Purpose: While current research is reporting on a crisis in school leadership aspirations and appointments, this research sheds light on the mediating factors that school middle leaders (MLs) attribute to their appointment as a leader and their aspirations to senior leadership positions. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative data from a larger,…

In 1936, Prof A. P. Elkin attended a seminar in Hawaii lasting several weeks, on the topic of 'native education.' In his various papers presented to a range of experts from the region and beyond during the formal conference held in Honolulu as part of the residency, Elkin set out his views on the future of the Indigenous people of Australia.…

Multimodal discourse analysis (MMDA) has been instrumental in the evolution of English curriculum and pedagogy. However, it is unusual for educators to direct the tools of multimodal inquiry to their own text productions. In the context of prioritising accessibility within the new Queensland Certificate of Education in Queensland, which has…

For several decades now, there have been calls for the creation of inclusive learning environments within regular classroom settings. Teachers and other practitioners involved in this task need various types of guidance to assist them. While general principles deduced from empirically-based positivist studies are valuable, micro-sociology based…

Australian academics are being squeezed from all sides, facing ever-intensifying bureaucratic expectations around research output, coupled with increased teaching commitments and mounting administrative duties. These demands are occurring in an environment where most academics are still employed under traditional arrangements whereby, notionally,…

Effective leadership is recognised as the second most impactful variable influencing student achievement and promoting teaching quality (Bush 2021; Leithwood et al. 2020). The paper reports on the perceptions of educational leaders in the Western Australian public education system about: their leadership capability, support mechanisms and…

This paper critically explores the opportunity for leadership development in higher education within an interpretative inquiry paradigm from the perspective of middle-level academics transitioning into leadership/management roles in Australian universities. Middle-level academics are described as being at a mid-point in their careers and…

This article draws on multiple case study research of Australian academic governance to examine the role and place of chairpersons of university academic boards (also known as academic senates or faculty senates) within university executive leadership committees. A Bourdieusian analysis of the data suggests that while within the broader university…

Early career researchers are faced with the expectation of their scientific communities to conduct independent research, which is reflected in the development of independent new research lines. This change must take place under conditions that vary between national career systems. Case studies for a chair system (Germany) and two tenure systems,…

This paper provides an overview of best practices and challenges for deans and department heads of online programmes in the ever-changing world of higher education. It concentrates on the challenges for small private universities and tertiary education institutions in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Department heads must consider…

Purpose: Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV), the purpose of this paper is to develop a framework and instrument to measure the organisational capabilities of university schools/departments. In doing so, this study provides evidence of the way competitive resources are bundled to generate organisational capabilities that give university…

The recruitment of overseas trained teachers (OTTs) in England is a matter that has received as much attention inside the United Kingdom as outside. Education systems in small island and developing states, especially, were believed to have been placed 'at risk' following the departure of experienced and qualified teachers. Correspondingly, the…

Researchers have found that transformational leadership is related to positive outcomes in educational institutions. Hence, it is important to explore constructs that may predict leadership style in order to identify potential transformational leaders in assessment and selection procedures. Several studies in non-educational settings have found…

Studies since the mid-1980s suggest that university heads of schools experience the role as a series of tensions between enlightenment and enterprise-building agendas. It is apparent that the headship requires skills in management and capacities in leadership not necessarily furnished via typical academic pathways. In such light, the present…

Many of the policy documents and much of the recent literature talk about "leadership" when discussing the role of headteachers and principals of schools. The word is also used when writing about other senior and middle managers. It is a way of showing the difference between what used to be expected of headteachers and what is expected…