Gillian Forrester

Becoming an online distance learner: what can be learned from students' experiences of induction to distance programmes?

This paper reports the findings of a qualitative study that investigated the experiences of distance learners beginning online Master of Education programmes. The research explored students’ induction (referred to as “orientation” in some contexts) to the programmes, and three key areas are given consideration in this paper. First, the opportunities and constraints provided by the technology in terms of introducing students to their online studies and the online environment are discussed. Second, some human elements are examined; namely, students’ needs, students’ relationships with fellow students, and the role of tutors. Third, there is a discussion on the development of online learning communities; their role and importance, and how students might be effectively integrated into them. Some implications for online teaching and learning are outlined and recommendations for online induction are provided. The paper concludes that a fundamental understanding of both students’ needs and their initial encounters with online distance education are important to ensure effective support is provided when students commence their studies.

Performance management in education: milestone or millstone?

The paper considers the extent to which the education sector has embraced performance management and performance-related pay. It contemplates the transfer and adaptation of performance management by the public sector as an audit mechanism for improving the performance, productivity, accountability and transparency of public services. The paper concludes by calling for a broader vision for reshaping education since it is argued that the activities of those working in schools, colleges and universities have been re-oriented by performance management techniques towards a competitive, performance culture.

New labour and school leadership 1997–2007

ABSTRACT:  We draw on empirical data and theorising that focuses on the relationship between the state, public policy and knowledge in the construction and configuration of school leadership under New Labour from 1997. Specifically we show how a school leadership policy network comprises people in different locations who operate as policy entrepreneurs in shaping policy.

Going the distance : students' experiences of induction to distance learning in higher education

Embarking upon a programme of distance study can be bewildering for students and the experience compounded by apprehension and uncertainties. Induction is a way of easing the transition and helping students to become effective distance learners so that they can progress successfully through their studies. The purpose of this research was to enable tutors to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the induction experiences of their distance students in order to improve and make more appropriate the levels of support provided to students commencing distance study. The research investigated the induction provision of five distance programmes offered by a traditional UK university and identified specific areas where developments could be made. The research also identified generic components of induction, represented in ‘START‐OUT’, and which can be utilized as a comprehensive checklist for induction.

New Labour and the logic of practice in educational reform

The paper draws on data and theorising from the Knowledge Production in Educational Leadership (KPEL) Project where we have investigated New Labours education policy and investment in headteachers as school leaders in England. New Labour took up office in May 1997 with a modernisation agenda and the leadership of schools is central to this strategy. There have been a number of changes to the status and work of headteachers and a national training programme run by a new National College for School Leadership has been established. The KPEL project gathered data by interviewing policymakers and headteachers and this paper reports on the policy process. Specifically, the project used Bourdieus thinking tools to identify a logic of practice and how ministers, civil servants, advisors (including some headteachers) and private consultants developed policy. Through this we intend to show how Bourdieus thinking tools can be used to describe, understand and explain headteacher leadership as a social practice at a time of centralised interventions and reforms.

School leadership and education policy-making in England

We report on a major Economic and Social Science Research Council funded study: the Knowledge production in educational leadership Project (RES-000-23-1192), with a particular focus on the relationship between the state, public policy and knowledge. The project focused on the first 10 years of New Labour education policy-making, with a particular emphasis on investment in school leadership as a means of delivering radical reforms. The specific aims of the enquiry have been to examine knowledge production: the types of knowledge used in policy-making, the methodologies and claims to the truth being made, and the people involved in developing policy as politicians, advisors, consultants and researchers. We have explained the policy-making process by using theoretical tools from political science (regime theory) and Bourdieus theory of practice (field and habitus) to develop a conceptual framework that we call regimes of practice. The article presents these regimes and examines their impact on how and why knowledge is used in policy-making.

Developing a Framework for Effective Audio Feedback: A Case Study.

The increase in the use of technology-enhanced learning in higher education has included a growing interest in new approaches to enhance the quality of feedback given to students. Audio feedback is one method that has become more popular, yet evaluating its role in feedback delivery is still an emerging area for research. This paper is based on a small-scale study which examined the perceptions of first and final-year undergraduates who received feedback from tutors in audio form and considers the impact of this method of feedback delivery as a formative process. The paper examines the extent to which students respond to and engage with audio feedback, and how the method might facilitate a better understanding of the role of feedback amongst teachers and students alike. The two cohorts in the study express differences, but also commonalities in what they require from audio feedback. A conceptual framework is developed from the study’s findings, which highlights best practice and guides practitioners in their effective utilisation of this form of feedback.

Education Reform and School Leadership

The beginning of the 2008 autumn term in schools in England has been accompanied by newspaper headlines declaring ‘schools in crisis hunt for 1,000 new heads’ because schools are without a permanent headteacher in place for the start of the new school year: Mike Stewart, headteacher of Westlands school in Torbay, Devon, and chair of the NAHT’s secondary committee, said staff who would once have wanted to become heads were choosing not to because of rising levels of stress. ‘Schools are now compared using 173 ranking methods — and if it is at the bottom on one of them the headteacher is sacked,’ said Stewart. ‘It’s crackpot.’ He argued that a lot of schools now had to advertise two or three times for a headteacher — something that would have been ‘unheard of’ five or six years ago (Lightfoot and Asthana 2008).

PERFORMANCE-RELATED PAY FOR TEACHERS: An examination of the underlying objectives and its application in practice

Performance-related pay (PRP) is being introduced for schoolteachers in England and Wales at a time when policy makers are concerned with the ‘mission to modernise’ and the requirement for ‘change’ to take place in the public sector (Cabinet Office 1999: 4). In a number of recent government publications, public sector pay has been heralded as an important mechanism that will ensure public services are ‘efficient’ and of ‘high quality’. Kessler and Purcell (1992) examine the managerial objectives underlying the current application of PRP in organizations and provide a useful framework to explore and evaluate PRP systems. Their framework has been adopted to consider the implications of implementing PRP for teachers.

Institutionalized Governance: The Case of the National College for School Leadership

Abstract The article is based on data from the Knowledge Production and Educational Leadership Project (funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council RES‐000-23-1192) where we investigated the relationship between the state and public policy and knowledge in England during the New Labor governments from 1997. The relationship between the state and civil society is one of institutionalized governance where the public institution in the form of the national ministry and the establishment of Non-Departmental Public Bodies remain important in policymaking but is increasingly inter dependent with networks of advisors and private consultants who “enter” government as policy designers and deliverers. We intend to develop this through using the National College for School Leadership as a case study based on primary documentation and interview data.