' leader' Search Results
Variety of Strategies in Primary Education: The Responses of the Four UK Nations to the COVID-19 Crisis
covid-19 education policy primary education public value emergent strategy...
This article analyses the strategies of the four United Kingdom (UK) nations to mitigate the impacts of primary school closures and the shift to remote learning due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. A theoretical framework based on a combination of the field literature of strategy and public value was developed to analyze their initiatives. This is a qualitative and exploratory study, and its data was collected from each country’s website, research papers, and media news. The findings reveal five key areas of action: remote learning; keeping schools open to assist vulnerable students and key workers’ children; access to the Internet and electronic devices to mitigate the digital divide; free meals to disadvantaged learners; and students’ assessment. The analysis suggests that the four nations initially adopted a coordinated action and gradually followed three different paths: deliberate strategies, adjustment to the pandemic situation, and development of emergent strategies. The variegate of strategies show the innovative capacity of the countries and the search for public value. Further research is suggested to address the impact of the strategies.
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Willingness to Communicate and Collaborate: The Key Role of Educational Leadership in Primary Education
cooperation principal with teachers educational administration human resources leadership primary schools...
This article aims to explore the views of primary school teachers regarding the educational leadership exercised by leader teachers at the human resource management level, and how this can affect their willingness to communicate and collaborate. The theoretical framework analyzes the dimensions of human resource management by a leader teacher, as a communication channel, team empowerer, and creator of a climate of trust. The research was carried out using quantitative method, with a closed digital questionnaire which was completed by 693 primary school teachers from whole Greece. Initially, the analysis was carried out through descriptive statistics and then selected questions were analyzed by statistical inference test. The findings show a shift towards the model of a transformational leader, despite the country’s education system remaining highly centralized. In addition, the findings show a correlation between democratic and cooperative staff management, with the axes of inspiration and responsibility on the teachers’ side. This article highlights whether the communication skills of a leader teacher affect the functioning of the school. The research was carried out during a pandemic and thus it was not possible to collect qualitative data using interviews with leader teachers so that we can have a comparative approach to the issue.
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How Do Distributed and Transformational Leadership Teams Improve Working Conditions and Student Learning in Underperforming High-Needs Schools?
distributed and transformational leadership human resources management school leadership development underperforming high-needs schools...
Theories of distributed leadership suggest that organizational learning and change results not from the efforts of a single individual, but rather from a network of people working within their broader systems. Team empowering leadership enhances human resources development of the organization to promote the sharing of knowledge that is necessary for change. In this study, we study transformational and distributed leadership team that have been linked to improving working conditions and students’ learning in high-needs schools. Specifically, we highlight a team-based intervention where positive organizational improvements were made to academically struggling schools, and then qualitatively examined the associated processes to understand what enabled the occurrence of those positive changes. We find that the team structure allowed for the clarification of expectations, enhancement of communication, and improvement of educator working conditions through professional development support and distribution of leadership responsibility, which ultimately resulted in improvement in school culture and performance.
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Leadership Expectations of Secondary School Students in the Context of School Principals
leadership leader behaviors school leadership school principals student expectations...
In the research, it was aimed to learn the leadership expectations of secondary school students in the context of school principals. In this context, focus group interviews were conducted with sixteen students studying at different grade levels in the research conducted with a phenomenological design, and the data obtained were subjected to content analysis. When the findings were examined, it was seen that the leadership expectations of the students from the school principals were shaped in four sub-themes (behavior, values, skills and abilities, and characteristics). According to the results obtained, students from school principals about leadership; In the behavior sub-theme, they expect the most discipline and valuing ideas, they expect the most fairness, tolerance and understanding in the values sub-theme, they expect the most professional expertise in the skills and abilities sub-theme, and they expect the most compassion and sincerity in the characteristics sub-theme. The results show that the expectations of the students, which are the basic elements of the education process, should be taken into account by the school leaders.
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Job Autonomy, Workload and Home-work Conflict as Predictors of Job Satisfaction among Employed Women in Academia
employed women home-work conflict job autonomy job satisfaction workload...
Women’s work has been acknowledged as an important tool towards effective leadership and economic development in Nigeria and Africa in general. It is important therefore, to accept their presence and encourage the active role they play in the labour force which at the long run impacts the economy positively knowing full well that they make up noticeable portion of the world’s population. This study evaluated the contribution of job autonomy, workload and home-work conflict to the job satisfaction of employed women in universities in Ogun State, Nigeria. A descriptive survey design was used to draw 200 women through multi-stage sampling technique. Standardized questionnaires were used to obtain responses from respondents. Four hypotheses postulated were analyzed using correlation matrices and multiple regression analysis and the level of significance was at 0.05 level. Findings show that job autonomy, workload, and home-work conflict jointly contributed to job satisfaction with 10.1% variance (Adj. R2 = .101) while workload predicted female employees job satisfaction the most. It was concluded that university management should introduce flexibility in work schedules and restructure job descriptions to allow female employees have more autonomy so as to reduce the effect of home-work conflict and pressure associated with workload.
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Teacher Leader Model Standards in Context: Analyzing a Program of Teacher Leadership Development to Contextual Behaviours of Teacher Leaders
leadership behaviours professional development science teacher leadership teacher leader teacher leader model standards...
A National Science Foundation-funded Mathematics and Science Partnership program, Leadership for Educators: Academy for Driving Economic Revitalization in Science (LEADERS), aimed to develop science teacher leaders who would influence the quality of science teaching in their respective schools. To fulfill a need to evaluate leadership abilities of teachers within LEADERS, a Teacher Leadership Instrument was developed based on our previous work. This paper examines the performance of teachers as outlined in the Teacher Leader Model (TLM) Standards following their enrollment in three teacher leadership courses aligned with these Standards. The study employed a qualitative approach to analyze peer professional development sessions provided by teacher leaders, and to rate leadership behaviours and practices. Results indicate that 31 of the 37 functions were exhibited by the teacher leaders, with most observations occurring at a developing level. Behaviours related to effective presentation and facilitation were observed most frequently, but the teacher leaders also incorporated research-based practices, information about assessments, and links to the community in their sessions. Further, these behaviours linked back to the intended outcomes of the three leadership courses. The results demonstrate one manner in which teacher leaders perform the functions of the TLM Standards in the context of professional development sessions.
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Focus of Professional Development on Teachers’ Felt Needs: A Paradigm Shift in Policy
felt needs leadership prescribed needs professional development student achievement teachers...
A professional development that is often mandated is exclusionary, less motivating, and provides teachers with little or no improvement in their professional practice as well as student achievement. This necessitates a fundamental change in policy from prescribing professional development to addressing teachers’ self-identified felt needs. Hitherto, teachers are generally disenfranchised from specifying their felt needs for development, thus they feel uninterested, or enthusiastic to attend professional development programs that are prescribed for them by school leaders. When they do or are compelled to attend, they tend to be less attentive and are often indulged in reading newspapers, grading students’ test papers, texting, playing video games, or simply doing something unrelated to the professional development. This practice stifles teachers’ professional growth and student learning, hence it must not be allowed to continue unabated. Through a qualitative case study research design, using survey, interviews, and focus groups, this research brought to the fore, the debilitating effects of the current practice. Analysis of data yielded four major themes: choice, motivation, effectiveness, and satisfaction. The study proposed a paradigm shift in policy from mandating to granting teachers the autonomy to identify their own real or felt needs for professional development. Implications for practice, leadership, policy, and further research were also discussed.
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The Role of Perceived Servant Leadership in Schools in Predicting Loyalty to Supervisor
secondary school servant leadership school principal teacher loyalty to supervisor...
Focusing on servant leadership and its outcomes are considered fairly essential in terms of its contribution to the literature. This study seeks to determine the relationships between the servant leadership of school principals and the loyalty of teachers to their principals and the constructs of loyalty to supervisors. Secondary school teachers working in Diyarbakır constitute the population of the study. 26 secondary schools were randomly selected from Diyarbakır province and the scales were applied to the teachers working in these schools. The sample consists of 202 teachers. The data were obtained with servant leadership and loyalty to supervisor scales. Validity and reliability analyzes were performed on the scales to determine whether the scales were valid and reliable or not. While analysing the data, descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression analyzes were used, respectively. It was found that the variables examined in the study had a positive and significant relationship. Regression analysis findings revealed that servant leadership predicted loyalty to supervisors and the constructs of loyalty to supervisors (dedication, extra effort, attachment, identification, and internalization) in a statistically significant way. School principals wishing to establish a sense of loyalty in schools are recommended to be aware of the positive role of servant leadership on psychological mechanisms and to have speeches and actions compatible with this type of leadership.
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Sharing the Responsibility for Children Experiencing Poverty: Wellbeing, Empowerment, Complexification, and Ecosystem Leadership
ecosystems leadership quality of life empowerment complexification education poverty...
Poverty is a clustered and corrosive disadvantage that affects students throughout their lives. The education system has been positioned as an opportunity to break the cycle of poverty. Yet, the education system continues to fail to achieve its potential. We conceptually explore how educational leaders could perceive their responsibility in assisting children experiencing poverty and in leveraging the education ecosystem to fulfill the promise of full capability functioning through self-agency and empowerment. We call for an education leadership shift from an outcomes-based paradigm to a student-focused paradigm that embraces the complexity of poverty, develops students’ opportunities for self-agency and empowerment, and ultimately leads to a higher quality of life. We propose an interdisciplinary model of leadership.
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An Evaluation of Current Leadership Practices in Secondary Schools in Madrid
instructional leadership leadership practice school leadership in spain school principal...
This study aims to evaluate the leadership practices of a sample of secondary school principals in the Madrid region. An attempt will be made to provide some insights into their professional profile, their performance of leadership tasks, and the different elements that define their leadership model. An online questionnaire was used to collect their opinions on the day-to-day performance of their leadership role, as well as on the factors that influence their leadership style. From a methodological point of view, a quantitative approach is used within an interpretative framework, given that the emphasis is not on the generalisation of results but on understanding how school principals operate in their particular context. Results revealed that instructional leadership in Spain is still seen as a challenging goal for principals. This is closely in line with the bureaucratic nature of the headship role in Spanish schools.
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Quality of Administrative Services in Higher Education
administrative services higher education importance-performance service quality servqual tqm...
This study investigates the quality of higher education institutes’ (HEIs’) administrative services by assessing student satisfaction in the context of Total Quality Management (TQM). Differences between students’ perceptions and expectations of administrative service quality are examined and discussed. A questionnaire survey was developed employing the SERVQUAL service quality model, the results of which were further enhanced by the application of importance-performance analysis (IPA). All five dimensions of the model were explored (reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy, and responsiveness) with data from the 104 students from five Greek HEIs who participated in the survey. The results of the IPA complemented the survey research by enabling recommendations for importance and performance. The study’s findings indicate that students’ expectations are not met by the administrative services provided at the time of examination. A gap is observed between perceptions and expectations on all dimensions, indicating the necessity to make improvements to enhance service quality.
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Flexible and Precariat Form of Employment Policies at Higher Education in Turkey
adjunct faculty flexible employment university precariat part-timers...
The main objective of current study was to determine the opinions of adjunct faculty members regarding the flexible and precariat form of employment policies at universities in Turkey. The research was conducted qualitatively. The participants were 16 adjunct faculty members who were chosen with purposive sampling method. An interview technique was implemented in order to obtain data, and content analysis method was used to analyze the data. Results revealed that this form of employment policy causes organizational, academic and personal problems. As for organizational problems, it causes to prioritize financial points of views rather than academic expectations. Regarding personal problems, adjunct faculty members are underpaid, overworked, ignored regarding their professional development. Also academic and scientific knowledge production are ignored. Students do dot respect adjunct faculty members. It is recommended that this kind of employment policy should be reconsidered and full-time employment should be preferred.
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Inclusive Leadership in a Centralized Educational System
centralized system headmaster leader inclusive education special unit...
Special Unit students at a secondary education school in Cyprus were to be included in an action research project. Its primary objective was to study the challenges the headmaster/leader or other school leader faces while attempting to involve Special Unit students in the school's leadership, which was based on an inclusive leadership approach. The researchers concluded that Cyprus' centralized educational system is the biggest impediment. The primary research methods used to carry out the action research were interviews, focus groups, and observations. 85 teachers, 210 students, and 15 parents participated in the 8-month research, which was conducted in a secondary school in Cyprus with a special unit. By completing the research process, the researchers finally concluded that the solution to the problem might be the recruitment of an inclusive leadership model, which aims to use decentralized inclusive practices.
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Considering Emotional Intelligence as a Leadership Competency for Lesotho Secondary School Principals
emotional intelligence leadership competency schools principals...
As an educationist over the years, I have experienced principals’ outburst and their tendency to make a scene out of seemly minor issues that could have been addressed with little modesty. This behaviour has led to an uproar amongst parents, teachers and learners about the school principals’ insensitiveness which is attributed to lack of emotional intelligence (EI) competency. The study is underpinned by the transformational leadership theory which aims at pioneering change of attitude in school leadership so that different educational actors could be influenced to achieve the school and overall educational objectives. This qualitative study generated data from five (5) conveniently selected secondary school principals, five (5) parents and five (5) teachers using semi-structured interviews. Using thematic analysis method, the study revealed that principals with EI are able to enhance school performance and satisfy parents. Thus, the study revealed that EI is useful in establishing and maintaining good relationships with different school stakeholders. It is fundamental in managing conflicts in schools and facilitates constructive management of any stressful situations. The study further revealed that principals could acquire this skill through self-enrichment and induction initiatives by the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET). It is recommended that before principals are appointed, they should be subjected to multiple aptitude tests to evaluate their knowledge and competencies. Furthermore MoET through its experts should continually induct principals on EI aspects.
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The Relationship Between School Administrators’ Paternalistic Leadership Behaviours and Teachers’ Work Alienation Levels
alienation leadership paternalistic leadership school administrators work alienation...
The study aims to determine the relationship between school administrators’ paternalistic leadership behaviours and teachers’ work alienation levels. The research sample group involves 205 teachers working in the Anatolian high schools in the central district of Siirt. Research data was collected through the “Paternalistic Leadership Behaviours Scale of School Principals” and the “Work Alienation Scale”. According to the descriptive and Pearson correlation analysis results of the research, it was determined that the paternalistic leadership behaviours of the school administrators are at a “strongly agree” level while the work alienation of the teachers is at a “somewhat agree” level, and a negative moderate significant relationship was found between the paternalistic leadership behaviours and the teachers’ work alienation levels. The path analysis revealed that benevolent leadership predicts the powerlessness and meaninglessness dimension negatively significantly; authoritarian leadership predicts the powerlessness dimension positively significantly, and moral leadership predicts meaninglessness and self-estrangement negatively significantly. Moreover, it was also established that, in general, paternalistic leadership behaviours predict the teachers’ work alienation negatively significantly as a whole. As a result of the research, school administrators were suggested to display helpful and ethical behaviours by watching over the teachers in various matters.
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School Administration Through the School's Electronic Management System
administration electronic management management system school leadership...
In recent years, our schools have faced the necessity of creating a new school administration system, which would provide a good basis for electronic management. In this article, we will show how an electronic school management system works, and we will track the teachers’ opinions from our school regarding the use of the electronic school management system. Our research method is survey research, with quantitative and qualitative data. The selected sample is a total of 25 teachers from the primary and lower secondary school "Heronjtë e Lumës" in the village of Vërmicë, municipality of Prizren, Republic of Kosovo. Data were collected using a questionnaire. In conclusion, the findings from this study showed that the participants have a positive opinion of the school's electronic management system and it met the teachers' expectations, and they think that this system should be continued in the future. The entire school and our pedagogical staff have benefited from the use of this system.
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Helping Teacher Leadership Teams: Enhancing Teaming by Focusing Knowledge Integration
chat cross-functional teaming knowledge integration teacher leadership teams...
Teacher Leadership Teams (TLTs) are cross-functional teams, and thus knowledge integration is central to their teaming. Importantly, the existing literature maintains that cross-functional teams apply the traverse or transcend approach differently to integrate divergent knowledge, but few studies have directly focused on it within the context of TLTs. Studies on leadership teams in schools have highlighted political and/or cultural perspectives and mainly stressed team/organizational conditions that might influence the TLT process of using two knowledge integration approaches. Therefore, our research analyzed how one TLT employed two knowledge integration approaches in consideration of team/organizational conditions. More specifically, we conducted qualitative research using the Cultural-Historical Activity Theory as an analytic lens. We identified that the TLT used traverse, transcend, and mixed approaches, and that its context influenced the team’s hybrid use by determining when the team utilized each approach. We believe that our findings contribute to revealing TLTs’ actual knowledge integration process by empirically examining one TLT’s use of knowledge integration approaches. Our findings also contribute to developing a more comprehensive framework to understand TLT knowledge integration by addressing existing research from political and cultural perspectives and suggesting further areas of focus (i.e., functional conditions) for future research.
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The Mediating Effect of Work-Life Balance in the Relationship Between Job Stress and Career Satisfaction
career satisfaction job stress teacher work-life balance...
This study is aimed to find out the mediating role of work-life balance in the relationship between job stress and career satisfaction. The responses of high school teachers to career satisfaction, work life balance and work stress scales were utilized in the study. The data was analyzed using SPSS 26, Lisrel 8.80 and Jamovi 2.3. According to the results, one of the important determinants of teachers' career satisfaction is the work-life balance; there is a negative relationship between job stress and career satisfaction, and as the job stress increases, the work-life balance decreases. Finally, in the model, it was found that teachers’ job stress has a direct effect on career satisfaction, but also has an indirect effect through work-life balance. Based on all these results, educational organizations need to reorganize the work environment and conditions that will provide career satisfaction and work-life balance to their employees. However, while making these arrangements, it is of great importance to eliminate or even remove the factors that create job stress.
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School-Based Management Perspectives: Exploring Top-down Policy Execution at the Grassroots Level
accountability curriculum leadership and governance empirical analysis school-based management (sbm)...
The highlighted local and international perspectives of school-based management (SBM) offer logical findings on its efficacy at the grassroots level. Despite some hindering factors, its impact along leadership and governance, curriculum and learning, accountability and continuous improvement, and resource management are commendable. After methodical scrutiny of data, this paper concludes that the improvements in schools triggered by SBM are responsiveness to the needs and challenges of schools; contextualization of curriculum; improvement of physical facilities and linkages; and stakeholders’ awareness and involvement to school’s programs, projects and activities (PPAs). Principals likewise implemented SBM in their respective schools by holding SBM planning with its stakeholders. In fact, the different programs and projects implemented in schools include SBM crafting and planning; implementation, monitoring, and documentation of student learning activities; and clean-up drive and transparency board installation. Researchers, therefore, recommend that responsiveness of SBM to the needs and challenges of schools; contextualization of curriculum; improvement of physical facilities and linkages; and stakeholders’ awareness and involvement to school PPA be extensively maximized. Eventually, sound partnerships between schools and external stakeholders be cultivated.
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Academic Chairs’ Leaderships Styles and Teachers’ Job Satisfaction in Higher Education Institutions in UAE
chairs’ leadership job satisfaction leadership styles faculty members’ perceptions...
This study aims to identify the dominant leadership styles of chairs from the perspective of faculty members in different college departments in higher education in the UAE. Furthermore, the study aims to identify the teachers' perceptions of leadership styles that affect their job satisfaction. The study used quantitative means with faculty members in different higher educational settings in the UAE. The survey used a five-point Likert scale. The leadership styles have values (completely agree =5, agree = 4, neutral =3, disagree=2, completely disagree=1). The job satisfaction questions have values (completely satisfied =5, satisfied = 4, fairly satisfied =3, dissatisfied =2, completely dissatisfied=1). The chosen subjects were faculty members from different colleges. Those subjects are 135 university teachers who are divided into four age groups. The data revealed no dominant leadership styles in the colleagues from faculty members' perspectives; however, the statistics lean towards the laissez-faire leadership style. It also reveals correlations between the three leadership styles and job satisfaction. The democratic leadership style has the greatest impact and most significant environment and incentives among the three independent variables.
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