enable them to balance their leadership duties and build leadership capacity in secondary schools.

Changing Times: Problematising Social Science Curriculum Implementation

By 2016, all schools across Australia will have transitioned from state-based to national curricula. Given the current dynamic period of curriculum change that schools are undergoing, there is a need to investigate how this change is implemented by and impacts on teachers. This research investigates the implementation of Australian History and Geography curriculum initiatives by a junior secondary school department (Years 7-10) in North Queensland. It systematically and critically reviews the Australian curriculum implementation processes and outcomes, within one Social Science department, through a case study methodology (Koshy, 2010; Yin, 2003). Actor Network Theory (ANT) (Fenwick & Edwards, 2010) will be utilised as the theoretical framework for this research. The Actor Network theoretical framework will identify the actors (including lead researcher, teachers, administrators and objects such as Curriculum into the Classroom (C2C) materials) in the curriculum translation network and how the interactions between them shape the network and its processes. This article explores the historical context of curriculum change, maps the network of History curriculum actors and then details some of the implications that have emerged such as redefining the place of the History and Geography disciplines, the place of particular actors and the enabling and constraining factors in actors’ engagement and agency during the implementation. Researcher observations, interview and survey data provide insights into the ways in which teachers shape their own professional practices in response to curriculum change.

Department chairs as change agents

Change process research often discusses barriers that impede organizational change (e.g., Banta, 1997; Cavacuiti and Locke, 2013; Mutchler, 1990; Stewart et al., 2012); however, no empirical research has addressed how behaviors established in leadership models counteract these barriers. This study explored these two interconnected constructs of leadership and change in stories of secondary school department chair change attempts, and identified specific leadership behaviors described within their stories that aided the conversion of change barriers into conditions that enhanced the change process. Leadership behavior identification within department chair stories of change was guided by Blake and Mouton’s (1962) leadership theory, which has been further delineated by Yukl et al. (2002), and identification of change process barriers was guided by Ely’s (1990a) eight conditions for change. From the combined descriptions of six successful and four unsuccessful narratives of department chair-led change emerged essential conditions for change and commonly occurring change barriers. Specific leadership behaviors capable of overcoming these change barriers were also identified. Unexpectedly, this investigation also unearthed a change barrier seemingly unrelated to previously identified conditions of change: the contentious resistor. The contentious resistor was described as the most detrimental barrier to department chairs’ leadership of the change process.

Secondary School Science Department Chairs Leading Successful Change

A foundational understanding within education leadership literature is that education leaders are expected to guide reform efforts within school systems (e.g., Darling-Hammond, 2001; Evans, 1996; Fullan, 2001). This expectation mirrors organizational development literature that describes leaders as individuals who constructively institute change within their organizations (e.g., Northouse, 2004; Havelock & Zlotolow, 1995; Yukl & Lepsinger, 2005). Although leadership and change are portrayed as codependent and recursive phenomena within both educational and organizational development literature, no scholarship has linked change models with leadership theories (Herold, Fedor, Caldwell, & Liu, 2008). This article describes a multiple case study that explored the relationship between leadership behaviors and the change process through secondary school department chair stories of change. From the analysis of these stories of successful and unsuccessful change attempts, a clearer picture emerged that illustrates how leaders with little control over decisions implement change. Findings included distinct connections between CREATER change process stages (Havelock & Zlotolow, 1995) and specific leadership behaviors related to the Leadership Grid (Blake & McCanse, 1991; Yukl, Gordon, and Tabers, 2002), as well as change-leadership patterns that differentiate successful and unsuccessful change. Based on these findings, suggestions as to how education leaders should approach change attempts within their schools are discussed.

Understandings of the role of subject leaders in the professional development of beginning teachers within a school department: A Vietnamese perspective

This article explores the subject leader's role in the professional development of beginning teachers. Rather than focusing only on beginning teachers’ perspectives as previous research has done, the topic is approached via the multiple perspectives of teachers in a secondary school department in Vietnam drawn from surveys and interviews. Insights from career stage theory and the concept of power distance are applied to uncover differing expectations from beginning teachers, other teachers and subject leaders regarding the latter's role in professional development. This research adds to the understanding of the subject leader's role in the professional development of beginning teachers which is sensitive to both culture and context. It calls for further research within the under- researched context of Vietnamese schools.

Secondary School Department Chair Roles: Principal Expectations

The literature on the principalship is extensive, revealing ways in which principals can foster or impede school success. At the same time, another formal secondary school-level position, the department chair, has garnered little scholarly attention. Thus far, the literature offers a limited account of the roles that chairs should or do perform in schools. Our purpose here is to draw much-needed attention to the position by examining the relative level of importance that principals assign to various chair roles. Specifically, we report findings from a survey of New York State secondary school principals indicating that principals assign a high, though varied, level of importance to chair roles, some of which are associated with the structural characteristics of the position. We discuss the implications of this and other findings.

What influences the learning cultures of subject departments in secondary schools? A study of four subject departments in England

This paper reports on a study exploring teacher learning of subject content knowledge (SCK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in four subject departments of secondary schools in England. The research design employed interview and observation. This paper focuses on characterising the cultures of the subject departments from the participants’ own perspectives, examining the key factors influencing the formation of these cultures and how they facilitated or constrained the learning of SCK and PCK. Analysis of the data was done using constant comparative analysis. Findings show that three of the subject departments could be described as having more collaborative cultures whilst one was more individualistic. The findings also show that the key influencing factors were the nature and status of the subject, leadership of the department and the presence of a shared physical space, a team room. The paper ends by considering some of the implications for teacher learning in the workplace particularly at a time, in the English context, where the government’s reforms are moving towards more school-based initial teacher education and continuing professional development.

Utilización didáctica de la web de un Departamento de Secundaria

Los recursos y posibilidades que ofrece Internet para la educacion son, a dia de hoy, practicamente ilimitados; por ello, es imprescindible articular criterios de seleccion y sugerencias para su utilizacion con fines formativos. En este sentido, presentamos una propuesta ejemplificada para la integracion didactica de paginas web pertenecientes a diferentes departamentos de educacion secundaria, valida tanto para el uso de diversas referencias existentes en Internet como para tener en cuenta a la hora de elaborar una pagina web de profesor, de asignatura, de departamento o de centro educativo.

Utilización didáctica de la web de un Departamento de Secundaria

Resources and possibilities offered by Internet for the education are, nowadays, practically limitless. That is why it is essential to articulate criteria for the selection and suggestions for its use with educational aims. In this sense, we present a proposal to illustrate the didactic integration of Web pages pertaining to different departments in Secondary Schools. It is valid for the use of diverse existing references in Internet as well as for the elaboration of teacher, subject, department or school’s web pages. Los recursos y posibilidades que ofrece Internet para la educación son, a día de hoy, prácticamente ilimitados; por ello, es imprescindible articular criterios de selección y sugerencias para su utilización con fines formativos. En este sentido, presentamos una propuesta ejemplificada para la integración didáctica de páginas web pertenecientes a diferentes departamentos de educación secundaria, válida tanto para el uso de diversas referencias existentes en Internet como para tener en cuenta a la hora de elaborar una página web de profesor, de asignatura, de departamento o de centro educativo.

The evolution of an effective pedagogy for teachers using the interactive whiteboard in mathematics and modern languages: an empirical analysis from the secondary sector

There has been considerable investment in the use of interactive whiteboard technology in schools in the UK. There is evidence that whilst teachers understand such technology, many do not understand the nature and implications of interactive learning. Observation and analysis of 50 video‐recorded lessons taught by ‘successful’ teachers drawn from mathematics and modern foreign language departments in secondary schools led to the classification of three types of practice representing a spectrum of increasing interactivity. The nature of this good practice was analysed together with criteria for assessing the changes being wrought by technology in approaches to learning and teaching. The investigation concluded that the use of new technology alone cannot lead to enhanced learning. Teachers also need training to develop awareness of the relationship between approaches to interactive learning and conceptual and cognitive development in subject areas.

Able Linguist Days — a collaborative approach between a university and schools

ABSTRACT This is a challenging time for sectors traditionally associated with modem foreign languages (MFL) education. MFL departments in secondary schools are striving to encourage their able linguists to continue with their language studies at Key Stage 4 (KS4); further education colleges are trying to make their numbers viable to run AS and A2 courses; MFL departments in universities are hoping to encourage students to study languages at degree level; and Initial Teacher Training (ITT) providers are experiencing problems recruiting to target. The following paper describes an event held at the University of Portsmouth which tries to address these concerns. It describes collaboration between university departments, how that work has impacted on partnerships with schools and how languages can be promoted by an Able Linguist Event. The paper investigates the need for such an event. It presents the pre-session preparing and planning for able linguists and gives a brief account of how the event is organised. Finally, it notes some of the benefits reported by the parties involved.

The Role Expectations of the Head of Department in Secondary Schools in England and Wales : From the Viewpoint of Curriculum Management

The Role Expectations of the Head of Department in Secondary Schools in England and Wales : From the Viewpoint of Curriculum Management