Individual Schools, Unique Solutions


Book Description

Effective school leadership depends on developing an understanding of people, organisational learning and organisational processes. However, each school has a unique set of circumstances. Prescriptions for leadership that apply to one school may well not apply to another. Individual Schools, Unique Solutions turns away from the highly prescriptive management practices that often fail to provide a workable solution to specific problems in schools. Adrian Raynor demonstrates that by understanding the process influencing any situation, a creative solution can be achieved. The book draws on systems theory and aspects of complexity theory. While addressing many of the issues commonly faced by headteachers, the principles described are equally important for all levels of school management and the book will be of interest to all those in management positions in schools. Ultimately, this book is about developing effective leadership through understanding and is a guide to thinking afresh rather than looking for another quick-fix prescription.




Leadership and Management in Integrated Services


Book Description

Government drivers promote integrated health and social care services for children and adults yet the field is immensely complex, with the involvement of multiple agencies, professionals and other stakeholders. This book will help students and new practitioners make sense of this rapidly changing scene. It provides an overview and introduction to core leadership and management principles, the key management structures and organisations that comprise integrated services. It also considers some of the differences and dilemmas arising from the range of professions and organisations involved in delivering integrated services.




How Pupils Cope with School


Book Description

This book explores the latest research on cognition and its consequences. It looks in depth at the pupils' experiences of school, following many lengthy interviews. It demonstrates that the education system as we have it, despite the best efforts of teachers, has a disastrous effect on the attitudes of young people, and does not even fulfil its own limited aims. The book explores the themes of the intelligence of children and how they are thwarted from using it: the centrality of relationships with peers and adults other than teachers; the sources of information, especially significant outside school; and the vulnerability to trauma, which schooling is good at exploiting. The research all points to clear conclusions, which we need to act on, however reluctant we might feel.




Teaching: Professionalisation, Development and Leadership


Book Description

This book addresses central issues in the professionalisation and deprofessionalisation of teachers. It tackles these issues from different perspectives and in relation to different contexts. The book analyses new managerialism. It also considers possible solutions to two problems in particular: how to achieve accountability without intensification, and how to ensure that school management and leadership functions to support and enhance teachers as professionals.




Handbook of Research on Science Education and University Outreach as a Tool for Regional Development


Book Description

Higher education institutions play a vital role in their surrounding communities. Besides providing a space for enhanced learning opportunities, universities can utilize their resources for social and economic interests. The Handbook of Research on Science Education and University Outreach as a Tool for Regional Development is a comprehensive reference source for the latest scholarly material on the expanded role of universities for community engagement initiatives. Providing in-depth coverage across a range of topics, such as resource sharing, educational administration, and technological applications, this handbook is ideally designed for educators, graduate students, professionals, academics, and practitioners interested in the active involvement of education institutions in community outreach.




The Leader in Me


Book Description

Children in today's world are inundated with information about who to be, what to do and how to live. But what if there was a way to teach children how to manage priorities, focus on goals and be a positive influence on the world around them? The Leader in Meis that programme. It's based on a hugely successful initiative carried out at the A.B. Combs Elementary School in North Carolina. To hear the parents of A. B Combs talk about the school is to be amazed. In 1999, the school debuted a programme that taught The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Peopleto a pilot group of students. The parents reported an incredible change in their children, who blossomed under the programme. By the end of the following year the average end-of-grade scores had leapt from 84 to 94. This book will launch the message onto a much larger platform. Stephen R. Covey takes the 7 Habits, that have already changed the lives of millions of people, and shows how children can use them as they develop. Those habits -- be proactive, begin with the end in mind, put first things first, think win-win, seek to understand and then to be understood, synergize, and sharpen the saw -- are critical skills to learn at a young age and bring incredible results, proving that it's never too early to teach someone how to live well.




School, Family, and Community Partnerships


Book Description

Strengthen programs of family and community engagement to promote equity and increase student success! When schools, families, and communities collaborate and share responsibility for students′ education, more students succeed in school. Based on 30 years of research and fieldwork, the fourth edition of the bestseller School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, presents tools and guidelines to help develop more effective and more equitable programs of family and community engagement. Written by a team of well-known experts, it provides a theory and framework of six types of involvement for action; up-to-date research on school, family, and community collaboration; and new materials for professional development and on-going technical assistance. Readers also will find: Examples of best practices on the six types of involvement from preschools, and elementary, middle, and high schools Checklists, templates, and evaluations to plan goal-linked partnership programs and assess progress CD-ROM with slides and notes for two presentations: A new awareness session to orient colleagues on the major components of a research-based partnership program, and a full One-Day Team Training Workshop to prepare school teams to develop their partnership programs. As a foundational text, this handbook demonstrates a proven approach to implement and sustain inclusive, goal-linked programs of partnership. It shows how a good partnership program is an essential component of good school organization and school improvement for student success. This book will help every district and all schools strengthen and continually improve their programs of family and community engagement.




Professional Learning Communities at Work


Book Description

Provides specific information on how to transform schools into results-oriented professional learning communities, describing the best practices that have been used by schools nationwide.




Principals Under Pressure


Book Description

Presents the arguments, rationales, and explanations for what American principals do by looking at the international context in which the American educational system is situated and in which American school principals operate.




Transforming School Culture


Book Description

Busy administrators will appreciate this quick read packed with immediate, accessible strategies. This book provides the framework for understanding dynamic relationships within a school culture and ensuring a positive environment that supports the changes necessary to improve learning for all students. The author explores many aspects of human behavior, social conditions, and history to reveal best practices for building healthy school cultures.