The study's target is to analyze how field-level coalition leaders, namely, the founding principals of Israeli specialized schools, perceive a "high-ambiguity and high-conflict" symbolic educational policy that apparently opposes the basic values that underlie the foundation of specialized schools. Based on an analysis of qualitative…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the motives, opportunities, and threats associated with the adoption of market-driven externally developed reforms (EDRs) as well as how these motivator factors, combined with background variables, account for school principals' satisfaction with EDR adoption. Design/methodology/approach: Principals…

This paper seeks to improve our understanding of the challenges faced by teachers and student-teachers in the process of implementing small group work (SGW) in early childhood education (ECE). In light of the discrepancy between the clear benefits of SGW in education--its solid theoretical foundation--and its sparse and poor implementation, we…

Principals' implementation of national reforms in the educational arena resembles a wild ride on a roller coaster as they face with contradicting demands, ongoing confusion and ambiguity. As critical change agents, principals interpret and translate reform demands into local practices through a process of sense-making. This current qualitative…

One-to-one (1X1) laptop initiatives become prevalent in schools aiming to enhance active learning and assist students in developing twenty-first-century skills. This paper reports a qualitative investigation of all 7th graders and their 15 teachers in a junior high-school in Northern Israel gradually implementing 1X1 model. The research was…

The impact of an Education for Sustainability (EfS) course for science and technology junior high school teachers on the intentional and actual environmental behaviour of participants was studied by researching the EfS implementation of 13 science and technology teachers within their family, community, and work environment. The research was…

This study aims to explore the relationships between the third sector and the educational system in Israel in light of their current increasing involvement with one another. This was investigated along four stages of the policy process ranging from initial agenda-setting to final implementation. The stage of policy these relationships reached was…

Teachers' professional development is a key to any educational change and is critical when leading and assimilating change, such as introducing standards into classrooms. A national professional development (PD) framework was developed for the implementation of science standards published by the Israeli Ministry of Education, which was activated…

Despite the growing consensus regarding the value of inquiry based teaching and learning, the implementation of such practices continues to be a challenge. The goal of this paper is to present a model for the educational infrastructure that can support the implementation of the Biomind program, which is a new open inquiry program for Israeli…

Purpose: To study the implementation of a learning content management system (LCMS) at one department of a university in light of Rogers' diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory and in comparison to known critical success factors (CSFs) in implementation of information systems. Design/methodology/approach: A case study approach was used to examine…