This qualitative study explores school principals' perceptions and enactments of shared sense-making processes during a generally-outlined pedagogical reform, i.e. "a broad-policy reform allowing educators to exercise their discretion in meeting its pedagogical goals," aiming to inquire what makes such processes critical to schools'…

The current study aimed to examine the perceptions of principals on aspects of the ecological school culture that contribute to novice teachers' retention. Narratives of 16 Israeli middle-schools and high schools principals were analyzed based on the social-ecological model. This model considers the different environments related to the…

Purpose: This conceptual paper explores a novel model explaining teachers' perceptions of their effective leader through the lens of implicit leadership theory (ILT), using the concepts of school principals' sense-making and cognitive complexity (CC). Design/methodology/approach: The sense-making framework and CC theory were used to explain ILT,…

In light of the growing complexity of schoolwork, researchers and practitioners have highlighted the critical importance of transforming schools into learning organizations (Mulford & Silins, 2011). In such organizations, teachers continuously deliberate with one another as to how to solve problems that relate to teaching and learning (Fullan,…

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…

Researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners have underscored the need for schools to become professional learning communities (PLC) as leverage for school change in dynamic environments. Professional learning community is defined by the networks of learning processes among its community members, where teachers continuously deliberate with one…

Purpose: This study explored a theoretical model that links teachers' perceived uncertainty and teachers' sense of collective efficacy with organizational learning mechanisms (OLMs) in elementary schools. OLMs serve as a mediator construct. Research Design: For testing the primary theoretical model, 801 teachers from 61 elementary schools (33…

Background: In light of the growing complexity of schoolwork, it is important that faculty members move away from isolated learning toward a more collective type of thinking regarding teaching and learning issues. Purpose: Whereas collective learning has mostly been approached from a deficit-based orientation (finding/solving problems and…

Facing a turbulent and uncertain period, schools need to cast doubt upon their ongoing practices in order to have a significant impact on their students. However, conditions underlying the school system hinder the teachers' perceived need to doubt, which diminishes a schools' ability to learn and consequently change. In light of these hindering…

This article is an attempt to reflect on the doubting process as an emerging perspective in school change. After introducing the notion of doubt and its importance to school change, the author describes conditions influencing the doubting process. She reflects on these conditions in a case example of a secondary school principal who doubted the…