This paper investigates how test-based, standardized accountability is impacting on urban school leaders' everyday work in Ontario and British Columbia, Canada. This critical policy analysis draws on theories of new public management and governmentality to document the experiences of school leaders as they enact and navigate test-based…

Smart Board Technologies (SBTs) are prevalent in K-6 schools and teachers are expected to use them to enhance student learning. The Smart Board (SB) may not be used effectively in the classroom. The effective use of the SB increases student engagement and performance. To ensure the effective use of the SB, the principal's role is crucial. The…

The theoretical framework for this study draws on conceptual advances from two bodies of scholarship: (1) complexity thinking in education, which has recently focused on school system change; and (2) school leadership research, which has recently attended to the effects of leadership interventions to school improvement. Using a complexity-thinking…

Work intensification has heightened and accelerated the need for Canadian school principals to manage their emotions. This case explores the emotional aspects of a contemporary principal's work in a large urban school and highlights effective coping strategies and approaches used to regulate her emotions. The teaching notes describe several…

The purpose of this study was to determine how educational leaders interpret job applications from international teachers who are planning to repatriate. Ten rural and urban educational leaders from the Canadian province of Manitoba were presented with three different fictitious cases to screen and analyze for shortlisting purposes. The findings…

Leadership at the high school level provide a unique challenge due to size and complexity. The study examines how successful principals, confront the necessity to support teachers as they grow their craft in thoughtful and deliberate ways. The study provides insight into the relationship between instructional and transformational leadership…

The aim of this research was to develop a grounded theory of educational leadership development, using generative dialogue (GD), as an approach to initiating and maintaining professional growth in school principals/vice principals in an urban school district in a relatively affluent region of Western Canada. In Wave I, GD interviews were conducted…

Given the pace of their work, school administrators often find it difficult to sift through the massive volume of primary academic research produced each year to find specific pieces that might be useful to inform their practice. In response to this issue, the author developed and implemented a strategy to filter research for local relevance and…

Children and youth with mental disorders require support from multiple service providers, and therefore intersectoral collaboration is required. Community schools, as accessible hubs, with broad-based partnerships, may provide the conditions that foster much needed intersectoral collaboration for this population of students. In order to examine…

This case study report provides practical examples on how the Academy of Indigenous Studies has built lasting relationships with local First Nations communities -- demonstrating how existing provincial course offerings can be leveraged to create a for-credit learning track that allows Indigenous and non-Indigenous students to learn about…

Body image might be explained as "how we picture ourselves" and, while the image may or may not be accurate, it can affect decisions about physical, social, and emotional health. Schools are seen as potential sites for universal intervention programs to promote health, self-esteem, and size acceptance, and also to discourage unhealthy…

This article examines how principals describe the nature of relationships and presence (or absence) of relational trust among teachers, and between the teachers and the principal in the discourse of professional learning communities. Participants were 12 school principals from urban, suburban, and rural communities in Manitoba. In the discourse of…

When asked to explain why so many urban schools show unsatisfactory results on academic or social measures, principals routinely and quickly turn to descriptions of parents. In other words, when seeking to explain why work within a school is so difficult or why reform initiatives have been unsuccessful, many principals point outside the school.…

Our study investigated patterns of female participation as secondary principals that have varied across contexts and changed slowly. Researchers interviewed decision makers from a purposive sample of 10 urban and rural school districts in Ontario, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia, gathering data from structured telephone interviews,…

Leadership continues to be a central focus for research in educational administration. Until recently, many studies about leadership have been based largely on the experiences of white males and interpreted based on the structural-functionalist perspective. In this paper the writer explores the phenomenon of leadership through the eyes and…