Thesis (EdD)--Open University.

The goal of this exploratory research project is to gather data on head teachers’ leadership perceptions and practices, so that educational researchers, government officials and head teachers themselves have a better understanding of leadership and management in Bangladeshi high schools. Such data is critical for gaining a better understanding of leadership in Bangladesh and for future head teacher development and school improvement. Leaders can play a very important role in improving teaching and learning in schools. Many Western countries are interested in the power of leadership to generate and sustain school improvement. Bangladeshi schools strive to improve, to develop effective teaching and raise the achievement of students. Much depends on the vision and practices of the head teachers who lead the schools. This study explores the leadership concepts, styles, trends and current practices of the head teachers in four Bangladeshi private secondary schools both in rural and urban areas. Findings of this study show that Bangladeshi school leaders have vision for school improvement. They lead their schools with managerial and democratic styles of leadership. They work for professional development inside the school with a view to improve the teaching and learning process. Students’ achievement is their ultimate goal. They work under pressure with their skill of handling different kinds of adverse situation like bureaucratic complex, political influence, and shortage of human and physical resources. The methodology of this research is qualitative and the methods used for data gathering were interviews and focus group discussions. Four schools from Sirajganj, a district which is approximately one hundred kilometres away from the capital city, provided the sample. Four head teachers participated in interviews and were invited to meet together to take part in a focus group discussion about their leadership practices.

Thesis (PhD)-Open University. BLDSC no.DX207322.

This quantitative descriptive study investigated the attitudes of educational supervisors (i.e., head teachers) in Kuwaiti middle schools toward the involvement of families in the education of their adolescent children. Joyce Epstein's model of family involvement (1996c) provided the theoretical framework. A survey instrument, Supervisor's Attitudes toward Family Involvement in Kuwait Middle Schools, was adapted and translated into the Arabic language to collect data from male and female Kuwaiti middle schools supervisors in the six school districts. As anticipated, the results of this study identified (a) any significant differences, by gender and district, in attitudes about family involvement among Kuwaiti middle school supervisors; (b) the level of responsibility for encouraging family-school relationships among administrators, teachers, parents, and students; (c) the level of importance of different types of family involvement; (d) the barriers preventing families from being more involved in their children's middle schools in Kuwait; and (e) the degree of importance of each type of educational involvement for family participation during their children's middle school years. Independent sample t-tests were conducted to compare the mean scores by gender for supervisors' attitudes. One–way ANOVA was conducted to determine whether there were significant differences in the mean scores by district. The results indicated there were no significant differences in supervisors' attitudes by geographical district. There were some significant differences in supervisors' attitudes toward family involvement by gender. These findings might be related to traditional culture that affects women in Arabic societies, including the Kuwaiti community. Frequency distributions were calculated to determine the participants' responses to the subsequent research questions. The results indicated that administrators and families were perceived as more responsible for initiating family involvement than supervisors, teachers, and students. All six types of family involvement in Epstein's model (1996c) were important to the supervisors. Lack of time was a serious barrier to family involvement for both teachers and parents and the perceived problem of parent-adolescent conflict during later childhood was an additional barrier. Providing a home environment that supported learning, regular communication with teachers and administrators, and assisting students at home were considered to be highly important. / Ph. D.

The diploma thesis with the competency framework for head teachers, aims to examine and describe which partial competencies and spheres of competencies are important for primary school head teachers, and whether the founders of the schools are familiar with their opinions. The study is divided into a theoretical and a practical part. The first chapter of the thesis deals with competencies, illuminates development of the term's usage in the Czech environment, and delineates the two primary levels of the concept - competency as an authority and competency as a set of knowledge, skills, experience etc. The second chapter explores competencies of the founders and their relationship with primary school head teachers. In this case, founders are represented by public authorities such as communities, community unions, or city districts. This chapter clarifies the concept of competency as a formal power/authority to make a decision and take responsibility in specific cases. The third chapter deals with competencies of primary school head teachers on both of the aforementioned levels. The chapter also presents the Czech competency framework for head teachers and compares it to its foreign equivalents. The biggest part of this chapter is dedicated to an analysis of partial competencies and spheres of competencies as...

The aim of this practitioner research is to explore and analyse how headteachers reflect on their own professional practice to help them sustain themselves and improve secondary schools. The research has two aspects: the first is an action participative enquiry between 2006 and 2009 into the realities of secondary headship; the second is an analysis of the significance of reflexivity in other headteachers and the participant headteacher researcher. Whilst there is a significant literature concerning school improvement and leadership there is very little of a longitudinal nature which examines the experience of secondary headteachers in depth. Therefore this research has significantly enhanced that body of knowledge. It is also appropriate in terms of professional practice as the government increasingly empowers headteachers to be free from the collaborative structures of Local Education Authorities. This (almost) four year study of seven secondary school headteachers within the same metropolitan area takes the form of 25 extended conversations between practising headteachers who established strong “conversational partnerships” (Rubin and Rubin, 2005 p79) over the study. The analysis from the data identified how headteachers sustained good practice in their schools and how they formed co-coaching or mentoring relationships with one another over time. The research is characteristic of a social constructivist tradition. It generated rich, qualitative data gathered through the use of interviews, the participant researcher’s field notes, Ofsted inspection reports and “naturally occurring” material. The research identified a range of themes in the area of school improvement common in the literature such as the importance of focusing on teaching and learning and appointing the ‘right’ staff. It also confirmed much of the existing research in the field of school leadership. It established that these headteachers readily engaged in reflexive practices which impacted positively in supporting the individual professionals and their schools. The research also identified the existence of meta-reflection (Burge et al., 2000, Watson, 1998b) in an educational setting. A definition of meta-reflection would be a type of reflective practice used by of Headteachers in a professional ‘power neutral’ context. It is commonly found in the analysis of headteacher dialogues and requires the passage of time for Headteachers to reflect on these dialogues which allowed allow some headteachers to access a reflective state which supported their professional sustainability and improved their decision making. This ultimately had a positive impact on their schools. The research found that all headteachers reflect on their professional practice at an operational level. It also found that they all were able to be reflexive almost to the degree of co-researching with the participant researcher headteacher. Finally a majority of the sample were also able to use meta-reflection to help then process decision making in their schools. Existing models of leadership (Bush 2011), research analysis (Layder 1993) and reflexivity (Archer 2007) have been used and adapted to illuminate meta-reflection in the headteachers in the sample and to re-define “authentic” headship in this context. This study is relevant not only to headteachers but also to policymakers and educationalists interested in how to improve schools over the long-term and sustain the workforce of headteachers in a manner which benefits all stakeholders.

Leaders and policy makers in Uganda developed a national strategy of placing female administrators in traditionally male-dominated coeducational secondary schools in the belief that their vision would promote equitable education by changing gender regimes that play in schools. Gender regimes are patterns of gender arrangements that could disadvantage the education of boys or girls (Connell, 2002). The purpose of this study was to discover if female administrators perceived and had developed strategies to change gender regimes in their schools. Participants were 13 female administrators of government-supported coeducational mixed/day secondary schools in Kampala and Wakiso urban districts. Participants ranged in age from 37 to 59 years and in school experience from 12 to 32 years. Nine participants held masters' degrees and 4 were currently enrolled in masters' programs. All participants were members of a female organization. The investigator used qualitative methodology to collect and analyze data and to report findings. With each participant, the investigator engaged in an open dialogue and used a semi-structured protocol to conduct an interview that was recorded and transcribed. The investigator examined archival records and collected artifacts from each school. Data were analyzed emically with NVivo software to facilitate the iterative process of identifying and refining themes. Themes had to reach a threshold of 50% to be considered significant. The findings revealed that female administrators perceived gender regimes related to family culture, school culture, sexuality, and power and authority. All female administrators had developed strategies to change the gender regimes that disadvantaged girls' education. These perceptions and strategies indicated that gender regimes were part of the vision of female administrators, but insufficient evidence was collected to determine the degree they were part of their strategic goals. These findings are significant because if these female administrators can change the gender regimes at play in their schools, they will make a significant contribution to providing equitable education to their students. While these findings cannot be generalized, this work may help other educators gain a better understanding of the influence of gender regimes in their schools.

<p><strong>Bakgrund</strong></p><p>Inkludering och begreppet "en skola för alla" har länge varit uttryck för en officiell policy i svensk skola, men uppfattningarna om vad som egentligen kännetecknar en inkluderande skola och "en skola för alla" varierar kraftigt.</p><p><strong>Syfte</strong></p><p>Syftet med undersökningen var att synliggöra och beskriva rektorers uppfattningar och attityder till inkludering och begreppet "en skola för alla". Utifrån syftet var frågeställningarna: Vilka personliga synsätt och värderingar kan urskiljas i rektorernas resonemang kring en inkluderande skola? Hur resonerar rektorerna kring möjligheter, mål och strategier för att realisera "en skola för alla"? Vad kännetecknar, ur ett ledningsperspektiv, en inkluderande skola?</p><p><strong>Urval</strong></p><p>Fem rektorer, verksamma inom grundskolan i en medelstor svensk stad, valdes ut efter att ha svarat positivt på en skriftlig förfrågan. Urvalsgruppen bestod av tre män och två kvinnor. En av rektorerna var även ansvarig för särskolan. Tre av rektorerna var verksamma på skolor med stor social och etnisk mångfald, medan två arbetade i socialt stabila områden med homogen elevsammansättning.</p><p><strong>Design och metod</strong></p><p>Semistrukturerade intervjuer, baserade på en intervjuguide med några få, öppna frågor genomfördes med de deltagande rektorerna. Intervjuerna varade i ungefär en timme vardera, bandades och transkriberades i sin helhet. Intervjupersonerna erbjöds att läsa en sammanfattning av intervjuerna. Analysen genomfördes utifrån ett kritiskt perspektiv, inspirerat av diskursanalys. Fokus lades på olika sätt att tala om inkludering och "en skola för alla". Utsagorna kategoriserades för vidare analys. Avsikten var att definiera olika teman och mönster i rektorernas uttalanden.</p><p><strong>Resultat</strong></p><p>Rektorerna talar om inkludering utifrån personliga värderingar, men relaterar även till olika utbildningsideologier, demokratimodeller och politiska synsätt. Resultatet visar på det komplicerade sambandet mellan samhälle, skolans styrning och realiserandet av utbildning, samt de konsekvenser skolledarskapet får i arbetet med inkluderande undervisningsformer i skolan.</p><p><strong>Slutsatser</strong></p><p>Resultatet visar på betydande likheter mellan rektorerna, men det finns samtidigt stora variationer i sättet att tala om och närma sig utmaningarna med att realisera en inkluderande skola för alla. Utifrån personliga synsätt beträffande den mening och innebörd som tillskrivs begreppet inkludering, utvecklar rektorerna olika strategier och praktiska tillvägagångssätt i tolkningen och formuleringen av sitt uppdrag.</p> / <p><strong>Background</strong></p><p>Inclusion and the concept of 'A School for All' have for many years been an expression of official policy for the Swedish nine-year compulsory school. Opinions as to what really constitutes an inclusive school or "one school for all" vary considerably.</p><p><strong>Purpose</strong></p><p>The aim of the study is to describe and highlight head teachers' personal attitudes and views on inclusion and the notion of the "one school for all" concept. Main questions were: How might head teachers articulate the possibilities, aims and strategies for realizing "a school for all"? What might characterize "a school for all", from a head teachers' point of view?</p><p><strong>Sample</strong></p><p>Five compulsory school head teachers, three male and two female from a medium size Swedish town, were selected on the basis of positive responses to a letter of enquiry. Two of the heads' schools were housed in the same building: one head having responsibility for F-6 and classes for children with severe learning disorders and the other for compulsory school classes. Three of the head teachers worked in schools with a large social and ethnic diversity, while two worked in schools with a more homogeneous student composition.</p><p><strong>Design and methods</strong></p><p>Semi-structured interviews, based on an interview guide with a number of open-ended questions were carried out. Interviews lasted about one hour each and were taped and fully transcribed. Interviewees were given an opportunity to read an interview summary. Using a critical perspective inspired by discourse analysis, attention was paid to different modes of articulating the notions of inclusion and "a school for all". Subjects' statements were categorized and further analysed with the intention of locating different themes and patterns in the statements taken together.</p><p><strong>Results</strong></p><p>While head teachers did express personal opinions about inclusion, their statements could also be related to different educational ideologies, models for democracy and political positions. The results indicate the complex relations between society, school governance and the realization of educational goals, including the various consequences of different ways of thinking about school leadership and how this in turn relates to inclusive education.</p><p><strong>Conclusions</strong></p><p>Interviewees' statements show significant similarities but also wide variation in how they articulate and approach the challenges of making an inclusive school for all a reality. Depending on their personal positions regarding the meaning and understanding of the term inclusion, these head teachers are developing different strategies and practices as they interpret and formulate their mission.</p>

Bakgrund Inkludering och begreppet "en skola för alla" har länge varit uttryck för en officiell policy i svensk skola, men uppfattningarna om vad som egentligen kännetecknar en inkluderande skola och "en skola för alla" varierar kraftigt. Syfte Syftet med undersökningen var att synliggöra och beskriva rektorers uppfattningar och attityder till inkludering och begreppet "en skola för alla". Utifrån syftet var frågeställningarna: Vilka personliga synsätt och värderingar kan urskiljas i rektorernas resonemang kring en inkluderande skola? Hur resonerar rektorerna kring möjligheter, mål och strategier för att realisera "en skola för alla"? Vad kännetecknar, ur ett ledningsperspektiv, en inkluderande skola? Urval Fem rektorer, verksamma inom grundskolan i en medelstor svensk stad, valdes ut efter att ha svarat positivt på en skriftlig förfrågan. Urvalsgruppen bestod av tre män och två kvinnor. En av rektorerna var även ansvarig för särskolan. Tre av rektorerna var verksamma på skolor med stor social och etnisk mångfald, medan två arbetade i socialt stabila områden med homogen elevsammansättning. Design och metod Semistrukturerade intervjuer, baserade på en intervjuguide med några få, öppna frågor genomfördes med de deltagande rektorerna. Intervjuerna varade i ungefär en timme vardera, bandades och transkriberades i sin helhet. Intervjupersonerna erbjöds att läsa en sammanfattning av intervjuerna. Analysen genomfördes utifrån ett kritiskt perspektiv, inspirerat av diskursanalys. Fokus lades på olika sätt att tala om inkludering och "en skola för alla". Utsagorna kategoriserades för vidare analys. Avsikten var att definiera olika teman och mönster i rektorernas uttalanden. Resultat Rektorerna talar om inkludering utifrån personliga värderingar, men relaterar även till olika utbildningsideologier, demokratimodeller och politiska synsätt. Resultatet visar på det komplicerade sambandet mellan samhälle, skolans styrning och realiserandet av utbildning, samt de konsekvenser skolledarskapet får i arbetet med inkluderande undervisningsformer i skolan. Slutsatser Resultatet visar på betydande likheter mellan rektorerna, men det finns samtidigt stora variationer i sättet att tala om och närma sig utmaningarna med att realisera en inkluderande skola för alla. Utifrån personliga synsätt beträffande den mening och innebörd som tillskrivs begreppet inkludering, utvecklar rektorerna olika strategier och praktiska tillvägagångssätt i tolkningen och formuleringen av sitt uppdrag. / Background Inclusion and the concept of 'A School for All' have for many years been an expression of official policy for the Swedish nine-year compulsory school. Opinions as to what really constitutes an inclusive school or "one school for all" vary considerably. Purpose The aim of the study is to describe and highlight head teachers' personal attitudes and views on inclusion and the notion of the "one school for all" concept. Main questions were: How might head teachers articulate the possibilities, aims and strategies for realizing "a school for all"? What might characterize "a school for all", from a head teachers' point of view? Sample Five compulsory school head teachers, three male and two female from a medium size Swedish town, were selected on the basis of positive responses to a letter of enquiry. Two of the heads' schools were housed in the same building: one head having responsibility for F-6 and classes for children with severe learning disorders and the other for compulsory school classes. Three of the head teachers worked in schools with a large social and ethnic diversity, while two worked in schools with a more homogeneous student composition. Design and methods Semi-structured interviews, based on an interview guide with a number of open-ended questions were carried out. Interviews lasted about one hour each and were taped and fully transcribed. Interviewees were given an opportunity to read an interview summary. Using a critical perspective inspired by discourse analysis, attention was paid to different modes of articulating the notions of inclusion and "a school for all". Subjects' statements were categorized and further analysed with the intention of locating different themes and patterns in the statements taken together. Results While head teachers did express personal opinions about inclusion, their statements could also be related to different educational ideologies, models for democracy and political positions. The results indicate the complex relations between society, school governance and the realization of educational goals, including the various consequences of different ways of thinking about school leadership and how this in turn relates to inclusive education. Conclusions Interviewees' statements show significant similarities but also wide variation in how they articulate and approach the challenges of making an inclusive school for all a reality. Depending on their personal positions regarding the meaning and understanding of the term inclusion, these head teachers are developing different strategies and practices as they interpret and formulate their mission.

Orientador: Ivan Amorosino do Amaral / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-11T08:03:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Pereira_FrancielleAmancio_M.pdf: 9140190 bytes, checksum: dd78035169d21d801aad0dd5b72a4468 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: As discussões sobre a interdisciplinaridade não são recentes e, apesar de haver controvérsias quanto ao seu significado, está bastante difundida e aceita nos meios científicos e pedagógicos, nas universidades e escolas, desde as últimas décadas do século XX, sendo proposta como um dos princípios pedagógico-científicos fundamentais em muitos cursos e/ou reformas curriculares na busca de soluções para diversos problemas educacionais. Apesar disso, permanecem dúvidas acerca de como ela tem sido entendida pelos profissionais de ensino, se ela tem sido mesmo posta em prática e sob que formato. A partir daí, os objetivos que orientam esta pesquisa são: compreender o lugar ocupado pela interdisciplinaridade no Curso de Gestão Educacional (CEGE) promovido pela Faculdade de Educação da Unicamp, especificamente no componente curricular de Ciências; analisar a interpretação que os gestores possuem sobre o potencial interdisciplinar das idéias-chave do currículo proposto por este componente curricular; identificar e discutir as manifestações e representações de interdisciplinaridade contidas no discurso dos gestores participantes do CEGE. Trata-se de um estudo de características predominantemente quantitativas, abrangendo uma amostra de 186 trabalhos de conclusão da Disciplina ¿Gestão Currículo e Cultura¿, em que os gestores foram solicitados a visualizar o currículo de suas escolas de forma interdisciplinar, a partir de uma das idéias-chave do currículo de Ciências. Como categorias de análise foram adotadas as próprias sete idéias-chave do currículo de Ciências apresentado no Curso, sendo quatro de cunho predominantemente programático e três predominantemente metodológicas. Também foram criadas, com base no referencial teórico adotado, algumas categorias que refletissem crescentes graus de integração curricular, além de outras auxiliares que expressassem diferentes formas de ¿resistência¿ à tarefa solicitada. A análise dos dados demonstrou que: apesar do currículo de Ciências apresentado no CEGE possuir nítido potencial interdisciplinar, a maioria dos gestores não conseguiu elaborar uma proposta integradora, preponderou a multidisciplinaridade (simples e/ou articulada) e apenas um número bem pequeno alcançou a interdisciplinaridade. No conjunto geral dos trabalhos analisados, os gestores identificaram maior potencial integrador/interdisciplinar nas idéias-chave de teor metodológico, com especial destaque para ¿Estímulo ao desenvolvimento do pensamento crítico e divergente do aluno¿, que ademais não representa uma diretriz específica do ensino de Ciências. Por outro lado, apesar de a segunda idéiachave mais escolhida pelos gestores ¿ ¿Ambiente em transformação, interação, integração e equilíbrio dinâmico¿ ¿ ser de cunho programático, ficou claramente caracterizado que não foi explorado, pela grande maioria dos gestores que a escolheram, o seu potencial interdisciplinar e nem foi aproveitado o seu significado original. Concluiu-se que, apesar de a interdisciplinaridade estar fortemente presente no discurso dos gestores como uma prática fundamental à educação atual, o currículo de Ciências focalizado no CEGE não se configurou satisfatoriamente aos olhos dos gestores participantes como um elemento articulador da interdisciplinaridade nos currículos gerais das escolas em que atuam. Permanecem dúvidas se as dificuldades detectadas têm suas origens principalmente nas condições oferecidas pelo CEGE, nas deficiências de formação anterior dos gestores ou nas tradições arraigadas de organização curricular / Abstract: Discussions on interdisciplinarity are not new and, although that are controversies how much to its meaning, it is widely disseminated and accepted in the scientific and pedagogical ways, at the universities and schools, since the last decades it century XX, being proposal as one them basic pedagogical-scientific principles in many courses and/or curricular reforms in the brainstorming for a variety of educational problems. Despite this, remain doubts concerning how it has been understood by the education professionals, in what way has been practiced. From there, the objectives that guide this research are: to understand the place of the interdisciplinarity in the Course of School Management (CEGE) promoted by the College of Education of the Unicamp, specifically in the Sciences curricular component; to analyze the interpretation that the head teachers possess about the potential to interdisciplinary of the Key Ideas disclosed by this curricular component; to identify and to discuss the manifestations and representations of interdisplinarity contained in the speech of head teachers participating Course. This is a study predominantly quantitative, covering a sample of 186 works of completion of Discipline "School Management, Curriculum and Culture", where the head teachers had been requested to visualize the curriculum of their schools so interdisciplinary, from one of Key Ideas of the Sciences curriculum. As categories of analysis, were adopted themselves seven key Ideas of the Sciences curriculum presented in the Course, being four of matrix predominantly programming and three predominantly methodological. Also they had been created, based on the theoretical reference adopted, some categories that reflected increasing degrees of integration curriculum, and other auxiliary that expressed different forms of "resistance" to the task requested. Data analysis showed that: despite the Sciences curriculum presented in CEGE have clear interdisciplinary potential, most managers failed to make an integrating proposal, have been highlighted the multidisciplinary proposals (single or articulated), and only a very small number reached interdisciplinary proposals. Overall general of the work examined, the head teachers identified greater potential integrator / interdisciplinary in the methodological Key Ideas, with special emphasis to "Stimulating the development of critical thinking and divergent of the student", which does not represent a specific guideline of Science education. Moreover, although the second key idea favored by most head teachers "Environment in transformation, interaction, integration and dynamic balance" ¿ with programming features, was clearly marked that its potential interdisciplinary was not exploited by the vast majority of head teachers that the chosen, and neither was tapped its original meaning. It was concluded that although the interdisciplinary are strongly present in the speech of head teachers as one practical basic one to the current education, the Sciences curriculum focused in the CEGE was not configured satisfactorily, to the eyes of the participant head teachers, as na articulator element of the interdisciplinarity in the curriculums, in general, of the schools where they act. Doubts remain about the origins of the problems identified: if are derivatives of the conditions offered by CEGE, of the shortcomings of your previous training or of the traditions rooted organization of curriculum / Mestrado / Ensino, Avaliação e Formação de Professores / Mestre em Educação