Tom Bisschoff

Leadership for learning: A case of leadership development through challenging situations

AbstractThis study provided an understanding of the leadership learning of principals (they are called headteachers in England) by exploring their practices and perspectives when dealing with challenging situations. The research methodology used semi-structured interviews to capture the experiences of primary school principals as they described the challenges they face and the way in which they learn from them. The findings show that primary school leadership is embedded in relationships that are complex and challenging. Strategies and coping mechanisms principals use to deal with challenges are similar and reflect the powerful influence of values, trust and emotional resilience. The insights presented in this study should inform the future research agenda in educational leadership. Strategies that enable principals to experience more planned and meaningful development are presented. These include formal coaching systems, the formation of meaningful networks and guided critical reflection on experiences. ...

Mandated change gone wrong? A case study of law‐based school reform in South Africa

Purpose – This paper aims to explore and describe the limits of recent law‐based school reform in South Africa from an education management perspective.Design/methodology/approach – The research design consists of a qualitative, investigative, descriptive and contextual design which Merriam would classify as a basic or generic design type.Findings – The findings revealed specific problems associated with recent mandated changes in South African schools. These were classified as categories (themes) within the research design and described in detail: lack of local skills capacity at school and district levels; the “knowing and doing” gap; the tensions created by legal issues between teachers and learners; too many changes too rapidly; bureaucratic red tape; top‐down approach; contextual factors.Research limitations/implications – The paper explored the problems associated with mandated changes in South African schools in one province. The sample is very limited and therefore further study is needed to fully...

Exploring the school leadership landscape, changing demands, changing realities

are listed, no more than about a dozen are used in this book. The absence of any methodological detail or discussion is critical, and I simply cannot understand the reason for it. Second, the reference point is wholly the United States. While the authors link their argument to the existing research literature, nothing published outside the USA is referenced (apart from a single paper – I am guessing by an American author – from a conference in Greece). Similarly, while reference is made to practice and experience in other higher education institutions, they are all American. This does make the book feel very inward looking. Third, and this is the killer for me, it is all so un-redeemably positive. Yes, there is a student who thought seriously about dropping out, and another who finally came out during his time at Elon, but all problems seem to be resolved in very short order. I imagine, if the book had been extended longitudinally beyond the undergraduate years, all participants would be shown to have had compelling careers and wonderful lives. Call me a cynic if you like, but I just found it so depressing.

Book Review: Talent Management in Education

When I picked up a copy of this book I immediately felt that the title sounds like a fresh narrative on succession planning that should be welcomed in these times in the UK when ‘talented’ people in education are made redundant. To my surprise, when I started reading on the topic, I realized I was not aware of the fairly long debate raging for more than a decade on this topic in the human resource field. Already in 2006 a critical review of ‘talent management’ publications appeared (Lewis and Heckman, 2006: 139) and they made the startling discovery that in 2004 ‘talent management’ yielded 2,700,000 hits using a popular search engine and in 2005 the same key words yielded 8 million hits. Educational institutions face similar challenges to typical commercial enterprises and public sector organizations, including economic and budgetary pressures, increased competition for top-notch talent, compliance and a rapidly changing diverse workforce that must be effectively managed. Talent management directly impacts on pupil achievement as a study in five large urban school districts in the USA revealed. ‘For most of these districts, implementing the components of strategic management of human capital is still very much a work in progress’ is however the caveat of caution in this report that makes this book timely and relevant (Anon., 2011a: 1). Questioning the reason for the popularity of the ‘new’ term, ‘talent management’ over the ‘older’, ‘succession management’ or ‘human resource planning’, Lewis and Heckman do mention the fact that the ‘new’ term does indicate a mindset change. This brings me to the seminal work of Michel Foucault (2003) who argues that the truth and justice (fairness) regime of a particular society is not a given; it is always the results of what he calls a particular discursive practice. What is very pertinent to the times we live in is that the way we talk about ‘school leaders’ determines and reflects in a way our sense of fairness in the world of work in an educational setting. Austerity is not about cutting cost it is about people and people with talent losing their jobs! Right at the start of the book under review the authors make it clear that talent management ‘is different from simple succession planning and filling typical hierarchical leadership roles that exist today, as it is a process of providing able and talented people who will create new and different leadership roles in the future’ (p. 3). They discuss the key dimensions of leadership on page 9 with an emphasis on where do you want to go (strategic acumen), with whom (working with others) based on the leader’s personal qualities, but all three firmly rooted in the leader’s values as the central element of the model. In a recent newspaper article this was again emphasised with reference to failing schools in South Africa. ‘Values maketh a good school’ (Anon., 2011b: 1). The authors come up with a template that determines the structure of the book, namely:

Book Review: What Makes a Good School Now? by Tim Brighouse and David Woods, London: Network Continuum, 2008, ISBN 978—1855390843 (pbk) £19.99

is looked at through the prism of some alarmingly plausible imaginative scenarios. These two chapters thus comprise the heart of the book, making extensive reference to relevant literature and putting forward the authors’ position—that headship is an important, and far from easy, activity, but is often ill-defined and insufficiently valued—lucidly. Chapter 4 is largely historical, looking at what professional development opportunities for aspirant and practising heads have been available in the recent past. Much space is given to increasingly popular professional headship qualifications and the effect they have had. The Scottish Qualification for Headship, the centrepiece of the chapter, is seen to have had a troubled upbringing, its apparent failure to influence school outcomes being a key criticism. Methods of addressing such issues are dealt with in Chapter 5 which has the title, ‘New Models, Next Steps?’ The authors take the view—logically so in the light of what has gone before—that distributed leader ship is the way forward and should intimately inform the running of schools as organisations and communities. The remainder of the book is mostly devoted to a plea for improvements in the preparation of leaders in order to bring about the changes in approach that the authors deem necessary. This synopsis hints at both the strengths and weaknesses of the book—whether it is being read by the researcher or the prospective leader. Theoretical concepts are presented with great clarity and often in the form of memorable gobbets (management is given the succinct definition of ‘the practical application of leader ship skills’) and the readable style is combined with a well-considered structure that progresses in neat stages from first principles to some quite complex and thought-provoking issues. The championing by the authors of a certain political viewpoint leads to some lengthy digressions; one such, on the Scottish political system, might be regarded as taking the sketching of context too far. On the whole, then, the book is a worthy addition to the corpus of texts that aim to influence practice for the better and it will be of value to its target readership. As a primer for anyone seeking to take up a headship post—especially in the Scottish state sector—it has a great deal to recommend it and, indeed, ought to be required reading when preparing for interview. For others, the book may be something of a curate’s egg: while many parts of it are admirable, it is may be a little too polemical for the researcher and potentially limited to those residents of other countries who are specifically seeking insights into headship within the Scottish education system.