Purpose: The first-aid courses organized by the Youth Red Cross Carinthia (Austria) had a quality problem, necessitating a professionalization in teaching and time structure. This research aimed to enhance the quality and effectiveness of these courses by implementing modified lesson studies with non-professional trainers. The paper presents the…

Purpose: Through discussion of research about the leadership of two schools, this paper explores the complexity of school leadership and how various contextual elements interact with the work of principals in schools that are attempting to create inclusive, rich, worthwhile and unique schools. A systems thinking leadership and context model is…

We study the role of Hip-Hop teaching artists in a school change initiative. A school-university-community partnership in a Canadian city, the project sought to develop a school-wide focus on the "urban arts" for student learning and wellbeing. The experiences of nine teaching artists over four years, examined through the lens of…

In this dissertation, I present an examination of the economics of education through three chapters. In the first paper, I study the overrepresentation of elite university graduates in senior positions in public administration. Using rich administrative data from Chile, I employ a stacked fuzzy regression discontinuity design to estimate the…

This systematic review reports evidence on practices and programmes that enhance successful primary-secondary school transition and participation for Indigenous students in Australia. A thematic analysis found three sets of practices: the school context; bridging practices; and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students cultural recognition.…

Effective, engaging teacher collaboration contributes to continuous school improvement and overall student success. This formative, internal program evaluation used a combination of objectives-based and improvement-focused models to determine what worked well in mandated PLCs at MHS, what aspects of these PLCs needed improvement, and what…

Digital learning ecosystem plays important roles for transforming teaching classroom into learning community. This article used a mixed method to (1) explore the teaching and learning activities and components of a digital learning ecosystem through eighteen in-depth interviews and six observation classroom teachings of three subjects (English,…

This three-year qualitative case study examined how an African community-based organization, Sauti Yetu's Girl's Empowerment and Leadership Initiative (GELI), leads, bolsters, and transforms the literacy development of African immigrant girls who are identified as English Language Learners (ELLs) and Students with Interrupted Formal Education…

The study focused on evaluating the preparedness of government high schools in the implantation of the competence based curriculum (CBC) in Gweru district, Zimbabwe. A case study research design was adopted and thematic analysis was used in analysing data. This study sample included three (3) school heads, thirty (30) teachers including the three…

The purpose of this Action Research study was to investigate and examine how expatriate educators can make western curriculum more relevant and contextual for Chinese students to increase student engagement and learning outcomes through professional learning communities (PLCs) at a Chinese international school. The study examined experiences of…

Empirical studies of school leadership in South Asia are limited. This qualitative study examines the ways in which principals in three award-winning community high schools enact leadership practices in their specific contexts in Nepal. The results reveal that the principals used multiple frames of leadership and were proactive towards reforms.…

This paper, based on the Praxis Lecture I delivered at the National Association of Kinesiology in Higher Education Conference in January 2024, articulates how my experiences at a Danish gymnastic folkehøjskole (folk high school) and højskole pedagogy inform my teaching and service. After defining højskole pedagogy, I discuss how I incorporate its…

Community development research suggests that positive partnerships and connections between groups can result in stronger, more resilient and productive communities. Despite community connections featuring increasingly at a curriculum level in countries such as Australia and New Zealand, research is only beginning to explore the nuanced processes…

The current study aimed to examine the perceptions of principals on aspects of the ecological school culture that contribute to novice teachers' retention. Narratives of 16 Israeli middle-schools and high schools principals were analyzed based on the social-ecological model. This model considers the different environments related to the…

In this article, findings of a qualitative study of an Indigenous widening participation program are presented. The program, "River of Learning", has been in existence since 2010 and represents a powerful collaboration between a rural high school in New South Wales (NSW) Australia, a metropolitan university, Indigenous Elders and…