The contemporary English policy discourse in higher education of "Putting Students at the Heart of the System" has led to an increasing use of managing by performance "smart-data" reinforcing a consumer-led representation of students as "partners" in the "business of learning" within the academy. This…

As accountability systems have increased demands for evidence of student learning, the use of data in education has become more prevalent in many countries. Although school and administrative leaders are recognizing the need to provide support to teachers on how to interpret and respond to data, there is little theoretically sound research on…

The structure of the English school system has been the subject of almost continuous change since the late-1980s. The most recent was commenced by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition government, which was elected in May 2010. This policy set in train, very quickly, processes through which all schools have been encouraged, and in some cases…

This article analyses the paradox inherent in the "top-performing" yet tightly controlled Singapore education system. As government controls have increased in complexity, existing policymaking conceptual heuristics in accounting for centre-periphery relationships appear inadequate. It argues that more direct government control is being…

Teacher evaluation policy is implemented in many countries to improve the teaching quality in schools. This paper explores the implementation of teacher evaluation policy in secondary schools in Flanders (Belgium). The case study method is used to explore the implementation process in six schools, which are selected based upon teachers'…

This article deals with the changes introduced in the Italian education system after the 1997 School Autonomy reform. Looking at the complex interplay between global influences and processes of local inflection, the work explores the degree to which we are witnessing a significant shift towards a new mode of governance and the interplay between…

Principals, as one of the professional leaders in a school, are accountable for the quality of education in the school. This is a part of the normal job description and expectations for the person in such a post. In the South African context with a large number of underperforming schools, there is an intention to have an additional performance…

The quality of school principals is of paramount importance for quality education. This article examines the leadership capacities of a group of 228 aspiring principals who participated in a training programme for the principalship in four cohorts. A questionnaire consisting of 24 questions in six core areas of leadership was constructed and…

The last decade or so has seen an emerging literature supporting the position that school leaders and school leadership are important. This article argues, however, that recent developments in the area of school leadership have led to an orthodoxy that needs to be challenged and tested. It is an orthodoxy that has been driven essentially by those…

Principals play key roles in creating the conditions in which teachers can teach effectively and students can learn. Principals are increasingly being held accountable both for teacher quality and for student learning and development so that young people can become 'successful learners, confident and creative individuals and active and…

The Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition government elected in 2010 has argued contemporary reform will increase the autonomy of schools in England. Given the complexities that exist, however, in the balance between autonomy and control, we explore how school leaders view autonomy as it exists within the wider policy framework. The article…

This article reports research conducted recently into evaluation policy. The research comprises two parts: a questionnaire survey and qualitative interviews. Drawing from data collected in a survey of 65 curriculum leaders and interviews with 12 from the group, the article discusses how school evaluation policy functions to help make schools…

In 1975, the fourth Annual Conference of the British Educational Administration Society (BEAS, now BELMAS) had as its theme "Autonomy and Accountability in Educational Administration". In their concluding comments, the editors of the published Proceedings wrote: "Our concern has been with accountability and autonomy, not as alternatives, but as…

Among western governments large-scale leadership development initiatives represent an increasingly deployed means of promoting the acculturation of school leaders to support educational reforms and ongoing improvement. England's sophisticated initiative centres on the National College for Leadership in Schools and Children's Services, a…

The conceptual categories that underlie the business analysis of intellectual capital are relevant to providing an explanation of school performance. By gathering data on student learning, this research provides empirical evidence for the use of school results as an accurate indicator of the effectiveness of the management of public education.…