Colin W. Evers

Science in Educational Administration: A Postpositivist Conception.

Arguments about the strengths and weaknesses of traditional logical empiricist conceptions of science have figured prominently in debates over the nature and content of theories of educational administration. In this article, we briefly review some of these debates and their consequences for administrative theory, concluding that much of the dispute is misconceived owing to the widespread acceptance of foundational assumptions about knowledge justification. As an alternative, we urge the adoption of a nonfoundational, coherentist view of knowledge justification that leads to a much broader conception of science, one we think is more suitable for developing a systematic new science of administration. We conclude by outlining some consequences of our new science for postmodern developments in the field and approaches to organizational design and leadership.

Theory in educational administration: naturalistic directions

Provides an overview of a rather large research program, developed over the last 15 years, that seeks to offer a new perspective on the nature of theory and practice in educational administration. The core ideas of the program, together with a considerable amount of detail, can be found in three books by Evers and Lakomski. However, because these volumes stand in a developmental sequence, there is merit in presenting in a brief compass an account of our overall strategy, especially in relation to the nature of administrative theory, and some of the conclusions reached along the way. The discussion has two main parts. First, the central theoretical features of our program are outlined, indicating some earlier results flowing from their application to various debates in educational administration. Then, some examples are offered focused on the main concern of our most recent research – developing and applying this framework to a cluster of problems about administrative practice and the nature of practical knowledge.

Parents--Partners or Clients? A Reconceptualization of Home-School Interactions.

Increasingly, there is advocacy for parents to be included in partnership roles with schools. Indeed, the term ‘partnership’ seems to have acquired the connotation of an ideal form of parent–school relationship. This paper argues that the notion of partnership, with its accompanying suggestion of equality as a framework for the complementary sharing of responsibilities, is problematical. Based on the findings from an in‐depth study of teacher leadership in three Hong Kong schools that involved as participants parents, teachers, and students, it is proposed that a more reasonable understanding of this relationship is that of a professional and client association, where both parents and teachers are aware of their responsibilities and that these responsibilities are at once both demarcated and shared according to that understanding. At the same time there is also a need for teachers and parents to concentrate on building more concrete links for consistent and regular teacher–parent communication, as significant student learning now takes place informally at home, via the Internet.

Teacher professional development as knowledge building: a Popperian analysis

This paper offers an analysis of how six experienced teachers, and two in particular, used portfolios to aid and chart steps in their own professional development. The key finding of the study was that the pattern of growth of professional knowledge conformed strikingly to the central features of the model proposed by the philosopher of science, Karl Popper, to account for the growth of scientific knowledge. That is, the use of portfolios assisted these teachers in identifying and formulating problems, in proposing tentative theories for their solution, in testing those theories against their experience of implementation, and in moving on to new problems of practice. The research therefore supports a Popperian structure for teacher professional development that coheres with a conception of teachers as self‐learners, or autonomous learners.

Science, systems, and theoretical alternatives in educational administration: The road less travelled

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to offer a critical reflection on ideas that have been published in the Journal of Educational Administration over the last 50 years that present perspectives on the nature of educational administration and its various aspects, that are alternatives to the mainstream systems‐scientific view of educational administration.Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs a standard analytic philosophy methodology with a focus on argument structures found in epistemology. The approach is to argue that the content and structure of administrative theories is shaped significantly by background epistemologies that determine the nature and justification of administrative knowledgeFindings – Epistemologies for both the traditional systems‐science approach to educational administration and a range of alternatives are identified and specified, and the most characteristic features of these approaches that follow from their epistemologies are described. The paper permits inferences...

Passionate Rationalism: The Role of Emotion in Decision Making.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to argue that emotion has a central role to play in rational decision making based on recent research in the neuroanatomy of emotion. As a result, traditional rational decision‐making theories, including Herbert Simons modified model of satisficing that sharply demarcates emotions and values from rationality and rational decision making, need substantial revision. The paper concludes by outlining some central features of a theory of emotional decisions that is biologically more realistic than the traditional rationalist‐cognitive model.Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs contemporary scientific as well as traditional philosophical criteria in its argumentation. Methodologically, it can be described as an example of applying naturalistic philosophy to a central issue of human thought and experience, and how humans are able to value things at all on the basis of their neuroanatomy.Findings – The paper presents some initial features of a new theory of emoti...

Methodological individualism, educational administration, and leadership

There are two major categories of explanation for organisational performance: structural and individual. With the shift away from systems-theoretic accounts that occurred in the 1980s, structural explanations have been replaced increasingly by the individualism of leadership and leader-centric explanations, especially when it comes to schools. In this paper, we argue that leader-centric accounts involve a commitment to methodological individualism and that there are four serious problems with this view. First, it is logically difficult to describe individual actions without recourse to structures. Second, methodological individualism fosters a centralised mindset inviting the attribution of leadership where none may exist. Third, evidence for distributed cognition compromises leader-centrism. And fourth, administrative tasks themselves are often highly structured. In response to these problems, we urge a more balanced approach to organisational functioning, one that involves both structures and individuals.

Culture, Cognitive Pluralism and Rationality

This paper considers the prospects for objectivity in reasoning strategies in response to empirical studies that apparently show systematic culture‐based differences in patterns of reasoning. I argue that there is at least one modest class of exceptions to the claim that there are alternative, equally warranted standards of good reasoning: the class that entails the solution of certain well‐structured problems which, suitably chosen, are common, or touchstone, to the sorts of culturally different viewpoints discussed. There is evidence that some cognitive tasks are seen in much the same way across cultures, not least by virtue of the common run of experiences with the world of material objects in early childhood by creatures with similar cognitive endowments. These tasks thus present as similarly structured sets of claims that have similar priority: what is framed, and what is bracketed, or held constant in the background, is shown to be naturally common across cultures. As a consequence, a normative view of reasoning and, by implication, critical thinking can be defended. While this might be a modest sense of objectivity, the high level of intercultural articulation that is able to occur among people of different backgrounds suggests that it provides cognitive scaffolding for a lot of other reasoning tasks as well.

Educational Leadership in Hong Kong Schools, 1950-2000: Critical Reflections on Changing Themes.

As a former colony, Hong Kongs education system has been powerfully influenced by ideas from the West. However, these influences have been mediated by a number of factors of contingency – the most important of which is culture – which shapes implementation, particularly of what counts as successful practice. The aim of this paper is to trace the interpretation and implementation of key ideas about school leadership and to offer some analytical projections into the future based on current trajectories. It explores three broad sets of constraints on the development of leadership practice: the features of the Hong Kong school system, the influence of a Confucian cultural tradition, and the process oriented nature of the professional practice of effective school leadership. The paper concludes by offering an analysis of how this dynamic process view of leadership can be used to understand current attempts to build a school‐based approach to educational leadership.

Greenfield's Humane Science.

field and Peter Ribbins, entitled ’Educational Administration as a Humane Science’, presents an admirable set of markers for the many stations of Greenfield’s intellectual journey due to the skill, persistence, and sensitivity of his partner in dialogue. This conversation shows very clearly that Greenfield’s journey was characterised by a consistent concern for, and worry over, the role of science in human