The purpose of this research is to discover different ways of understanding what needs to be done to improve a school, with particular reference to secondary school head teachers. The variation within those understandings, and how the understandings are logically and hierarchically related, are also of interest. Contributions of theory and knowledge to the quality of head teachers' thinking, in terms of negotiating personal and collective meanings, and implying interventions based on interpretations, are suggested. It is argued that the place of thinking (feeling and awareness) within school improvement is supreme, as thinking determines action, and we can only act in relation to how we perceive, experience, or understand a situation. The relevant literature offers indicators of effective schools, helpful descriptors for aspects of the school improvement processes, suggestions for leadership actions, examples of expert practitioners, and a wide spectrum of theories of organisations and education management. What it does not consider is how this knowledge might combine and interact with experience to form different ways of understanding what needs to be done to improve a school. This research addresses the identified gap in the literature, and deepens our knowledge of the inner aspects of school improvement for both theorist and reflective practitioner. The distinct understandings are derived from two sources, a range of literature that can be related to school improvement, and some empirical research consisting of a simulation exercise undertaken by 18 secondary school head teachers. A particular type of critical analysis is applied to the literature, and a phenomenographical approach is adopted for the scrutiny of the empirical data. Phenomenographic principles are utilised throughout the research, as they represent the only approach concerned directly with the different ways of understanding a phenomenon, and the relationships between understandings. From a range of literature, four abstracted understandings of what needs to be done to improve a school are discovered. They are based on reflecting on excellence, adapting leadership, interpreting the organisation, and developing the inter-dependence of active learning. Each understanding offers a framework through which specific aspects of the relevant literature can be interpreted, applied and integrated, within a given context. From the empirical research, five ways of understanding what needs to be done to improve a school are discovered. They consist of increasing knowledge diagnostically, encouraging a dynamic environment, involving stakeholders in the re-establishment of priorities, enforcing expectations, and co-ordinating initiatives through development planning. Our understanding of our work is an appropriate point from which to increase our competence, as it determines both what competences we develop, and how we develop them. Competence is increasingly concerned with how a situation is understood, what is required according to that understanding, and taking the necessary action. Competence is a consequence of the interaction between our understandings and the extent to which our work context empowers or controls us. For secondary school head teachers, it is argued that competence is dependent on how they understand what needs to be done to improve a school, and the extent to which their environments enable them to act on their understandings.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University

No description available.

The subjekt of the project is the building of a new secondary school in Barcelona, the place, which is typical with his regular piles designed by architekt Cerda. I projected the building with the respect of the shape of site. My tendency was to not only make a educational building for students, but also the cultural and social centre for local inhabitants. The site is conceived as a small city, which invites passers-by to a visit. The pleasant scale factor stayed on.

This portfolio presents a research continuum spanning the period of the author’s Ed.D. candidature (1998–2004) addressing the questions, What capabilities contribute to effective school leadership; Why do so few women become school principals and what strategies can be employed that will redress the current gender imbalance among school leaders? Findings are drawn from four research projects : Women as educational leaders; Leading change in NSW government secondary schools; The role of middle management in secondary schools and leadership capability – principals in NSW government schools. These findings suggest that structured opportunities for professional learning within different educational contexts need to be readily available, supported and accessible. The relative lack of disparity between the leadership practice of ‘effective’ female and male principals demonstrated in this research portfolio suggests a gender inclusive framework to be a viable way forward / Doctor of Education (Ed. D.)

The research articles presented in this portfolio originate from questions and concerns about the organization, leadership and practices of government secondary schools in NSW. There are presently 395 high schools and 66 central schools providing secondary education in government schools (DET, 2004 Directory, p.55). Of these high schools, 98 are specialised in some way – selective, performing arts, sports, technology, senior and multi campus (Vinson, 2002, p. 126). Over one quarter of schools are now specialised in some way, leaving just under 300 comprehensive high schools. Of these, 30 are single sex. The Department of Education and Training in NSW now says that it does not offer a system of comprehensive high schools, but a comprehensive system of high schools (Vinson, 2002, p.127). The specific focus of the research is to examine how NSW government secondary schools came to be where they are today. Change in secondary schools from both the systemic and school level is examined. The issue of the selection of a school by parents and students is also considered. And finally, development of an initial learning culture in a new high school was also a focus for research / Doctor of Education (D. Ed.)

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 98-104).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-104). Also available in print.

This independent project investigated which teaching activities were used by teachers of English in Swedish classrooms in order to teach vocabulary, if there were any differences between secondary school and upper secondary school and how the teachers assessed that their activities had worked. Four teachers, two at secondary school and two at upper secondary school, were interviewed. The teachers answered ten predetermined questions about different aspects of vocabulary and how it is taught in a Swedish setting. The results showed that there are both similarities and differences between the educational levels. Teachers at secondary school preferred to use the coursebook and grammar-translation, even though the syllabus is communicative. The preferred activity amongst the upper secondary school teachers was to use reading in order to expand their students’ vocabularies. The teachers assessed their learners in various ways, for example through grammar-translation, book-talks, and national tests.

The focus of this research is what constitutes school ethos for a purposive sample of seven final year students in a Scottish secondary school. A review of existing literature on the topic of school ethos highlighted the importance that policy makers and practitioners in Scotland afford to the notion of a positive school ethos. Yet knowledge of the topic remains limited with only a narrow range of approaches to researching school ethos evident within the literature reviewed. This study begins by considering the ideas of the early twentieth century philosophies of Martin Heidegger (1889 – 1976) and Edith Stein (1891 – 1942). In their ideas about the human person and human relationships the conceptual tools: thrownness; beingwith; care (acts of solicitude); mood; and temporality are identified to investigate school ethos from a different perspective. The hermeneutic phenomenological tradition particularly Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s (1908 – 1961) notion of embodiment and Hans George Gadamer’s (1900 – 2002) ideas of: conversation; fusion of horizons; and the hermeneutic circle provide both the methodology and method to investigate the phenomenon that presents itself as school ethos from the student perspective. Data on the students’ lived experience of secondary school were collected by conversational interview and are presented as participant stories with each story organised around the same five explicative themes. The analysis of the data found that there was little evidence of the school’s declared ethos entering the lifeworld of the participants, rather school ethos is experienced for them as moods which surface from acts of solicitude. Although the small-scale nature of the study precludes wider generalisations from the findings the study highlights issues that may be useful to policy makers and practitioners. In particular, it suggests there is a need to pay greater attention to understanding the lifeworlds of students, to the lived experience of school ethos and on seeking further clarification around what constitutes positive acts of solicitude within the context of school.