While a lot has been written regarding the changing management and governance arrangements in higher education, less is known about how this progression relates to quality in higher education. The purpose of this article is to describe the context of governance in Portuguese higher education institutions and how institutional governance…

This paper draws upon a broader piece of research aimed at investigating the implementation process of a recent policy on teacher appraisal in Portugal. Two case studies were carried out and a combination of methods for data collection was used. Findings suggest that teachers' perceptions are marked by uncertainty and scepticism. Amongst the most…

The article is based on an international comparative study in seven European countries, in which informal learning for active citizenship at school was explored by means of in depth case studies. Active citizenship is being recognized as an important goal of education and school pedagogy in an increasing number of countries. After defining the key…

Performance pressure at both the institutional and individual level of secondary education has been identified as a pressure that is acknowledged all over Europe and raises questions about the extent to which agents in lower and upper secondary education interpret assessment in terms of either control or learning, or perhaps both. Drawing on…

This article provides an interpretation of a biblical text about the judge Gideon. It uses the hermeneutic method of research to draw some evaluation patterns from this case study relating to the analysis of needs, the declaration of aims, the context and circumstances of evaluation, the agents involved, the recruitment process, the assessment of…

Part of a 13-nation, cross-cultural study of the extent to which principals perceive their pre-appointment experiences had prepared them for the job, the International Study of Principal Preparation (ISPP), this paper compares the responses of novice principals in Turkey and Western Australia. Using a survey based on data from case studies of…

This paper presents a case study of implementation of a new system of faculty teaching evaluation at a graduate school of business in Thailand. The research employed a non-experimental, longitudinal case study design in the analysis of student course evaluation data gathered over a period of 21 terms during a seven-year period. The report…

This case study of school district educational reform in the United States adds to the knowledge base of macropolitics of federal, state and local governing bodies and private sector agencies in formulating educational policies: It also contributes to our understanding the microplitics of policy implementation. Middle managers' political…