This article examines continuity and change in the management of gender with specific reference to infant mistresses, whose quest for autonomous control of their own departments in the largest South Australian primary schools threatened the maintenance of patriarchal authority in and through the administration of state schooling. The complex…

On the partition of Ireland in 1921, the Northern Ireland Ministry of Education assumed control of the educational services which had been previously administered by four independent bodies in Dublin. The Education Act (Northern Ireland) 1923 created the county councils and county borough councils of the new devolved state the local education…

Kinchela Boys' Home on the mid-north coast of New South Wales, was established by the state's Aborigines Protection Board for Aboriginal boys and youths in 1924 and closed in 1970. By the 1930s the place had become known as a notorious carceral, poorly managed and psychologically isolated. An overdue government enquiry in 1940 concluded that it…

Concern over the state of education in Scotland saw the Argyll Commission set up in 1864. Its reports revealed differences in the experience of schooling throughout Scotland as well as resistance to Anglicisation. Nevertheless, the influence of English attitudes is reflected throughout the reports. So too are the themes of social control and the…

Certification tests for elementary teachers in Ontario were introduced in 1871 and in 2002. Although the provincial government's stated goals for the testing programs were similar, the 2002 program was opposed by the initial teacher education programs and the teachers' associations, but the 1871 program was not. The authors argue that much of this…

This article examines the evolution of language-in-education policy in Hong Kong during the first six decades of British rule (1842-1902). In particular, it analyses the changing roles and status of the English and Chinese languages during this formative period in the development of the colony's education system. The textual and statistical data…

This paper examines the consequences for school leadership of the abandonment of Waller's insights into the school as a social organism and the embracing of the cult of efficiency as the foundation for the analysis of school culture. Tracing the separation of conception from execution, leadership from teaching, administration from education…

This article highlights a violent incident in the history of British student protests and outlines the judicial process that resulted. A wider consideration of student protests of the late 1960s and early 1970s, both in the UK and overseas is offered, together with some consideration of the significance of this particular case. At the time of the…

This article explores the contrasting career routes and experiences of women leaders from differing socio-historical-political backgrounds in China, especially those in the city of Shanghai. In doing so, it seeks to examine why particular career patterns and routes to positions of leadership have emerged and how the women themselves understand and…

This article considers the usefulness of current models of leadership in change situations for an analysis of a historical case study of educational leadership. It uses the life of Sir George White (1842-1912) and his leadership in the field of education in Norwich and at the national level in the UK to examine the nature of effective leadership…

This paper discusses the contributions history can make to educational administration and how history needs to be conceptualised as a humanities discipline to serve this purpose, including two aspects of the field of particular relevance to educational administration and leadership, biography and comparative studies. The value of history is…

This historical sociology deconstructs the interrelationship between the theory and practice of the troublesome notions of leadership, social justice and feminism. First, it tracks marginalised groups' relationship to the field of educational administration and their claims upon the state. Mainstream approaches have been informed by theories,…

Who knows about educational leadership, what knowing means, and what knowledge is produced is the core concern of this paper. The focus is on how histories of professional practice (teaching, research, publication) can and should be constructed in ways that not only chart events but also engage with the power processes that structure how agents…

The predictable failure of reform has been a characteristic of education systems for some years. However, the tendency of policy makers to attribute blame for any implementation deficit solely to schools and school systems is somewhat at odds with the historical evidence presented in this article. Through the lens of school development planning,…

Throughout the centuries, a sense of national identity in Wales has manifested itself in a variety of ways--aspirations to statehood, a unique language, cultural distinctiveness, religious affiliation, sporting achievement and, most recently, political devolution. Educational institutions in myriad forms have reflected aspects of these…