Daina S. Lieberman and Jennifer K. Clayton
The purpose of this paper is to investigate power and its influence on the teaching assignment process and school-based decision making.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate power and its influence on the teaching assignment process and school-based decision making.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative interpretive design and thematic analysis were used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with teachers and administrators.
Findings
Both teachers and administrators discussed power and social capital as components of the teaching assignment process. Teachers viewed the origins of their social capital differently than administrators and felt social capital was evident in school-based decision making and the teaching assignment process.
Research limitations/implications
Participants were demographically rather homogeneous. Further studies with a diverse sample could examine race and gender as factors in the teaching assignment process.
Practical implications
This study demonstrates a need for administrators to examine how they consider social capital when distributing teaching assignments and involving teachers in school-based decision making. Administrators’ actions may result in teacher tracking, disadvantaging marginalized and at-risk student populations.
Social implications
There is a clear disconnect between administrator and teacher understanding of the purpose and practice of teaching assignment distribution. Administrators were unaware of their own power, how they wielded it, and the effect it had on teachers.
Originality/value
Few studies have examined teacher–administrator power relations or the teaching assignment process at the secondary level. This study connects the teaching assignment process to social capital and power.
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Jennifer Clayton and Christine Nganga
This study examined how principals experienced professional learning that asked them to reflect on their own biases and beliefs, as well as to determine where there are systemic…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examined how principals experienced professional learning that asked them to reflect on their own biases and beliefs, as well as to determine where there are systemic issues of inequity in their schools, and what they planned to do to address those challenges.
Design/methodology/approach
Through interviews, observations, and documents, the authors explored the building and sustaining of equity mindsets in education.
Findings
The authors analysis led to four overarching themes that collectively answered the research questions about how the principals learned individually and in concert with each other. The themes included the power of the personal journey and commitment, the importance of building a network of support, the benefit of practice-oriented activities that disrupt power structures and inequitable practices in schools, and sustainability.
Research limitations/implications
The study focused on a single institute and as such, findings are not generalizable, but may be transferable.
Practical implications
Schools and school districts may use the findings when designing professional learning, especially as it relates to leading with and for equity and in cross-district collaborations.
Originality/value
This contributes to the literature around concrete ways principals learn and reflect on enacting equity in schools.
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Kimberly Jamison and Jennifer Clayton
The purpose of this paper is to identify how current administrative interns enrolled in a university administrator preparation program describe and make meaning of their…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify how current administrative interns enrolled in a university administrator preparation program describe and make meaning of their internship experiences.
Design/methodology/approach
For this qualitative study, the researchers interviewed administrative interns enrolled in one university preparation program throughout their internship regarding the experiences.
Findings
The findings from this study contribute and add value to research in the area of administrator preparation by highlighting the experiences of administrative interns as well as the implications of how interns make meaning of those experiences using a developmental concerns framework. Key factors influencing those perceptions cited by interns as a result of their internship experiences include the interns’ readiness to take on leadership positions, their change in perception of administration, perceptions of journal reflections as an internship component, supporting teachers, receiving feedback from others, and the level of support provided by their internship supervisor.
Originality/value
The findings from this study contribute to research in the area of administrator preparation at the university level, specifically pertaining to the structure of the internship, how university preparation programs can respond to interns’ concerns, and the design and emphasis of practicum experiences within those degree or certificate programs.
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Karen L. Sanzo, Steve Myran and Jennifer K. Clayton
The purpose of this paper is to provide a Year 1 account of a partnership between a university and rural school district focusing specifically on how the project has helped to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a Year 1 account of a partnership between a university and rural school district focusing specifically on how the project has helped to bridge the theory to practice divide and strengthen university‐district ties.
Design/methodology/approach
A design‐based research paradigm was utilized to investigate how creating more authentic and contextually relevant university‐school partnerships and embedding leadership preparation in the context of practice may help build stronger bridges between theory and practice.
Findings
The findings highlight that holistic approaches to leadership preparation, developing relationships, coordinating meaningful professional development, realism in design and experiences, and introspection are all ways that cohort members, as well as other district personnel, have been able to build stronger bridges between theory and practice.
Practical implications
The findings can assist universities and districts in developing and supporting partnerships that contribute to relevant, practical, and meaningful leadership preparation.
Originality/value
The authors' analysis highlights that aspiring leadership students who do not engage in meaningful and contextually relevant activities will not be able to bridge the theory to practice gap when working in the actual leadership field. Authentic experiences provide realistic views and understandings of the requirements, challenges, and rewards of educational leadership positions.
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Karen Leigh Sanzo, Whitney H. Sherman and Jennifer Clayton
This study aims to be one in a series examining the leadership best practices of school principals as they lead in an accountability‐ and standards‐driven school environment. The…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to be one in a series examining the leadership best practices of school principals as they lead in an accountability‐ and standards‐driven school environment. The lack of research and necessity to find successful practices to improve student achievement highlight the need for this study.
Design/methodology/approach
An inductive exploratory study was designed to provide insight into how successful middle school principals facilitate high levels of student achievement.
Findings
Common themes of practices enabling the principals to serve effectively in their schools emerged from the conversations and were grouped in the following categories: sharing leadership; facilitating professional development; leading with an instructional orientation; and acting openly and honestly.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the field by providing insights into the practices of leaders of successful schools in a high‐stakes testing environment. The study provides a framework on which leaders should model their own practices, as well as informing leadership preparation programs areas around which to focus their instructional content.
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Rebecca A. Thessin and Jennifer Clayton
The purpose of this study was to identify how current K-12 district and school leaders who are alumni of an educational administration program describe how they acquired the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to identify how current K-12 district and school leaders who are alumni of an educational administration program describe how they acquired the essential skills and experiences needed to be effective in the leadership positions.
Design/methodology/approach
For this qualitative study, the authors interviewed program alumni of one university leadership preparation program regarding the experiences and training they identified as having prepared them with the necessary skills, knowledge, and attitudes to be successful in their positions, as well as which components of their administrative internship experiences, if any, they identified as having most prepared them for their positions.
Findings
School and district administrators indicated they acquired the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to become successful leaders through specific preparation experiences and opportunities. Key experiences cited by alumni included gaining some leadership responsibilities while they were teachers and further opportunities to lead in the administrative internship; engaging in practical, hands-on assignments in their graduate degree program courses; learning from other administrators with unique areas of work responsibilities, as well as from other schools and districts; and receiving guidance from a dedicated mentor.
Originality/value
The findings from this study contribute to research in the area of administrator preparation by guiding preparation programs in prioritizing the types of training and practicum experiences that aspiring K-12 educational leaders receive as a component of their preparation programs.
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Shellie McMurdo and Wickham Clayton
Roland Joffé, the film-maker behind the significant critical hits The Killing Fields (1984) and The Mission (1986), employed a hypnotic aesthetic, which unflinchingly depicted…
Abstract
Roland Joffé, the film-maker behind the significant critical hits The Killing Fields (1984) and The Mission (1986), employed a hypnotic aesthetic, which unflinchingly depicted violence and brutality within different cultural contexts. In 2007, he used a no less impressive aesthetic in a similar way, although this film, Captivity, was met with public outcry, including from self-proclaimed feminist film-maker Joss Whedon. This was based upon the depiction, in advertisements, of gendered violence in the popularly termed ‘torture porn’ subgenre, which itself has negative gendered connotations.
We aim to revisit the critical reception of Captivity in light of this public controversy, looking at the gendered tensions within considerations of genre, narration and aesthetics. Critics assumed Captivity was an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the torture horror subgenre, and there is evidence that the film-makers inserted scenes of gore throughout the narrative to encourage this affiliation. However, this chapter will consider how the film works as both an example of post-peak torture horror and an interesting precursor to more overtly feminist horror, such as A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) and Raw (2017). This is seen through the aesthetic and narrative centralizing of a knowing conflict between genders, which, while not entirely successful, does uniquely aim to provide commentary on the gender roles which genre criticism of horror has long considered implicit to the genre’s structures and pleasures.
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Erwin Loh, Jennifer Morris, Laura Thomas, Marie Magdaleen Bismark, Grant Phelps and Helen Dickinson
The paper aims to explore the beliefs of doctors in leadership roles of the concept of “the dark side”, using data collected from interviews carried out with 45 doctors in medical…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to explore the beliefs of doctors in leadership roles of the concept of “the dark side”, using data collected from interviews carried out with 45 doctors in medical leadership roles across Australia. The paper looks at the beliefs from the perspectives of doctors who are already in leadership roles themselves; to identify potential barriers they might have encountered and to arrive at better-informed strategies to engage more doctors in the leadership of the Australian health system. The research question is: “What are the beliefs of medical leaders that form the key themes or dimensions of the negative perception of the ‘dark side’?”.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analysed data from two similar qualitative studies examining medical leadership and engagement in Australia by the same author, in collaboration with other researchers, which used in-depth semi-structured interviews with 45 purposively sampled senior medical leaders in leadership roles across Australia in health services, private and public hospitals, professional associations and health departments. The data were analysed using deductive and inductive approaches through a coding framework based on the interview data and literature review, with all sections of coded data grouped into themes.
Findings
Medical leaders had four key beliefs about the “dark side” as perceived through the eyes of their own past clinical experience and/or their clinical colleagues. These four beliefs or dimensions of the negative perception colloquially known as “the dark side” are the belief that they lack both managerial and clinical credibility, they have confused identities, they may be in conflict with clinicians, their clinical colleagues lack insight into the complexities of medical leadership and, as a result, doctors are actively discouraged from making the transition from clinical practice to medical leadership roles in the first place.
Research limitations/implications
This research was conducted within the Western developed-nation setting of Australia and only involved interviews with doctors in medical leadership roles. The findings are therefore limited to the doctors’ own perceptions of themselves based on their past experiences and beliefs. Future research involving doctors who have not chosen to transition to leadership roles, or other health practitioners in other settings, may provide a broader perspective. Also, this research was exploratory and descriptive in nature using qualitative methods, and quantitative research can be carried out in the future to extend this research for statistical generalisation.
Practical implications
The paper includes implications for health organisations, training providers, medical employers and health departments and describes a multi-prong strategy to address this important issue.
Originality/value
This paper fulfils an identified need to study the concept of “moving to the dark side” as a negative perception of medical leadership and contributes to the evidence in this under-researched area. This paper has used data from two similar studies, combined together for the first time, with new analysis and coding, looking at the concept of the “dark side” to discover new emergent findings.