Executive development programs (EDPs) have undergone significant change since their introduction in the early 20th century. As an adjunct or alternative to traditional education, EDPs are considered an efficient means of imparting critical, functional, and social-behavior skills to current and future organizational leaders. Consequently, such…

This paper explores the role that action learning might play in micro and small enterprise development. It is divided into two parts. The first part focuses upon the distinctive characteristics of smallness and ownership and their implication for management development processes in the owner managed firm. In particular the impact of personal…

This paper presents assessments by students actively engaged in a recently redesigned Doctor of Education (EdD) program, delivered at a research-extensive university participating in the the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED), to prepare leaders for a statewide system of community and technical colleges. Because a unique feature of…

Purpose: There are three purposes to this article: first, to offer a training approach to employee learning and performance improvement that makes use of a step-by-step process of skill/knowledge creation. The process offers follow-up opportunities for skill maintenance and improvement; second, to explain the conceptual bases of the approach; and…

Development through learning (the concept that managers learn, grow, and undergo personal change resulting from the roles, responsibilities, and tasks encountered in their jobs) has become an important field with a developed body of literature. Although on-the-job experiences have always been a powerful source of managerial learning, they have…

Summarizes a 1993 year-long study of six beginning school administrators's career-transition experiences. Based on data gathered through interviews with these administrators and the author's own experience, this article offers recommendations for new principals and assistant principals covering three professional-development areas: academic…

Analytically describes the annual Educational Leadership Development Conference held at St. Peter's College, Oxford University. Highlights the venue, participants, program goals, activity structure, and learning processes, drawing from the literature in adult learning, andragogy, and transformational learning and using Cranston's process model as…

Kurt Lewin's epigrammatic paradox is particularly true for action learning. Marquardt and Waddill (2004), and previously Yorks O'Neil and Marsick (1999) have approached the issue of the relationship between theory and action learning by looking at a variety of theories which they have placed in "schools". This provides an interesting analysis, but…

The vocational education and training (VET) sector has experienced substantial change in the past decade, characterised by ascendant industry-driven needs and mantras of flexibility and responsiveness. A number of public policies underpin these changes and simultaneously point to the need to manage diverse employing bodies, industry standards,…

This paper describes part of a study (Kraus 1996) involving 25 school administrators who attended one of five administrator preparation programs at four New England universities. The study addressed research questions regarding perceptions of administrators' job preparedness and how components of formal training programs (i.e., internships,…

The STEPPES Project (Strengthening Planning and Management Capabilities in the Educational Sector) is a 4-year staff training effort of the Bureau of Planning in Indonesia's Ministry of Education and Culture. The project's overall objective is to achieve an effective capacity at the provincial level for planning and managing educational policies…

Purpose: This study explores the effects of an alternative, transformative andragogy (i.e., the art and science of helping others to learn) designed to be responsive to the challenges of preparing educational leaders committed to social justice and equity. Design: Within the context of preparation programs, the three theoretical perspectives of…

During Fiscal Year (FY) 1987, the Allen, Texas, literacy project assisted seven new northeast Texas literacy programs in start-up and trained tutors for the existing program and new programs. For FY 1988, the goal was to fill the perceived need for development of management skills in area literacy programs. A 2-day Regional Adult Literacy…

Outlines recommended practices for strengthening administrator preparation programs. Preservice programs should emphasize development of reflective skills; ethical and moral leadership qualities; adult learning principles; coherent, integrated curricula; and updated teaching and learning processes. Aspiring principals need more opportunities for…

The importance of feedback as an aid to self-assessment is widely acknowledged. A common form of feedback that is used widely in e-learning is the use of model answers. However, model answers are deficient in many respects. In particular, the notion of a "model" answer implies the existence of a single correct answer applicable across multiple…