The purpose of this paper is to argue that school innovation is a complex process requiring a detailed accounting of the relational activity characterising everyday innovating…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to argue that school innovation is a complex process requiring a detailed accounting of the relational activity characterising everyday innovating activity. It is further proposed that complex accounts of innovation practice that describe social factors only are insufficient.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a case study methodology, a focus on ideas of resistance and tension is used to explore the character of actual innovating experiences. Underpinned by assumptions of relationality and indicative of a poststructuralist and postmodern perspective, Actor‐Network Theory is applied as an analytical tool to investigate the sociomaterial character of everyday enactments of innovation practice in four independent boys' schools in Australia.
Findings
Four data stories describe multiple patterns of innovating activity that cannot accurately be accounted for in terms of a general notion of resistance. The idea that tension enables innovation practice is proposed.
Research limitations/implications
Approaches to school innovation that assume difference should be smoothed out or there is a risk of obstructing its practical accomplishment.
Practical implications
This paper provides a case for school leaders to expect and cultivate conditions that enable innovative tension and the co‐presence of multiple patterns of innovating activity.
Originality/value
In addition to critically viewing managerial notions of school innovation, this paper draws on the cross‐disciplinary research to include materiality as an active agent shaping, as opposed to providing a context for, innovating in schools.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore how participation can be investigated as an open and non‐exclusive sociomaterial practice.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how participation can be investigated as an open and non‐exclusive sociomaterial practice.
Design/methodology/approach
Framed by translation discourse and a view of the social world as a sociology of associations, participation in organisations is conceptualised as a network building practice. Actor‐network theory (ANT) is used as an analytical method to describe the character of everyday constructions of participation practice related to changes in curriculum and its delivery in an Australian independent school.
Findings
It was found that participation was performed as an uncertain practice. People in relation with technology and other material entities, co‐constructed and re‐constructed multiple participation practices.
Practical implications
For researchers, an ANT account of constructing participation practices provides an additional analytical tool for investigating participation in terms of relationality. The idea of constructing participation as networked practice provides practitioners with a reflective tool for detecting and enabling multiple (and sometimes inconsistent) participation practices.
Originality/value
Compared to participation research approaches that predetermine and predict variables of relevance, this paper is concerned with the everyday management of participation as an uncertain sociomaterial practice. In pursuing a critical line of inquiry, managerialist informed notions of planning, organising and coordinating are not debunked form relevance. Rather, it is proposed that translation and managerial discourses are co‐implicated in complex investigations of participation practice.
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Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to show that in comparison to performance appraisal, “practice enhancement” is offered as a conceptual tool that can be used to develop strategies for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to show that in comparison to performance appraisal, “practice enhancement” is offered as a conceptual tool that can be used to develop strategies for reflecting on, communicating changes in and planning for excellence in teaching practice.
Design/methodology/approach
The conceptual notion of practice enhancement is underpinned by assumptions from the discipline of positive psychology and supported by the need for a performance management process targeting teaching practice that considers the contributions made by social learning theory and organisational learning theory. Indicative of a postmodern persuasion, a data “story” from case study research is used to support the applicability of practice enhancement in schools. Actor‐network theory is used to analyse movements in local professional learning preferences and practices in an independent boys' school in Australia.
Findings
The paper finds that applicability and conceptual accuracy of managerial notions such as performance appraisal should be critically considered by educational researchers, policymakers, school leaders and teaching practitioners when developing processes for managing the performance of teachers in schools.
Research implications/limitations
Empirical studies evaluating the effectiveness of performance management processes underpinned by the notion of performance enhancement (in schools and other workplace settings) are required.
Practical implications
A conceptual tool for guiding the development of processes and tools for managing teaching excellence is provided.
Originality/value
This paper draws on cross‐disciplinary knowledge and the work of teaching practitioners to provide recommendations for cultivating conditions that enable teaching excellence.
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Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some…
Abstract
Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.