In England, there is a National Curriculum in place which is intended to outline what will be taught and learned in each of the required subjects in state schools, music being one of these subjects. However, for some years, a right-wing conservative government has been working on systemic change, which removes many schools from state control and…

Purpose: Drawing on Bandura's social learning theory (SLT), the purpose of this paper is to investigate, analytically, the impact that after-training skills level (i.e. perceived skill match) has on change self-efficacy. Moreover, this research also aims to identify which specific skills sets (if any) act as a protective factor during…

This paper develops a new, broader, and more realistic lens to study (lacking) linkages between government policy and school practices. Drawing on recent work in organization theory, we advance notions on cluster of organization routines and the logic of complementarities underlying organizational change. This lens allows looking at how schools do…

The Irish institute of technology sector is undergoing a major restructuring that will culminate in mergers, to form technological universities (TU). It is essential that the perspective of key stakeholders is fully considered throughout this process, in order to facilitate a successful transition. This research investigates the factors…

Drawing upon French philosophy, this study offers a novel empirical and conceptual understanding of the newly launched European Universities Initiative. In 2019, higher education institutions across the European Union created 17 new alliances as part of the first pilot phase of the initiative. This is an experiment in European and global higher…

The changing educational landscape requires new organizational frameworks to understand how schools and universities make sense of and respond to broader institutional forces like accountability, diversity, and the market. In this article, we draw on recent innovations in organizational theory to propose a model that identifies two general…

Purpose: Complex crises affect tightly coupled systems making them highly unpredictable. This paper aims to determine how organizations learn from their crisis experience shaping their knowledge and transformation trajectory toward and beyond survival. A theoretical framework integrating organizational learning (OL) and knowledge management in…

Massachusetts General Law does not recognize students as stakeholders in school turnaround, despite extant literature supporting the benefits of including students as decision makers in their education experiences. The purpose of this Action Research study was to understand why student voices are critical to successful school turnaround, and to…

This research has examined the perspectives of college professors in providing online instruction in higher education. The professors were randomly selected from a four-year university in an urban community in the Midwest. They were of various ages, backgrounds, and different years of experience. They provided answers to questions about providing…

The COVID-19 pandemic (COVID-19), prompted changes in how businesses, schools, and governments around the world operate. One such change has been the widespread shift to virtual environments as a means through which individuals interact. COVID-19 has challenged the work standards of organizations, people, and teams. In doing so, it has also…

In this article we discuss findings from an exploratory Irish online survey that examined professional practice issues for adult guidance professionals working in the Irish Further Education and Training (FET) sector. We explore current guidance counselling provision to adult learners in the context of major structural and systemic reforms that…

Purpose: This paper explores the emergence and shift in critical theories and problems-of-practice over the last 50 years. Design/methodology/approach: Quipu is an Incan record-keeping system used across the Andes. Using multiple strings of different colors, hundreds of different knots were used to count, record historical events. The underlying…

Higher education scholarship is focused largely on professors who guide students in their learning and students who participate in the educational process. The contributions of professional staff (i.e., those supporting the work of faculty and students) have not been as well understood, particularly those who reside in academic departments. We…

Recent history has seen many schools shift from their original purpose of standardization and facts to focus on soft skills and global preparedness. The physical design of a school follows suit, shifting from identical classrooms and autonomous teachers to more collaborative shared spaces deemed 'innovative'. While those who formulate such schools…

In this paper, we employ Punctuated Equilibrium Theory to consider institutions' shifting goals, priorities, and constraints, and to explore the nature of change at colleges and universities in the United States. By exploiting annual changes in institutional budget decisions over a 29-year period, we seek to understand the extent to which…