Desmond Rutherford

Increasing undergraduate student retention rates

Abstract Based on data from a questionnaire survey of the new undergraduate intake to the University of Birmingham, the factors which influence withdrawal/retention rates in the first term were examined. The effectiveness of counselling intervention with first-year undergraduate students at risk of leaving university in their first term is also explored. The implications for universities wishing to increase retention rates and facilitate successful degree completion are discussed.

Leadership for School Improvement: The Role of the Head of Department in UK Secondary Schools

The study examines the role of the Head of Department in UK secondary schools in terms of its potential for school improvement. Thirty-two heads of department in secondary schools in Birmingham and Manchester were shadowed and interviewed in order to identify: (1) their leadership and management styles; (2) the sense of empowerment felt by each; (3) initiatives for improving teaching, learning and achievement in their departments; and (4) obstacles to improving teaching, learning and achievement. Four deputy head teachers in the sample schools were also interviewed with the purpose of eliciting their views on the role of the head of department in facilitating school improvement. The findings support the prediction that distributed leadership (or shared power) among senior and middle managers in UK schools still remains rhetoric rather than practice and that there is a growing need for current middle management development and training provision to change radically if middle managers are to be supported as curriculum leaders and managers

A re‐appraisal of the role of the head of department in UK secondary schools

In this paper we review current thinking on the role of the head of department in secondary schools which emphasises that theirs is the critical agency in school improvement. We go on to describe a two‐fold strategy for developing successful schools which requires departments to improve: their teaching and their pupils’ learning; their capacity to both make and implement policy and so to facilitate the progress of change. We suggest that improving teaching and learning is best addressed at the departmental level by an evolutionary approach that emphasises vision, commitment, planning, action and review, rather than grandiose aims, statements, over elaborate policies and detailed, long‐term plans. In addition, we suggest that a department’s capacity to implement change depends on seven essential processes but that the leadership of heads of department is the key to developing successful departments and successful schools.

Appraisal in action: A case study of innovation and leadership

ABSTRACT The introduction of staff development and appraisal schemes to universities in the United Kingdom has been, arguably, the most radical innovation of recent years. This paper analyses the implementation of a scheme at the University of Birmingham. The analysis focuses on the stakeholders and the decisive factors that were influential in effecting this innovation. The leadership demonstrated by the appraisers is highlighted as the most important factor that will determine the eventual success or otherwise of the scheme at Birmingham. The paper goes on to explore three perspectives on leadership—personal, functional, and situational—which suggest how appraisers can become more effective. The paper is directed, in particular, at middle managers (that is, heads of academic and of administrative departments) in institutions of higher education who have an immediate responsibility for providing leadership and implementing staff development and appraisal schemes in their own departments.

Strategies for Change in Higher Education: Three Political Models.

This article describes three models which give insight into the factors that promote or inhibit change in institutions of higher education: a structural model; a social model; and a personal model. Although each offers a distinctive perspective, a number of recurrent themes are identified where the models support and complement one another. The usefulness of the three models in practice is illustrated by analysing how they might help in a possible innovation - the rapid expansion of Continuing Education in a traditional university.

Developing university teaching: A strategy for revitalisation

Institutional policies and practices aimed at developing university teaching are analysed according to various theoretical perspectives which seek to explain why some innovations are successful and others are not. Within this framework the role of academic staff employed on a full- or part-time basis to support such development is also examined. Following from this analysis a coherent strategy to facilitate the improvement of university teaching is proposed.

Lecturers as evaluators: The Birmingham experience

ABSTRACT This paper describes the origins, development and implications of the Course Evaluation Scheme which operated at the University of Birmingham between 1974 and 1978. The Scheme was an interesting example of group collaboration among lecturers to evaluate each others courses through reciprocating partnerships of teacher and evaluator and the use of a flexible combination of evaluation procedures designed to illuminate the characteristic features of each particular course. Implications for evaluation methodology, staff development and course development are discussed as a result of the accumulated experience of the Scheme.

The Impact of Leadership in Primary Schools

T he focus of this article is on leadership in primary schools and I will argue and provide some evidence that the leadership of the headteacher can make a dramatic difference and raise standards in a school.This is in sharp contrast to the rather tentative conclusions of previous academic research. For example, in a review of research on the impact of school leadership and management on student outcomes Bell et al (2002), sought to answer: “What is the effect of headteachers on four aspects of student outcomes: achievement; attitudes; behaviour and recruitment?” An extensive literature search from 1988 to June 2001 produced only eight studies that met the stringent selection criteria for inclusion in the review. Two of these were from the UK (Bolam et al, 1993; McMahon, 2001) but neither are outcome evaluations and, as such, do not really address the research questions. However Bell et al conclude that: “All the eight studies reviewed provided some evidence that school leaders can have some effect on student outcomes, albeit indirectly.” In a more recent review for the DfES, Leithwood and Levin (2004) claim that school leadership effects explain only three to five per cent of the variation in student achievement across schools. They argue that this is about a quarter of the total variation in student achievement explained by all school variables and the major variation lies in ‘student background factors’. In contrast, certainly in the UK, the consistent view of government and its agencies is that the leadership of the headteacher is the key to a school’s success. For example: “All the evidence shows that heads are the key to a school’s success. All schools need a leader who creates a sense of purpose and direction, sets high expectations of staff and pupils, focuses on improving teaching and learning, monitors performance and motivates staff to give of their best.” (DfEE, 1998, p 22, para 36)

‘Recommendations for learning˚s: Rhetoric and reaction

ABSTRACT This paper analyses the reasons for the generally negative reaction by academics to Blighs ‘Recommendations for Learning˚s by drawing on the Theory-of-Action perspective originally developed by Argyris & Schon and more recently applied to higher education by Heller. The theory has two components: Theory-in-Use and Espoused Theory. Actions are informed by our Theory-in-Use which consists of ‘governing values˚s and associated strategies of which we are largely unaware and over which we have little control. Three different Theories-in-Use are described—model 1, model 1a and model 2—and a distinction is made between these and the often very different values and strategies that we proclaim in public—our Espoused Theory. The ‘Recommendations for Learning˚s represent model 2 values that are incompatible with the model 1 values that typically inform the actions of academics. Although the general recommendations may command assent at the Espoused Theory level, the specific recommendations which propose a...

Decisive Factors Affecting Innovation: A Case Study.

ABSTRACT This paper attempts to synthesise two models of innovation processes which seek to explain why some innovations are successful while others fail. The history of the Course Evaluation Scheme at the University of Birmingham provides a case study through which the value of the perspective derived from these models is explored.