Claire Sinnema

Downgraded curriculum? An analysis of knowledge in new curricula in Scotland and New Zealand

The development, since 2000, of new national curricula across the Anglophone world signals a number of policy trends, including: a move from the explicit specification of content towards a more generic, skill-based approach; a greater emphasis on the centrality of the learner; and [ostensibly] greater autonomy for teachers in developing the curriculum in school. These policy shifts have attracted some criticism, especially from social realist writers, who claim that the new curricula downgrade knowledge. This paper offers a contribution to this debate; an empirically based analysis of two new curricula, New Zealands Curriculum Framework and Scotlands Curriculum for Excellence. We conclude that, while these curricula continue to accord considerable importance to knowledge in their statements of policy intent, the social realist critique is at least partially justified, since both curricula are characterised by a lack of coherence and mixed messages about the place of knowledge.

When Others’ Performance Just Isn't Good Enough: Educational Leaders’ Framing of Concerns in Private and Public

Effective instructional leadership demands that leaders address the inevitable problems and concerns that exist in any educational organization. Unfortunately, much evidence suggests that many important concerns, including teacher performance issues, continue to be unaddressed and unresolved. This article portrays the nature of concerns facing 77 educational leaders about others’ performance and the variable effectiveness of their attempts to resolve them in both private and public contexts. The majority of concerns identified by these leaders were about behavioral issues, with others being about attitudes, relationships, effectiveness, and capability. Concerns were found to persist longer than is desirable, and leaders reported difficulty in resolving them.

Genuine inquiry Widely espoused yet rarely enacted

The concept of inquiry is central to contemporary discussions of teacher and leader professional learning and problem solving in interpersonal contexts. However, while few would debate its value, there has been little discussion of the significant challenges inherent in engaging in genuine inquiry. In this article, we distinguish between genuine and pseudo-inquiry, and define the former as motivated by an open-minded stance and desire to learn. We argue in our literature review, that while both forms of inquiry may share the same linguistic features, deeper analysis of underlying thoughts and motives is required to distinguish the two types of inquiry. We then report a descriptive study of how 13 school leaders (in a simulated setting) inquired into their concerns about a teacher’s behaviour. The analysis of their conversation transcripts showed that they engaged in limited genuine inquiry. Leaders’ capacity for genuine inquiry was constrained by their judgmental thinking, tendency to avoid negative emotion and desire to maximize staying in control of the conversation. Implications for further research on inquiry and for leadership development are discussed.

Goal Setting in Principal Evaluation: Goal Quality and Predictors of Achievement.

This article draws on goal-setting theory to investigate the goals set by experienced principals during their performance evaluations. While most goals were about teaching and learning, they tended to be vaguely expressed and only partially achieved. Five predictors (commitment, challenge, learning, effort, and support) explained a significant level of overall goal achievement for relationship, strategic, and resourcing goals. Achievement of teaching and learning goals, however, was not as well explained by the model. Possible explanations for this include the indirectness of principal influence over what happens in the classroom, and the complexity of goals about teaching and learning.

Educational Leadership Effectiveness: A Rasch Analysis

Purpose – The purposes of this paper are, first, to establish the psychometric properties of the ELP tool, and, second, to test, using a Rasch item response theory analysis, the hypothesized progression of challenge presented by the items included in the tool. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected at two time points through a survey of the educational leadership practices of school principals (n=148) and their teachers (n=5,425). The survey comprised seven effectiveness scales relating to school-wide dimensions of leadership, and one scale relating to the effectiveness of individual principals’ leadership. The authors undertook validation of the hypothesized structure of the eight ELP scales using the Rasch rating scale model. Findings – The authors established constructs that underpin leadership practices that are more and less effectively performed and determined the nature of their progression from those that are relatively routine through those that are more rigorous and challenging to ena...

Capturing the complex, situated and active nature of teaching through inquiry-oriented standards for teaching

Given widespread acceptance of the role of teaching in improving student outcomes, it is not surprising that policy makers have turned to teaching standards as a lever for educational improvement. There are, however, long-standing critiques of standards that suggest they are reductionist and promote a dualism between theory and practice. Our purpose here is to propose a model of Teaching for Better Learning (TBL) that responds to those critiques and that captures the complexity of teaching rather than focusing on discrete elements. Our model foregrounds the salience of teachers’ own situations and the active nature of teachers’ practice in a way that integrates practice with relevant theory. We outline how the TBL model can be used to derive inquiry-oriented teaching standards, an alternative approach that challenges widely accepted conventions for the design of standards and, we argue, might better support the improvement of teaching and learning.

From Persuasion to Learning: An Intervention to Improve Leaders' Response to Disagreement

In this study we bring together Argyris and Schön’s theories of interpersonal effectiveness and research on negotiation to develop a model of effective leadership behavior in conversations involving actual or anticipated disagreement. A concurrent mixed-methods design was used to assess shifts in how 18 Australian superintendents responded to disagreement that arose in conversations about performance problems. The intervention included discussion of the model and its application to participants’ own practice through analysis of transcripts, modeling, coaching, and feedback. Assessments of conversation skills and outcomes showed moderate to large intervention effects. The implications for leadership development and double-loop learning are discussed.

Novice principals setting goals for school improvement in New Zealand

ABSTRACT While principal goal-setting has been shown to be an important leadership practice, there is little research examining principals’ goal-setting and goal-achievement. This research examined novice principals’ school improvement goals and factors affecting their achievement. Goals from 460 principals enrolled in a national induction programme were categorised revealing a strong emphasis on instructional and student-centred leadership. After 18 months, 258 of those principals, and their mentors, rated their achievement. Principals also rated five potential achievement predictors. Goal achievement tended to be high, with commitment, effort, learning and support serving as positive predictors of success. In contrast to what goal-setting theory suggests, goal challenge was a negative predictor of achievement. The analysis of two contrasting cases revealed possible explanations for this negative relationship. These included novice principals’ ability, self-efficacy and attributional processes. This study highlights the role of self-efficacy in the process of goal-setting and pursuit. It emphasises that consideration needs to be given to how novice principals’ self-efficacy can be developed and sustained. Implications for practice in the area of educational leadership and leadership development are discussed.

Educating new graduate nurses in their first year of practice: The perspective and experiences of the new graduate nurses and the director of nursing

New graduate nurses are the future of nursing and the education they receive as they transition into the workforce as a newly registered nurse is critical for building a suitably qualified nursing workforce that will adequately serve the future population. Variation exists in education programmes for new graduate nurses in their first year of practice which is known to impact on transition experience. A qualitative study using focus groups and semi-structured interviews was undertaken to explore the experiences and perceptions of New Graduate Nurses undertaking a new graduate programme and Directors of Nursing supporting them to complete the programme which may or may not have been inclusive of a postgraduate course (Masters Level). The findings of this study are in line with previous research and support the value of new graduate programmes but did reveal a lack of consensus in regards to the structure and content of such programmes. This study revealed some commonalities and challenges between the differing programmes but has identified the need for further research to establish the impact of postgraduate education in the first year of practice and how this impacts on nursing practice and patient care. There are numerous terms in the literature with reference to new graduate programmes; transition to practice programme, nurse entry to practice programme, first year of clinical practice programme, new graduate programme and early career nursing programme. For the purpose of this article the term Nurse Entry to Practice (NETP) will be used in reference to any form of new graduate programme.