Systemic change is far more difficult than piecemeal reforms because it requires far more interrelated and interdependent sets of changes to occur. Systemic change has two potential areas of failure: (1) the change process (action) may never reach full implementation of the new system, and (2) the new system (vision) may not be well designed. This…

While research has generated abundant insight into effective professional learning methods, the field continues to suffer from a lack of systemic approaches. In response, a group of national professional learning leaders recently developed a framework that links proven professional learning methods to the strategic priorities of higher education…

There has been increased attention to the importance of teachers and teacher quality in developing and sustaining successful education systems for some time now (Barber and Mourshed in How the world's best performing school systems come out on top, McKinsey & Company, New York, 2007; Darling-Hammond et al. in Empowered educators: how…

Liberal education as a form of higher education is increasing globally even as it struggles for support and legitimacy in the USA. Its emergence and spread are only partially attributable to the growth in the tertiary sector worldwide: although the sharpest spike has been in Asia, new programs have opened in Western Europe, Russia and the Middle…

This article reports on the fourth stage of an evolving study to develop a systems model for embedding education for sustainability (EfS) into preservice teacher education. The fourth stage trialled the extension of the model to a comprehensive state-wide systems approach involving representatives from all eight Queensland teacher education…

Factors external and internal to social work practice have caused our profession to question its role and identity. The emergence of evidence-based or evidenced informed practices forces the profession to reexamine its unique identity and its historical roots. This article addresses the problems in the dominant paradigm guiding our profession, the…

The paper presents the approach to complex training of managers and faculty staff for system modernisation of Russian engineering education. As a methodological basis of design and implementation of the faculty development programme, the CDIO (Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate) Approach was chosen due to compliance of its concept to the purposes…

This article reports on a first cycle of a larger action research study conducted to determine how Circuit Teams could support School Management Teams of underperforming high schools towards whole-school development. Although it is a mandated requirement by the Department of Education, none of the four schools involved in the study had developed a…

In an effort to be comprehensive, schools often outline sweeping plans for improvement in multiple goal areas. Although well-intended, the efforts may be either too diffuse to have much impact, or so overwhelming that staff become immobilized. A school that chooses to proceed in too limited a manner, on the other hand, may run the risk of…

As part of its work to advance the multiple pathways approach to high school education, the James Irvine Foundation engaged the Bridgespan Group to develop a framework for assessing the nature and needs of the fields in which nonprofits operate. These agents of change often struggle to understand how to focus their field-building investments and…

The paper mainly introduces the development of the educational administration agency in China, including the evolution of the educational administration agency, the Course of instituting legal system of education in China, the missions of the now Minister of Education, questions emerged in the development of the educational administration system,…

In a case study of a large Australian university the metaphor of panarchy is used as a means of describing and understanding the complex interrelationships of multi-scale institutional projects and the influences of a variety factors on the potential success of e-learning initiatives. The concept of para-analysis is introduced as a management…

This paper emerges from an ongoing study which involved, firstly, key informant interviews with strategic personnel within the Irish education system, such personnel representing both service providers and service users. The first part of this paper provides a brief summary of the findings of that aspect of the study in relation to the key…

This monograph, prepared to assist Georgia elementary principals to better understand accountability and its implications for educational improvement, sets forth many of the theoretical and philosophical bases from which accountability is being considered. Leon M. Lessinger begins this 5-paper presentation by describing the need for accountability…

Presents a model for overcoming traditional, culturally rooted resistance to change in educational administration programs. The systems model offered proceeds from the premise that reflective awareness is the starting point for change. Aligning the operator, engineer, and executive cultures within a university enables the development of a…