Uses national survey data to identify individuals returning to full-time education in the United Kingdom. Examines returnees' characteristics and estimates a model of the decision to return. Student background is a factor, suggesting that initial employment mismatches and insufficient occupational information were partly to blame for leaving…

Interviewed British higher education middle managers about their roles, specifically the extent to which collegiality was a significant factor in the university's internal decision making. Respondents noted difficulties with and imperfections in collegiality but considered it the most appropriate form of decision making because it was important to…

Reports on aspects of the Parental and School Choice Interaction (PASCI) Study that investigate the relationship between school decision making and parental choice. Identifies factors inhibiting British schools' capacity to change policy and practice in response to choice and competition. Barriers to responsiveness vary and significantly influence…

Studies the group decision-making process of the evaluation of preschool children with complex disabilities. Sequential application of processes was found to be influenced by the occurrence of a series of three cycles of decision making within each assessment and the decomposition of the assessment task into distinct subproblems. (Contains 67…

This paper explores the decision-making of students entering full time UK taught masters degree courses. The findings come from an ongoing research project, "Career progression and employability for full time UK resident masters students". Little previous work has focused on these students and their process of transition (however long)…

Considers the distribution of powers of decision-making and responsibility resulting from different patterns of educational administration, with particular reference to the United Kingdom but with some international comparisons. (Author/RK)

Describes a computer simulation, CACTUS, that was developed in the United Kingdom to help police with command and control training for large crowd control incidents. Use of the simulation for pre-event planning and decision making is discussed, debriefing is described, and the role of the trainer is considered. (LRW)

This study of 164 adults with physical disabilities living in institutional care in Newcastle (United Kingdom) found an overall incidence figure of 59 such adults per 100,000 population. The study also found that less than 20% were able to exercise their right to a free choice and independent decision concerning their residential placement. (DB)

A principal describes her experience under the changes implemented recently in England and Wales. She describes leadership challenges and some strategies that use micropolitics to effect positive outcomes. She successfully employed tension and confrontation as steps toward change and encouraged participation in decision making. (MLH)

Discusses teachers' assessments of special educational needs in light of the massive changes introduced in the United Kingdom during the last decade. It describes teachers' understanding of the nature and purpose of assessment and examines how judgments about children's learning needs are made. (DB)

Describes programs of the National College for School Leadership (NCSL). Introduces three articles dealing with leadership in urban schools and those with challenging circumstances that emerged from work supported by NCSL. All three articles explore the concept of distributed leadership. (PKP)

Examines site-based management's effects on schools, using a Canadian framework and drawing on research from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia. As branches carrying the "corporate line," schools still lack local decision-making flexibility. Principals' workload is more demanding, and student learning outcomes have not…

Examines the nature of non-decision-making, its empirical operationalization, and practical realization in the school sector. Studies on decision-making fail to consider an integral element: the conscious or unconscious decision to exclude certain areas from formal decision locations and relevant decision makers. Implications are discussed.…

This article reports on a study that was funded by the National College for School Leadership in order to explore practices, drivers and barriers to leadership talent identification, leadership development, leadership succession planning and leadership retention within a group of contextually different schools. The article offers two narratives…

The legal foundation and administration of library services in the United Kingdom are reviewed in terms of legislative acts which currently affect library services directly: the Public Libraries and Museums Act of 1964 places public library services under the Secretary of State for Education as part of the reorganization of the local authority…