Dissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Masters Degree in Technology: Education (Management), Technikon Natal, 2000. / This study focused on conflict resolution in multi-racial , co-educational schools in the Phoenix region and the development of strategies for the training of management and staff to resolve conflict. It has been observed that principals in the Phoenix region frequently seek the intervention of third party adjudicators to resolve conflicts experienced at schools . This often prevents the timeous and expeditious resolution of conflicts . The inability to resolve conflict judiciously impinges on job satisfaction, productivity and human relationships in schools. A literature survey of conflict revealed that conflict in organisations is endemic and inevitable . Conflicts at work, when dealt with systematically , can have positive rather than destructive effects. It is the writer's belief that conflict can be reduced or eliminated if there is a conflict resolution programme in schools which is designed to train both management and staff in conflict resolution. The writer provided a theoretical understanding of conflict through an analysis of the underlying dynamics of conflict , the effects of organisational conflict and the conflict process. The various levels and areas of conflict in schools were examined. The research examined three approaches to conflict management , evaluated the various conflict handling styles and applied these strategies to conflict situations experienced at schools. / M

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This study has a twofold purpose. The first is to demonstrate the use of the Forced-Choice Technique in developing a rating scale for the selection of teachers adjudged to be ready to assume responsibility of an administrative nature and a role of leadership. The second is to develop a tentative rating scale for this purpose in the Dallas Independent School District, Dallas, Texas,

The problem of this study was an analysis of the processes and materials used in teaching theories of educational administration in certain courses in selected southwestern colleges and universities.

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This study examined current conditions of existing multi-purpose studio art classrooms, or "dedicated spaces," in a cross section of America’s schools. To date, most of the research completed to assess the state of arts education programs in the last 20 years has been through government-conducted statistical analysis, detailing the number of part- and full-time certified arts teachers and the number of dedicated spaces in which arts programs are housed in each reporting school. The NAEA’s Design Standards for School Art Facilities served as the guideline for analyzing the physical design features and arrangement of the 18 classrooms included in the study. The work of Nel Noddings, Maxine Greene, and Parker Palmer provided framework for how the physical space influences human flourishing. The research utilized a multi-case study, and pursued two new methodologies: “Goldsworthy as methodology,” where Andy Goldsworthy’s inquiry-based creative practice in natural settings is transposed into the observation and analysis of art classroom design features; Design Thinking was used to understand the dynamic nuances that tie both physical features and human experience together. The findings suggest that a large number of spatial problems exist in the classrooms included in the study, that the current state of these art rooms are not indicative of spaces that are designed to support visual art learning and human flourishing, and offer insight into how to better facilitate the construction or rearrangement of studio art classrooms so that they are more intuitively suited to creative activity than they currently are.

The purpose of this mixed method study was to understand how demographic fit, organizational fit, and group fit influenced secondary school assistant principal (AP) selection and assimilation for candidates who completed the Paradise School District (pseudonym) leadership training program during the 2004-2005 to 2008-2009 school years. However, the results indicated that Hispanic candidates were selected at a higher rate than other groups of candidates. The results also indicated that Black candidates were selected at the same rate as the average for all candidates ; however these results may be misleading because Black candidates were disproportionally over-represented in the study sample. Regarding organizational fit, the study results suggested that candidates who indicated one of three specific Myers-Briggs personality types (ESTJ, ENTJ, or ENFP) were selected at higher rates than candidates of the other 13 personality types. The suggested personality traits for secondary school APs found in this study included (a) Extroversion (E), (b) Feeling (F), and (c) Judging (J). Candidates who referenced more than one hiring administrator, at or above the level of principal, were selected at higher rates than candidates who referenced only one principal. The inverviews suggested balancing the demographics of a school's administrative staff, using gender and race/ethnicity, to the the community the school serves was related to selection. The interviews also disclosed that Black, Hispanic, and candidates with expertise in operations and curricula might be suggested over other candidates. The interviews also suggested that networking, sponsorship, interview impressions, and references were related to the selection processes. / by Scott Vaughn Smith. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

全球教育改革情境下，国际教育政策议论聚焦于教师在实践中的专业发展，并希冀发展专业学习社群。专业学习社群经由教师互动沟通逐步建构而来，其发展有赖于教师合作的持续开展。回应全球教育改革浪潮，中国内地致力于通过校本教研政策增进教师合作，以促进教师专业发展。 / 本研究以实践社群为理论视角，从南京市两所个案小学选取37名教师，就其对合作的参与、诠释和理解开展深入访谈，并辅以文本搜集和观察，试图探讨校本教研中教师合作开展意义协商的过程。 / 研究所见，教师合作处于校本教研政策引导之下，在科层结构体系中制度化为校本教研教师社群。教师社群在意义协商过程中发展出服从权威、注重和谐、感情和认知并行的沟通规范，以便合作达成工作任务。工具理性之下，教师社群追求短期效用最大化，定位于实用性教学技能再生产。 / 本研究深化了教师参与合作过程的探讨，发展出校本教研意义协商的本土理解，并回应了实践社群、专业学习社群和教师专业性的学术讨论。在社群层面，教师在科层官僚体制下发展出学科社群。在知识领域层面，区教育行政部门主导教研方向。在实务层面，教师分工完成及共享课程规范流程、教案和公开课。在沟通规范层面，教师社群遵从集权式领导，在情感和认知的支持下合力完成技术性工作任务。由于以和谐之名规避不同见解和争议，教师社群并未发展出建设性争议。在实践定位层面，教师社群实践主要定位于问题解决，重教学技能操作再生产，约制了潜在的发展路向和交流空间。教师以多种不同的方式参与教师社群当中，基于不同的发展阶段及个人选择，呈现出多元发展轨迹。个案学校校本教研并未发展成专业学习社群。教师的专业性基于不同的职业生涯阶段，呈现出复合专业性。 / 校本教研教师社群可考虑拓展外延，并通过支持非正式微社群、鼓励参与以提升内涵。教师合作宜摒弃技术取向，开展开放式专业对话，加强专业对话的自我反思，突破模仿借鉴的限制，拓展再专业化空间。 / In the context of global education reform movement, teacher professional development has received much attention in international education arena. It is considered to be a potential way for school-based teacher development develops to be professional learning communities (PLCs). PLCs are viewed to be constructed gradually through teacher interactions and communications. The development of PLCs is tightly related to the continuing teacher collaboration. In response to the wave of global education reform, the Chinese mainland implements school-based teacher development policies to encourage teacher collaboration. / Informed by the theory of communities of practice (CoP), this study adopts a case study approach to explore the process of negotiation of meaning in teacher collaboration in school-based teaching and research. In-depth interviews were conducted on 37 teachers in two primary schools to collect data on teachers’ perception, understanding and participation in collaboration. Observations and document collection were also carried out to collect data to map out a more detailed picture. / Findings revealed that teacher collaboration was institutionalized as subject teacher communities in hierarchical structure system, guided by the policies of school-based teacher development in District Education Bureau. In the process of negotiation of meaning, teacher communities developed into three major norms of interaction: obedience to authority, relational harmony, emotional and cognitive support being combined. With the principle of instrumental rationality, teachers pursued the maximization of short-term utilizing teaching materials. Teacher collaboration was oriented towards the reproduction of teaching skills. / This study enriches the academic discussion on the process of teacher collaboration, develops local understanding of negotiation of meaning in school-based teacher development, and makes theoretical contributions to the international academic discussion on the understanding of CoP, PLCs and teacher professionalism. Concerning the teacher community, teachers were guided to develop subject communities in hierarchical structure system. For the knowledge boundry, district administrators led the direction of school-based teacher development. Regarding the practices, teachers worked together and shared standardized course procedures, teaching plans and open lessons. Concerning the norms of interaction, teacher followed patriarchal leadership, provided emotional and cognitive support reciprocally, and worked together to finish technical tasks. As divergent ideas and opinions were avoided for the sake of harmony, teacher community did not generate constructive conflict. Regarding the orientation of practice, teacher community targeted problem solving, laid emphasize on the reproduction of teaching skills, and limited the potential space for teacher communication. Teacher professionalism underwent a mixed effect based on developmental stages and personal choices. Subject teacher groups were not developed into PLCs in our case schools, but they demonstrated unique local features. Teachers showed divergent learning trajectories in their professional career within the teacher community. / It would help to extend external boundary of communities through developing networked learning communities. The capacity of communities would be cultivated through supporting informal micro-communities and encouraging participation. Teacher collaboration should abandon technical approach, and open professional dialogues should be encouraged. Enhancing reflection in the process of professional dialogues helps to nurture professional judgment to extend professional space. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / 乔雪峰. / Thesis (Ph.D.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 263-279). / Abstracts also in English. / Qiao Xuefeng.

This study ascertains the effects of private tutoring and other factors on student performance in the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE) in China, using first hand data collected in a typical Chinese city in 2010. Three identification strategies including the instrumental variable model, the 3-level hierarchical linear model, and the Heckman two-stage method are applied in order to account respectively for the endogeneity of private tutoring participation, hierarchical data structure, and non-random high school selection bias. The quantile regression and the analysis of the urban and rural subsamples identify heterogeneous effects of various education factors on student performance. The study finds that the High School Entrance Exam (HSEE) score, good study habits and ability, parents caring about study and respecting the child, key class, the HSEE admission line, rich school activities, and the administrative style of high authority and accountability are significant and positive determinants of the NCEE score across subjects and models. Socioeconomic status has a significant and positive effects on the NCEE English score and total score, but the effect size is relatively small. Female students perform better than male students in Chinese and English, and there is no gender gap in math or in the total score. Private tutoring generally has no effect on the NCEE score for the whole sample, but may have a positive effect on low performing urban students and a negative effect on rural students who are not at the top. Rural students may face limited access to high quality private tutoring compared with their urban counterparts. Lower HSEE score, a higher SES, and more school level educational inputs are positive predictors of private tutoring participation. By using primary data, this study is the first to provide a comprehensive investigation of the effects of three levels (individual, class, and school) of factors on the NCEE performance in China. It includes factors such as the parental styles of educating their child and the school administrative styles that were seldom considered in previous studies in China. This also is the first to investigate the effect of private tutoring on student performance in China. Detailed information on the private tutoring industry is documented for the first time. The findings of this study have significant implications for education decision making by public policymakers and parents.