Perspectives Of School Leaders Research Articles

Educational Leaders and the Prospective Responsiveness to the Vast Drastic Educational Changes in the Abu Dhabi Emirate

This study examines the prospective responsiveness of school leaders to the drastic educational changes currently being instituted in Abu Dhabi. The study utilizes a qualitative research approach by using a focused group interview with twenty-five teachers selected by purposive sampling from Abu Dhabi Emirate schools. The study revealed that schools are witnessing critical and continuous changes in all areas related to school leadership, teachers, pupils, curricula, teaching methods, school culture, resources, facilities, services, and infrastructures. Many of these critical changes affect the practice of educational leaders, including policy and decision making, technology use, innovative teaching, teacher training, principal preparation, quality of school facilities and services, and parental engagement. The prospective school leader’s response to these changes, from the perspective of school leaders, is to make critical decisions to introduce and implement new technologies in schools, enhancing the quality of school curricula, teaching and learning, and educational resources and services. Furthermore, a school leader’s prospective response to the drastic changes varies and depends on the availability of highly qualified leaders, financial resources, and support from educational authorities.

Perspectives of school leaders on the administrative internship

Purpose– The purpose of this study was to identify how current K-12 district and school leaders who are alumni of an educational administration program describe how they acquired the essential skills and experiences needed to be effective in the leadership positions.Design/methodology/approach– For this qualitative study, the authors interviewed program alumni of one university leadership preparation program regarding the experiences and training they identified as having prepared them with the necessary skills, knowledge, and attitudes to be successful in their positions, as well as which components of their administrative internship experiences, if any, they identified as having most prepared them for their positions.Findings– School and district administrators indicated they acquired the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to become successful leaders through specific preparation experiences and opportunities. Key experiences cited by alumni included gaining some leadership responsibilities while they were teachers and further opportunities to lead in the administrative internship; engaging in practical, hands-on assignments in their graduate degree program courses; learning from other administrators with unique areas of work responsibilities, as well as from other schools and districts; and receiving guidance from a dedicated mentor.Originality/value– The findings from this study contribute to research in the area of administrator preparation by guiding preparation programs in prioritizing the types of training and practicum experiences that aspiring K-12 educational leaders receive as a component of their preparation programs.

School Leader Perspectives on Leadership Learning Preparation and Continuing Professional Development in the Chinese Province of Fujian

This article reports the findings of a small-scale investigation into the perspectives of Chinese school leaders (school principals and deputy principals) on their leadership learning opportunities. The research draws on key policy documents and semi-structured interviews within a phenomenographic framework based on a cluster sample of ten school leaders located in Fuqing municipality, Fujian. Three overarching ‘categories of description’ emerge from the data: perspectives on formal learning, informal learning and the influences of systemic-contextual factors. The findings indicate that while there has been both an increase in investment and significant developments in school leadership training and continuing professional development, provision has been top-down and primarily focused on raising awareness of educational policy and reform. The study gives voice to the perceived learning needs of the school leaders themselves, arguing that these need to be addressed by policymakers if improvements in the quality of education are to be achieved in line with government expectations.

Inclusive education in Thailand: practices and challenges

In 2008, Thailand passed legislation on the educational provisions for students with disabilities to mandate the implementation of inclusive education. This article provides a historical overview of special education in Thailand and the emergence of inclusive education as it moves from policy to practice. To further identify the challenges faced in the implementation of inclusive education, this article reports the findings of a qualitative research study on the perspectives of school leaders from ‘inclusive schools’ that reveal a range of issues, including cultural perceptions about disability, current policies, financing of inclusion and other salient concerns.

Pedagogy of the Personal and Professional: Toward a Framework for Culturally Relevant Leadership

The social and cultural contexts of today's schools are diverse in ways that require greater attention to the educational philosophies, epistemologies, and perspectives of school leaders. In those environments where educators are not aptly prepared or willing to meet the sometimes unique needs of students who represent underserved racial, ethnic, and cultural groups, these matters move beyond the personal and become professional, as they are further complicated by high-stakes accountability standards and the prioritization of “closing the achievement gap” in schools and districts. As such, the purpose of this article is to explore more fully the research literature on culturally relevant and antiracist pedagogy in ways that can inform the practice of school leadership and explore the yet-untapped possibilities of speaking across areas of theory, research, and practice within the field of education. Specifically, we offer a framework for culturally relevant leadership that includes the following four dimensions: the political context, a pedagogical approach, a personal journey, and professional duty. Finally, we conclude with implications for research and practice.

Urban School Principals and the ‘No Child Left Behind’ Act

This exploratory study investigated how six practicing school principals responded to the requirements of the No Child Left Behind law (United States Congress Public Law 107–110, 2002, January, No Child Left Behind Act, http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/107-110.pdf) in light of the multicultural leadership demands presented by an urban setting. It examines perspectives of principals on the legal aspects of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and what they did to manage its requirements. Multicultural leadership literature provided a framework to understand the perspectives of school leaders. The findings suggest three principals were engaged in meaningful and practical work to both fulfill the requirements of NCLB and meet the needs of their students. Three principals were focused on the requirements of the law and did not see the connection between multicultural leadership and NCLB. The study’s recommendations include a multicultural leadership approach to current NCLB school reform.

How Do Schools Bridge the Gap Between External Demands for Accountability and the Need for Internal Trust?

This article will discuss how schools in countries like Denmark cope with the external demands for accountability made on them by many different stakeholders and at the same time strive to build and sustain trust in and trust from staff. The school context in relation to these challenges is seen in light of the increasing complexity of societies. On the one hand, there are pressures to transform the governing of schools towards a more ‘rigorous’ form of New Public Management (NPM). On the other hand, there is a growing consciousness of the need to sustain trust and loyalty in the school as a community. In the middle of this squeeze are the actors: the teachers and school leaders. The school leader is pivotal to the relations with external authorities and communities and to internal agents like staff. The struggle between accountability and trust is seen from the perspective of school leaders, drawing on data and analysis from the Danish part of an international comparative study on the Life History of School Leaders. The data and analyses in this project make it possible to take an historical perspective when trying to understand the thinking of Danish school leaders.

Institutional Effects of Strategic Efforts at Community Enrichment

This article lays out a path for an institutional analysis of strategic interventions for collaboration. The analysis is informed by recent theorizing on structures and strategies for collaboration and by the insights of the new institutionalism found in recent work by organizational theorists. The article uses a framework of institutional propositions to guide an analysis of the strategic efforts to promote community collaborative effort to enhance the life chances of students, efforts that are evolving in one Canadian high school from the perspective of school leaders in the initiative. The article extends existing theoretical conceptions of school-community relations through analysis of the institutional effects of these strategic efforts at collaboration.