The study presents how school leaders think about relational work within the school (teacher-student), that is, interpersonal meetings in the school and what significance they think they have for students' schooling. The focus is on the relationship between teacher and pupil and on the social climate, where attitudes and approaches that permeate the business is in focus. We have also investigated the principal's responsibilities and the views of pupils with school difficulties. Topics that are raised in connection are attitudes and thoughts about individual and general accommodations and what significance socio-economic background can have for the student's school situation. The study is qualitative with interview as method. The study involved 5 school leaders who are all educated and have worked a long time whithin the schoolsystem. As a theoretical starting point, we have been partly inspired by Bronfennbrenner's (1979) ecological systems theory is about how different people and things in the student's microsystem affect their development. We have been inspired by a phenomenographic approach in interpreting the results to explain and analyze the thoughts and opinions that are the same and different. The results of the interviews indicate that relational work within the school (teacher-student) is considered to be important for student' schooling, but that there are factors that sometimes make this work more difficult. Some difficulties described are the teachers' workload and inexperienced or untrained teachers. Furthermore, the interviewees see that there is a great responsibility of the principals and how they lead the school both organizationally and by creating a school culture and a good social climate. The interviewees also describe that teaching outside the classroom can sometimes be needed, but it must not be a permanent solution. After the results we discuss the thoughts and experiences that emerged in the interviews through the previous research is presented. The conclusion is that more collaboration is needed between different professions within the school but also with other authorities. The workload of teachers and principals needs to strike a balance so that relational work within the school (teacher-student) can take as much space as the work towards knowledge acquisition. Also, the we need educated teachers who can do this.

Professional development is more than marking an attendance register at a workshop. Professional development is a reflective process of continuous self-development that should inform the very essence of any learning context. This dissertation builds on how teachers experience school-initiated type-2 teacher professional development in secondary public schools and how their experiences may contribute to the work in the field of teacher professional development and assessment. Although a number of studies have examined teachers’ comprehension of the Continuous Professional Development framework in South Africa and the quality management policies, there is a considerable lack of literature on the relationship between the professional development of teachers and school improvement. The purpose of this dissertation is to understand teachers’ experiences with the implementation of Type-2 Continuous Professional Teacher Development activities in public high schools. The data for this qualitative study were collected through semistructured interviews and policy document analysis. The coded data were analysed and emerging themes were identified. The participants of this study consisted of teachers and members of the School Management Team. However, the study found that teachers perceived that there is a gap in the focus of professional development programmes. Teachers felt that the type-2 developmental activities seemed only for the benefit and achievement of the school’s goals, and do not adequately address the developmental needs of teachers themselves. The findings of this study argue that a culture of shared responsibility and leadership in secondary schools do indeed improve the development of teachers and the successful academic achievement of learners. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Education Management and Policy Studies / MEd / Unrestricted

School improvement research indicates that learning outcomes and pupils’ attainment can be raised if quality of teaching is improved (Barber & Mourshed, 2007). The research questions arose through reflections regarding how the special needs competence could be utilised better and in what way this could contribute to change and to development of the school and the learning environment. The aim of the study was to provide knowledge regarding the SENCO’s profession. The focus of the study was to make visible the perceptions that the school staff from six local authority compulsory schools within one municipality had regarding the SENCO’s duties and which fields they believed the SENCO should work with. Three research questions were formulated based on the aim of the study. These were 1) which perceptions exist regarding the SENCO’s duties, 2) which fields do the school staff believe the SENCO should work with and 3) which opportunities for development exist based on the fields that were identified. The study was conducted using a quantitative methodological approach whereby a digital Google questionnaire was distributed via e-mail to the six schools that participated in the study. The theoretical framing consists of the deficit perspective and the alternative perspective (Nilholm, 2005; 2007) in addition to selected concepts within system theory (Öquist, 2018; Ahrenfelt, 2013). The results show that all school staff advocate an extensive role for the SENCO encompassing the entire learning environment. All school staff advocate SENCO’s working with tasks regarded as typical for the occupational role such as pupils in need of support. The majority of the school staff were also in favour of the SENCO conducting pedagogical work and pedagogical leadership in conjunction with this. Regarding the pedagogical leadership the research showed that the school staff first and foremost believe that the SENCO should take on a pedagogical leadership in conjunction with pedagogical work on individual level and on classroom level not a leadership on organisational level. Great development opportunities exist for the SENCO within the occupational role and within duties connected to school development. The results can contribute to further development of the profession, to developing the SENCO’s duties and to better understand how the special needs competence can be utilised in conjunction with school development. / I skolförbättringsforskning har det bekräftats att det effektivaste sättet att förbättra elevresultat och höja elevers måluppfyllelse är att förbättra kvaliteten på undervisningen (Barber & Mourshed, 2007). Reflektioner kring hur den specialpedagogiska kompetensen bättre skulle kunna tas tillvara och på vilket sätt detta skulle kunna bidra till förändring och utveckling inom skolan och i skolans lärmiljö föranledde studiens frågeställning. Studiens övergripande syfte var att tillföra kunskap om specialpedagogens profession. Fokus i studien riktades mot att synliggöra vilka uppfattningar skolpersonalen, på sex grundskolor inom en kommun, har om specialpedagogens uppdrag och vilka arbetsområden de anser att specialpedagogen ska arbeta med. Tre frågeställningar formulerades utifrån studiens syfte vilka handlade om 1) vilka uppfattningar som finns om specialpedagogens uppdrag, 2) vilka arbetsområden skolpersonalen anser att specialpedagogen ska arbeta med och 3) vilka utvecklingsmöjligheter som finns utifrån identifierade arbetsområden. Studien genomfördes med kvantitativ metod i form av en digital Google-enkät som distribuerades via e-mail till de sex grundskolorna. De teoretiska utgångspunkterna bestod av specialpedagogiska perspektiv (Nilholm, 2005; 2007) och utvalda delar av systemteori (Öquist, 2018; Ahrenfelt, 2013). Resultaten visade att samtlig skolpersonal förespråkade ett brett uppdrag för specialpedagogen som är kopplat till lärmiljön i stort. Samtlig skolpersonal var positivt inställda till att specialpedagogen ska arbeta med arbetsuppgifter som kan anses vara typiska för professionen, som till exempel elevstöd, och det framkom även att majoriteten av skolpersonalen var positivt inställda till att specialpedagogen ska arbeta med pedagogiskt arbete och pedagogiskt ledarskap kopplat till detta. Gällande det pedagogiska ledarskapet visade studien att skolpersonalen först och främst tänker att specialpedagogen ska inta ett pedagogiskt ledarskap i samband med det pedagogiska arbetet på individ- och gruppnivå, inte ett bredare ledarskap på organisationsnivå. Det finns goda utvecklingsmöjligheter inom specialpedagogens profession liksom för specialpedagogens uppdrag inom skolutveckling. Om den specialpedagogiska kompetensen tas tillvara i samband med det pedagogiska arbetet och utveckling av undervisningen kan specialpedagogen arbeta för att skapa tillgängliga lärmiljöer för alla elever vilket i sin tur kan bidra till skolutveckling. Studiens resultat kan bidra till att utveckla professionen, till att utveckla specialpedagogens uppdrag och till att förstå hur den specialpedagogiska kompetensen kan användas i samband med skolutveckling.

Syftet med vår uppsats är att söka svar på hur några skolledare och huvudmän arbetar med skolförbättring. Våra frågeställningar är; På vilka sätt ser huvudmän, skolledare och forskning på skolförbättring?På vilka sätt tar skolledare och huvudmän tillvara specialpedagogens kompetens gällande skolutveckling? Vår uppsats vilar på systemteori. I systemteori ligger fokus på helheten där det är delarna eller nivåerna i systemen som påverkar varandra ömsesidigt. Detta ömsesidiga beroendet är mycket viktiga aspekter där människor i ett socialt system tillsammans skapar helheten. I systemteorin finns en hierarkisk uppbyggnad där den högre nivån alltid är överordnad de lägre nivåerna. För att ett system ska fungera är det viktigt att det är tydligt och att gränserna mellan de olika nivåerna upprätthålls. Vi har valt att använda oss av kvalitativ metod då vi är ute efter att undersöka skolledares och huvudmäns uppfattningar om skolförbättring. Bryman (2015) menar att den kvalitativa intervjun passar när undersökningen riktas mot informantens uppfattning, vilket är syftet med vår uppsats. Som metodansats har vi valt att använda oss av hemneutik. Resultaten presenterar vi i teman som utgår från våra frågeställningar. Vi presenterar huvudmännen och rektorers resultat var för sig för att senare kunna jämföra dessa två kategorier. Det resultat vi funnit i vår uppsats är bekymmersamt utifrån vår yrkesroll. Om målet med skolförbättring är att förändra undervisningen anser vi att det hade varit gynnsamt om specialpedagogen i hög grad varit delaktig i det arbetet. I vår uppsats finner vi att huvudmän och rektorer strävar efter ett distribuerat ledarskap i skolförbättring och ofta är det förstelärare som blir delaktiga i detta ledarskap. / The purpose of our master thesis is to seek answers to how some school leaders and municipality work with school improvement. Our framing of question is: •In what way do principals, school leaders and research perceive at school improvement?•In what way do school leaders and municipality utilize the special educator’s competence regarding school improvement?Our thesis rests on systems theory. In systems theory, the focus is in the entirety where it is the parts or levels in the system that mutually affect each other. This mutual dependence is very important aspects where people in a social system together create the entirety. In system theory there is a hierarchical structure where the higher level always is superior to the lower levels. For a system to work, it is important that it´s clear and that the boundaries between the different levels are maintained. The parts also interact mutually. We have chosen to use qualitative data as we want to investigate school leaders and principal’s perceptions of school improvement. Bryman (2015) believes that the qualitative interview fits when the survey is aimed at the informant´s view, which is the purpose of our essay. As a method approach, we have chosen to use hermeneutics. We present the results in themes based om our issues. We present the school leaders and the municipality’s results separately for later comparison of these two categories. The result we found is our thesis is worrying based on our professional role. If the goal of school improvement is to change teaching, we think it would have been beneficial if the special educator had been more involved in that work because the special education has a formal competence to lead school improvement. In our thesis we find that municipality’s and school leaders strive for distributed leadership in school improvement and it is often the Swedish first teacher who participates in this leadership.

Sublllitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfilment of the requirements for the DEGREE Of DOCTOR Of EDUCATION in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education at theUniversity of Zululand, 2003. / This study examines teachers' perceptions of the elements of whole school development and the extent to which certain essential features of such development are associated with school effectiveness. The study aims at determining the extent to which school effectiveness is associated with the following four elements (or sets of elements) in terms of respondent dimensions: (1) access to technical and human resources; (2)adoption of a clear culture, vision and identity; (3) involvement in efficient strategic planning, structural arrangements and procedures; and (collectively) (4) gender, age, teaching qualifications and teaching experience. To this end an instrument was constructed based on the Government bluebook for inspection of schools. The bluebook-based instrument was found to be descriptive and, therefore, intended to collect data of a qualitative nature. On the grounds of this serious omission the instrument had to be adapted so as to yield quantitative data covering all the essential features of school organisation. Care was taken to ensure that the instrument has content validity that covers all the essential features of school organisation. The findings revealed that there is a very strong association between the essential features of whole school development and school effectiveness. The analysis of responses in respect of these essential features has enabled us to arrange them in a rank order. The factor that covers adoption of a clear culture, vision and identity was rated in the first position. This was followed by a factor dealing with access to technical and human resources. The last position was occupied by the factor dealing with involvement in efficient strategic planning, structural arrangements and procedures. The study revealed that while age, gender and teaching experience, as aspects of teacher characteristics, did not influence teachers' opinions on the essential features of school organisation, the variable of teaching qualification was found to be influential in this regard.

This study documents and describes efforts by Oregon school districts to network in order to improve schools and provide resources for staff development. There are at least 41 networks linking school districts, institutions of higher education, and Educational Service Districts in both rural and urban areas of the state. These networks, collaboratives, and consortia have the common purpose of improving education, and the belief that they can accomplish more cooperatively than they can individually. These networks are described in terms of purposes, benefits and problems, and desire for assistance. Comparisons showed that large school districts are much more likely to participate in networks than small ones. This is significant because there are many small school districts in Oregon that would benefit from the assistance of a network in providing resources and expertise for school improvement efforts. Descriptions of three active networks in different parts of the state provided additional information regarding organizational structure, membership, and activities. There is a listing of the membership of 41 networks in the state. Statistical comparisons indicate that the greatest benefits responding school districts derived from networking include increased effectiveness of staff development efforts, sharing of information, cost sharing, and psychological support. Problems encountered in networking were: conflicting work priorities, conflicting goals, organizational problems, and funding. Two-thirds of the districts surveyed would like to have assistance for their efforts in the form of funding or incentives for networking, information on school improvement practices, and communications linkage among school districts. The study indicates that networking is widely practiced in the state of Oregon for the purpose of improving school effectiveness and staff development efforts. Implications are that this is an effective way for schools to accomplish their goals. Therefore, it is recommended that school districts not engaged in this practice give consideration to networking as an effective way to increase resources for school improvement efforts and to become more effective. It is hoped that encouragement and incentives for networking will be forthcoming from state and local education agencies. These agencies should exercise caution that their efforts to encourage networking not create unnecessary structures that would destroy the flexibility that makes networks so effective.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the practices and perceptions of high school principals in northern California in their use of teacher evaluation for school improvement. The population included 60 high school principals in 29 northern California counties. The data included the responses of 60 principals to a questionnaire and the responses of ten of the 60 principals participated in telephone interviews. This study investigated teacher evaluation processes that were used and how they were seen as useful to school improvement. Specific topics that were included were the degree that teacher evaluation was perceived as useful to improve student learning, learning environments, teachers' subject matter knowledge, and staff development. Also, principals were asked if they use teacher evaluation to make recommendations to grant tenure, non-reelect, promote, and dismiss teachers. In addition, principals were asked what prevents them from further using teacher evaluation for school improvement? The responses of experienced principals (those with more than three years of experience) were compared to those with fewer than three years of experience. Principals were asked which formative evaluation processes they used including classroom observation, teacher and student reports, diagnostic processes, and demonstration lessons. They were asked how useful they felt formative evaluation is to improve tenured and non-tenured teachers. Principals' use of summative evaluation was also studied. Specifically, principals' use of classroom observations, rating scales informal observations, peer ratings, student ratings, students achievement, exams, portfolios, and self-assessments for evaluation were tallied. In addition they were asked how useful they felt summative evaluation is to improve tenured and non-tenured teachers. Finally this study investigated the barriers that principals perceived that prevented them from further implementing teacher evaluation. Most frequently principals reported that a lack of time and the interference of teacher unions were barriers to more fully using teacher evaluation. The conclusion of this study includes nine general recommendations and three recommendations for further research.

No description available.

This study examined the perceptions of principals, teachers, and support staff at 3 PREPS-identified value added and three PREPS-identified value subtracted elementary schools in Mississippi to determine if there were effective schools practices in the areas of instructional and organizational systems that were unique to either group. The Survey of Instructional and Organizational Effectiveness from the National Study of School Evaluation was used to measure strengths and limitations of the effectiveness of the instructional practices and organizational conditions of each school. Descriptive statistics and comparative analysis were used to analyze responses to the 24-item survey. Results showed there were statistically significant differences between the value added and value subtracted schools for the categories of curriculum, instructional design, assessment, and leadership for school improvement. There were no significant differences in the categories of educational agenda, community-building, and culture of continuous improvement and learning.

No description available.