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The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between the characteristics of the home learning environment (HLE) and students’ academic attainments in secondary school in England at age 14 and 16.

This research study uses multilevel statistical models to investigate the strength and significance of relationships between various measures of the HLE at ages three, six, 11 and 14, and students’ academic attainment in secondary school.

Multilevel models show that early years HLE and specific dimensions of later HLE are positive predictors of students’ later academic attainment at age 14 and 16, when the influence of various individual, family and neighbourhood characteristics are controlled.

The paper presents unique findings on the role of the HLE in shaping students’ academic success at secondary school, including a range of measures of the HLE obtained at different ages. The results show that the early years HLE measured at age three continues to show effects on later attainment, over and beyond the effects of later HLE and other significant influences such as family socio-economic status and parents’ qualification levels.

This study aims to explore the impact of school leadership, particularly that of the principal (head teacher), on school improvement in England.

The study adopts a mixed‐methods (MM), longitudinal design to investigate the leadership of a sample of academically effective and improving schools identified from analyses of national assessment and examination data sets. In addition, questionnaire surveys of principals and key staff and 20 qualitative school case studies were conducted. The paper reports results from the questionnaire analyses and changes in measures of school performance over three school years using data from 378 primary and 362 secondary schools. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation models (SEM) test direct and indirect effects of school leadership and school and classroom processes in predicting changes in schools' academic results.

The analyses identified robust underlying dimensions of leadership and school and classroom processes and highlighted strategies and actions that school principals and staff had adopted to raise pupil attainment. The SEM models reveal both direct and indirect effects of leadership on a range of school and classroom processes that in turn predicted changes (improvements) in schools' academic performance.

This original empirical study presents new results on the leadership of a large sample of effective and improving primary and secondary schools in England. A dynamic model is presented predicting changes in schools' academic performance over three years and identifying direct effects of leadership on school and classroom processes and indirect effects on improvements in schools' academic results.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of what the author believes to be his major contributions to the field of Educational Administration.

The approach taken is a personal review and reflection based on research. For purposes of structuring the article three themes have been selected – complexity, development, and being close to and providing an empirical base for policy and practice. In addition, three areas are discussed that the author regrets having not taken further – the relationship between a school and its system from the school's perspective, the role of quality evidence, particularly the provision of valid and reliable surveys for use by practitioners, and public attitudes to education, including re‐examining the purposes of schools and their enactment.

The studies reviewed stress the importance of the interrelationship between the individual, organisational and contextual in effective teaching of educational administration, organisational development in schools, leadership for organisational learning and student outcomes, and successful school principalship. These studies promote a “tinkering towards Utopia”. “Tinkering” in the sense of improvement from the inside out rather than from outside schools and from the top down, and being about small scale and developmental rather than wholesale and/or continuous change. “Utopian” in the sense of focusing on complexity and heterogeneity rather than simplicity and homogeneity in both purposes and processes. “Utopia” is about learning for all, especially through facilitating schools as communities of professional learners. However, there continues to be a need for researchers in the field to provide a stronger empirical base for policy and practice, including providing quality, culturally specific evidence.

While clarity is provided on the links between leadership and student outcomes in schools and areas for further research are identified, the article is limited by its heavy reliance on the author's Australian research findings.

The article has value in that the links are clarified between leadership and a breadth of student outcomes. It broadens what counts for good schooling and school leadership and provides clear evidence for improvements in policy and practice.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the demographic variables of tenure and functional track have a moderating effect on the strategic leadership of school leaders.

Using a conceptual framework developed by the researcher, a static/cross‐sectional questionnaire‐based study on a convenience sample of public primary school principals in NSW, Australia, was used to collect data. Analysis included ANOVA and correlations.

Despite few statistically significant differences in the data set, there is evidence to suggest that, based on the small sample size, the demographic variables of tenure and functional track have a moderating effect on the strategic leadership and management of public primary school principals.

The study serves as little more than a scoping project. The small sample size limits the generalisability of the findings; however, the results do indicate that there is something to be made of the general thesis of the paper.

As education systems across the globe are faced with a crisis in filling school leadership positions with the mass retirement of the baby boomers, the potential implications of tenure and functional track on school leadership is of vital importance to all involved in schools.

The paper makes use of tenure and functional track in relation to strategic leadership, a combination rarely seen in the field. The very concept of functional track is original to the field and has the potential to uncover much needed insight into school leadership.

The purpose of the paper is to explore the strategies schools use to build capacity in English secondary schools where they operate under strong pressures to improve continuously and failure to do so carries severe penalties.

The approach involved in-depth case studies of six schools that utilized multiple sources of evidence. These include policy documents, interviews with multiple actors and observations of key management meetings.

Findings suggest travelling strategies used by schools, but these are implemented with varying intensity, hybridity and creativity. The common travelling strategies re-contextualized in organizational fields are data workmanship, multi-level monitoring, and performance development. For participating schools, successfully replicating these three pillars through identity cloning, an attempt to establish institutional identities identical to that of the “performing schools”, helps lift schools in different contexts.

There has been ample discussion on organizational capacity building, but the evidence on the actual strategies schools use is thin. This paper contributes to knowledge generation and understanding by providing as complete a picture as possible of the strategies schools use while remaining skeptical regarding the long-term consequences of short term “gains”.

This study investigates the relationship between employment status (full time (FT)/part time (PT)), organizational culture and institutional effectiveness in higher education. The purpose of this paper is to answer the question, “Does the growing population of PT faculty preclude effective cultures from developing and, accordingly, adversely affect institutional effectiveness?”

The study surveyed 159 PT faculty and 65 FT faculty from seven schools of an online, proprietary university. The instrument, consisting of the Organizational Culture Survey Instrument and demographic questions, was distributed and data collected utilizing an online survey application. Statistical analysis methods including descriptive statistics, analysis of variance and correlation analysis were used to analyze the data.

The study found no significant differences between perceptions of organizational culture or institutional effectiveness FT and PT faculty. Inter-school differences in perceptions were identified. Further research in this area is warranted to investigate discipline as a cause for the inter-school differences.

The study included respondents from only one online university. Therefore, additional studies involving traditional, ground based and hybrid institutions are required to establish generalizability. Additionally, self-assessments of institutional effectiveness were used. Future studies should consider quantitative research models for the measurement of institutional effectiveness.

The study indicates that PT faculty are not less committed to the institution than their FT counterparts. This strengthens the case for using PT faculty, particularly in an online environment.

This study investigates the relationship between organizational culture and institutional effectiveness in higher education from the faculty perspective. This has not been done before.