Purpose: This study intends to systematically review empirical evidence on transformational school leadership (TSL) in a centralized educational context. Design/methodology/approach: The study includes a topographical mapping and a narrative review of thirty-seven research articles published in Turkey between 2000 and 2021. The review strategy…

Purpose: Using a document analysis methodology, the study analyzes official policy documents produced by the centralized Israeli Ministry of Education and by the State Comptroller responsible for reviewing the Israeli government's policies and operations. Coordination is assessed using three lenses: coordination among policy plans initiated by…

Purpose: This study sought to provide an understanding of what a culturally contextualized model of instructional leadership looks like in Turkey, and how this differs from models disseminated in the USA. Design/methodology/approach: This study employed qualitative meta-synthesis to systematically review the full set of 22 qualitative studies of…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss the findings from research on the relationship between leadership theory and policy reform in Malaysia. Distributed leadership is normatively preferred in the Malaysia Education Blueprint (MEB), the country's major policy reform document. The research was conducted in two dissimilar…

According to a 1984 study of seven public school headteachers from Barbados, these administrators see their role of creating good interpersonal relationships as very important. The principals experienced feelings of powerlessness and ambiguity resulting from being controlled by centralized policies and rules. These policies caused some frustration…

Regarding Australian educational administration, the more it changes, the more it remains the same. When Freeman Butts studied Australian education in 1955, centralization was the dominant, much-criticized mode. Butts proposed devolution to improve educational decision making. His thoughts are once again topical, as Australian states and other…

Attempts to establish a distinction among echelons comprising Israel's centralized educational system by exploring their role perceptions of stress, tension, ambiguity, risk, and exposure to criticism. Findings indicate that echelons are characterized by their perceptions of risk and exposure to criticism, but not by their perceptions of role…

Investigates the nature of administrative control in 12 instructionally effective school districts in California. Nine control functions are assumed to affect student outcomes by influencing curriculum and instruction. Findings from interviews with superintendents revealed more district-level control of principal behavior and site activity than…

The administrative policies in Australian and New Zealand school systems have undergone radical changes in recent years. This article summarizes research into the origins and patterns of the reforms, their progress, and the problems encountered. Holistic reforms were intended to achieve increased economic efficiency, educational effectiveness, and…

Explains key issues and forces that shape organization and management strategies of educational decentralization, using examples from Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Nicaragua, and Spain. Core decentralization issues include national and regional goals, planning, political stress, resource distribution, infrastructure development, and job…

Investigates teacher receptivity to a proposal to relocate year 7 primary classes to secondary schools in the Western Australia Catholic school system. Receptivity was strongly and positively related to the perceived practicality of the change and moderately, positively related to the readiness of year 7 students for secondary school. (27…

Addresses persistent tensions among centralized school governance structures. Examines the literature's claims for devolution's positive benefits and shortcomings and proposes more realistic expectations. Discusses the relationship between devolution and improved teaching and learning. Reconceptualizes devolution and proposes a preliminary…

Using surveys of the professional staffs of 41 secondary schools, this study examines the relationship between two aspects of bureaucratic structure (centralization and formalization) and two sorts of alienation (from work and expressive relations). It then compares the results with similar studies of social studies of social welfare agencies. (JW)

Explores the assumption that Australian state school systems are too highly centralized and inflexible to cater to students' diverse educational needs. An examination of Queensland and New South Wales schools shows that system-level directives are not unduly prescriptive. Regional office staff often practice "benign neglect" of central…

Examined is the fairly broad consensus that the break with the traditional centralism of Australian public schooling is a progressive move. The social and ideological meaning of this change in the direction of administrative policy against the background of contemporary Australian society is discussed. (13 references) (SI)