There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

The purpose of the study was to compare and contrast current management development delivery systems in the public sector with the private sector. Data was gathered through on-site interviews with five private and five public sector organizations. The organizations were selected for the study with the help of expert panels. Panel members also assisted in refining the structured interview guide used to collect data.Data obtained by the interviews were analyzed using a binomial test for differences in proportion to determine significant differences between responses of the public sector and the private sector interviewees. Open ended questions were compared and reported in narrative form.Data collected support the following conclusions:1. The importance of involving individual participants in planning for management development programs has been shown.2. A number of practices endorsed by respondents and identified in the data may serve as components of a model for program implementation.3. The literature supports the need to correlate management development activitites to events-based, on-the-job activities.4. A weakness appears to exist in current management development programs in regard to the lack of use of personal recognition as an incentive.5. The literature cites the need to increase funds for future programming needs.6. Changes in salary/wage policies may need to occur.7. Ambiguous goals are a reason for the failure of many management development programs.8. Evaluation techniques are utilized to assess individual program offerings rather than to measure improvement in on-the-job performance.9. Raise in income is preferred as an incentive in the public sector.10. Promotion is preferred as an incentive in the private sector.11. Development programs are hindered by a perceived lack of available time. / Department of Educational Administration and Supervision

This qualitative case study of two primary teachers during their first year of using a new provincial art curriculum was concerned with the effect of a special relationship between the two teachers on their implementation efforts. The relationship was part of an implementation strategy devised by arts consultants in the school board office; one teacher in every school was designated a “Catalyst Teacher” with a loosely defined role of acting as an on-site “cheerleader” (or catalyst) for the implementation activities of colleagues. This use of a non-specialist member of a staff is related to peer-centred improvement and change efforts discussed in recent literature under such terms as “peer coaching,” “cooperative professional development,” and “collaborative consultation.” It has been shown that a collegial approach to change efforts tends to contribute to the successful implementation of change. Through a series of semistructured interviews with the two teachers individually and together, and supplemented by observations of their art teaching and by interviews and informal conversations with Ministry of Education personnel, the local art consultant, and the school principal, a picture was produced of the meanings constructed by the two teachers about the new curriculum, their roles as teachers and colleagues, the place of art in their total programs, and the effect of the Catalyst Teacher Program on their own implementation efforts. At the end of the interview series, the teachers considered their own progress with the help of Hall and associates’ Levels of Use scale (1975). Looking through the lens of a symbolic interactionist approach to studying this working relationship, I was able to focus on the interdependence of all the elements in the cyclical process of data gathering, sorting, coding, reflecting, and analyzing. The qualitative causal network described by Corbett and Rossman (1989) provided a framework within which the case data could be analyzed and compared to Corbett and Rossman’s findings. The progress of the participants in this study showed the positive effect of the implementation strategy in use in their board. These two teachers’ special qualities of collegiality contributed to their early success, suggesting that conditions of teacher empowerment and collegiality need to precede other specific change efforts. Conditions of distancing between grade-level units within the school, that may have contributed to differences in implementation progress, point to a need to reconsider the wide scale of most implementation efforts. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

M.Ed. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Although the assistant principalship has been an important part of American secondary schools for over thirty years, the educational establishment has yet to arrive at a formal definition of the assistant principal's role in that institution. Researchers have tended to find the assistant in a role defined by procedures. At the same time, they have called for a new definition of the assistant based on policy-making activities. This outcome has had several important consequences, not the least of which has been failure to provide formal guidelines for training assistants in their role and preparing them for future administrative assignments. This study has investigated the relationship between fourteen areas of responsibility connected with secondary school administration and the role of the assistant principal in meeting these responsibilities. Unlike previous studies, it has emphasized, not the areas themselves, but the perceptions of principals and assistants who rated the value of each area as a training ground for the principalship. By classifying the areas perceived to be most valuable for training, the study contributes to the emerging definition of the assistant principalship. Also, by explaining the relationship between the administrators' backgrounds and their influence on the ratings given, this study has attempted to account for the factors that affected the respondents' perceptions. The study was organized around three research questions: (1) Do principals and assistant principals differ in the extent to which they perceive the assistant principalship as an adequate training ground for the principalship? (2) What factors affect the perceptions of assistant principals? (3) What factors influence the perceptions of principals? In order to address these questions, secondary school administrators who were members of the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators (COSA) were surveyed. They rated fourteen areas of responsibility for their training value and for the extent to which assignments to the areas were made on the basis of gender stereotyping. In addition, the areas to which the respondents were currently assigned were reported. The respondents also supplied background information concerning the years of experience in their current position and size of the administrative staff of which they were a part. Of the 454 members surveyed, 373 returned completed questionnaires, yielding a response rate of 71%. Assistant principals comprised 57% of the sample, while principals comprised 43%. Females comprised 16% of the sample and males 84%. Major findings suggest that while principals and assistants differed in the amount of value they awarded each area of responsibility they consistently identified the same areas as valuable. Assistants' perceptions were found to be influenced by staff size and gender. Principals' perceptions were related to their length of tenure as assistant principals, how long they had been principals, number of assistant principals they supervised, and gender. These findings have implications for the future definition of the assistant principalship and improved training for assistants because they showed that principals believed in the value of the assistant principalship as a training ground. Thus, they also suggested the feasibility of combining the leadership of the principal and the concept of teamwork in both the definition and training of Assistant.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009. / Prepared for: Dept. of Educational Studies. Title from title-page of electronic thesis. Bibliography: leaves 217-231.

This paper is a case study of teacher professional development in a local Hong Kong secondary school. By examining the tension among various influencing parties - i.e. Education Bureau (EDB), school sponsoring body, school, principal and teachers - as well as the dilemmas arising from the planning and implementation of professional development programs, this research seeks to explore areas of improvements and provide recommendations. The discussions centre on the needs identification and program evaluation processes, and are based on theoretical principles of organizational learning, individualization of learning, training evaluation and transfer of learning. Following analysis of the research findings, this paper goes on to suggest that school leaders should promote the principles of professional learning to all teachers. In particular, teachers should be empowered with the autonomy to manage their own professional development as their responsibility. Also, school leaders should encourage teachers to integrate school development needs with their own professional needs. The findings may be applied to other local secondary schools with staff development structures and processes at a comparable level of maturity. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

A prior study conducted by Walker (1996) showed teachers working in Primary schools in Hong-kong experienced professional development as a ‘one off’ occurrence, referring to one day out of the academic year, in the form of a workshop or course. Teachers felt that they did not take into consideration ‘teachers skills needs and involovement’ (Walker, 1996). According to the study, Principals and heads of department are usually responsible for shaping and establishing the norms for professional growth. The study revealed that the general consensus amongst principals and administrators believed that teachers should be involved in the actual planning and design of professional development. This study aims to further shed light on this phenomenon in the form of a case study at a primary school in Hong-Kong. An in depth look at how a school implements and organizes professional development can be beneficial to numerous members of the school community, including principals, teachers and administrators. Walker’s (1996) study was ultimately effective in recognizing the trends and opinions amongst principals and administrators regarding professional development. However there is limited research regarding how teachers perceive professional development and how they feel it can improve their needs. By acknowledging the lack of professional development , and it’s perceived ineffectiveness from teachers, this studies objectives is to explore how professional development is organized and developed in the school, and use such insights and opinions gained to provide a means to establish how professional development can be implemented more effectively to benefit teachers. Moreover research shows that in recent times, professional development is low on the list of teacher priorities, as they feel overwhelmed with their existing workload. Though the present study stems for the ideologies and perceptions teachers in Hong-Kong seemingly have toward professional development, majority of the research will be addressing the current effectiveness of professional development at the school, as this will enable one deduce factors that make it successful or unsuccessful. It is important to recognize that every school is different and will therefore have different needs. Thus making comparisons towards professional development regarding its policies and implementation will most likely to render obsolete, as a professional development program that is successful at one school may not be at the other. Though there is no concrete definition for what constitutes ‘effective professional development’ Desimone (2009) offers a framework that is broad enough to be relevant to most schools. Such a framework will be used as an indicator in establishing whether professional development is effective in the school (See appendix A and B). Responses from administrators and teachers from the interview questions will also be used to analyse whether professional development offered at the school is effective and productive. This study will adopt a qualitative approach primarily through the use of interviews and observations. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Education

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