The emergence of agreements between private pathway colleges and public English-medium institutions represents a new development in internationalization that further challenges the public higher education landscape. While these institutional arrangements are controversial and often criticized, university senior administrators have been…

For teachers seeking formal school leadership roles the key choices have been either the vice- principalship or the principalship. In Ontario, Canada, however, the principalship has traditionally been considered the premier leadership goal with the vice-principalship regarded as merely a necessary transitional step toward achieving the…

As a fundamental concept in human interactions, trust is important for understanding and mediating the social structures in schools. The instrumental work of cultivating, brokering, and maintaining trust in schools lies within the role of the school administrator. Our exploratory study examined the Canadian school principals' perceptions of their…

The school principal is responsible for transmitting mission, vision, and values in and out the school, with a stronger, clearer emphasis for the success and well-being of students. Competency standard is defined as a guide that names the behaviours expected for the directions to do an effective job in their schools. This article presents the…

Hiring preferences can often determine the amount and kind of consideration shown to candidates for teaching positions, and therefore can have a profound impact on school culture, but have been largely unexplored. This paper describes how one group of principals in Manitoba approach hiring decisions when assessing prospective teachers for…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of Alberta's Principal Quality Practice Standard as a framework for the roles and responsibilities of school principals. Methodology: Three principals participated in the study, and each principal had more than 25 years of teaching and school administration experience. Each principal…

School leaders are increasingly called upon to pursue meaningful partnerships with families and community groups, yet many leaders are unprepared to meet the challenges of partnerships, to cross cultural boundaries, or to be accountable to the community. Alliances are needed among educators, families, and community groups that value relationship…

Economic growth in New Brunswick is increasingly dependent on the improvement of our educational system. Current initiatives to reform education and improve student performance are based on transforming the province's schools into professional learning communities (PLCs). A key factor that will determine this reform's success is the capacity of…

Characteristics of organization structure, administrator to student ratios, program integration, accountability flow, and decision-making were studied in 53 Ontario school districts. (Authors)

Planning means knowing what you wish to do, developing a program to do it, and anticipating the context in which you will have to act. The role of the planning official is to point out options and consequences, not to take responsibility for any policy or pattern of decision. (Author/WM)

In interviews and simulated decision-making tasks, eight Alberta principals identified seven social and political values, five basic human values, and three moral values affecting their school-based decisions. Values also influenced conflict resolution and were related to orientation to the principal role. Contains 20 references. (SV)

Reduction in the size of classes from Kindergarten to Grade 3 was a major Liberal Party campaign promise in Ontario's 2003 provincial election. It was intended to demonstrate a new government's commitment to improving public education. By the 2008-09 school year, the provincial government's goals had been achieved: over 90% of all primary classes…

A fact-finding exercise used in a study of principals' problem-solving behaviors is analyzed in this paper. Forty-two subjects with varying degrees of administrative experience participated in fact-finding and thinking-aloud exercises prior to responding to a case study. Problem definition, a key component of the problem-solving process, was a…

Findings from a study investigating and comparing differences in problem-solving approaches between novice and expert elementary school principals are reported in this paper, which focuses on the interview phase of the data collection process. Interview questions were designed to explore and compare the ways in which principals perceived…

Purpose: This paper sets out to posit that the new economy places a new set of demands on schools and those who lead. Mindfulness, intentional engagement of people and adaptive confidence are needed developmental features of beginning principal success. The paper examines how beginning principals in Canada respond to the capacity-building work of…