Karen Starr

Problematizing 'Risk' and the Principalship: The Risky Business of Managing Risk in Schools

Over the past two decades, risk in education has stimulated increasing attention and prominence, with principals bearing responsibility and liability for ‘managing’ risk in schools. As a consequence, compulsory risk compliance régimes have become increasingly complex, technical and time-consuming. This article focuses on the responses of principals to issues surrounding ‘risk’ and suggests that some risk processes themselves may be inherently risky. Principals fear that risk management régimes can incur professional and personal danger while ignoring some commonly known, politically sensitive, ‘risky’ areas. The article considers the scope of risk in schools before turning to ‘undiscussables’: how risk management puts principals at risk, and issues surrounding leaders as risk. Principals’ concerns about marginalization from systemic risk decision-making, the individuation of risk management responsibility and suggestions for action are discussed, along with areas for future research.

Principals’ perceptions of “quality” in Mauritian schools using the Baldrige framework

Purpose – This article aims to report the findings of a research project exploring Mauritian principals’ receptivity to the main tenets inherent in Total Quality Management (TQM). The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) framework (aligned with, and an outcome of, the TQM movement) provides a set of criteria for organizational quality assessment and improvement in the business, healthcare and education sectors. Given the imperative to improve the quality of schools in Mauritius, this study was designed to investigate the usefulness of the widely accepted MBNQA framework in the Mauritian context.Design/methodology/approach – A nationwide questionnaire survey of school principals explored the nature and strength of the Baldrige theory of relationships between leadership, systems and processes of primary and secondary schools and the ensuing outcomes. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted.Findings – The findings indicate that Mauritian school leaders play a critical role in influencin...

Total Quality Management in Mauritian education and principals’ decision-making for school improvement: “Driven” or “informed” by data?

Purpose – Reflecting the Mauritian governments “quality” agenda and its focus on school leadership, this paper reports the findings of research exploring Mauritian principals’ views about the use of total quality management (TQM) for school improvement. While aspects of this research have been reported elsewhere, the purpose of this paper is to focus on school leaders’ use of data and evidence in making decisions for school improvement. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reports on qualitative aspects within a mixed methods research with data collected by means of semi-structured interviews conducted with a purposive sample of six principals. The analysis of the data were an exercise in grounded theory building. Findings – The paper expands the knowledge of principals as quantitative data users arguing that qualitative information based on professional discourses, human judgements and lived experiences should be equally valorised if TQM is used for making informed educational decisions. Research lim...

Principal 'Disengagement' : are the solutions addressing the problem?

Australia has to find solutions to a critical shortage of school principals, and to this end, governments are spending millions of dollars on the development of leadership standards and professional learning programs. This article focuses on the ‘disengagement’ problem and examines the disincentives for aspirants to undertake the role and for incumbents to continue in the role. Various responsive measures are critiqued, and alternative proposals that arise out of discussions with principals are discussed.

Understanding the nature of school partnerships with business in delivery of vocational programmes in schools in Australia

Abstract This article seeks to provide a school perspective on the nature and quality of the partnerships which schools form with businesses in order to deliver work placements and workplace learning in Australia. It found that the ability of schools to engage with external partners depended on the ability of school leaders to define and communicate the role of VET within the school and its broader community. This dependence on individuals and leadership is vulnerable to changes in key personnel and the informality of some of the processes and relationships can lead to problems in monitoring, evaluating and replicating programmes. Our study shows that a balance is required between carefully documented processes and the flexibility required to operate programmes successfully. The study also noted the tension between the perceived needs of the school and those of industry. A successful partnership necessarily requires school flexibility – in the decisions as to what programmes should be offered and how work placements and timetabling should be organised.

Capacity Building for the Principalship

This paper canvasses current proposals by Australian education departments for capacity building, school renewal, situated learning, resilience and ‘wellness’ in the Principalship, and the reflections and responses of current Principals.