Joanna Bragg

Distributed Leadership A Study in Knowledge Production

We have designed and deployed a mapping framework to present and analyse knowledge production and distributed leadership in schools. Positions are identified from within the field: functional (descriptive and normative), critical and socially critical. For each position we examine the purposes, rationales and narratives within selected texts that illuminate knowledge claims about what is known, what is worth knowing, how it is known and who the knowers are. Analysis has identified the prevalence and political dominance of functional approaches and provides explanations regarding the interplay between the state, public policy and the preferred types of knowledge.

A curriculum without foundation

Peter Tymms has written recently (BERJ, August 2004) on the subject of measuring whether standards are rising in English and mathematics in primary schools based on pupil outcomes from national end of key stage tests. This article takes the position that the performance data debate is an interesting one but peripheral to a far bigger issue. Whether measurable (by standardised testing at ages 7 and 11) national standards in English and mathematics have risen or not, does not justify the drastic reduction of the intended ‘broad and balanced’ curriculum which has taken place to try to achieve the national percentage targets. The curriculum data on which the authors base their findings are supplied by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authoritys own longitudinal monitoring of the school curriculum which has been carried out by the authors from 1996 to 2004.

The strange case of the emergence of distributed leadership in schools in England

This article reports upon research investigating the rapid rise to prominence of distributed leadership in schools in England. Distributed leadership is located within wider structural reforms of education in England as part of the New Public Management movement in public service delivery and the marked discursive shift to leadership which took place largely during the New Labour governments of 1997 to 2010. Contradictions in the relationship between leadership discourses and this reform process are then examined and the strangeness of the rise of distributed leadership in this context is highlighted. Research from an ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) funded project on distributed leadership in schools with teachers and designated school leaders is then used to further reveal this strangeness in terms of the discursive forms and social practices associated with distributed leadership, including the sometimes idiosyncratic meanings and practices linked to this discursive intervention. It is concluded that although the forms which distributed leadership takes within different school settings are in part shaped by particular contextual features within individual institutions the capacity of officially authorised discourses of distributed leadership to reach into the social practices of schools remains strong. Indeed, the very strangeness of the forms which distributed leadership takes in different institutions is shown to be intimately linked to the strength and intensity of this official discourse as designated school leaders and teachers seek to accommodate this notion into their practices.

Leadership, New Public Management and the re-modelling and regulation of teacher identities

This article examines the rapidly shifting relationship between teachers and the state and efforts to re-model teacher identities within the wider context of public sector modernization and the New Public Management. The construction and development of officially authorized and normative discursive practices relating to leadership and the accompanying potential for the socio-ideological control of teachers are examined within a shifting social, cultural and political environments. Our interruption as critical leadership researchers is through a focus upon identity theory and how it reveals the ways in which normative discursive leadership practices operate and act as a form of identity work inscribing upon and working their way into the professional lives of teachers.

The Discursive Performance of Leadership in Schools.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (now the Department for Education) and the National College for School Leadership (now the National College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services) have been active participants in framing and shaping discourse in relation to leadership in schools in England. This paper is based upon findings from research funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (RES-000-22-3610) as part of the Distributed Leadership and the Social Practices of School Organisation in England (SPSO) project. It examines how educational practitioners have engaged with these discursive framing and shaping activities. This is conducted through a particular focus upon how distributed leadership has been talked into being as part of a wider regime which seeks to manage the performance of educational practitioners and designated educational leaders.

Facilitators and barriers to the provision of therapeutic interventions by school psychologists

There is growing concern internationally about the prevalence of mental health problems among school-aged children and their access to specialist services. School psychologists (SPs) may be one group of professionals well-positioned to support the well-being of children and young people, due to their position as applied psychologists working within educational settings and their capability to deliver therapeutic interventions. This research considers findings from a large scale, United Kingdom (UK)-wide survey of the views of SPs (N = 455) about facilitators and barriers to the provision of therapeutic interventions to children and young people. Principal Components Analyses of ranked questionnaire responses yielded three components: The role of the SP; training and practice; and support and psychology service context. Quantitative findings were then triangulated, using qualitative responses from the survey. Greater direction and clarification of the role of the SP as a provider of therapeutic interventions is recommended, particularly given the diverse roles undertaken by SPs and competing demands, particularly from assessment activities.

Making primary connections: the cross-curriculum story

Using longitudinal curriculum data which they have collected over a ten year period from a nationally representative sample of primary schools (funded by grants from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority), the authors report on evidence of changing models of subject provision within the primary curriculum. The period 1997–2007 has evidenced a range of government interventions with implications for subject teaching and data enable the analysis and discussion of the impact of these interventions on the ways in which sample schools have organised and planned their curriculum.

No science today—the demise of primary science

Much has been written about the standards agenda in relation to primary pupil performance levels on end of key stage tests. A range of policy ‘levers’ such as numeracy and literacy strategies have been utilized to hike the annual cohort percentages towards the government targets. However, whether measurable (by standardized testing at ages 7 and 11) national standards in English and mathematics have risen or not does not justify the unbalancing of the intended ‘broad and balanced’ curriculum (DES, 1988) which has taken place to try to achieve the national percentage targets. The authors find that this compression of the curriculum has not just extended to the foundation subjects but has substantially reduced teaching time in science, supposedly one of the ‘core’ subjects. The curriculum data on which the authors base their findings are supplied by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authoritys own longitudinal monitoring of the school curriculum which has been carried out by the authors from 1996 to 2005.

Effective delivery of therapeutic interventions: findings from four site visits

This project follows a survey into the role of UK educational psychologists (EPs) in delivering therapeutic interventions to children and young people. Four educational psychology services (EPSs) that identified themselves as providing effective therapeutic practice were selected on the basis of their qualitative responses to the survey. Site visits included analysis of service documentation, an interview with the Principal Educational Psychologist (PEP) and focus groups with EPs and with stakeholders, multi-agency partners and commissioners of EPSs. Thematic analysis yielded a number of key themes. Those relating to how the service context can support the delivery of therapeutic interventions included: contracting and promoting; leadership; opportunities to practice; supervision; time and resources; and training.

To what extent is capital expenditure in UK higher education meeting the pedagogical needs of staff and students

ABSTRACT Capital expenditure at United Kingdom (UK) universities is rapidly rising, with new buildings erected on the premise that national and international competitiveness must be maintained. We examine students’ engagement with and conceptualisation of university estate, and explore broader questions about the extent to which building design can support, and indeed change, students’ approaches to learning. Drawing on data collected from 10 staff members and over 200 students at a major UK institution, including detailed one-to-one interviews, we capture users’ often complex interactions with their university environment. Our findings confirm that when asked what would most improve their learning experience, students do not rank building design highly; interactional factors, such as contact time with staff, are considered more valuable. Our conclusion is that returns on capital investment would be boosted if pedagogical needs were prioritised more highly in the design of university buildings, and pedagogical opportunities communicated more clearly to users upon completion.