Purpose: The first aim of this study is to explore to what extent communities of practice occur in the school workplace. The second aim is to explore the relation between communities of practice and diversity in composition of teacher teams. Design/methodology/approach: Quantitative as well as qualitative data were gathered from seven teacher…

Purpose: This paper seeks to explore how managing by objectives (MBO) has been adopted in Swedish schools and to reflect on some of the consequences in a longitudinal study. Results relate to whether introduction has increased student performance and whether it works as a tool for the principals to create more effective schools.…

Purpose: This study aims to gain better understanding of the perceptions comprehensive school principals and chief education officers have about the implementation of school reform and the means they use to facilitate the development of such. Design/methodology/approach: This research project was carried out using a systemic design research…

Purpose: In many countries, including Greece, women are underrepresented in school management positions. Modern societies recognize sex inequalities in management as a significant social problem and implement human resource policies intended to reduce such problems. The purpose of this paper is to assess the level of gender inequality in the…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report innovative research aimed at ascertaining whether standards for school leaders could be applied to the process of selecting senior secondary school principals for appointment. Specifically, psychometrically robust measures of performance are sought that would sufficiently differentiate performance to…

Purpose: Much of the recent research on data-driven decision making in US schools has focused on standardized test scores while other forms of data in schools have gone largely unexamined as useful data, such as teacher-assigned grades. Based on the literature, the theory outlined in this paper is that grades, as data historically overlooked in…

Reviews current thinking on the (British) secondary-school department head's role, which stresses heads' importance in effecting school improvement. Describes a twofold strategy for developing successful schools that requires departments to improve their teaching, enlarge their capacity to make and implement policy, and facilitate the change…

Investigates effects of skill flexibility on Israeli secondary teachers' work attitudes and job performance. Both role and functional flexibility were associated with improved teachers' work performance; role flexibility is linked to high organizational commitment and low powerlessness. Principals appreciate skill flexibility, but organizational…

Uses a qualitative, feminist, case-study methodology to research the feminist leadership of three women secondary principals in New Zealand. Being student-focused was central to feminist educational leaders' practice within a neoliberal context demanding increased financial, accountability, and marketing responsibilities. They prevailed by working…

Investigated job insecurity of 326 Israeli secondary teachers in public and private sectors, using a multidimensional measure of job insecurity. Public-sector teachers tended to emphasize intrinsic job factors, while private-sector teachers tended to stress extrinsic ones. Job insecurity's effects on teacher attitudes also differed. (59…

Examines Hong Kong secondary schools' organizational values, using the School Values Inventory. Uses LISREL modeling techniques with a sample of 554 teachers to develop a four-factor model of organizational values. Binding forces such as bureaucratic and cultural linkages and tight and loose couplings provide insights for understanding school…

In Singapore, 24 selected vice-principals were paired with experienced principals for eight weeks of intensive mentoring. On a Likert scale, the matched pairs were asked to indicate perceptions about their own and their partner's personal qualities, behaviors, and benefits from the relationship. Findings suggest that mentors' behaviors and…

Sought to identify New Zealand secondary principals' views concerning teacher evaluation systems they had designed. Generally, principals developed systems meeting their own requirements. Some prioritized developmental purposes; others included accountability purposes. The two groups experienced different outcomes. In some cases, staff opposition…

Using a grounded-theory approach based on interviews with 39 secondary headteachers in the United Kingdom, identifies and analyzes various satisfiers and dissatisfiers experienced by headteachers, based on their number of years on the job. Headteachers experience an initial high of satisfaction that appears to dip before rising again. Principals…

Investigates the relationship between perceptions of women principals' leadership (regarding sex-role orientation and leadership functions) and teachers' work attitudes (regarding sense of efficacy, community, and professional interest) in a sample of teachers supervised by women principals in Hong Kong secondary schools. Findings do show…