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‘System leadership’, as applied to the running of schools, refers to a form of leadership that extends beyond a single institution, where headteachers work with establishments other than their own. This approach is predicated on certain beliefs about the role and purpose of collaborative school leadership and management in a marketised system of state schooling and the benefits of a distributed and networked approach to school improvement. But what are the potential benefits and limitations of school system leadership? What normative interpretations of the system are best suited for purpose? This paper explores these issues with reference to the English school system, where system leadership is actively promoted by government through education policy and school reform. In order to do this, use is made of Gunter, H., D. Hall, and J. Bragg (2013. “Distributed Leadership: A Study in Knowledge Production.”Education Management, Administration and Leadership41 (4): 555–580.) framework of distributed leadership in schools. The framework identifies functionally normative, functionally descriptive, critical and socially critical positions in the school leadership literature. The paper concludes by putting forward potential alternatives to the largely functional policy narratives and solutions of recent decades, which are based on a broader understanding of ‘the system’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

'Performance management', in various guises, and usually in very incomplete forms, has been used in schools in many countries for some considerable time. Recently, partly as a consequence of government policy, more formalised versions of these have been attempted in the UK. Many of these policy initiatives have been met with criticism and resistance—often on the grounds that they poorly reflect the rich complexity of teachers' work. Where performance-related pay has been used as a key element of performance management, one of the major causes of complaint has been that this device distorts the assessment of 'contribution' by focusing attention on too narrow an agenda. It was, in part, to overcome these kinds of reservations about early forms of performance management (and, crucially, performance measurement) in other sectors that the concept of the 'Balanced Scorecard' was developed in the early 1990s. Since that time this tool has been sustained and refined. It is in the course of being extensively applied and tested in the public and private sectors alike. It has been argued that organisations that seek multiple objectives—and public sector service organisations in particular—would find this approach especially appropriate to their needs. Indeed, in the White Paper Modernising Government (House of Commons 1999) the case is made for the use of such a mechanism for the public services. This paper makes three contributions. First, it describes and examines the nature of the Balanced Scorecard as a conceptual framework and as a management information tool. Second, the potential and the limitations of the approach in a schools context are identified and discussed. Third, a research agenda is outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on education research. `A Small School Management Style--Appearance or Reality,' by Valerie Wilson and Joanna McPake; `Equal Access to State Funding: The Case of Muslim Schools in Britain,' by Marie Parker-Jenkins; `The Significant Goal Substitutions Present in OfSTED Inspections.'

In this paper, the author explores the development of school staff who are employed to support pupils in the classroom, specifically the teaching assistant/higher level teaching assistant role. These roles have undergone considerable change following the introduction of Workforce Reform and Remodelling in English schools and the National Agreement. In practice, the introduction of this agreement into schools appears to have a powerful gendered aspect which limits choice and agency for individuals and prevents the development of a coherent workforce. I argue that the discourse of maternality within which the school support role has evolved supposes a level of self-sacrifice and conscientiousness which is gendered and conceals the exploitative nature of the role in terms of poor pay and career prospects. Furthermore, the growth of support staff in English schools to undertake roles previously assigned to teachers has had the effect of disaggregating and de-professionalising the teacher role and weakening the traditional job boundaries which defined the work of support staff. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article comments on the dramatic increase of leadership development programs in Great Britain. The authors cited the opportunities which have included the exciting possibilities of creating new programs that may help to increase leadership and transform schools. It has acknowledged the positive effects of recent educational policy in framing a more holistic and coherent approach to school leadership development. They also investigated a tool that provides principal and his or her mentor with the information they need to determine priority learning needs.

During the summer of 1998, 74 primary, secondary, nursery and special schools were identified by the Department for Education and Employment for their educational expertise in the areas of management or curriculum with the strategic aim that these institutions were to be 'held up as beacons of excellence' for other schools to emulate. It has been suggested that such schools will find themselves under pressure to maintain their perceived levels of educational excellence whilst, at the same time, attempting to assist others in their development (Ghouri, 1999). All 74 'Beacon Schools' were requested to complete a short, focused questionnaire and, based on analysis of this survey, this paper addresses the management implications of balancing the existing core function of educating pupils whilst developing support and training facilities for other educational professionals. Findings indicate that effective communication, both internally and externally, coupled with a clear sense of purpose and vision, have enabled Beacon Schools to fulfil both roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the extent to which the technicist-rational approach to school development planning, advocated by OfSTED inspection guidelines, is appropriate for primary schools. The issue is investigated through case studies of nine primary schools, deemed by OfSTED to be educationally effective and efficient. The external pressures on schools to adopt a technicist-rational approach to management have been intensified by application of the OfSTED inspection guidelines. The school development plan and its implementation now form a crucial part of the evidence which inspectors use to judge the management and efficiency of the school. Schools that are deemed educationally effective and efficient by OfSTED inspectors may therefore be expected to show high levels of technicist-rational planning. This was not found to be the case, and a more sophisticated typology of planning approaches, drawing on distinctions between strategic and development planning, and between technicist and guiding plan, is developed to accommodate the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In England, governing bodies continue to be responsible for the conduct of publicly funded schools. This article compares the governing of publicly funded primary schools (for 5–11 year olds) and secondary schools (for 11–18 year olds). The research analysed policy documents and the governing of 16 primary and 14 secondary schools. The main governance mode for both primary schools and secondary schools is hierarchical and similar in nature, and the governing bodies of primary and secondary schools use broadly similar governing instruments. However, they differ in significant ways. In primary schools, governing is smaller in scale and less complex. Primary school governing is closer to the school and children, and the images held by governors of the system to be governed are better developed in primary schools. Functional knowledge was more useful in primary school governing, and the use of informal meetings as instruments of governance was more widespread in primary school governing. The findings and their implications need to be taken into account in the analysis of and policy making for school governing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The specialist schools programme is currently seen by policy makers as a way of transforming the comprehensive education system, and meeting the local needs of parents for diversity and excellence. Insofar as this policy has an evidence-base this has been provided by studies showing higher levels of attainment among existing specialist schools. This article shows that if these advantages occur then there is a danger that they do so at a cost in terms of inclusion. The existing specialist schools have also shown a greater tendency to take proportionately fewer children from poor families over time, especially where these schools are also their own admission authorities. If this trend continues it will exacerbate the pre-existing social and economic segregation in the education system. The article ends by considering some of the implications for school organisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within 15 months of New Labour being elected to Government in May 1997, a new framework for the organisation of schools in England and Wales was on the statute books. In September 1999 the legislation was implemented and three new categories of schools: foundation, voluntary and community, replaced all previous classifications. Thus, the opportunity for state schools to 'opt out' and become self-governing, grant maintained (GM) schools was abolished. Indeed, all schools, regardless of their category, are now required to have local education authority representatives on their governing bodies. This article reports on empirical research carried out between September 1997 and the end of 1998-the period when the new framework was being shaped. The research is concerned with GM schools' headteachers' and chairs of governors' views and interpretations about the future governance of their schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses a study which described some of the progress that has been made in researching the policy, process and impact of parental choice of schools in Great Britain. Background of the study; Outline of researchers' attitudes to the policy of choice; Description of some of the undergoing research projects.