Purpose: The purpose of this paper is for the author to recount how his use of organizational theory to understand educational reform in the USA led to a change of mind. Design/methodology/approach: My shift resulted from my conclusion, derived from the new institutionalism, that only marginal changes can be made in schools and, thus, fundamental…

This article stems from a 2016 research project that examined the leadership experiences of 20 primary principals in greater Christchurch. The study was based on the belief that the nature of successful leadership needs to change in a post-disaster setting. The article focuses on what principals learned about leadership from these experiences,…

International communication with different digital tools is now established both at universities and in other contexts worldwide. It is therefore relevant to describe how one of these tools is used in higher education. In the present study the focus is on seminars carried out in student-interactive video-conferences on didactic and pedagogical…

Purpose: In order to fill the gap in theoretical and empirical knowledge about the characteristics of principal workload, the purpose of this paper is to explore the components of principal workload as well as its determinants and the coping strategies commonly used by principals to face this personal state. Design/methodology/approach:…

This study aimed to define the current functions and operations of hospital school programs nationwide. A 56-item survey was disseminated to hospital teachers across the country to examine perceptions about their work, programs, and professional practice. Quantitative findings were analyzed using descriptive statistics at the individual…

This case positions the reader as the superintendent of Jefferson City Public Schools (pseudonym). Like many urban school districts in the United States, Jefferson City faces a complex milieu of fiscal challenges attributed to inadequate state funding and declining student enrollment. Within this case, the superintendent must address the failing…

Problem Statement: In modern society, schools, just as other institutions, are required to be innovative organizations. For this purpose, they must not only be learning organizations, they must also be innovative. In this sense, the purpose of this study is to discover the relationship between organizational learning mechanisms at schools and…

Drawing on Bernstein's notion of pedagogic culture or the "mode of being" of the school, this paper develops and uses a theoretical framework for the analysis of school organization that draws attention to specialization of instructional practice. An understanding of the ordering principles of the school emerges from the analysis,…

This ethnographic case study examined the experiences of African American students within an urban school detracking reform initiative, which was intended to replace tracking practices through the institution of small schools. Over the course of a year, the researchers interviewed administrators, teachers, and students while gathering…

Research demonstrates that teachers' expectations of students have long-term effects on students' educational, occupational, health and well-being outcomes. In this Australian-based study, teachers were invited to explore the questions "Do teachers have different expectations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students?"…

This article explores the role of enabling school structures, collegial trust, and collective efficacy in 15 pre-Kindergarten to 12th grade international, private schools in South and Central America and Mexico. While most of these schools shared an "American" curriculum the local culture and school norms affected the climate of the…

Recent trends indicate a move away from self-contained classrooms and toward content-focused departmentalization in elementary schools. This study takes a snapshot of the existing organizational structures used in elementary schools in one district and explores administrators' beliefs and practices regarding this phenomenon. Our findings suggest…

Previous research has suggested that adopting a transformative school organisation perspective when implementing ESD may be more productive than the previously recommended transmissive perspectives, but it is not clear how transformative perspectives could be introduced. To address this issue, we conducted an empirical mixed methods study of…

Given that reforms involving how to deal with the past are extremely difficult, especially when the past involves memories of victimization, death, and destruction so widespread that a high percentage of the population is affected, the main purpose of this article is to describe how the general secondary education (GSE) curriculum in East…

The large number of newly arrived individuals from other countries, particularly of young people, has had an enormous impact on the school system in Germany. The present study investigated requirements for successful intercultural school development. The study used investigative group discussions, where the groups were composed of teachers and…