Michael Jopling

1:1 online tuition: a review of the literature from a pedagogical perspective

This paper outlines the findings of a review that examined the literature around current practice in one-to-one online tuition in schools and higher education. It summarizes the purposes, contexts, scope, and methods of 17 core studies identified through a systematic literature search. It then uses a conceptual framework focusing on pedagogical innovation to explore the findings of the core studies, a discussion that is also informed by the consideration of a number of contextual studies exploring group online tuition and online learning more generally. The paper concludes by suggesting that the development of one-to-one online tuition has been constrained by comparisons with face-to-face approaches and that more research is needed to map its characteristics and potential in more detail as technology continues to evolve.

Leadership in School Networks: Findings from the Networked Learning Communities Programme.

MiE, Vol 20 issue 3 The Networked Learning Communities context The Networked Learning Community (NLC) programme has been a major research and development activity of the National College of School Leadership (NCSL). One hundred and four voluntary, funded school networks were set up following a process of bidding and selection operated by a core NCSL team, the Networked Learning Group (NLG). A second tranche of unfunded networks went through a similar bidding process as we began to understand how networked learning operated for the programme’s pioneer schools. Many of our key principles, which were comparatively novel four years ago, are now part of everyday education currency. The central idea of pooling resources, expertise and effort to achieve more together than can be done alone, has fed the development of Primary National Strategy Learning Networks and extended schools and the commitment to collaboration in place of competition informs implementation of the Every Child Matters agenda. This work began with the premise that network leaders, like school leaders, are essentially focused on the same objective: “to build the capacity for individuals to flourish, for schools to continually improve and change and for young people to be the best they can be” (Harris & Lambert 2003: 8). That was the principle that underpinned our thinking at the beginning of the NLC programme. So Leadership in School Networks: findings from the Networked Learning Communities programme

The development of an implementation model for ICT in education: an example of the interaction of affordances and multimodality

This paper discusses the development of a model targeted at non-specialist practitioners implementing innovations that involve information and communication technology (ICT) in education. It is based on data from a national evaluation of ICT-based projects in initial teacher education, which included a large-scale questionnaire survey and six in-depth case studies. It draws on affordance and multimodality theory to address, and move beyond, considerations of the role played by the usability and utility of technology in any implementation. It argues that the perceived ‘status’ of technologies is a key factor in the success of an innovation.

The health and well-being of children and young people who are looked after: Findings from a face-to-face survey in Glasgow

Evidence suggests children and young people who are looked after (LACYP) may have poorer health outcomes than children and young people in the general population, particularly in relation to mental health. This paper discusses findings from a survey of the health and well-being of LACYP in Glasgow. A structured questionnaire used in the 2010 Glasgow Schools Survey (GSS) was adapted and administered in face-to-face interviews with 130 young people aged 11-18 in 2014-2015 to investigate various aspects of health and well-being including physical activity, diet and sleep, smoking, alcohol and drugs, health feelings and worries, behaviours, attitudes and expectations. LACYP were more likely to report that they had tried drugs, slightly more likely to have scores indicating a high level of difficulties on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and less likely to report that they ate fruit and vegetables, used active transport methods to get to school and expected to go on to further or higher education; however, reported rates of physical activity, smoking and drinking were similar. LACYP were less likely to report that they had engaged in antisocial behaviour, truancy or bullying or been exposed to environmental tobacco smoke, less likely to worry or have low self-esteem, and more likely to rate their health positively. There were some variations according to placement type. The findings of this study present a more positive picture of the health and well-being of LACYP in Glasgow than might have been expected but should be treated with caution due to small sample size. Further research is needed to identify differences in relation to placement type and to determine whether being looked after might be associated with improved health and well-being outcomes for some children and young people.

Book Review: The Collaborative Leader: The Ultimate LeadershipMcDermottIanHallL. MichaelThe Collaborative Leader: The Ultimate LeadershipBancyfelin, Wales and Williston, VT, USA: Challenge Crown House Publishing, 2016, £12.99 pbk, ISBN: 978-178583009-9

This study of leadership and collaboration, written by co-authors with backgrounds in neuro-linguistic programming and business coaching, is structured around three opening questions: What is collaboration? How does it relate to leadership? and How do you do it effectively? It is then divided into three not quite corresponding parts: The Foundation of Collaborative Leadership – Leading the Call; Collaborative Leadership – The How To; and Collaborative Leadership Challenges – There be Dragons. Part 1 focuses on building a vision and determining where you stand as a collaborative leader (with assessment questions for the reader), before outlining what a collaborative leader is and some of the challenges to collaborative leadership. There is some useful material here, but it is clear from the beginning that this book is only going to appeal to you if you are willing to accept multiple lists of factors and steps to take, accompanied by the kinds of illustrative vignettes and examples, often taken from the authors’ own experience, that are common in business books. Thus, the opening visioning chapter includes 11 facets and factors of effective collaboration, and Chapter 2, What is a Collaborative Leader, contains seven key steps to help you to meet the challenge of collaborative leadership, which they describe fairly meaninglessly as ‘the ultimate cutting-edge in leadership’. The concluding chapter on challenges to collaborative leadership is potentially useful but largely repeated in Part 3. Part 2 is the core of the book and continues this approach, focusing on issues such as inspiring collaboration, creating a culture of collaboration and overcoming differences. It includes 10 key steps or stages, 16 principles and 11 states of collaboration. Again, there is useful material here to be applied to practice. The collaborative quadrants and five leadership roles described in Chapter 10 and the beliefs outlined in Chapter 11 may be helpful in building collaborative teams, and the insistence on maintaining a broader view on the ‘bigger game’ of collaboration (Chapter 13) is welcome. Other elements, such as the invitation to explore your ‘collaboration quotient’, are less convincing. Part 3 examines how collaborations can go wrong, pseudo-collaborations and addressing collaborative crises. Although it repeats elements from Part 1, this is in many ways the most useful part of the book, which is in any case much more of a ‘tips for (business) leaders’ manual than a comprehensive survey. In particular, the discussions of commissions and omissions and the distinctions made between leading a group and leading a group collaboratively in this section are generally well made. On balance, the book is likely to be of use to relatively inexperienced leaders in education who are unfamiliar with more business-orientated approaches to collaboration and are looking for hints and tips on how to operationalize it with other schools, institutions and/or agencies. It suffers from being under-referenced – anyone seeking an overview of the extensive literature on collaboration will be disappointed – and from containing too many generalized assertions, along with some overblown examples. The examples drawn from politics are particularly unconvincing: suggesting that collaboration ended apartheid or enabled Reagan to work effectively with Democrat opponents seems questionable, to say the least. Despite this, the book represents an accessible and practical introduction to the issue of leading collaboration for those who have not examined the issue in detail.