The aim of this book is to bridge the widening gap between ongoing educational reforms and the lack of advances in knowledge, research and practice. Included is a description of new mechanisms in fields such as leadership, staff development and curriculum change.

The aim of this book is to bridge the widening gap between ongoing educational reforms and the lack of advances in knowledge, research and practice. Included is a description of new mechanisms in fields such as leadership, staff development and curriculum change.

This book explores the connections between school-based management, school effectiveness and school improvement, bringing together studies completed in Australia and New Zealand, Canada, the UK and the USA. It describes and analyses how effective principals and teachers perceive and undertake educational change and school-based management; how a sense of values, vision and school culture can improve leadership; ways in whcih delegating financial management to schools may lead to improved teaching and learning; and the contribution made by school development planning through reviews and evaluation to school improvement. Finally, it suggests future directions for study and research in school effectiveness, school improvement and school-based management.

What constitutes quality schooling? What are the implications for educational practice and administration? The text looks at these questions and examines international research evidence and reform initiatives with particular emphasis on North America, UK, Australasia and the Third World. It offers a synopsis of the Third World School Effects Research (SER). The authors claim that the challenges now facing educational leaders is to find a balance between SER and the other school movements and to ask more demanding questions of our educational systems.

This book reviews of the development, implementation and practice of the disciplines of school effectiveness and school improvement. Seven main topics are addressed: History of the school effectiveness movement over the last 25 years; Changes in accountability and standards; Leadership in school effectiveness; Changes in teacher education; Impact of Diverse Populations; Education Funding and its Impact; and Best Practice Case Studies. The contributors are active in school effectiveness research worldwide.

In response to the challenges of globalization and local development, educational reforms are inevitably becoming one of the major trends in the Asia-Pacific Region or other parts of the world. Based on the most recent research and international observations, this book aims to present a new paradigm including various new concepts, frameworks and theories for reengineering education. This book has 21 chapters in three sections. Section I "New Paradigm of Educational Reform" containing eight chapters, illustrates the new paradigm and frameworks of reengineering education, fostering human development and analysing reform policies and also discusses the trends and challenges of educational reforms in the Asia-Pacific Region. Section II "New Paradigm of Educational Leadership" with five chapters aims to elaborate how the nature, role and practice of school leadership can be transformed towards a new paradigm and respond to the three waves of education reforms. Section III "Reengineering School Management for Effectiveness" with eight chapters aims to provide various practical frameworks for reengineering school management processes and implementing changes in school practices.

The aims and origins of decentralization are examined and its effects on school flexibility, accountability, and productivity are explored in some depth. Administrators and others tell their stories. This volume offers an analysis of how school-based management works.

As social contexts and demands change in the 21st century, pedagogies and policies must adapt to keep up. Increasing emphasis on global preparedness, competitivity, and holistic education alongside a fast-paced, ever-changing environment may make policy implementation difficult. However, Cheng asserts that it is only by understanding the current trends, visions, and issues in education policy, implementation, and research that we can reflect, adapt, and improve future initiatives. To that end, Cheng elucidates the different paradigm shifts in classrooms and pedagogy all over the world. In his exploration of third-wave paradigm shifts in education, he charts the rationales, concerns, and effects in topics such as contextualized multiple intelligences, integrated learning, national education in globalization, teacher effectiveness and development, school-based management, and systemic education reform. This book is a promising referential resource for any policy-maker, academic, and educator who knows that the only way to progress is to look at and learn from the current issues and future trends globally.

This book, which is the eighth volume in the 12-volume book series Globalisation, Comparative Education and Policy Research, presents scholarly research on major discourses in decentralisation, school-based management (SBM) and quality in education globally. This book, which focuses on decentralisation and SBM as a governance strategy in education, presents theoretical aspects of the phenomenon of decentralisation/privatisation and contextualises them within the education research literature. It provides an easily accessible, practical yet scholarly source of information concerning the dynamics of decentralisation and SBM that normally take place when reforms are instituted to decentralize authority and power. Above all, the authors offering the latest findings regarding major discourses in dec- tralisation, SBM and quality in educational systems in the global culture emphasise aspects of that dynamic interactive process (see also Geo-JaJa 2006a; Gamage and Sooksomchitra 2006, Zajda 2009). This dynamic interaction in the process that is implicit in the title of the book is reified by calls for restructuring of schools f- lowing the idea that schools are not promoting human rights, social cohesion and sustainable development. The chapters as a source book of ideas for researchers, practitioners and policy makers in decentralisation and SBM in education contr- ute to the educational literature while enhancing the understanding of the larger dynamics involved in educational reform. It offers a timely overview of current issues affecting decentralisation in education in the global culture.

`Leadership in education is receiving increasing attention, and this text contributes much to the debate. A useful text that will appeal to a wide audience of senior managers, teachers, programme designers and researchers′ - Learning and Skills Research `If one were on a fact-finding mission to gain insight into leadership thought and practice in education, then this book is an excellent resource′ - Education News `This book makes an excellent contribution to the current debate on Educational Leadership. It blends theory with practice and provides an important resource for many aspects of leadership development programmes at a variety of levels. The book will appeal to the academic reader, the postgraduate student and those involved in providing leadership courses at a professional level. There is an international perspective on the analysis of leadership theory and practice, integrating examples from a variety of cultural settings and exploring education at all phases from primary to higher′ - Stephen Merrill, Edge Hill College of Higher Education, Journal of In-Service Education `Leadership in Education offers an excellent analysis of the current debate: well informed on research and practice, positive but critical. It is particularly strong on what it calls "the railway-bookstall offerings of context-independent leadership".... There is a great deal of practical wisdom within these very accessible pages′ - Michael Duffy, Times Educational Supplement This book deals with leadership in all sectors, from primary to higher education. It presents an international perspective on the analysis of leadership theory and practice, with the integration of exemplars from different cultural settings. The authors provide a wide range of conceptual perspectives on leadership. Themes include: - the efficacy of centralized versus distributed concepts of leadership - the contrast between competency and academic models of leadership development - the contradistinction between functionalist and democratic models of leadership. These themes are developed in four sections: - Conceptualization - Leadership development - Teachers as leaders - Leadership in practice Contributors include: Clive Dimmock, Peter Gronn, Marianne Coleman, Peter Ribbins, Ray Bolam, Peter Newton, Kenneth Leithwood, Helen Gunter, Lynn Davis, Clive Harber and Graham Peeke This book is recommended to all involved in educational management, particularly to students, teachers, researchers, policy makers and educational administrators. The Centre for Educational Leadership and Management series, edited by Tony Bush, examines the impact of the many changes in the management of schools and colleges, drawing on empirical evidence. The approach if analytical rather than descriptive and generates conclusions about the most effective ways of managing schools on the basis of research evidence.