In any country, the education of the next generation is of huge importance. For Libya, which has developed very rapidly, the education of young people will be vital for the future of the country. The main problem at present in Libya is the quality of education: the need to build so much in order to educate so many in a short time creates the classical dilemma of quality of education versus quantity of education, a problem common in many developing countries. There is also a shortage of Libyan school teachers at secondary school level especially those qualified in science subjects, as well as resource problems. The examination system emphasises the rote recall of information and holds great power over the learners at key times of the year. Against this background, students sometimes show their dissatisfaction by leaving school or simply failing to attend. The aim of the present research is to look at Libyan education at various stages and ages from the student perspective: in middle (ages 12-15) and high schools (ages 16-20). The aim was to gain a picture of what was happening and to find out student’s views about their learning experiences. Overall, the aim of this study is to offer insights into the perception, beliefs and attitudes of students in Libya in an educational system where growth has been phenomenal over the past five decades or so. The study involved three major surveys using questionnaires. These involved very large samples (1939 in all), drawn from a wide range of schools and catchment areas, reflecting Libyan society. It was possible to analyse the responses by various subgroups. Great care was taken to ensure that the students responded to reflect what they actually thought by emphasising that the questionnaires were not seen by teachers, all questionnaires being anonymous. To confirm the picture given by the responses to the questionnaires, samples of students were interviewed using a checklist of key areas of interest. A sample of teachers was also interviewed to see to what extent their views matched those of the students. A first survey offered an overview of students’ views, the emphasis being on looking for trends with age. Age 12 is the first year of middle school under the Libyan system while age 15 is the uppermost year in middle schools. The other three groups are drawn from various stages in the high school. The second survey allowed students nearing the end of their studies at secondary school to reflect on their experiences and to offer ideas for the future. Students are able to reflect on their educational journey as they approach the end of schooling; and university, college or jobs are in the imminent future. In Libyan education, students make fixed subject choices (arts, sciences, technology) which determine their high school and curriculum. Once a choice is made, they have to continue with this for the remainder of their school time. The third survey focussed on the age group when these decisions have just been taken: first year in high school. Finally, the interviews offered a useful way to see to what extent what the students said matched the pictures which had come from analysing the questionnaires. Interviewing a sample of teachers gave added insights in offering a new perspective on the Libyan educational provision as seen from the teacher perspective. The main question was the extent to which teacher views matched student views. The examinations system clearly poses many problems, including relationships to the curriculum as well as cheating. The students want less reliance on recall, less reliance on end of year examinations and they feel that they are being undermined by the ease of cheating. The system is dominated by the reward of accurate recall. There seems to be an expressed wish for freedom: freedom to question, freedom to express themselves, freedom to be released from the dominance of memorisation and recall. Despite this, they still rely on the security of the factual knowledge as the sources are often seen in black and white terms. Teachers are seen as authority figures and the curriculum is based tightly on prescribed textbooks. Students wish for curricula which are related to life and lifestyles as well as related to their needs, future needs and aspirations. Students were also seeking some kind of pastoral care and support for learning. In looking at specific subject areas, the sciences need some overhaul. The students see them largely as memory driven and this presents the sciences as bodies of knowledge to be memorised rather than methods of enquiry or ways of interpreting and understanding the world around. They have a utilitarian view of language, wanting to start English at a very much earlier age so that it is available for the world of the sciences. Mathematics is a major problem area, generating very polarised views. The main problem subjects, therefore, appear to be mathematics and physics (with its abstractness) and, perhaps, chemistry. This is a matter of concern given the high proportions which take these subjects for career reasons. The purpose of education is seen as based on careers, examination passing and recall. Understanding, applying ideas, creativity, questioning are all devalued. The idea of school education as a way to unlock potential seems missing and the students appear to appreciate that. The teacher’s role is largely that of transmitting information in an efficient and effective manner to their students. The teachers have little insight in the role of their subjects in the development of young people. They are ruled by the demands of society, with its dependence on examination success for gaining access to the next stage of life. They find the curriculum overcrowded and want more time for students to be able to think. However, they have little clear idea of the nature and role of understanding and the idea of seeing their subject in terms of wider life (outside entry to careers) is largely absent. Overall, the students are quite positive about many aspects of their experiences although they know of no other educational system. The most fundamental need is to generate a new way of thinking: where the recall of information under an examination-driven system is changed to an educational experience where understanding, applying ideas, creativity and questioning hold a much higher status. This will need a major paradigm shift for teachers and wider society in Libya.

The problem that compelled this study is one faced by districts across the nation, which is the alignment of district curriculum with state standards and assessments. The Jacobs model of curriculum mapping was developed to address these alignment issues. The Jacobs model represents a large scale change initiative, and large scale reforms may be unsustainable if leaders misunderstand the magnitude of change and its impact on leadership. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore administrator and teacher perceptions of administrative responsibilities for implementing the Jacobs model of curriculum mapping in a rural Midwestern school and how administrative leadership impacted teacher perceptions of sustainability. The conceptual framework for this study was based on change theories in relation to the work of Fullan and Senge. Data were collected from multiple sources, including interviews with 25 teachers at the elementary, middle, and high school levels and 5 administrators at all instructional levels. Archival documents and artifacts from 5 school years were also collected. Single case data was inductively analyzed and coded into 3 frames of analysis, and a cross case analysis of patterns, relationships, and themes was conducted. The findings of this study identified leadership challenges that impeded sustainability. Results suggest that for large scale reform to be successful, leaders need to identify and address potential change barriers and assume non-traditional leadership roles and responsibilities. Implications for positive social change include raised teacher awareness about the need for curricular alignment with state standards and the importance of horizontal, vertical, and lateral collaboration to address curricular gaps and redundancies in order to improve student learning.

This study was founded upon an assumption that the discourses of leadership and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in England are different, and that leading CPD in England is complex and difficult to manage. The overall goal was first to develop a shared understanding of concepts of CPD leadership which underpin the complexity, and second to assist overcoming the confusion. Both the assumption and the stated goal emanate from the researcher’s own professional position. The researcher is professionally active in the field, as a provider of CPD, and also as a representative of the University sector. As chair of the Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET) CPD committee, the researcher has lobbied for academically accredited CPD. This presupposes a respect for teachers’ criticality and a reflective approach to Government proposed policy. The work examines policies and practices of CPD since 2000. Significant organisations (e.g. General Teaching Council for England, Training and Development Agency for Schools, National College of Leadership for Schools and Children’s Services) have based their work on a number of concepts which have contributed to a confusion and complexity for leaders of CPD tasked with shaping practice. The initial literature review showed how concepts associated with CPD leadership are emerging, and that therefore any research could not be based upon a static focus. The study explored concepts of educational leadership, noting the emphasis on individual styles, behaviours and performance of leaders. This analysis contrasted with findings that CPD is more focussed on the collective effort of professionals. The study is based upon professionally focussed research. Findings varied according to different stakeholder groups’ attitudes and tacit understandings. The methodology adopted was essentially qualitative and consisted of approaches and techniques associated with phenomenology, action research and grounded theory. Although the term ‘discourse’ is frequently used, it is in the sense of ‘discourse analysis’, rather than of ‘discourse theory’. Outcomes of the work were the identification of four dimensions, which may be seen to drive CPD leadership, and which served to provide an underpinning framework to help the analysis of the research. The uncovering of nine variables, which determine the emphasis contained within different approaches to CPD, served as finer detail to aid CPD leaders. These perspectives were developed into a survey tool, and served as stimuli for interviews. Use of the survey and interviews provided data sets for close scrutiny, leading to a visual representation of different stakeholder perspectives, and indications of how and why each group differed from others. The findings also showed areas of agreement and shared understanding. The work ends with a consideration of how identifying the concepts and perspectives underpinning a CPD initiative can assist CPD leaders in shaping their behaviour and practice.

This study tested the usefulness of Tinto's (1975) and Hossler and Bean's (1990) models of college student departure in explaining dropout in public urban high schools. The "fit" of the models to high school data was tested using path analysis. The sample consisted of 2,625 high school students from the High School and Beyond Study. The findings showed that Tinto's model alone did not provide a good representation of high school data, but that adding causal paths from the constructs of organizational and environmental variables to other variables in Tinto's model, as proposed by Hossler and Bean (and as modified through the findings of this study), produced a model that was a good explanation of the processes leading to high school dropout. The implications of these findings for theory, policy, and future research concerning high school withdrawal are discussed.

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This study has two principal aims. It explores the relationships between the results of various formats of paper-and-pencil classroom assessments of Chemistry. It also investigates the performance of pupils in different formats of assessment in relation to their cognitive style, personal preferences, and intellectual development. The study was conducted mainly in Greece with the participation of first year upper secondary public school pupils (Lykeio, Grade 10, age 15-16) in two stages. The convergent/divergent characteristic correlated with pupils’ performance in assessment where language was an important factor. However, in algorithmic type of questions or in questions where there is more use of symbols and less use of words, the convergent/divergent characteristic did not relate to pupils’ performance. The short answer or open ended questions favour divergent pupils more than objective questions because in short answer questions pupils need to articulate their thoughts, and divergent pupils were the ones more able to do it. In objective testing, if a question needs reading skill in order to elaborate and interpret a text given, then again the convergent/divergent style is a very important factor for success. It seems that, in relation to the convergent/divergent characteristic, the chemistry content is a factor affecting the type of questions being asked. Field independent pupils surpassed field dependent pupils in all the tests, and in almost all the formats of assessment. It seems that the field dependent/independent characteristic is a very important factor for pupils in order to perform well in almost all types of assessments, irrespective of the content of the question. The short answer questions favour more field independent pupils than the objective questions in some of the chemistry tests. It is a matter of concern that performance in a chemistry test is so strongly related to these particular psychological parameters, control over which is outside the individual pupil. This raises an important ethical issue about assessment. Are we testing chemical knowledge and understanding or cognition?

The aims of the study were to: examine how school leaders define effective school leadership, and identify the range of strategies school leaders employed in the management of their school. These aims would allow a consideration of the implications of the results for the professional development of school leaders in secondary schools in Oman. Two questions were set: What are the head teachers’ views of effective school leadership in the secondary schools, and what are some of the strategies head teachers use to lead their schools? Two methods were used. A survey was carried out using a questionnaire completed by all head teachers of secondary schools in Oman. This questionnaire identified a number of items within seven fields and asked head teachers to indicate their level of agreement with these items. These items were drawn from a reading of the literature to identify the features of participatory school leadership. The questionnaire had 40 items divided into seven fields with between 4 and 7 items in each field. This first stage was followed by a smaller group of head teachers being interviewed with the sample being composed of one male and one female head teacher from every district in Oman. The study investigated the profile of current secondary head teachers in Oman in terms of qualification, job experience, teaching experience and gender. Summary data for each of these aspects has been gathered. Also gender was examined in relation to the factors of qualification, length of experience as a teacher and as a manager. The study explored the views of all secondary head teachers in Oman about a participatory model of school leadership and found that there was a consistently high level of agreement with each of the items in the seven fields. The responses of head teachers were also examined for the presence of any statistically significant correlation between the views of the head teachers and each of the following variables: the head teachers’ gender, qualifications, length of experience as a head teacher and length of teaching experience.

This study investigates the emergence of the comprehensive school following the issue of Scottish Education Department Circular 600 in 1965, and its focus is the area of west Central Scotland covered by Dunbartonshire, the City of Glasgow, Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire. A major concern of the research is to examine how the secondary sector was affected by the transition from a bi-partite to a comprehensive system. The introduction gives a short account of the purpose of the research, its organisation and the methodology chosen. The thesis falls into six chapters. After a short examination of the comprehensive lobby in the post war period, Chapter One presents a literature survey in four sections: definitions of the comprehensive school, and some conceptual models; the cultural context, which highlights the characteristic features of the Scottish educational tradition; the political context, dealing with issues of central control, central-local government relations and the roles of local politicians and education officials; policy implementation and the management of innovation. These four themes form a conceptual framework against which to examine the data presented in the following chapters. Data for the thesis was gathered from two sources: a wide range of documentary material, and the transcripts of one hundred and fifty-two interviews conducted by the author with educationists and politicians. Data presented in Chapter Two leads to the following propositions: the comprehensive school was perceived as an English imposition on the Scottish system; official opinion in the Scottish Education Department was unfavourable to its introduction; optimistic claims for its educational and social potential were made in an ambiance of confusion about its definition; the Scottish Education Department conceived of the changeover principally in structural terms, and adopted a laissez-faire attitude to its philosophical implications; the advent of the comprehensive school caused widespread apprehension among educationists