To improve outome school needs to find methods for analyzing, monitor-ing and using lessons learned in decisionmaking. This study aims to inve-stigate differences when it comes to support school leaders and their per-ceptions of what analyzis can do to decisionmaking. If there are any diffe-rences in school leaders perceptions of areas of development and im-provement of the ability to conduct analysis is also investigated. My theoretical foundation is presented in Westerman´s methodology (2006). The method is hermeneutically quantitative and seeks to detect underlying structures. Based on the framework of decision theory and ”Framework theory”, founded by the Swedish professors of pedagogy Ur-ban Dahlöf and Ulf P. Lundgren the concepts was operationalizied. To answer the questions I seek a questionnarie study was conducted where 126 school leaders from preschool to secondary schools participaded. The conclutions of the study shows there are differences. School leaders, who believes that analysis of data contributes to good insight in their op-eration also believes that they have a high degree of support from muni-cipality principle. School leaders´ perceptions of areas of developement show that primary school leaders to a greater extent concider that increa-sed quality in terms of structure (developing knowledge of data and deve-lopment methods for measuring results) would help develop analysis of data in their own administration context. The established differences may be of interest to school leader in terms of municipalities and in sup-porting school leaders. The study also shows defferences between deve-lopmental areas and background variables, wich may be of interest in evaluating how the process of analysis of data linked to decisions in gene-ral works within organsations. In the light of these differences – Does our analysis of data contribute to decision making? / Att hitta metoder för att analysera, följa upp och använda lärdomar i väl grundade beslut är förskolan och skolans ansvar lokalt. Syftet med före-liggande studie är att undersöka skillnader i rektorer och förskolechefer uppfattningar om vad analys av resultat kan bidra till i de väl grundade besluten, med avseende på upplevt stöd och om det finns skillnader i rek-torer och förskolechefers uppfattningar om utvecklingsområden av ana-lys av resultat undersöks också. Min teoretiska utgångspunkt finns i Westermans metodologi (2006). Me-toden är hermeneutisk kvantitativ och söker upptäcka underliggande strukturer. Utifrån beslutsteori och ramfaktorteori, grundad av pedago-gikprofessorerna Urban Dahlöf and Ulf P. Lundgren operationaliseras be-greppen. I en enkätstudie, som besvarades av 126 skolledare från förskola till gymnasium, söks sedan svar på frågeställningarna. Slutsatserna är att det finns skillnader. Skolledare som i hög utsträckning anser att analys av resultat bidrar till verksamhetsinsikt anser också att de i hög utsträckning har stöd från huvudmannen. Skolledares uppfatt-ningar om utvecklingsområden visar att grundskolans rektorer i högre ut-sträckning anser att ökad kvalitet vad gäller struktur (att utveckla sam-manställningar av underlag och utveckla sätten att mäta resultaten) bi-drar till att utveckla analys av resultat i den egna förvaltningen. Skillna-derna kan vara av intresse för huvudmannen när det gäller uppföljning och stöd till rektorer och förskolechefer. Studien visar även på skillnader mellan utvecklingsområden och bakgrundsvariabler, vilka kan vara av in-tresse vid utvärderingar av hur processen med analys av resultat kopplad till beslut i stort fungerar. Hur ser det ut hos oss med bakgrund av dessa skillnader – bidrar våra analyser av resultat till väl grundade beslut?

本研究旨在探究校長正向領導與學校效能之相關情形，透過整合15篇相關研究數據，採用後設分析為研究方法，期以巨觀角度探究我國校長正向領導與學校效能關係之現況，並分析調節變項之影響情形。本研究樣本的調查對象為現職初等、中等學校之教職員，並以教師性別（男性比）、擔任職務（兼行政職務比）、研究地區（分為北部6篇、中南部3篇、全國6篇研究）及學校教育階段（分為國小9篇、國中3篇、中等學校3篇研究）為調節變項加以分析。 本研究獲致結論如下： 壹、正向領導與學校效能相關研究有成長趨勢，又以北部地區、國小教育階段居多。 貳、整體正向領導與學校效能關係為正相關，具大效應量。 參、正向領導分層面與學校效能關係均為正相關，且為大效應量。 肆、建立正向關係與學校效能間相關程度最高。 伍、研究地區、學校教育階段對於整體正向領導與學校效能關係具有調節效果。 一、研究地區：關聯程度北部大於中南部。 二、學校教育階段：關聯程度隨學校教育階段升高而有提升之趨勢。 陸、研究地區、學校教育階段對於校長正向領導分層面與學校效能關係皆具有調節效果，另，教師性別為正向溝通與學校效能關係之調節變項。 一、研究地區：北部地區校長正向領導分層面與學校效能的關聯性均較中南部地區為高。 二、學校教育階段：正向領導分層面的正向氣氛、正向關係、正向溝通與學校效能之關係隨學校教育階段愈高而愈強；正向意義與學校效能關係之強度隨著學校教育階段的升高而有降低之趨勢。 三、教師性別：男性教師所佔的比率越高，正向溝通與學校效能的關聯性越高。 最後，根據研究發現提出建議，以供學校校長、學校教育人員及未來研究者參考。 壹、積極實施校長正向領導以促進學校效能。 貳、從正向關係著手，有效實施正向領導。 參、以南部學校為重，加強推廣正向領導。 肆、從中等學校著手，積極推動正向領導。 伍、從初等學校著手，強調賦予正向意義。 陸、與男性教師相處可多運用正向溝通。 / The purpose of this study is to explore the relationships between principals’ positive leadership and school effectiveness by integrating the findings of 15 researches related. In order to understand the current status of the relationships between principals’ positive leadership and school effectiveness in Taiwan on a macroscale and explore the influences from moderator variables, the present research employs meta-analysis as methodology. Educators of elementary and secondary education were recruited as samples, and teachers’ gender (male ratio), positions (administrative ratio), location of research (including six papers of the north, three papers of the central south, and six papers of national) and education level of school (including nine papers of elementary school, three papers of junior high school, and three papers of secondary) were adopted as moderator variable. The findings of this study were summarized as follows: 1.The researches about principals’ positive leadership and school effectiveness showing a growth trend, and mostly in the north and elementary school. 2.The overall principals’ positive leadership is positively correlated with school effectiveness, and the effect size is large. 3.The sub-variables of principals’ positive leadership are positively correlated with school effectiveness, and the effect size are large. 4.The correlation between positive relationship and school effectiveness is strongest. 5.The location of research and education level of school as a moderator variable in the relation between overall principals’ positive leadership and school effectiveness. (1) The location of research: the correlation of the north is bigger than the central South. (2) The education level: the correlation will enhance as the education level increases. 6.The location of research and education level of school as a moderator variable in the relation between sub-variables of principals’ positive leadership and school effectiveness. In addition, teachers’ gender has moderating effects only between positive communication and school effectiveness. (1) The location of research: the correlation between sub-variables of principals’ positive leadership and school effectiveness of the north are stronger than the south. (2) The education level: the correlation between positive climate, positive relationship, positive communication, positive meaning, and school effectiveness will enhance as the education level increases; however, the correlation between positive meaning and school effectiveness will decrease as the education level increases. (3) Teachers’ gender: the higher the proportion of male teacher is, the stronger the correlation between positive communication and school effectiveness will be. Suggestions were made based on the findings of this study to serve as reference for school principals, school educators and future researches. 1.Implement principals’ positive leadership positively to promote school effectiveness. 2.To implement positive leadership effectively, one has to start with positive relationship. 3.Put schools of the south first and keep popularizing positive leadership. 4.Promote positive leadership positively starting with secondary education. 5.Emphasize the reinforcement of positive meaning starting with elementary education. 6.Get along with the male teachers can use positive communication more often.

Magister Educationis - MEd / A mixed methods approach was employed and included a document study, questionnaires and a focus group interview. Participants included post level one teachers, and non-teaching staff and members of the school management team at one school in the Western Cape. Research findings indicated that the school management team only implemented IQMS to comply with departmental requirements and to ensure that teachers received pay progressions. It also emerged that planning was only done for compliance resulting in no real school development taking place at the school due to a number of constraints. It is recommended that the school management team employs a more balanced approach to school evaluation with a strong focus on both Developmental Appraisal (DA) and Performance Management (PM) as they employ whole school v development. It is further recommended that the school management team plans for school development with the intention to implement these in order to improve the conditions in the school. A final recommendation is that the Department of Education establish a directorate of school development in order to fund and assist schools with translating evaluation into school development. / South Africa

本研究旨在瞭解臺北市公立國中校長正向領導、教師情緒勞務與學校效能的現況，並比較不同背景變項之國中教師知覺校長正向領導、教師情緒勞務與學校效能的差異情形，最後探討國中校長正向領導、教師情緒勞務與學校效能之關係。 本研究採問卷調查法進行研究，以臺北市之公立國中正式教師為對象，共發出552份問卷，回收495份，有效問卷474份，回收有效率85.86％。調查所得資料以IBM SPSS Statistics 22.0版電腦統計套裝軟體進行描述性統計、獨立樣本t檢定、單因子變異數分析、皮爾森積差相關以及多元逐步迴歸分析等統計方法進行分析。 本研究主要發現如下： 一、臺北市公立國中教師知覺校長正向領導為中高程度，以「善用正向溝通」之知覺程度最高，「賦予正向意義」之知覺程度最低。 二、臺北市公立國中教師知覺教師情緒勞務為中高程度，以「基本的情緒表達」之知覺程度最高，「情緒多樣性程度」之知覺程度最低。 三、臺北市公立國中教師知覺學校效能為中高程度，以「教師教學成效」之知覺程度最高，「學生學習表現」之知覺程度最低。 四、就臺北市公立國中教師知覺「校長正向領導」而言，「性別」、「年齡」、「現任職務」、「服務年資」、「校長性別」、「學校規模」與「學校歷史」皆為重要之影響因素，以男性、51歲以上、擔任主任或組長、服務年資21年以上、男性校長、學校規模24班以下與學校歷史31～50年之學校教師知覺程度較高。 五、就臺北市公立國中教師知覺「教師情緒勞務」而言，「學校規模」為重要之影響因素，以學校規模49班以上之學校教師知覺程度較高。 六、就臺北市公立國中教師知覺「學校效能」而言，「性別」、「現任職務」、「校長性別」與「學校歷史」皆為重要之影響因素，以男性、擔任主任或組長、男性校長與學校歷史50年以下之學校教師知覺程度較高。 七、校長正向領導、教師情緒勞務與學校效能呈現兩兩正相關情形。 八、校長正向領導、教師情緒勞務對學校效能具有預測作用，以校長正向領導之「賦予正向意義」構面的預測力最佳。 最後依據研究結果與結論，提出具體建議，以作為教育行政機關、國中校長、教師及未來研究之參考。 / The study aims to tap into the current situation of Taipei municipal junior high schools in terms of three aspects – principal positive leadership, teacher emotional labor, and school effectiveness. It also compares and analyzes junior high school teachers’ perceptions of the three aspects considering the teachers’ different background characteristics. Most importantly, the study explores the relationships among those three aspects of the schools. In order to conduct the study, a statistical survey was carried out, with a total of 552 questionnaires distributed to Taipei municipal junior high school teachers. In the end, 495 questionnaires were returned, but only 474 were valid responses – a response rate of 85.86%. The acquired data were later processed through IBM SPSS Statistics 22.0, for performing descriptive statistics, an independent samples t-test, a one-way analysis of variance, and carrying out Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis. The results are as follows: 1.The degree to which Taipei municipal junior high school teachers perceive principal positive leadership styles is middle-high; among the different aspects of principal positive leadership, “engaging in positive communication” is the most perceived one while the aspect of “reinforcing positive meanings” is the least perceived. 2.The degree to which Taipei municipal junior high school teachers perceive their emotional labor is middle-high; among the different aspects of teacher emotional labor, “basic emotional expression” is the most perceived one while the aspect of “the amount of variety of emotions” is the least perceived. 3.The degree to which Taipei municipal junior high school teachers perceive school effectiveness is middle-high; among the different aspects of school effectiveness, “teachers’ teaching effectiveness” is the most perceived one while the aspect of “students’ learning achievement” is the least perceived. 4.Taipei municipal junior high school teachers’ perceptions of principal positive leadership can vary greatly with the teachers’ gender, age, current positions, seniority in school, the principals’ gender, school size, and school history. 5.Taipei municipal junior high school teachers’ perceptions of their emotional labor can vary greatly with school size. 6.Taipei municipal junior high school teachers’ perceptions of school effectiveness can vary greatly with the teachers’ gender, current positions, the principals’ gender, and school history. 7.Principal positive leadership, teacher emotional labor, and school effectiveness correlate positively with each other. 8.Principal positive leadership and teacher emotional labor can be used to predict school effectiveness; the strategy of principal positive leadership – “reinforcing positive meanings” – is the best predictor. Based on the above results, the study wraps up with concrete suggestions for institutions of educational administration, principals and teachers of junior high schools, as well as future research.

摘 要 本研究旨在瞭解當前臺北市國民中學校長學習領導、教師專業發展及學校效能之現況；分析不同背景變項下，臺北市國民中學校長學習領導、教師專業發展及學校效能之差異與相關情形；探究臺北市國民中學校長學習領導、教師專業發展對於學校效能之預測情形。 本研究採用問卷調查法，並以臺北市公私立國民中學（含完全中學）之教師為研究對象，抽取46所學校，共計回收有效樣本為477份。問卷回收後分別以描述統計、獨立樣本t考驗、單因子變異數分析、積差相關、逐步多元迴歸等統計方法進行分析。根據研究結果將結論分析歸納如下： 一、國民中學教師對於校長學習領導之現況具中高度知覺。 二、國民中學教師對於教師專業發展之現況具高度知覺。 三、國民中學教師對於學校效能之現況具中高度知覺。 四、不同性別、年齡、服務年資、最高學歷與學校規模的國中教師在知覺校長學習領導上有顯著差異。 五、不同年齡與服務年資的國中教師在知覺教師專業發展上有顯著差異。 六、不同性別、現任職務、學校規模與學校性質的國中教師在知覺學校效能上有顯著差異。 七、國中校長學習領導、教師專業發展及學校效能均呈現顯著正相關。 八、校長學習領導、教師專業發展對學校效能具有預測作用；其中以「關注學生學習」向度的預測力最佳。 根據以上結論，提出具體建議，作為教育行政機關、校長、國中教育人員與未來研究之參考。 關鍵字：校長學習領導、教師專業發展、學校效能 / Abstract This study aims to investigate the current circumstances of principals’ learning leadership of junior high schools in Taipei, teacher professional development, and school effectiveness. By analyzing several background variables, the study does research on the differences and relationship among principals’ learning leadership , teacher professional development, and school effectiveness. Besides, it intends to understand the influence of principals’ learning leadership and teacher professional development on the prediction about school effectiveness. The research adopts questionnaire survey. The subjects of the survey are teachers in 46 junior high schools in Taipei, and the study contains 477 effective samples. The data was analyzed through descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson product-moment correlation, and multiple regression analysis. The findings based on the results of the research are as follows: 1. The perception of the junior high school teachers toward implementation of principals’ learning leadership is moderately high. 2. The perception of the junior high school teachers toward teacher professional development is high. 3. The perception of the junior high school teachers toward school effectiveness is moderately high. 4. There are significant differences in the perception of principals’ learning leadership in terms of different genders, ages, years of service, academic background ,and the scale of school. 5. There are significant differences in the perception of teacher professional development in terms of different ages, and years of service. 6. There are significant differences in the perception of school effectiveness in terms of different genders, duty, the scale of school, and public/private schools. 7. There is a significant positive correlation among the principals’ learning leadership, teacher professional development, and school effectiveness. 8. The junior high school principals’ learning leadership and teacher professional development have positive direct effect on school effectiveness, and “paying attention to students’ learning” manifests the best prediction. According to the research findings, a few specific suggestions are proposed for the reference of education administrative units, principals, teachers of junior high schools, and research staff engaging in future research. Keywords: principals’ learning leadership, teacher s’ professional development,school effectiveness

This study compares an effective school and ineffective school, in terms of how internal leadership and management of each school contribute its effectiveness. As a result, the study explores why one of two schools located within the same socio-economic environment, funded uniformly and controlled by the government at same levels of commitments is effective, while the other seems ineffective. Therefore, this thesis raises questions to know how internal school stakeholders’ leadership and management practices contribute to school effectiveness in each of the schools. A comparison was undertaken by firstly exploring how school leadership and management practices of School Leadership and Management Teams (SLMT) and secondly, understanding how teachers’ classroom leadership and management contribute to school effectiveness respectively. Therefore, in an attempt to answer the main research question: How do leadership and management dynamics contribute to school effectiveness? Other identified sub-questions were raised. Furthermore, a review of relevant literature uncovered what makes good and quality school leadership, management and; classroom leadership and management in ensuring school effectiveness. Data was collected from identified key role players within the two sampled schools. They include a school principal, vice-principal, Head of Departments (HOD), a teacher and classroom student leader (class captain) each, making-up a total of ten participants in the study - (five participants from each school). The researcher utilised one-on-one semi-structured interview, observations and document analysis or review in order to obtain rich qualitative data. By adopting the a-priori approach of data analysis, codes were generated manually from the interviews, observations and documents analysis/reviewed and measured against identified school leadership and management and; classroom leadership and management sub-themes/criteria in the literature reviewed in this study. From the data obtained, analysed and discussed, it was found that School A was exceptional in terms of leadership and management practises compared to School B. Although School A and B showed similar, but negligible characteristics in school planning, organising, management of change and; coordination of school teaching and learning, School A’s strength in terms of management of the school, lies in its availability of school policy on teaching, decision-making, delegating, control, motivating, communicating, management of interpersonal relationships, school climate, culture, change, management of conflict and school school-community relationships. In addition, even though School A and B teacher exhibited similar elements like, teaching methods ability, planning of their teaching and they both lack written classroom policy in their classroom leadership and management practices, differences like classroom leadership, motivation, communication, classroom climate and control exhibited by School A teacher during teaching and learning makes him far better, in comparison to School B teacher. Conclusively, the exceptional leadership and management practices by the School Leadership and Management (SLMT) of School A and its teacher in comparison to School B brought about multiplicity of other findings in this study. In the overall, it is believed that the interrelatedness of the exceptional leadership and management behaviour and practices of school A SLMT and teacher, is a consequence of the culture of the school, which has been built and maintained over the years and thus, influenced its climate in contributing to school effectiveness. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2015-12-10T11:17:15Z No. of bitstreams: 1 luisantoniofajardopontes.pdf: 1987237 bytes, checksum: a9022a27e3eff6caa86aab0734002199 (MD5) / Rejected by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br), reason: Renata, favor corrigir: o caso do Índice de Desenvolvimento da Educação Básica, o Ideb, para: IDEB on 2015-12-10T14:07:41Z (GMT) / Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2015-12-10T14:13:15Z No. of bitstreams: 1 luisantoniofajardopontes.pdf: 1987237 bytes, checksum: a9022a27e3eff6caa86aab0734002199 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2015-12-10T14:13:58Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 luisantoniofajardopontes.pdf: 1987237 bytes, checksum: a9022a27e3eff6caa86aab0734002199 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-10T14:13:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 luisantoniofajardopontes.pdf: 1987237 bytes, checksum: a9022a27e3eff6caa86aab0734002199 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-05-15 / O presente estudo tem por objetivo analisar alguns mecanismos específicos de aferição da qualidade educacional que usualmente vêm sendo propostos por diversos sistemas educacionais no Brasil e, mais particularmente, nas escolas públicas de Minas Gerais, bem como propor alternativas de seu aperfeiçoamento. Neste sentido, discorre-se primeiramente sobre a questão da eficácia escolar e também sobre a maneira como este tópico vem ganhando uma importância cada vez maior na agenda das reformas educacionais tanto fora quanto dentro do Brasil. A seguir, apresenta-se o caso do Índice Brasileiro de Desenvolvimento da Educação Básica, o Ideb, discorrendo-se sobre a sua metodologia de elaboração e também sobre sua interpretação. Posteriormente, apresentam-se conclusões, específicas para as escolas públicas de Minas Gerais, acerca dos efeitos indesejáveis sobre as metas do Ideb causados, em parte, por uma certa instabilidade dos resultados educacionais, que fazem com que, a cada edição dessa avaliação transversal, ocorram desvios ou flutuações dos resultados em relação a uma tendência de crescimento prevista por um modelo longitudinal hierárquico. Utilizando-se então procedimentos associados a esta mesma metodologia, é proposto um modelo inédito de determinação das metas do Ideb, por meio de uma correção periódica que se faz sobre elas, com base nos resultados atualizados das avaliações, parte delas relacionadas, no caso deste exemplo de Minas Gerais, aos resultados anuais dos testes do Sistema Mineiro de Avaliação da Educação Básica, o SIMAVE, na 8ª série ou 9º ano do Ensino Fundamental. E, finalmente, estudam-se também casos específicos de melhoria significativa da qualidade das decisões sobre o desempenho educacional dos estabelecimentos assim avaliados, com base neste novo modelo. / This study aims to analyze some specific mechanisms of educational quality measurement which have been proposed by several education systems in Brazil and more specifically in Minas Gerais State public schools, as well as propose some alternatives for their improvement. In this sense, some questions about school effectiveness are proposed, along with some considerations about the way how this topic has acquired an increasing relevance in educational reform agendas both inside and outside Brazil. The specific case of the Brazilian Index of Basic Education Development – originally the Índice Brasileiro de Desenvolvimento da Educação Básica, or Ideb – is also presented, together with some considerations about its development methodology and interpretation. Later some specific conclusions about the Ideb and Minas Gerais State public schools are also discussed, related to the undesirable effect that has been detected on their respective Ideb targets, partly caused by a certain instability of educational results, by which it is possible to detect and gauge some deviations or fluctuations of the results in relation to a growth trend model at each year of the historical evaluation series, according to a longitudinal hierarchical model. The latter methodology is also employed in order to propose a new model of Ideb target setting, which is accomplished by their respective periodic correction based on updated results obtained by the same schools in other state standardized tests, such as the case, in Minas Gerais, of those related to the Sistema Mineiro de Avaliação da Educação Básica – or Minas Gerais Basic Education Evaluation Sistem, the SIMAVE –, for the 9th year or 8th grade of Fundamental Level. Finally, the text presents and discusses some specific cases of occurrence of a significant quality improvement related to decisions that can be made about the educational performance of the same educational institutions evaluated according to this model.

Education in Cape Verde has come a long way since its humble colonial beginnings with the opening of the first school in 1525. However, despite notable progress and the existence of some schools which are perceived to be superior, the quality of the education provided in the public school system is poor overall. Unfortunately the dearth of research on education in Cape Verde - and indeed the rest of the developing world - available to guide qualitative improvement forces school officials and change agents to use models from developed countries to guide change efforts. The purpose of this study is to examine the validity of that practice based on experiences accumulated during part of a seven year technical aid intervention.

The purpose of the study was to explore and compare key classroom level factors affecting mathematics learner achievement for South Africa and Australia. The study focused in the classroom where teaching and learning takes place. This is a secondary analysis of classroom level factors influencing Grade 8 mathematics learner achievement using the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2003. TIMSS 2003 was chosen because it was the latest international study available to measure trends in mathematics learner achievement, where South Africa had participated. Quantitative research approach was employed and a survey research method was used which seeks, among others, to explore relationships and patterns. Survey research method was suitable to provide data that responded to the research questions. The data collection in South Africa and Australia was conducted in October-December 2002 as both countries are located in the Southern Hemisphere. The sample for South Africa consisted of 255 schools with 100% coverage and stratification done by a total of nine provinces, and language. This resulted in 8952 learners tested across the provinces (Joncas, 2004, p. 212). For Australia, the sample consisted of 207 schools with 100% coverage and stratification done by a total of 8 States and Territories and school type. This resulted in 4791 learners participating in the study. The sample included teachers of learners who were selected to participate in the TIMSS 2003 study for South Africa and Australia. The intended target was teachers of all learners at the end of their eight year of schooling. For each participating school, a single mathematics class was sampled and the mathematics teacher of the selected class was asked to complete a mathematics questionnaire. Mathematics teachers of sampled learners responded to questions about teaching emphasis on the topics in the curriculum frameworks, instructional practices, professional training and education and their views on mathematics. The mathematics teacher questionnaire was designed to take about 45 minutes to complete The main question for this study was “What are the key classroom factors that influence learner performance in mathematics?” The three sub questions for the study were: What key variables on classroom level are related to learner achievement in mathematics for South Africa? What key variables on classroom level are related to learner achievement in mathematics for Australia? How do the classroom level factors in mathematics performance of South Africa compare with classroom level factors in Australia? The conceptual framework for the study stressed classroom level factors including instructional quality, which includes teacher background factors, classroom climate, teaching requirements and mathematics curriculum. The framework describes the factors related to classroom interactions within the comprehensive education system, with regard to inputs – process – outputs – outcomes. The selection of variables for the inclusion in the models was guided by the conceptual framework and extensive preliminary analyses. Preliminary statistical analyses included exploring descriptive statistics, Varimax factor analysis, reliability, correlation analysis and stepwise multiple regression analysis. The results of the study indicate that several specific classroom level factors were associated with the higher levels of mathematics achievement of South Africa and Australia. The results for the final South African model were: age of teacher; years been teaching; outside school day grading tests; outside school day other; and computer shortage were identified to predict learner achievement. For Australia ten classroom factors, namely, teacher perception of school climate; teacher perception of school safety; teacher emphasis on mathematics homework; teacher repeat mathematics limiting factors; homework contribute towards learning; work conditions; unhappy learners; shortage of instructional equipment; geometric shapes; and algebraic functions were identified to predict learner achievement. South Africa has factors like teacher background and outside school activities by the teacher. Australia has factors like classroom climate, work conditions and curriculum quality. In the light of schools effectiveness research and school improvement research, a comparative study like this one would require more than one level (classroom level), two or three levels would have been ideal to draw other variables and enrich the analysis, especially the learner level and school level. School effectiveness places an emphasis on the ability and social background of the learners as factors that shape academic performance / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / unrestricted

2021 utkom Skolinspektionen med rapporten Långvarigt låga kunskapsresultat – Grundskolor som under 10 år haft en hög andel elever utan godkända betyg i alla ämnen. Svensk skola har sedan 1990-talet genomgått en decentralisering och marknadsanpassning. Under samma tid har skolsegregationen i Sverige ökat, skolorna har blivit mer homogena och resultatskillnaderna mellan skolor har ökat. Skolorna i Skolinspektionens rapport har i jämförelse med hela riket en högre andel elever vars föräldrar har låg utbildningsbakgrund, en högre andel elever med utländsk bakgrund samt en högre andel nyinvandrade elever. I denna studie sätts rektors roll och arbete i relation till Skolinspektionens rapport om låga kunskapsresultat. Intervjuer har genomförts med sex rektorer på skolor som finns med i rapporten och intresset har riktats mot deras subjektiva bild av sin skolas resultat, utveckling och framgång. Studien pekar på hur Skolinspektionens och tidigare forsknings diskurs kring skolframgång marginaliseras på skolor med komplext kompensatoriskt uppdrag genom att just dessa skolor påverkas i stor utsträckning av diskurser kring segregation och resultatstyrning av skolan. Studien har fokus på hur rektorer i dessa utsatta skolor erbjuds en rekontextualiserad subjektsposition i sin yrkesroll som marginaliserar Skolinspektionens skolframgångsdiskurs. / In 2021 the Swedish Schools Inspectorate published a report Schools with prolonged low results – Compulsory schools that during 10 years have high proportion of students without passing grades in all subjects (com. author´s translation).  The Swedish school have since the 1990´s passed through a great decentralization and market adjustment. During the same years school segregation in Sweden has increased, the schools have become more homogeneous and the differences in results between schools have increased. The schools in the report of the Swedish Schools Inspectorate have compared to all Swedish schools a higher proportion of students with parents with low level of education, a higher proportion of students with foreign lineage and a higher proportion of student newly arrived to Sweden. In this study the role and work of principals are put in relation to the Swedish Schools Inspectorate´s report about prolonged low results. Interviews have been held with six principals of schools from the report and the interest which is pointed is their subjective description of their schools results, development and improvement.  This study points how the discourse of school improvement of the Swedish Schools Inspectorate and previous research is marginalized at schools with a complex compensatory mission by that they are affected by discourses about segregation and results management of school. The study is focusing on how principals at schools in social-economic fragile areas is offered a recontextualized position as subject in their work that marginalize the Swedish Schools Inspectorate´s discourse of school improvement.