Children in Leeds who failed to attend school regularly were often taken to the Juvenile Court by the the local Education Authority under care procedings provided for by the Children and Young Person's Act, 1969, and dealt with by repeated adjournments of the case until and improvement in school attendance was sustained. Previous research had suggested that repeated adjournments were an effective means of returning most children to regular school attendance but children who failed to do so often found themselves in care for varying periods. The aims of the research reported in this thesis were, firstly, to evaluate the effectiveness of two types of adjournment, flexible and inflexible, and a "letters" procedure, using a randomly controlled trial; and secondly, to study some other factors associated with poor school attendance in Leeds by considering the children themselves and the effects of the court procedures on them and their families using a series of questionnaire-based interviews. Overall, adjournments acheived their purpose in returning many children to regular school attendance, and there were no significant differences between the procedures tested. Improvement in school attendance after the first court hearing was found to be related to whether chilrren had improved attendance beforehand once they knew they were to go to court. The less this anticipatory improvement, the more likely was the child to go into care. The threat of going to court seemed to produce as much response from children who did well on adjournments as the adjournments themselves. Features of "truancy" and "refusal" emerged from a questionnaire and they were examined in relation to outcome. Children who showed neither characteristic did best on adjournments. The interviews suggested that parents of court children provided less supervision for their children than parents of a control group, and the court children had poorer material conditions. Reactions to the adjournments were mixed, but many parents and children expressed a great fear of the child going into care. Many heavily criticised schools. The adjournment method is controversial and has been publicly criticised by many people. Some attempt at evaluating this by considering the ethical implications and social consequences of the research has been made, in the hope that this will influence future developments in the field.

This qualitative research explores the role and function of chairs of university boards of governors and councils - their governing and ultimate decision-making bodies. It utilises in-depth studies of a small number of English universities, using as primary sources the chairs and other corporate leadership figures. Through interviews, supported by secondary source material from the universities, it reveals the interior workings of decision-making in higher education corporate governance, and the key role of these chairs. The research shows chairs as significant leadership figures in their universities, independent of management, and with distinctive domains of their own, the boundaries of which are contestable, particularly at the interface with the management domain. Their authority is considerable, yet contingent, derived from multiple sources, and reified though leadership of the lay majority of the governing body. The chair's role is shown not to be determined by the university's mission, though chairs demonstrate a level of `super-commitment' to their university, its values and academic work. Chairs determine how much time they will spend in their university, and it is considerable, engaging with extended, often informal, networks of contacts as well as in formal duties. Drawn from senior figures in employment, they look to their working experience to guide their conduct as chairs. The chairs are proactive in undertaking their work, appointing vice-chancellors, engaging in the determination of institutional strategy and monitoring its implementation. The chair/vice-chancellor dyad is confirmed as a significant, mutually beneficial working relationship: chairs in this study provide support, mentorship and advice, but also require accountability, as the de facto `managers' of their vicechancellors. The research shows that chairs may draw considerable authority from this association, in terms of engagement in, and information about, the university and its core academic business. Governance/management domain boundaries in the case study institutions were not as clearly differentiated as is often assumed in the governance literature, but are shown to be blurred, ambiguous, shifting and evolving.

No description available.

This study investigates the perceptions of head teachers in the city of Jeddah regarding their professional development and support needs. It presents their views on the training they have received and determines to what extent this has fulfilled their professional learning and support needs. It identifies appropriate forms of professional development to meet head teachers’ ongoing professional learning and support needs, and propose a new model to re-vision the professional learning, development and support of head teachers. This is important as there is little literature or research on head teacher professional development within the Saudi educational context. A systematic review of the literature was conducted to identify global trends in head teachers’ preparation and professional learning. This study employed mixed methods approach with a qualitative-dominant sequential explanatory strategy. A semi-structured questionnaire was designed based on the Rae Guide and this was distributed to 54 head teachers, in the city of Jeddah. Forty eight questionnaires were returned. Following this, semi-structured interviews were conducted face to face with 18 head teachers in the city of Jeddah. An evaluation model was adopted in order to identify the head teachers’ perceptions of the training they had received and the professional learning opportunities they would like to receive, based on Kirkpatrick’s model (1994). The thematic analysis indicated that head teachers perceived the training they had received to be poor as it did not fulfil their needs entirely. In addition, a number of professional learning and support needs were identified by the head teachers that were not addressed by their previous training, such as communications technology and using technology in management, planning skills, and evaluation of teachers’ performance. Responses from head teachers on their professional learning needs and concerns revealed nine themes, including a perceived lack of moral support, the absence of a preparatory programme, lack of training, absence of any financial reward, shortage of staff, absence of qualified presenters such as coaches, the cultural influence and the nature of their daily job, such as being deemed operational managers rather than leaders. iv A number of elements emerged as important in shaping head teacher professional development, such as culture, values and context. The findings were utilised to design the Proposed Leadership Development Model (PLDM) to address three main factors: the head teachers’ perceptions of their training experiences, the professional development needs identified, and global trends in head teachers’ preparation and development. The recommendations together with the PLDM are intended to guide and support the future policy of the Ministry of Education in Saudi, particularly in terms of the provision of preparation programmes and ongoing collaborative development for head teachers. The model may also be useful in terms of review of head teacher development needs in other contexts.

This study investigates the factors impeding organisational change in the public educational sector of Saudi Arabia. It does so to avoid the waste of financial resources by proposing solutions for better management of change in the public education sector. It also identifies the sources of resistance to change, approaches used to control them, and explores the role of internal and external communication in stakeholders’ engagement and in the management of change initiatives. A case study approach was adopted, focusing on the King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Public Education Development Project (Tatweer), the most comprehensive reform initiative introduced in the Saudi educational system to date. Data collection occurred via semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and reviewing documentary evidence. The research used snowball and maximum variation sampling to interview key informants from officials from the Ministry of Education, as well as teachers and head teachers at Tatweer pilot schools and private schools, to provide in-depth insights into the context of change and to explore the factors limiting implementation. The software package Nvivo10 was utilised to aid analysis. This commenced by coding to explore and compare perspectives. Matrices were developed for comparative pattern analysis at the Ministry of Education and school levels. Private schools do not perceive public schools as competitors and competition is not visible between public schools. The analysis of the management of the project revealed several problems surrounding the project’s implementation, particularly insufficient communication, lack of incentives, limited training, and improper resource allocation. Resistance to change emerged due to insufficient communication and incentives. The culture and social norms of Saudi society interfere with effective organisational management. Internal and external communication plays a crucial role in change initiatives and minimising resistance to change. However, in the Saudi public educational system, external communication is limited and tends to be viewed as superfluous, competition between schools does not exist, and external stakeholder participation is minimal. The findings revealed that parents’ minimal involvement impeded the implementation of change initiatives. Schools seldom engage in strategies to enhance student recruitment and without providing incentives, schools are less interested in enrolling additional students, which reduces competition, and consequently external communication remains of marginal importance in Saudi Arabia.

'School refusal’ is a psychosocial problem characterised by a student’s difficulty attending school over an extended period of time. Left unaddressed, school refusal can lead to serious problems such as emotional distress, academic decline and isolation from peers. Effective intervention is thus required to support psychological well-being and prevent future negative consequences. Mindfulness is one intervention approach that is progressively being used in school settings to enhance well-being, reduce stress and improve coping for students, including those with social and emotional difficulties. A systematic review, carried out as part of this study, provides tentative yet encouraging evidence for the potential effectiveness of mindfulness interventions for adolescents experiencing internalising difficulties, showing improvements in a range of psychological outcomes. However, outcomes are yet to be established for students experiencing school refusal, thus providing a rationale for the current study. This study employed a mixed-method, sequential explanatory design with two phases, quantitative followed by qualitative. Eight 15 to 16 year-olds referred for anxiety-based school refusal (ABSR) participated in the 9-week '.b' mindfulness intervention. Quantitative findings post-intervention and at 5-month follow-up showed; significant reductions in emotional distress, as rated by parents and students, significant improvements in teachers' ratings of peer problems and significant increases in students' ratings of mindfulness. Increases in well-being were also apparent, yet this trend did not reach statistical significance and no significant changes in psychological flexibility were found. The qualitative phase involved semi-structured interviews, post-course and 5-month follow-up, with data analysed using Thematic Analysis. Findings suggested that students* experience of positive change, attributed to training in mindfulness, was facilitated by their experience of relaxation during ‘me time', their development of present moment awareness and their application of mindfulness in everyday activities, stressful situations and future challenges. Findings are compared to the wider literature regarding school refusal and mindfulness, and implications for future research and the practice of Educational Psychologists are considered.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

This project attempts to contribute to the field of education, by presenting and analysing change and its management and how change has affected the operations of a foreign University branch. It describes a set of recommendations that will aid the case organization (University of Indianapolis Athens - UIA) and consequently educational organizations / institutions, in listing the various challenges affecting education and their operations in the 21st century. It is argued that identifying these changes / challenges is a requirement towards planning and managing them for any organization. The project goes beyond identification of changes, examining how these affect a specific organization. One of the objectives of this research is to consider the level of resistance and to identify ways to cope with change at educational organizations. In essence, the project deals with identifying the various triggers of change and attempts to examine how educational organizations can successfully cope with changes affecting them. In doing so, it examines a specific educational institution in Greece, UIA, and its state of readiness in coping and implementing change. Despite the importance of the topic, the existing literature contains little empirical evidence in relation to academic institutions such as Universities, Colleges or any form of educational establishment in Greece. Through a qualitative research activity using a sample of UIA staff and academics, it was suggested that there is a need for the University to ensure that it takes into consideration the various challenges affecting the Greek educational industry. The findings suggest that the recognition issue expected in 2007 – 2008 in Greece will transform the educational scene in Greek private education and this change will trigger new changes that will most probably be coping with increased enrolment, increased competition due to the low entry barriers, a more business – like stance towards the education industry and the students and a increased reliance on up to date technology in many of the University’s departments and operations. The findings also suggest that the University will need to plan and manage the changes anticipated through appropriate leadership and adequate communication and participation to avoid conflict and resistance.