Education Commons^™

Strategic Community Engagement As Perceived By Five Superintendents, Judith Dymond

Judith A Dymond Dr.

In these challenging times with school districts facing mandates for accountability, they can only accomplish these ambitious long-term mandates by engaging the greater community. Thus, any superintendent who is planning on improving student academic achievement and being employed in the district long-term will find it imperative to engage the community and develop community partnerships. This study utilized interviewing, a qualitative methodology, to gain insight into how five superintendents effectively engaged their communities. Findings revealed five effective strategies and actions for success: embracing community values, partnering with community organizations, building trust internally and externally, developing a systems approach to communication, and …

Decision-Making Processes And Educational Leadership In Australia, Christine Cunningham

Dr. Christine Cunningham

Decision making is a key concept within educational leadership theory. Power is wielded in schools every time a final decision is made because decision making is a privilege of power. This article critiques decision making from an emancipatory orientation and views it as an important topic of study carried out in continual view of our students which role models to them how a community should decide together. The research case study underpinning this article examined leadership practices in some Western Australian schools using a hybrid decision-making continuum. Experienced school leaders and teachers engaged in studying a Masters in Educational Leadership …

Starting Coaching And Mentoring Conversations, Kathryn Moyle

Professor Kathryn Moyle

Establishing the right conditions for coaching and mentoring programs helps ensure these conversations play an important role in a school's improvement agenda.

Leadership In Indigenous Education, Nola Purdie, Jenny Wilkinson

Jenny Wilkinson

This brief scoping paper was developed around the theme of ‘What’s happening in Indigenous leadership in education in Australian schools?’ A dual focus for this theme was noted: leadership for Indigenous education; and leadership by Indigenous principals and teachers. The authors provide an overview of current issues in educational leadership that were derived, in the main, from papers presented at the 2007 ACER conference on educational leadership. Current offerings and opportunities in the area of Indigenous leadership and leadership for Indigenous education include those operating through the Australian Principals Associations Professional Development Council (APAPDC), principally through the Dare to Lead …

Quality Learning With Technologies: Strategies For School Leaders To Address Challenges And Dilemmas, Kathryn Moyle

Professor Kathryn Moyle

The integration of technologies into schools is often promoted as a way to improve the quality of students’ learning, and an approach that enables teachers to be more ‘learner focused’.

Virtual learning environments, such as learning management systems, mobile technologies, online games, simulations and virtual worlds, are seen to offer teachers the ability to personalise learning for students, and as a way to enable students to be in control of the pace of their own learning. Technologies are also seen to assist in the collection and analysis of data about students’ achievements. Integrating technologies into school programs however, is not …

Aligning Practice And Philosophy: Opening Up Options For School Leaders, Kathryn Moyle

Professor Kathryn Moyle

The educational use of digital technologies such as mobile devices, computers, and the Internet are progressively replacing pens, books, and the physical spaces known as libraries. Both online synchronous and asynchronous learning modes are emerging as part of the learning styles used with children physically attending schools. Consequently schools and school districts deploy various sorts of software applications to meet the range of teaching, learning, and management functions they perform. As leaders of schools, principals have heightened responsibilities concerning the philosophical directions of schools, as well as aligning the uses of technologies across all facets of their organizations. Set against …

Hidden Strength: Encouraging Spiritual Leadership Attributes Among School Leaders, Sherwood Thompson

Sherwood Thompson

Today, district and school leaders are being recognized for their contributions to improving schools and enhancing student achievement, and this recognition is coming at a pivotal time in the evolution of education in the United States. The need to educate a new generation of learners that are capable of transforming the United States is paramount. Each state has a responsibility to provide the best education it can to its population. Kentucky has made great strides with its education reforms. The state’s alignment of Senate Bill 1 Core Academic Standards with the national Common Core Standards offers great promise (Holliday, 2012). …

Leadership And Learning With Ict : Voices From The Profession, Kathryn Moyle

Professor Kathryn Moyle (consultant)

Leadership matters’ and ‘start with the pedagogies, not the technologies’, say Australian educators. Voices from the profession provides an overview of what a cross-section of over 400 of Australia’s educational leaders saw in 2005 as factors that contribute to how leadership supports learning with information and communication technologies (ICT) in Australian schools. It presents some of the issues raised and solutions proposed by the educational leaders who participated in this research. This paper draws on the words of the participants throughout, to illustrate findings and to give the report authenticity. This research shows that integrating ICT into teaching and learning …

Transforming Learning/Transforming Schools: Do Models Of Deployment Of Digital Technologies Support Transformative Teaching And Learning And School Leadership?, Kathryn Moyle

Professor Kathryn Moyle

Government primary and secondary schools across Australia are introducing digital technologies to support teaching and learning. Systemic models of deploying the information technology (IT) infrastructure to support this use of digital technologies however, can be at odds both with organisational models of school leadership and management, and with approaches used to support teaching and learning. Efficient IT deployment strategies drawn from the private sector are being applied within the school sector. These IT deployment approaches tend to be based upon centralised and standardised management models where the amount and nature of the software is limited and controlled. At the same …