This case study investigated the strategies used by a school principal who successfully leads an educational centre in a vulnerable context. This article aims to explore how a school in a vulnerable context can be strengthened by the actions implemented by the principal and his leadership based on social and pedagogical commitment. Initially, the…

The literature has revealed that high-performing districts establish collaborative working relations with school leaders as a part of the strategy to improve student achievement. This study was designed to investigate the relationships and interactions that school owners and principals in municipalities with high-performing school results employ…

While the significance of principals' roles is widely recognized, and the impactful behaviors of principals are empirically delineated, little is known about whether principals spend time in an impactful way, whether principals' time use varies across different school contexts, or whether principals' time use is related to critical school…

In 1989, New Zealand started to follow an international trend of reforming education policy according to the neoliberal principles of competition, choice and self-managing schools. Since then, the increasing availability of digital data in schools has corresponded with the development of student achievement measurement tools and benchmarking of…

A continuing challenge for the education system is how to evaluate the wider outcomes of schools. Wider measures of success--such as citizenship or lifelong learning--influence each other and emerge over time from complex interactions between students, teachers and leaders, and the wider community. Unless methods are found to evaluate these…

Research to date about the English government's policy to make schools independent of local authorities (LAs) has looked at the "macro" level of national policy and at the "micro" level of the institution. The study of which this article is a part, explores changes at the "meso" level--the locality. The article…

Recent reforms in England's education system have been justified on the grounds that other countries have pursued similar approaches to education reform. Many such policies that by-pass or otherwise diminish meso-level institutions demonstrate a commitment to the idea of devolving authority to local actors. The current reforms in England and…

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 notion of leadership for learning as a resource for improving student learning in schools has attracted much attention from scholars. However, its use lacks clarity or meaning for teachers implementing this concept in schools. In seeking to pursue a better understanding of leadership for learning based on a comprehensive review of relevant…

Over the last three decades, the concept of teacher collaboration has been embraced as a promising concept in the sphere of educational policy and educational research. Teacher collaboration is now considered crucial to strengthening the position of teachers, shaping their professional space and improving their professionalism. However, the…

This study, conducted in one state in the United States, replicated similar research from over a decade ago to compare principal demographics and reasons for remaining or leaving the profession. Demographics have trended with the nation. Principals are older, more diverse and are largely eligible for retirement within the next five years. Similar…

This article presents a mixed-method study utilizing teacher ratings of principal mindfulness from 149 public schools in Texas and follow-up qualitative data analysis through semi-structured interviews conducted with the top 10 percent of princeipals identified as mindful. This research is based on the theoretical framework of mindfulness as…

The "Achievement for All" (AfA) pilot initiative, delivered in partnership by the Department for Education (DfE), (formerly the Department for Children, Schools and Families [DCSF]), National Strategies and the National College (NCSL), aims to increase the attainment and progress of children in schools with special educational needs and…

The principal aim of this article is to describe and document a comparison of public and private school effectiveness in the marginalized (often referred to as slum) district of Aguablanca, in the city of Cali, Colombia. The data suggest that teachers and parents are largely satisfied with the current status of education provision in Aguablanca.…

Debates about governance, across the public sector, including education, continue to generate a substantial literature. The intention of this article is to engage with these debates by reviewing the articles in this special edition. In this review article, we first consider the wider context of the articles by revisiting some of the central…