Perspectives Of School Leaders Research Articles

Leading the Leader: Positive and Resilient Leadership (PRL) in Urban Public Schools through Filipino Public-School Teachers’ Metaphorical Perspectives

Positive leadership and resilient leadership are two types of leadership that share several commonalities, both of which seemingly respond and offer suitability to the unpredictable and volatile landscape and requirements of the times. While separately, there has been substantial empirical work on positivity and resilience in leadership, no study has been undertaken to combine both so that one type of leadership, i.e. Positive and Resilient Leadership (PRL), can emerge. Further, positivity and resilience in leadership have so far remained understudied among public organizations, particularly in urban public schools, a sector that considers ineffective leadership as among the major problems that hinder the quality of public education. Also, while previous studies have focused on such leadership from the perspective of school leaders, there remains a dearth of literature on understanding it from the standpoint of those being led, such as the teachers. To fill these gaps, this study examined the possible nature and characteristics of PRL by employing qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis in an attempt to (a) determine the metaphors Filipino teachers in urban schools use to describe leadership that is both positive and resilient, (b) identify how these metaphors capture the traits of positive and resilient school leaders in these schools, and (c) explore various situational practices of PRL in the Philippine urban public school sector. Findings showed five (5) categorizations of metaphors that were drawn from the responses of the public school teachers, indicating how PRL can provide them P.O.W.E.R., i.e. positivity, opportunity, wisdom, empathy, and reinforcement in six (6) aspects of school management, namely: (a) planning and implementation of school policies, programs, activities, and projects, (b) decision-making, (c) personnel management, (d) implementation of innovation and change, (e) resource generation and utilization, and (f) communication within and outside the organization that could improve urban public school teachers performance and well-being.

The perspective of school leaders on the implementation of evidence-based practices: A mixed methods study.

School leaders play an integral role in the use of implementation strategies, which in turn support special education teachers in the implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs). In this convergent mixed methods study, we explored school leaders' perceptions of the facilitators and barriers to EBP implementation, particularly for students receiving special education, as well as the importance and feasibility of 15 implementation strategies. School leaders (N = 22, principals, assistant principals, school psychologists, etc.) participated in a semistructured interview that included three parts-qualitative questions, quantitative ratings of strategies' importance and feasibility, and discussion of the top three implementation strategies. Data strands were analyzed independently and then integrated to generate meta-inferences. The qualitative data identified facilitators such as access to resources about the intervention (e.g., professional development) and collaboration and teamwork, while barriers centered on lack of school supports, culture/climate, and organizational factors (e.g., lack of communication). The quantitative data indicated that the implementation strategy provide ongoing consultation/coaching was rated as important and feasible. Monitor the progress of the implementation effort was rated as important but less feasible, while conduct educational meetings and change the environment were rated as feasible, but less important. Build partnerships to support implementation was rated as less important and feasible. There was convergence and divergence in mixed methods findings. This study underscores the critical need to increase school leaders' knowledge and skills related to implementation science to better leverage implementation strategies that address the confluence of relevant implementation determinants.

Implementing moral and character education policy through music integration: Perspectives of school leaders in Hong Kong

Implementing moral and character education policy through music integration: Perspectives of school leaders in Hong Kong

Surviving or thriving? Exploring school leaders’ perception of initiated digital transformation

ABSTRACT The global pandemic, COVID-19 shattered everyday life as we know it and disrupted education globally. In this study, we explore an initiated digital transformation accelerated by the pandemic from school leaders’ perspectives in the context of Swedish high schools. The data consists of a questionnaire with 105 school leaders containing both fixed and open-ended response types. The results reveal significant differences in school leaders’ views on how the transition has worked, whether they and their staff have developed their digital competence, and, how it will affect the school onwards. Contributions include theorising about school leaders’ experiences of navigating an accelerated digital transformation prompted by the pandemic. We introduce four school leader profiles: (a) the enthusiast, (b) the affirmative (c) the skeptical, and (d) the hesitant. These profiles serve to encapsulate the nuanced perspectives of school leaders, thereby enriching our comprehension of their diverse requirements and priorities.

Agentic Leadership: Principals’ Agency During the COVID-19 Crisis

ABSTRACT This research aimed to examine school principals’ perceptions and practices during the COVID-19 period through the perspective of school leaders’ agency and proactive coping role when facing adversity and crisis. For this purpose, we interviewed 60 principals of elementary, middle, and high schools. Interview analysis yielded five categories of leaders’ agency during the COVID-19 crisis pertaining to principals’ proactive creation of opportunities in the following fields: (1) principalship; (2) pedagogy; (3) professional development; (4) role autonomy; and (5) relationships and connections with various communities. The study expands knowledge identifying the perceptions and practices embodied in leadership agency.

Evaluating the Degree of Readiness to Practice Professional Distance Learning Communities (Virtually) in Light of the Covid-19 Crisis: Perspectives of School Leaders and Teachers at Amman Educational Directorate in Jordan

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the degree of readiness to practice virtual PLCs in light of the COVID-19 crisis from the perspectives of school leaders and teachers at Amman Educational Directorate in Jordan. Methods: This study used the descriptive analytical method. The sample of the study consisted of 155 respondents chosen randomly. The psychometric properties of the Professional Learning Communities Scale, consisting of 52 items distributed across six dimensions, were validated. Results: The results showed that the degree of readiness to practice virtual PLCs in light of the COVID-19 crisis, from the perspectives of school leaders and teachers, was high across all dimensions of the scale. Specifically, Supportive Conditions – Relationships were ranked first with a high score, while Supportive Conditions – Structures were ranked second with a medium score. The Shared Values and Visions, Shared Personal Practices, and Shared and Supportive Leadership were ranked third, fourth, and fifth, respectively, with a medium score. The results indicated significant statistical differences in work type and authority supervising schools, in favor of school principals and UNRWA schools, respectively. However, there were insignificant statistical differences regarding the respondents' gender, years of experience, and academic degrees. Conclusions: The results demonstrate that the degree of readiness to practice virtual PLCs in the light of the COVID-19 crisis, from the perspectives of school leaders and teachers, was high. The study recommends conducting related studies and holding workshops for school leaders and teachers.

Student voice: Which supportive parental behaviours first‐generation immigrant students in Australia find beneficial

AbstractThere is considerable evidence that parents/guardians play an important role in their children's education. The supportive behaviours of parents have important implications for children's learning. However, most research in this area has focused primarily on the perspectives of school leaders, teachers and parents. One area that thus remains relatively under‐studied is student perspectives on what constitutes beneficial parental supports. This research explores two case studies: one with primary school students, the other with secondary students. Both studies interviewed students from former‐refugee and non‐English speaking backgrounds who had recently settled with their families in Australia. The students were asked to reflect on supportive behaviours of their parents/guardians relating to their education. Findings suggest that despite many barriers, parents demonstrated high levels of support for their children's education. By foregrounding student voice, this study identifies several types of parental behaviours that students find most helpful for effective learning. These include: affirmation, role‐modelling, backup supports, conversations and discussions, encouragement and advice, and decision‐making and problem‐solving. Students’ responses suggest that slightly different sets of behaviours may be required at primary and secondary levels. This study highlights the types of supportive parental behaviours which schools could encourage, to help parents maximise the impacts of their supports for students, so these students are enabled to achieve effective learning and—more broadly—educational and career aspirations.

Perspectives of School Leaders on Supporting Learners With Special Education Needs During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Ethic of Care Analysis.

The ethic of care is a moral philosophy that has been used to describe and guide the work of educators, especially those working with students with special education needs (SEN). In this study, 36 principals and vice principals from four provinces in Canada were interviewed about their work with students with SEN during the pandemic. Responses were analyzed using the ethic of care framework. Accordingly, responses indicated that principals were particularly aware of, and responsive towards, the wide range of need experienced by students, their families, and school staff. Principals appeared especially concerned about the social needs of their students with SEN, the emotional support needs of the students' families, and the teachers' distress at not being able to meet all the educational needs of their students. Although most principals described the emotional toll of their work during the pandemic, none identified efforts directed towards self-care. This paper considers these findings in regard to motivational displacement as it relates to an ethic of care and calls for a broader consideration of need within education, such that support is extended to students, school staff and school leaders as the most effective means to foster healthy, future-ready schools. Key words: pandemic, principal, inclusive education, ethic of care, mental health.

Leadership for inclusive online learning in public primary schools during COVID-19: A multiple case study in Hong Kong

Despite the increasing number of studies on educational leadership during COVID-19, little attention has been paid to the intersections of different educational experiences and perspectives of school leaders, students, and their families that occur both inside and outside of schools. Drawing on eight case studies of public primary schools in Hong Kong, this article explores the challenges and strategies of online learning with a focus on effective leadership practices for supporting economically disadvantaged students during COVID-19. To incorporate the perspectives of multiple stakeholders, a series of questionnaires were distributed to principals (n = 8), teachers (n = 150), parents (n = 775), lower primary students (n = 855), and upper primary students (n = 850) and interviews were conducted with principals (n = 8), teachers (n = 37), parents (n = 32), and students (n = 62). Findings indicated that school leaders and teacher teams demonstrated strategic leadership practices prioritising and responding to the needs and constraints of economically disadvantaged students and their families. The present study draws attention to leadership encouraging collaboration among schools, families, and the wider community, which has become necessary during the shift to online learning during COVID-19.

Inclusive socio-musical spaces for newly arrived migrant children in a Norwegian primary school: Teacher and school leader perspectives

This ethnographic case study investigates how teachers and leaders in a Norwegian primary school perceive and promote an inclusive school environment for newly arrived migrant children through music. The analysis draws on two aspects of inclusion. The first is on whose terms inclusion takes place and whether newcomers have the opportunity to transform the existing social order. The second is the boundaries of inclusive practices: inclusion and exclusion are seen as processes separated by a boundary that, once crossed, can result in exclusion despite good intentions. The case is a primary school with a dedicated introductory class for newly arrived migrant children. The data collection instruments were participant observation, interviews and field conversations over a period of 10 months. There was a participatory element to the fieldwork in connection with the school’s ongoing development work to create an inclusive environment. Three socio-musical spaces were identified. The findings suggest that inclusive music practices face obstacles at individual, organisational and discursive levels. Fields of tension are identified relating to boundaries around what cultural expressions are welcomed and represented in the school; visibility and performance of home cultures; and exclusion and self-exclusion through musical markers of belonging.

A case study of interreligious learning and teaching in a Catholic primary school – a nexus of leadership, pedagogy, identity, and relationships

Australia is a religiously diverse nation with a growing trend in ‘no religious affiliation’ and irrelevance of religion in the lives of young learners and their families. The purpose of this study is to explore the perspectives of School leaders, teachers, and support officers in describing their role in interreligious learning and teaching in the context of one school. Whilst this is a study of one context, the Enhancing Catholic School Identity (ECSI) data and Australian Council for Education Research (ACER) school review data indicate it is a high functioning school. Fourteen one-to-one interviews were transcribed, analysed, and coded revealing themes that clarify key features of the data guided by the research question. Leadership, diversity, relationships, pedagogy, learners, and religious identity emerged as key themes. Delving deeply into the perceptions of the school staff in relation to their engagement in interreligious learning and teaching may offer some insight for other contexts endeavouring to increase the relevance and plausibility of religion in the lives of learners.

Views from the Border: Perspectives of Gifted Student Needs from Early Adopters of the High Potential and Gifted Education Policy

In gifted education, the relationship between policy and practice can be greatly influenced by individuals within school contexts. The perspectives of school leaders and teachers influence both the interpretation and execution of gifted policies. The New South Wales Department of Education’s High Potential and Gifted Education (HPGE) Policy is mandatory for all public schools in New South Wales from 2021, replacing the Gifted and Talented Policy of 2004. This study investigated the views of school representatives on the needs of high potential and gifted students. Participants were from schools selected as ‘Early Adopters’ of the HPGE Policy. A qualitative design was used and structured interviews were conducted with 10 participants from a total of four ‘Early Adopter’ schools and networks. The data demonstrated that assessment and identification practices, building teacher capacity, and the role of educators in the process of talent development were key points of concern.

Distributive Leadership Roles for Primary School Teachers’ Efficiency in New Norm: Focus Group Analysis

Abstract: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the education sector in Malaysia had undergone drastic changes and new norms are now in place. Among them are online home teaching and learning (PdPR) activities. This situation has become challenging and worrying especially in the primary school education sector. The Ministry of Education (2021) reported that there were 2,741,837 pupils in primary schools, compared to 2,037,433 pupils in secondary schools. These large numbers certainly affect the way school leaders manage the available resources. To alleviate this problem, school leaders are seen to have played an important role in helping teachers and pupils to adapt to the new online home teaching and learning (PdPR) environment. Therefore, this study examines the distributive leadership practices on the efficiency of primary school teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic period and challenges from the perspective of school leaders in managing and leading schools during this difficult period. A qualitative design with a phenomenology approach was used in studying and exploring their experiences. Five informants had collaborated in this study, and five main themes emerged: designation and sharing of school missions, visions, and goals; sharing of responsibilities; giving positive changes to teachers and students; giving changes to teachers to develop leadership skills; and cooperation - coordination and mutual understanding between education leaders and teachers. Through these themes, it is found that distributive leadership can be consistently pre-dedicated across all educational institutions. Besides sharing responsibilities, distributive leadership had enhanced teachers' knowledge and skills. 
 
 Keywords: Challenges, Distributive Leadership, Online Teaching and Learning, Teacher Self-Efficacy, Malaysia.

Principals Perspectives on Autonomous Schools in Bhutan

Abstract: The study intends to find out perspectives of school leaders on autonomous schools in Bhutan. The report explores the satisfaction level of school principals with the autonomy granted to them by the government and the ministry. Out of 19 autonomous schools, 17 schools’ principals were assessed with questionnaires and interviews. The study is based on primary and secondary data collected from the respondents and other relevant materials. The study found out that 65% of principals were satisfied with the autonomous school system in Bhutan. A majority (89%) of principals said there is decentralization of power and finance, while 78% of school principals said Bhutanese schools should go for autonomy. At the same time, school principals want more autonomy in terms of recruitment of staff, award contracts, maintenance of school infrastructure, paying travel allowances and daily allowances and salary to the staff, termination of nonperforming staff, promoting staff, preparing curriculum frameworks, and fixing school fees.

Digital Platforms and Technologies in School Clusters in Portugal: The Perspective of School Leaders

Digital Platforms and Technologies in School Clusters in Portugal: The Perspective of School Leaders

We are so lucky here; emotional labour and safeguarding in school

This paper was first presented at the Psychology of Education Section conference in 2021. It has resulted from a collection of works under the moniker Family Stories, which investigates lived experiences of, and support for, families with complex social care and health needs. This specific piece of work looked at school responses to those families using reflexive thematic analysis to investigate the perspectives of school leaders and pastoral staff, through an inductive approach leading to the interpretation of data into themes. At focus here are the three themes which relate specifically to the emotional labour of school staff in engaging with safeguarding issues: We are so lucky here; School never closes a case; and Your life, consumed. Amid a very strong finding that participants reflected a strong, mutually supportive environment on which they indicated their co-dependence, there also appears to be a distinct lack of reflective support for headteachers, in particular, in managing safeguarding decisions and supporting staff with the emotional impact of that work.

Understanding and Supporting the Confucian Heritage Culture International Students in Victorian Independent Schools: A Perspective of School Leaders

Greater demand for quality post-secondary education has been seen in Asia, particularly in China. Many Western countries have seen a rise in international education. Increasingly, schools in Australia are embracing internationalisation policies, leading to an increase in international student enrolment before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. International students in school education are something of a little-understood issue for educational scholars, policy makers and the general public. Leadership is seen as pivotal in the success of schools’ internationalisation program. By applying a mixed-method approach to collect data from an online Qualtrics survey and semi-structured interviews with independent school leaders in Australia, this paper reports how school leaders understand Confucian Heritage Culture (CHC) international students’ linguistic, cultural and educational contributions to schools, and their experience in supporting the international students to adapt into the new educational environments through various programs and strategies. This article also advocates that it is vital to respect the international students’ educational subjectivities generated in their “home” countries when providing support programs to help them engage with new educational contexts in “host” nations.

Organizational Context in General and Special Education: An Exploratory Investigation to Describe the Perspective of School Leaders

Organizational context (e.g., climate, culture, resources) can impede or enhance implementation of evidence-based practices in general education settings or special education settings serving students with autism spectrum disorder. We examined the relations between organizational context and individual (i.e., implementation leadership, administrator- or service provider-role) or school (i.e., enrollment size, public/nonpublic school type) characteristics. Participants were administrative or service providing leaders (n = 34) from 11 schools in one state on the East Coast of the United States. School leaders’ average ratings of the organizational context were generally more positive for special education than general education; however, greater culture stress was reported for special education. Correlation analyses indicated being an administrator and implementation leadership were positively associated with implementation climate in both education settings. Being an administrator was also positively associated with cultural effort (i.e., how hard people work towards achieving goals) in special education, but negatively associated with culture stress in general education. In special education, nonpublic schools had better climates (both learning and implementation), but more culture stress. Additionally, school enrollment size was negatively related to available resources and implementation climate in special education. Investigating the similarities and differences in organizational context across educational settings is needed in future research.

Principals and Teachers’ Perspectives of Their School Libraries and Implications for School Library Policy

Research has demonstrated that school librarians can make a meaningful contribution to student reading proficiency, learning and academic achievement. This study examines the perspectives of school leaders and teachers in Singapore schools to better understand how they use their school library, their attitudes toward the library collection and environment, and their perception of their library coordinators’ roles. Findings suggest that school leaders and teachers under-utilize the library, perceive it to be mainly a study space for students, feel that the library space and book collection should be improved and were not clear about the roles of their library staff. The study suggests that it is crucial to implement policy and professional development courses to support collaboration between principals, teachers and school librarians.

Influence of Different Learning Environments in the Implementation of Technical Vocational Education and Training policy in Nigeria

Technical vocational education and training (TVET) are seen as an important tool in economic growth and poverty reduction in many developing countries. There is evidence that creating a work environment and duplicating the industries equipment in the TVET institutions is costly and pushed the budget high and cannot be afforded by the government. This lead to vocational education to be done in an academic setting, working on fictional tasks that are not in line with daily real work tasks. Although the influence of the learning environment on TVET policy implementation has been reported, little is known on the perspective of school leaders in the use of different learning environments. The study aims to understand the combination of different types of learning and learning environments influence the implementation of TVET policy. The study is based on a semi-structured qualitative interview with nine school leaders in TVET institutions in Nigeria. The study used thematic analysis to analyze the data and NVIVO qualitative data analysis software to organize the data. The paper and pencil coding method was also used for the analysis. The study finds out that combining different types of learning and learning environment may contribute to the effective implementation of TVET policy and increase the employability of TVET graduates. From the perspective of the school leaders combining different types of learning and learning environments will facilitate job-ready graduates. The results of the study should be used to guide the implementation of TVET policy and facilitate the combination of learning environments.