Universiẗat, Diss.--Jena, 2008.

Zugl.: Marburg, Univ., Diss., 2007

Everyone in South Africa is keenly aware of and concerned about the massive educational changes. There is little doubt about the dominant role that change has played in our organizations and this is nowhere more evident than on the educational front. A wide variety of changes are bombarding schoolss in South Africa at present. In order to remain competitive and even survive, schools as organizations must meet the tremendous challenges presented by all the areas of change. In South Africa, up to 1997, the balance of power was overtly skewed in favour of management and unions relied largely on illegal practices and spoiling tactics to make headway. Despite the fact that over the past decade, greater equalization in substantive rights and dispute resolution mechanisms which treat all parties as equal, has been reached, perceptions and past practices are still deeply entrenched and manifested in an ‘us’ and ‘them’ approach. The aim of this study was to investigate the establishment of effective partnerships between principals and union representatives. The specific aim of this research project was to: • Describe the criteria for successful and effective participation and consultation between schools and unions • Identify and analyze the barriers (challenges) that compromise the educational management relationship between principals and union representatives • Investigate the perceptions of educators, principals and school governing bodies about the current school- union relations • Establish a framework that will surface challenges and remedies to mitigate educational partnership challenges. The results and recommendations of this study can be used to empower school managers and union representatives with effective partnership skills, which in turn will help solve problems in schools This study serves as an indication of the value of partnerships in improving quality in education. Summarily the research has proved to be of high significance to educators, school managers, stakeholders and policy makers. / Prof. C.F. Loock

Research into leadership in the higher education environment has traditionally mirrored business related constructs. Many of the models and instruments that have been developed for the business environment such as the transactional transformational leadership dyad have been transposed to the higher education environment with relatively minor adaptation. On the other hand, there has been relatively little exploration of leadership models for the Virtual Organisation. This research brings together the literatures of virtuality and the virtual organisation, leadership and higher education management to interrogate the effect of virtuality on leadership styles within the volatile global higher education environment caused by the liberalisation of the sector. Through a case study of a higher education institution (HEI) that is developing a virtual campus, the research explores the perceptions of leadership skills, competencies and behaviours within the virtual higher education environment to determine whether a new model or framework can be developed for a virtual and widely distributed environment. The data from interviews, surveys and focus groups carried out in the case study show that virtuality does impact leadership skills in nuanced ways, thus proposing a configuration of behaviours, skills and competencies more relevant to the virtual higher education environment. The proposed framework adds to the literature on leadership in higher education as well as leadership in the virtual environment and contributes to practice in the areas of recruitment and training of leaders and managers in the virtual higher education sector.

Saudi Arabia is one of earliest Arab countries to have implemented the integration of students with Special Educational Needs (SEN) (Almosa, 2008, 2010). Recently, the Ministry of Education (MoE), through the King Abdullah Public Education Development Programme, began preparing to introduce inclusion for students with SEN in practice. Thus, the current study explores potential barriers that could challenge the implementation of inclusion for male students with Learning Difficulties (LD) in mainstream primary schools. This research is timely as the issues involved with implementing inclusion remain unclear in Saudi Arabia. The issues were investigated by examining the understanding of teachers regarding the term ‘inclusion’ and exploring the factors that could challenge the implementation of inclusion from the perspective of teachers as well as through an analysis of the current practice of educating students with LD and general education students in mainstream primary schools in the Saudi context. Adopting the interpretivist paradigm, qualitative data was collected in five mainstream primary schools taken as a single case study, through interviews with thirteen teachers from a group of special education teachers and eleven teachers from a group of general education teachers. Moreover, observations of classrooms and schools and an analysis of legislative documents were used as supportive data collection methods. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse the data. The findings showed that the majority of teachers had an understanding of the term inclusion, although a few teachers indicated their lack of knowledge and understanding of this term. Moreover, teacher preparation, in-service training, competence of teachers, teachers’ views, relationships between students, relationships between parents and teachers, human support, curriculum, teaching strategies, assessment, resources, legislations, administrative matters, number of students in classroom and infrastructure were identified as factors that could act as barriers to implementing inclusion effectively. The results of the analysis led to some recommendations for future practice; these include how to support teachers’ readiness for inclusion, improve the practice of teachers in mainstream classrooms, improve the relationships between students with and without LD, the relationships between parents and schools, and improve environmental factors, in order to make inclusion work effectively. This study contributes to knowledge of inclusive education by exploring the issues surrounding the implementation of students with learning difficulties in the Saudi context.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Open University. BLDSC no. DX208465.

Thesis (EdD.)--Open University.

The research explores student voice in the process of designing schools, using a case study of a Buildings Schools for the Future (BSF) One School Pathfinder project, 2005 – 2007. The suggestions made by the students during the design development were compared with those raised by the staff and parents to discover if the student voice brought anything different or unique to the project. Comparisons were then made with the Student Council’s contribution on projects at two schools local to the case study school. To explore the contribution made by ‘non traditional students’ a similar exercise was conducted in a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) with students who had been expelled from mainstream schools because of behavioural issues. Group interviews and focus group feedback from students at the case study school, from different stages of the design process were examined to assess the impact the student voice may have had on the completed design. Interviews were conducted with members of the design team at the case study school to establish how much impact the student voice was perceived to have had on the completed design compared with the voice of others, whether it brought innovation to the design and if involvement in the project had an impact on the students. Comparisons were then made with interviews held at a second BSF Pathfinder in a neighbouring Local Authority and the findings submitted for peer review. The findings appear to demonstrate that there is very little difference in what the student voice contributes; across schools and across time, the student voice is consistent and predictable. The impact of the student voice was found to be minimal compared with the impact of others. The process of involving students in the design process was however felt to benefit the students and the design process. Finally suggestions are made as to how the involvement of student voice can be improved, and moved from a consultation process to one of collaboration in the future; for ways to address the balance of power within the design team and for further areas of research.

Univ. Augsburg, Diss., 2008.

Master-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2006.