High stakes testing in Australia was introduced in 2008 by way of the National Assessment Program--Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). Currently, every year all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 are assessed on the same days using national tests in Reading, Writing, Language Conventions (Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation) and Numeracy. In 2010 the…

One would expect email substantially to increase organisational productivity and efficiency. There is little empirical evidence of this since email use is such a complex tool that it would be well nigh impossible to attribute efficiency increases solely to email. There is anecdotal evidence of the positive aspects of email (Phillips, S.R. and…

There is no school administrators' pre-service training in the CIS (Former USSR) countries. As for the in-service training, it has been traditionally focused on educational management. As a result, schools in the CIS countries are run as well-oiled machines but there is a big question mark over whether these machines are running in the right…

This paper considers the appropriateness of introducing formal learning agreements in a higher education institution (HEI). It begins by examining the current legal nature of the student/university relationship and the legal status of formal learning agreements. The paper then explores the impact of such agreements on student satisfaction by…

Regardless of the source of funding, university quality is based on knowledge, teaching, and research, and hence cannot be run like private enterprises as they are expert organisations that provide solely a public service. The purpose of this paper is to investigate, through the analysis of case studies, whether or not management theory,…

In this paper, we look at the University of Crete experience to integrate the concept of sustainable development across all its operations. Through a review of current sustainability practices of universities worldwide, this paper has identified a number of principles for developing a sustainable university. These principles are then used as a…

In Portugal, as elsewhere, the rhetoric of managerialism in higher education is becoming firmly entrenched in the governmental policymakers' discourse and has been widely disseminated across the institutional landscape. Managerialism is an important ideological support of New Public Management policies and can be classified as a narrative of…

Maple Leaf School is a large English elementary school in Ontario, Canada. Wanda Miller, the principal, has been at the school for 2 years. Upon arrival, she engaged the teachers in a collaborative exercise to determine their school goal (as required by the province). Character education was selected. The district insisted that the school adopt an…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore faculty's perceptions of quality management activities (QMA) within their departments, attention being paid to relevant quality aspects and whether quality management contributes to control or improvement of higher education. Furthermore, it examines differences between departments and relationships…

Critical scholars view schooling as one piece of a larger struggle for democracy and social justice. We investigated 41 school administrators' perceptions about the role and importance of equity, diversity and social justice in new teacher induction in the province of Ontario. Interviews reveal that principals were interested in shaping teacher…

The principles of new public management -- market mechanisms, accountability and standards -- have been applied in the education system. These methods are supposed to increase efficiency, but there is also a risk of negative consequences from the services provided if the measures of performance target a reduced range of goals, ignore relevant…

This paper discusses the challenge of making large-scale improvements in literacy in schools across an entire education system. Despite growing interest and rhetoric, there are very few examples of sustained, large-scale change efforts around school-age literacy. The paper reviews 2 instances of such efforts, in England and Ontario. After…

This paper addresses the nature of governors in the governance of further education colleges in an English context. It explores the complex relationship between governors (people/agency), government (policy/structure) and governance (practice), in a college environment. While recent research has focused on the governance of schooling and higher…

Globally, research has become a key driver for the achievement of status and the procurement of funding for higher education institutions. Although there is mounting pressure on institutions to become research active, many institutions are rooted in a strong tradition of teaching. These institutions find it challenging to develop research capacity…

The Malaysian Government has introduced various initiatives to facilitate the greater adoption and diffusion of ICT to improve capacities in the education system. Due to the extensive investment, schools are expected to utilize and integrate ICTs in administrative tasks, teaching and learning and general running of schools. This study was set out…