This paper aims to contribute to the knowledge base on leading and facilitating the growth of school improvement networks by describing the activities and challenges faced by…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to contribute to the knowledge base on leading and facilitating the growth of school improvement networks by describing the activities and challenges faced by network leaders.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 19 co‐leaders from 12 networks were interviewed using a semi‐structured schedule about the growth of their network, key leadership processes, “tipping points”, structural design and knowledge flow and transfer. Annual review documents were also analysed.
Findings
Five leadership activities focused on facilitating networks were identified. These were: “courting” potential partners and developing proposals for networked activity; working for partner alignment and buy‐in into network goals and plans; creating structured opportunities for teachers to work together; embedding networked activity through formalisation and harvesting the knowledge generated by practitioners; and refocusing network efforts. These activities present tensions around negotiating purpose, securing ownership of network activity, time, trust and the balance between quick wins and long term activities.
Originality/value
Internationally, networks are emerging as an increasingly common organisational form as well as a method for professional development, school improvement and to better serve pupil need. This paper adds to the limited research on network leadership and addresses increased calls for the intentional development of these organisational structures.
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Riccardo Bellofiore and Scott Carter
Resurgent interest in the life and work of the Italian Cambridge economist Piero Sraffa is leading to New Directions in Sraffa Scholarship. This chapter introduces readers to some…
Abstract
Resurgent interest in the life and work of the Italian Cambridge economist Piero Sraffa is leading to New Directions in Sraffa Scholarship. This chapter introduces readers to some of these developments. First and perhaps foremost is the fact that as of September 2016 Sraffa’s archival material has been uploaded onto the website of the Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge University, as digital colour images; this chapter introduces readers to the history of these events. This history provides sharp relief on the extant debates over the role of the archival material in leading to the final publication of Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities, and readers are provided a brief sketch of these matters. The varied nature of Sraffa scholarship is demonstrated by the different aspects of Sraffa’s intellectual legacy which are developed and discussed in the various entries of our Symposium. The conclusion is reached that we are on the cusp of an exciting phase change of tremendous potential in Sraffa scholarship.
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The purpose of this paper is to describe the learning from a historical NHS vocational service development that focused on: mental health, employment and social inclusion – in an…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the learning from a historical NHS vocational service development that focused on: mental health, employment and social inclusion – in an inner city area – involving service users, staff and commissioners.
Design/methodology/approach
It is a descriptive case study. A range of historical documents was content analysed and described through a first-person narrative: service user consultations, service specifications, audit records, outcome frameworks, internal service evaluations and published literature.
Findings
When vocational NHS service developments are grounded in what service users say helps them (person-centred, networked and co-ordinated approaches) the evidence indicates people can achieve their vocational goals.
Research limitations/implications
The range of documents described is factual, although the learning insights from some of the service developments are based on personal judgements. The author was the responsible manager – personal bias is high. There is not enough robust evidence to warrant generalisation.
Practical implications
When employment and social inclusion are prioritised, as core business in NHS, outcomes and health impact can increase. Greater detail is needed from healthcare policy makers – focusing on who exactly should undertake this work and what the key commissioning social inclusion performance indicators are.
Originality/value
The bulk of literature on employment support focuses on promoting evidence from one model: individual placement and support. Evidence here indicates a broader range of activity (education, training and volunteering) can have value and health impact.
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On April 2, 1987, IBM unveiled a series of long‐awaited new hardware and software products. The new computer line, dubbed the Personal Systems 30, 50, 60, and 80, seems destined…
Abstract
On April 2, 1987, IBM unveiled a series of long‐awaited new hardware and software products. The new computer line, dubbed the Personal Systems 30, 50, 60, and 80, seems destined to replace the XT and AT models that are the mainstay of the firm's current personal computer offerings. The numerous changes in hardware and software, while representing improvements on previous IBM technology, will require users purchasing additional computers to make difficult choices as to which of the two IBM architectures to adopt.
Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are…
Abstract
Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.
ANDREW Carnegie stands apart from all other library benefactors. No other man has given so much, or given so widely, in the cause of library progress. Although the United Kingdom…
Abstract
ANDREW Carnegie stands apart from all other library benefactors. No other man has given so much, or given so widely, in the cause of library progress. Although the United Kingdom was not the main recipient of his bounty, it received from him, personally, about £12 million, and considerable sums, in addition, from the Trust which he founded. It might well be expected, therefore, that his name would always be in our minds and that we would remember him more kindly than any other library benefactor. But it is not so.
Capital theory has taken a new turn with the theoretical discovery that wage curves tend to get linear in random systems, the larger they are, and with the confirmation that…
Abstract
Capital theory has taken a new turn with the theoretical discovery that wage curves tend to get linear in random systems, the larger they are, and with the confirmation that empirical wage curves do not deviate a great deal from linearity. The present chapter adds to these results by arguing that reswitching becomes less likely for larger systems, while Wicksell effects are almost surely present. But it can also be shown that the elasticity of substitution is likely to be small in random systems so that a policy to lower real wages will not easily generate much additional employment in a closed economy. A new perspective on employment policies is therefore called for.
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Conceptualizing development in terms of risk management has become a prominent feature of mainstream development discourse. This has led to a convergence between the rubrics of…
Abstract
Conceptualizing development in terms of risk management has become a prominent feature of mainstream development discourse. This has led to a convergence between the rubrics of financial inclusion and risk management whereby improved access for poor households to private sector credit, insurance and savings products is represented as a necessary step toward building “resilience.” This convergence, however, is notable for a shallow understanding of the production and distribution of risks. By naturalizing risk as an inevitable product of complex systems, the approach fails to interrogate how risk is produced and displaced unevenly between social groups. Ignoring the structural and relational dimensions of risk production leads to an overly technical approach to risk management that is willfully blind to the intersection of risk and social power. A case study of the promotion of index-based livestock insurance in Mongolia – held as a model for innovative risk management via financial inclusion – is used to indicate the tensions and contradictions of this projected synthesis of development and risk management.
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A review article of Pasinetti and Schefold’s edition of the papers at a conference in Marseilles, 1997, on the impact of Keynes in the twentieth century. The book itself is in…
Abstract
A review article of Pasinetti and Schefold’s edition of the papers at a conference in Marseilles, 1997, on the impact of Keynes in the twentieth century. The book itself is in three parts – theory; Keynesianism in European countries; and institutional discussions of Keynesian policies. The essay concentrates on the issues raised in the first part by Pasinetti, Leijonhufvud and Skidelsky. Pasinetti uses his vital distinction between principle and theory to examine why the Keynesian revolution may not have succeeded. Leijonhufvud identifies Keynes as the last of the classics, contrasting his approach with those he calls the moderns. Skidelsky asks what policies Keynes would advocate today, had he remained ageless with us.