Globally, there are numerous debates on what constitutes an effective school. Parents strive to choose what they regard as the best school for the education of their children. Historically, school effectiveness is a phenomenon associated with learner attainment. Yet, school effectiveness is measured and conceptualized differently throughout the world. The aim of this research was to determine and define the factors contributing to the effectiveness of secondary schools in the Free State Province of South Africa. A case study was conducted on six schools selected in the Free State Province. Data were collected qualitatively by means of semi-structured and focus-group interviews with principals, SMTs, teachers, SGBs, learning facilitators and school-management and -governance developers. A documentary analysis was carried out to triangulate data from interviews. The data collected were triangulated and supported by an extensive literature review on school effectiveness and improvement. In particular, the literature review encompassed the policy context of school effectiveness in South Africa, definitions of the concept of school effectiveness, models of school effectiveness, methods of evaluating school effectiveness, the relationship between school effectiveness and school improvement, change and school improvement, approaches to school improvement and the characteristics of effective schools. The legislative framework for both teacher and school evaluations is highlighted and their effectiveness critically reviewed with reference to current investigations in the field. These empirical investigations, which, form part of this larger qualitative research project, show that effective schools exhibited high learner attainment, effective teaching and learning, as well as a highly effective leadership and management. Management, leadership and administration, curriculum, school governance and VI school support structures were confirmed as very instrumental as far as school effectiveness and improvement are concerned. Furthermore the study indicates that the current policies are not enhancing school effectiveness and improvement, thus the study recommends the index of school effectiveness and improvement (ISE&I). The Index of School Effectiveness and Improvement, which is a document that schools can use to review and enhance their effectiveness, is a model developed in the course of this study to assist schools in improving their effectiveness. Unlike the WSE review, which takes place every five years, the index suggests a continuous and regular review process by schools carried out by all stakeholders. In conclusion, an overview of the challenges identified by this research project, as well as the aspects in need of further research, is highlighted. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

The purpose of the study was to assess Challenges of and Opportunities for Implementing the School improvement Programme in the Public secondary Schools of Iluababor administrative zone in Ethiopia. In the study a mixed research methodology was employed, specifically the sequential explanatory designs with a high priority on the quantitative and the sequential exploratory design and with less priority on the qualitative data. Out of 24 secondary schools, 12 secondary schools were selected by random sampling from six geographically clustered secondary schools. In the study (out of a total of 540 sample populations, 287 research participants were selected by random sampling/lottery method, 220 male and 67 female) were participated to fill the questionnaires. For interviews from six clusters (12 school principals, 12 district education experts, six secondary supervisors and four zone education experts) were selected by purposeful sampling to participate in the interviews sessions. Whereas, for focus group discussions ( 21 parent teachers‟ association (PTA) members; and 21 members of student councils) were as well selected by the purposeful sampling technique from three clustered geographical locations of the schools respectively. The collected data was analysed using statistical programme for social science software (SPSS) version 21. To analyse the data from questionnaires, descriptive statistical analysis like frequencies, percentile, mean values, and standard deviation were used. While, qualitative data generated from interviews, focus group discussions and document analysis were transcribed, coded and interpreted thematically. The findings indicated that with regards to the quantitative data analysis, the performances of the school improvement programme aggregate of the four domains summary of the mean values and standard deviations 287 (Mean = 2.82; SD = 0.74) showed that the indicators of practices among the school improvement programme domains were low in performance. The qualitative results as well confirmed the quantitative results. In this case, the mean value was above average and the standard deviation value was more tightly clustered around the mean. This means that the results were concurrent of each other and thus reliable. The findings revealed that, even though secondary schools put a lot of effort towards averting the challenges in school improvement, it could hardly bear fruit due to insufficient supplies of inputs and processes. This resulted in the school improvement programme performances lagging behind the set goals and targets. Additionally, the findings indicated that the major challenges in the implementation of the school improvement programme in secondary schools (9-10) were: weak collaboration among stakeholders, lack of capacity building, inefficient administrative services, limited commitment of school leadership and school governing bodies, poor school leadership and management, passive and inactive involvement of parents and local community, and, in the academic affairs, students were not successful in terms of attendance and the achievement of learners. Based on the findings, it is recommended that school principals, teachers, administrative staff, students, parents and local school communities be well equipped with basic knowledge and skills on the school improvement programme. This could help in fostering critical thinking and the problem solving capacity of the learners. In addition, school principals and the school governing bodies have to apply the recommended strategies in the study so as to alleviate the challenges in (grades 9-10) secondary schools. Above and beyond, the study suggested that in order to get better learners achievement, a strong team spirit should be established among school principals, secondary school supervisors, teachers, students, parents and local communities, and by expanding capacity building networks within the coming five years. Consequently, the schools management teams and other stakeholders of secondary schools (9-10) have to plan for continuous training and orientation on the nature, practice and significance of school improvement programme implementation. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

Change is critical in most organizations. International schools attempting to redefine 21st century education for their students are innovating pedagogies and schools’ structures. However, the leader of an organization or school may be the most influential advocate for or barrier to change. International schools’ leaders continue to play a role in the diffusion of distance education. This study identified the knowledge and experience of international school leaders and identified themes that are related to the likelihood distance education would or would not be adopted by the schools they lead. This applied dissertation describes international school leaders’ knowledge and use of innovation diffusion theory in adopting distance education into kindergarten-Grade 12 East Asia Regional Council of Schools (EARCOS). International schools are a unique niche in the global educational environment. Triangulating data from EARCOS school leaders collected through individual innovativeness surveys and coding open-ended interview transcripts provided insight to school leaders’ knowledge and use of innovation diffusion theory when applied to adopting or rejecting the use of distance education within their schools. Data collected in this study indicated that EARCOS school leaders’ use of formalized planning when diffusing innovations, including distance education, within their schools varied depending on the scale of the innovation and the stakeholders involved. EARCOS school leaders rated themselves higher on average in individual innovativeness when compared to other innovativeness survey normative groups. Several other key themes emerged from the data including the following: Opinion leadership and change agents play a vital role in diffusing innovations in EARCOS schools. School leaders need to be adaptable and recognize opinion leadership within their schools to diffuse innovations efficiently. EARCOS school leaders rated themselves as highly innovative but were reluctant to explore innovative ways of delivering instruction, including distance education. Distance education was not seen as relevant in EARCOS schools, even though school leaders recognized their students would be exposed to online learning upon matriculation. Barriers to the diffusion of distance education exist in EARCOS schools including cost to develop distance education programs and courses, existing school structures, and the perceived absence of need.

The aim of this study is to explore the ways in which verksamhetsidé is seen within the Swedish educational context. In Sweden, the concept verksamhetsidé is used for an idea or a set of ideas related to the practice of an organization, for instance a school or a school district. Although the importance of such shared ideas is often pointed out by practitioners as well as researchers within the field of school development, there is little consensus about their meaning. When it comes to questions about the actual function and character of such an idea, or set of ideas, little guidance is found in the literature. This thesis seeks to contribute to such knowledge. In order to describe variations in the ways such ideas are seen as well as in the ways working with such ideas are seen, a phenomenographic study was carried out. The empirical data consist of deep interviews with 14 school directors of education in one larger city in Sweden; each responsible for several schools and preschools in one district. As directors they were all involved in the process of developing a verksamhetsidé, to guide all educational activities in the area. Results suggest that verksamhetsidé can be seen as a trademark, as putty, as a compass, as a map, or as a shared perspective. Each of these conceptions is used as a label for a category of description, and together they constitute one of the study’s outcome spaces. When it comes to working with such ideas, another variation is found. This variation is described through the concepts of top-down implementation and bottom-up sensemaking. Moreover, the data suggest no correlation between a certain way of seeing a verksamhetsidé and a certain way of seeing how to work with it. / Människors sätt att se varierar. Samtidigt verkar det vara av betydelse att medarbetare i skolan och förskolan utvecklar gemensamma sätt att se åtminstone vissa aspekter av verksamheten. Att bygga upp och fördjupa förståelsen av en gemensam idé framställs i skolutvecklingsforskningen som en viktig aspekt av skolans och förskolans ledarskap. I den här avhandlingen beskrivs variationen i sättet att se verksamhetsidéer, och arbetet med sådana, som den framträder i en grupp skolchefer med övergripande ansvar för pedagogisk verksamhet. Variationen diskuteras sedan i relation till olika sätt att se skolutveckling och ledarskap, samtidigt som avsaknaden av koppling mellan specifika sätt att se verksamhetsidéer och specifika sätt att se arbete med sådana problematiseras. I den avslutande diskussionen framhålls särskilt betydelsen av att de som befinner sig i skolans eller förskolans praktik utvecklar kunskap om variationen och använder sig av den för att bygga upp ny kunskap med relevans för verksamheten och arbetet i den. Till grund för de resultat som presenteras ligger en intervjuundersökning genomförd i en större svensk stad, i vilken det vid tiden för studiens genomförande pågick ett arbete med att bygga upp en, för all pedagogisk verksamhet i staden, gemensam verksamhetsidé. / <p>The original ISBN number of this work ( 978-91-7063-520-5 ) has been replaced by a new one: 978-91-7063-571-7.</p>

This thesis draws on a case study research method conducted to identify the challenges of school leadership and to investigate the opportunities of instructional leadership practices via a distributive approach for secondary school principals in Haramaya District of Oromia region, Ethiopia. This qualitative research approach allows for obtaining detailed information from the participants for the issue under study. The participants of the study were five secondary school principals, 25 secondary school management members and five Haramaya District Education Office experts. Totally 35 participants were the subjects of the study. The data collected from the participants were analysed using a thematic analysis by employing the necessary steps of qualitative data analysis. Therefore, the study identified that school principals do not give equal emphasis for some of the instructional leadership roles and distribute instructional leadership roles based on a traditional ways rather than using a theme approach. The support provided to school principals from stakeholders to strengthen their instructional leadership practices using a distributive approach is also low. In addition, lack of knowledge and skill of principals to understand the recent school leadership theories and a distributive approach make principals not to practice instructional leadership via a distributive approach effectively and efficiently. Moreover, low commitment of stakeholders to take instructional leadership roles and activities, lack of adequate support from stakeholders to principals and lack of instructional materials and qualified personnel were the major challenges of principals in practicing instructional leadership via a distributive approach. Finally, the researcher recommended that school principals, Haramaya District Education Office and East Hararghe Zone Education Desk should work collaboratively to formulate and communicate a school vision, to use technology for assisting learning and strengthen CPD programme based on need assessment. Moreover, school principals should work on the approach of distributive leadership on a team base to use the various knowledge, skill, expertise and experience of stakeholders. Teachers, students, parents, community, educational authorities at different levels, GO and NGOs should distribute instructional leadership roles and activities to support principals. Haramaya District Education Office and East Hararghe Zone Education Desk in collaboration with NGOs should prepare up-to-date training and strengthen school-community relationships. / Educational Management and Leadership / D. Ed. (Education Management)

This research investigates the vision of excellence in secondary schools leadership in Ekurhuleni East District (Gauteng East District) and the existence of a vision of excellence in schools. A literature study investigated models of leadership related to vision of excellence and aspects of vision of excellence in school leadership. An empirical investigation used both a quantitative and qualitative research design to collect data from a purposefully selected and stratified sample of participants and secondary schools in the Ekurhuleni East District (Gauteng East Education District). A questionnaire and focus group interviews were used to gather data from the respondents. Data were analysed and interpreted using quantitative and qualitative approach. The findings of both the literature study and the empirical research on the above-mentioned vision of excellence in secondary schools leadership in Ekurhuleni East District revealed that there is a lack of support from school leadership and the School Management Team (SMT) in realising a vision of excellence in secondary schools leadership. The main challenges that were identified by qualitative method were the lack of support by both the district office and school management or school leadership. The realisation of the vision of excellence is dependent on how the information is managed and disseminated by the school leadership, principals and SMTs. It appears that the realisation of the vision of excellence would enhance the level of understanding of new developments in the education system including the curriculum change and technological advancement. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

Teacher self-efficacy for teaching in diverse classrooms is an important factor in the successful implementation of inclusion. Quantitative examinations of teacher self-efficacy have found the construct to be correlated with both contextual and teacher-related factors. In-depth qualitative exploration into type, quality, and nature of experiences that shape teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs is scarce. This research aimed to qualitatively examine potential sources of teacher self-efficacy and generate an explanation for the complex growth pattern it follows during the early years of practice. Seventy-eight beginning teachers across Canada (i.e., graduating teacher candidates and new teachers who are in the first three years of their practice) participated in 139 semi-structured interviews conducted over four years to address questions regarding the factors and experiences that influence their self-efficacy or confidence to teach in diverse classrooms. Ten factors which either had a positive or negative connotation emerged from a qualitative content analysis of their interviews. The Positive-Negative Experiences Balance (PNEB) model was conceptualized to understand and represent how these ten factors interactively, simultaneously, and collectively influence the development of beginning teachers’ self-efficacy for inclusive practice in the initial years of their careers. Through a comparison of frequency counts of codes, it was noted that beginning teachers differentially relied on experiential factors to enhance their self-efficacy when they were graduating, or were in the first three years of their teaching. The results are discussed in light of the relevant extant research. Implications of these results for teacher education programs and school leadership are also shared. / Graduate

Department of Curriculum Studies and Education Management / PHD (CS)

No description available.

Syftet är att bidra med kunskap om rektors styrning och ledning när hen organiserar samarbetet mellan fritidshemmet och grundskolan. Frågor som ställs fokuserar hur frirum nyttjas och hur korstryck hanteras.  Tidigare studier visar att rektors styrning och ledning, liksom undervisningens kvalitet, behöver utvecklas. Samarbete mellan fritidshemmets och grundskolans personal sker i låg grad och kopplingen mellan lärtillfällen är svag. Denna kvalitativa studie använde Frirumsteorin som teoretisk utgångspunkt och analysverktyg. Teorin utgår från konflikten mellan formella och informella styrnings- och ledningsmekanismer. Empiriskt material inhämtades via observationer och frågeformulär. Analysen gjordes utifrån kriterierna för kontinuumet uniprofessionell – multiprofessionell inom den professionella sfären samt kontinuumet differentierad – integrerad inom den byråkratiska/administrativa sfären. Resultatet visar att frirummet begränsades av yttre händelser och ett beroende av externt stöd. Ett ökat korstryck uppstod. Kulturen i skolornas ledningsgrupper beskrivs som integrerad och mestadels multiprofessionell. Avseende Coronapandemins påverkan syns inslag av uniprofessionalism. En slutsats är att en helhetssyn är mer framgångsrik för att rektorer ska lyckas organisera för samarbete och kompletterande undervisning. Vid förändringar, torde en integrerad skolkultur präglad av multiprofessionalism vara mest gynnsam. Studien uppmärksammar styrnings- och ledningsperspektivet; rektors roll för måluppfyllelsen i fritidshemmet, samt prövar en kartläggningsmetod med tillhörande begreppsapparat, vilka är teoretiskt och vetenskapligt förankrade i Frirumsteorin. / The purpose of this thesis is to add knowledge about the headteacher´s governance and management when organizing the collaboration between Leisure-time Centre and compulsory school. Questions asked focused on how Scope for Action and conflicting pressure is met by headteachers. Previous studies show that the headteacher's governance and management, as well as the quality of teaching, need improvement. Collaboration between staff in Leisure-time Centre and the school takes place to a low degree and the connection between learning opportunities is weak. This qualitative study used the Scope for Action Theory as a theoretical starting point and analysis tool. The theory is based on the conflict between formal and informal mechanisms of governance and management. Data was gathered from observations and questionnaires. Analysis was made on basis of the criteria for the continuum uniprofessional - multiprofessional within the Professional Sphere and the continuum differentiated - integrated within the Bureaucratic/administrative sphere. The result shows that Scope for Action was limited by external events and an increase of dependence on external support. Conflicting pressure increased. The culture in the management groups is described as integrated and mostly multiprofessional. Regarding the influence of the Corona pandemic, elements of uniprofessionalism are shown. One conclusion is that a holistic approach is more successful for headteachers to succeed in organizing for collaboration and complementary teaching. In the face of change, an integrated culture characterized by multi-professionalism is likely to be most favorable. The study draws attention to the governance and management perspective; the headteacher's role for attainment of goals in Leisure-time Center as well as testing a mapping method with a conceptual framework, which is theoretically and scientifically anchored in the Scope for Action Theory.