Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss how principals in Taiwan lead student and teacher learning at a time of leadership and learning paradigm shifts and the imminent implementation of the curriculum guideline for 12-year basic education. Design/methodology/approach: This study interviewed 32 elementary and junior high school principals…

Purpose: Reflecting the Mauritian government's "quality" agenda and its focus on school leadership, this paper reports the findings of research exploring Mauritian principals' views about the use of total quality management (TQM) for school improvement. While aspects of this research have been reported elsewhere, the purpose of this…

Involving subordinates in decisions may improve decision quality and acceptance when participation fits situational constraints. This article develops a participative decision-making theory that suggests which conditions favor subordinate (teacher) involvement and describes the administrator's appropriate role, which also depends on the situation.…

Discusses the decentralization of educational administration in Victoria. Examines the change from central to local selection of principals as a possible example of more democratic structures where greater collaboration and participation have been incorporated into the decision-making process. (53 references) (MLF)

Examines site-based management's effects on schools, using a Canadian framework and drawing on research from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia. As branches carrying the "corporate line," schools still lack local decision-making flexibility. Principals' workload is more demanding, and student learning outcomes have not…

Investigates teachers' and principals' perceptions of instructional leadership in a sample of Western Australian government primary and secondary schools, using the Instructional Leadership Questionnaire. Instructional leadership was viewed as a shared responsibility; teachers felt principals were less involved than principals felt they were.…

Explores departmental-policy implementation challenges faced by Australian principals of one-teacher schools during a time of unprecedented structural and organizational change, highlighting international contextual influences on the nation's public sector. Over a five-year period, senior management's relationship to principals implementing policy…

Using Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" as a basis, the author offers an alternative to deficit model programing (catch-up classes for "deficient" students) and posits an approach to problem solving that depends on dialog and interaction. (WD)

Much has been written about student accountability, teacher accountability, and school accountability. More limited research is available on administrator accountability. Recently there have been substantial initiatives undertaken world-wide to increase educational accountability. With increasing demands and changing expectations in the role of…

Describes practices, thoughts, and feelings of exemplary, shared-governance principals at nine schools affiliated with Glickman's League of Professional Schools in Georgia, using open-ended interviews. Findings showed that implementing shared governance incorporates five salient themes: meanings, involvement of others, redistribution of power,…

Purpose: This paper sets out to posit that the new economy places a new set of demands on schools and those who lead. Mindfulness, intentional engagement of people and adaptive confidence are needed developmental features of beginning principal success. The paper examines how beginning principals in Canada respond to the capacity-building work of…

A study of 20 representative primary schools in New South Wales, Australia, revealed that a high degree of principal supportiveness as measured by the Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire was associated positively with curriculum decision making by staff groups and negatively with curriculum decision-making by individual teachers. (PGD)

The construct of enabling school structure is empirically analyzed in this qualitative study of high schools. First, the theoretical underpinning of enabling school structure is developed. Then, six high schools, which were determined to have enabling structures in a large quantitative study of Ohio schools, were analyzed in depth using…

Reports the findings of a qualitative study investigating the interactions relating to special education between principals and parent advocates. Specifically focuses on variations in perspectives among the principals and parent advocates on disability, special education and inclusion. Places a particular emphasis on exploring the perceived power…