Technology and change are so closely related that the use of the word innovation seems synonymous with technology in many contexts, including that of higher education. This paper contends that university culture and existing capability constrain such innovation and to a large extent determine the nature and extent of organisational change. In the…

Three leading corporations, the Ritz-Carlton, Accenture, and Healthcare Corporation of America, were examined to see how they handled problems that also were faced by school districts. Their strategies for recruiting and retaining employees, measuring performance, and providing professional development differed significantly from those of most…

Previous research in the area of resistance has inadequately described opposition to change within-school reform initiatives with a social justice orientation. A lack of attention to, and agreement on, the nature and causes of resistance may explain why so many equity-minded educational reforms fail to be sustained. This article highlights various…

Previous qualitative studies show that when the formal organization of a school and patterns of informal interaction are aligned, faculty and leaders in a school are better able to coordinate instructional change. This article combines social network analysis with interview data to analyze how well the formal and informal aspects of a school's…

The experiences that beginning special education teachers encounter moving from the pre-service environment into the first year of classroom teaching put them in a uniquely tenuous position that could lead to leaving the classroom after only a few years of teaching. District- and school-level administrators can influence the retention rates of…

The purpose of the study is to identify the patterns of change in higher education institutions. It examines the contexts of the changing quality assurance mechanisms used by the different types of higher education institutions in England, Japan, and New York State between 2001 and 2007. The paper argues that there were no clear patterns of…

This article provides an analysis of the Collaborative Action Research Network's (CARN) origins and development since its foundation in 1976. The author brings the unique perspective of active involvement in CARN almost from its inception, and editorship for many years of its journal "Educational Action Research". Cultural-historical…

This paper is reformatted and reprinted as part of the 40th Anniversary of the "American Journal of Health Education" (originally School Health Review) Health Education--Our Heritage. The original article appeared in Volume 1, "School Health Review" (September 1969, pp. 9-14). At the time, Myer Herman was director of the Division of Adult Health…

This article outlines the progress and impact of professional learning communities within, between and across schools, as part of the implementation of whole system reform in Wales. It describes the way in which professional learning communities are being developed to support improvement and change across the education system in Wales. The article…

Policy reform for at-risk youth is complicated by involvement of various service sectors. Issues related to coordinating systems of care in a dynamic policy environment are not new, but surprisingly little has been written to guide practitioners and policymakers in addressing them (Friedman in "Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders"…

This article explores the legacy of three decades of neoliberal reforms on New Zealand's university system. By tracing the different government policies during this period, it seeks to contribute to wider debates about the trajectory of contemporary universities in an age of globalisation. Since Lyotard's influential report on "The Postmodern…

In this paper we provide an overview of the literature on understandings of drop out/opt out from science, technology and mathematics (STM) higher education programmes. After outlining the literature on students leaving higher education programmes in general, we then explore the research on drop out/opt out from STM programmes in particular, with…

In August 2008, the OECD published "Improving School Leadership Volume 1: Policy and Practice" and "Improving School Leadership Volume 2: Case Studies on System Leadership". The main objectives of these reports were to compare school leadership policy between participating countries and to identify innovative practices and…

This contribution aims at exploring the significance of the new generation of UNESCO conventions for the recognition of higher education qualifications. It discusses three possible scenarios and links them to the empirical findings of a study that compares the enabling conditions of the first generation of recognition conventions established in…

This paper discusses responses provided by 31 Pro Vice-Chancellors (PVCs) and Deputy Vice-Chancellors (DVCs) who were part of a larger study of more than 500 higher education leaders in roles ranging from DVC to head of programme in 20 Australian universities. Using both quantitative and qualitative data the paper gives an insider's perspective on…