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Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the role of an under-graduate educational leadership in introducing students to the complexity of school leadership practice. Design/methodology/approach – Theoretically informed by Bourdieuian social theory and drawing on a questionnaire with a cohort of students, the paper evaluates a course in relation to achieving its outcomes. Findings – An analysis of student responses indicates that the course did introduce students to school leadership practice and assist in the construction of a school leadership disposition. Research limitations/implications – The theoretical resources used in the paper have significant implications for how researchers conceive of school leadership practice. Therefore, this paper may be the basis of further work. Practical implications – The findings of this work have implications for teacher educators and specifically universities. From this paper, the inclusion of an educational leadership course in under-graduate programs should become more the norm rather than the exception. Originality/value – This paper has value in two unique ways. First, there has been very little work undertaken on the role of educational leadership courses in under-graduate programs and in the context of increased political attention and no formal pre-requisites for the principalship in Australia, this work is both timely and significant. Second, this paper works with a sophisticated notion of school leadership practice and its location using social theory, a perspective that is uncommon in much of the literature on educational leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to serve as an introduction to and overview of this special issue of the Journal of Educational Administration entitled "Building organisational capacity in school education". The co-editors have solicited contributions from authors in Wales, Australia, Canada, the USA, England, Hong Kong and New Zealand. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews past and contemporary approaches to the issue of capacity building in education and in particular, sustainable capacity building. As well as reviewing key researchers and writers in this field, including their own work, the authors foreshadow and synthesise the other seven papers that make up this special issue. Findings – The paper contends that building capacity in schools and schooling, while no means easy, can be both understood and accomplished. However, caution needs to be exercised because hard-fought gains in capacity building and sustainability can be quickly eroded under the influence of poor leadership or extraneous changes. Practical implications – The paper serves as a framework both for the seven papers that follow and more generally for understanding and conceptualising sustainable school capacity building. Originality/value – The paper performs the function of framing current debates and pressures around sustainable school capacity-building in an international theoretical and practical context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to bring together for the first time three studies of middle-level leaders in secondary schools in Victoria, Australia. The studies span more than a decade and allow consideration of the progress in developing middle-level leadership roles. Design/methodology/approach – All studies followed a consistent approach using multiple perspective interviews of middle-level curriculum and subject leadership in government and Catholic secondary schools in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Principals, senior leaders, middle-level leaders and teachers were interviewed to gain their perceptions on middle-level leadership. Interviews were supplemented with school document analysis. Findings – The work of middle-level leaders is heavily dependent on how their roles are constructed and the capacities, abilities and attitudes of the leaders. Some are expected to be leaders that influence teaching and learning, and they may be developed and supported to do so. Too often, however, teachers in these key roles have few expectations or opportunities to exercise leadership. Whilst many have the capacity to be leaders of teaching and learning, others are not sure about their ability to influence teaching and learning. Suggestions are made for how leadership might be structured in schools to emphasise the importance of middle-level leaders, and how these leaders can be better prepared and supported. Research limitations/implications – Observational studies, studies of primary school contexts and cross-country comparisons would extend this research. Practical implications – Middle-level school leaders need to be seen as key personnel in improving teaching and learning, school structures need to reflect this, and developing leadership capacity needs to be prioritised. Originality/value – This paper highlights continuing issues with how the work of middle-level school leaders is conceptualised and supported, and makes suggestions for leadership structure and the preparation and development of school leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review strategies to build capacity for school improvement in Australia. The focus is on public schools and strategies adopted for the system as a whole. Design/methodology/approach – This paper traces developments from a national perspective and makes a case for the key contemporary policy shift that has provided the platform for a new era of educational reform. Two contrasting case studies are described in order to demonstrate the pathways embarked on by a large jurisdiction, namely the State of Victoria, which has led the nation in terms of devolved decision-making for public schools, and second, a much smaller jurisdiction, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), which is introducing a range of reforms to give public schools much greater autonomy in order to achieve improved performance. The paper concludes with a "futures" view of how strategies may continue to evolve. Shifting the language from "improvement" to "transformation" is canvassed. Findings – It is concluded that a key to success has been to align strategies among different levels of the school system: central, regional/district, school and classroom. The possibilities for moving beyond improvement to transformation are canvassed. Originality/value – The value of the paper lies in its up-to-date account of system-wide efforts to improve schools and a summary of evidence on their impact. The paper is of particular interest to school and school system leaders as well as those engaged in the study of educational policy and educational leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report innovative research aimed at ascertaining whether standards for school leaders could be applied to the process of selecting senior secondary school principals for appointment. Specifically, psychometrically robust measures of performance are sought that would sufficiently differentiate performance to support judgement about whether or not to appoint candidates in the public educational authority in Western Australia. Design/methodology/approach – Initially, the authors describe previous research in the application of standards to selection in education, followed by a brief review of selection practices undertaken in two international settings and the Western Australian educational setting. The authors then describe the innovative design of performance-based assessment tasks for the selection process including task and rubric development, rater training and data validation. The Rasch measurement model is used to analyse the datasets gathered during three iterations of selection process for the Western Australian education authority. Findings – The Rasch analysis of each dataset provides evidence of construct validity and a robust measure of reliability. The person and item location distributions indicate the tasks were better targeted for the highest performing candidates in the second and third iterations and that fine-grained discrimination was evident across the candidate locations. Originality/value – The paper describes psychometrically robust measures of performance that would sufficiently differentiate performance to support judgement about whether or not to appoint candidates in the public educational authority in Western Australia. Specifically, the paper describes the development of performance-based tasks over three years and demonstrates the application of Rasch analysis to examine the psychometric properties of the assessment tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to present a research-based model of leadership for learning. It argues that the field has made substantial progress over the past 40 years in identifying ways in which leadership contributes to learning and school improvement. Four specific dimensions of leading for learning are presented: values and beliefs, leadership focus, contexts for leadership, and sharing leadership. Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs a review methodology but focuses especially on evidence from several recent empirical studies. While the author argues that progress has been made, limitations – especially with respect to linking leadership practice to different contexts – are noted. Findings – The paper finds that significant progress has been made in identifying the means by which leadership impacts on learning. Research limitations/implications – The key limitation in this research lies in the difficulty in linking leadership to its context. While progress is also beginning to be made in this area, it remains a limiting factor in interpreting the findings from this body of research. Practical implications – The above limitation means that individual school leaders must still apply the findings both with caution and with an understanding of their own particular school context. Originality/value – The paper extends prior reviews by its inclusion of findings from a series of important studies that have emerged since 2008. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The paper seeks to apply the theory of the democratic deficit to school-based management with an emphasis on Australia. This theory was developed to examine managerial restructuring of the Australian Public Service in the 1990s. Given similarities between the use of managerial practices in the public service and government schools, the authors draw on recent literature about school-based management in Australia and apply the democratic deficit theory to it. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is conceptual in focus. The authors analyse literature in terms of the three components of the democratic deficit – i.e. the weakening of accountability, the denial of the roles and values of public employees, and the emergence of a "hollow state" – and in relation to the application of this theory to the Australian Public Service. Findings – A trend towards the three components of the democratic deficit is evident in Australia although, to date, its emergence has not been as extensive as in the UK. The authors argue that the democratic principles on which public schooling in Australia was founded are being eroded by managerial and market practices. Practical implications – These findings provide policy makers and practitioners with another way of examining managerial and market understandings of school-based management and its impact on teachers and on students. It offers suggestions to reorient practices away from those that are exclusively managerial-based towards those that are public-sector based. Originality/value – The value of this paper is that it applies the theory of the democratic deficit to current understandings of school-based management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The paper aims to provide insights into the work of beginning principals in their first year through the experiences of one beginning principal during his first year in post. Design/methodology/approach -- In order to illuminate the problems of beginning principals the paper sets out to answer the personal question: "What can I say about my experiences that can benefit other beginning principals?" To this end, it details a personal exploration of a beginning principal's first year in post using an action learning methodology. Findings -- The paper describes some of the major problems faced and asserts that the key issue which emerged was how much or how little change beginning principals should implement in their first year on the job. The paper also suggests a personal generic framework for dealing with this and other issues in situ. Originality/value -- This paper provides a unique insight into the work of beginning principals and their work problems. It also contributes a model that may stimulate reflection on key issues faced by a beginning principal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many countries concerns have been expressed about the merits of educational research. This paper reports on the outcomes of a review of reviews of such research in Australia and the UK. Taken at face value, the latest round of reviews are largely critical in the UK (where they have generated much debate) and mainly favourable in Australia (where they have not). In accounting for this difference the paper suggests that it might be explained in part as a function of how the reviews were conducted. In the UK reviews have tended to begin with the research and work forward to practice whereas in Australia they have been inclined to begin with practice and work back to the research. It is suggested that policy makers, practitioners and researchers in Australia and the UK have much to learn from each other's experience, as have those in other countries planning similar reviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This history of the politics of moves towards school-based management in Queensland education is located within a broader historical and political analysis of such moves across Australia since the Karmel Report. This paper specifically focuses in on developments in Queensland. The Queensland analysis traces the moves from Labor's Focus on Schools through the Coalition's Leading Schools and the most recent Labor rearticulation in the document Future Directions for School-based Management in Queensland State Schools. The analysis demonstrates that the concept of school-based management has no stipulative meaning, but rather is a contested concept. More generally, the paper provides an account and analysis of new forms of governance in educational systems and the tension between centralising and decentralising tendencies as school-based management is adopted in order to address a number of competing policy objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper reports two related studies of relationships between organizational communication and occupational stress of staff members in Catholic primary schools. Design/methodology/approach – Data from both studies were obtained using survey questionnaires. Participants were staff members of Catholic diocesan primary schools in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Queensland, Australia. Research hypotheses were tested using correlation and multiple regression analyses. Findings – Ten organizational communication factors and four occupational stress domains were identified. Several organizational communication variables were found to be predictors of occupational stress in four identified domains. Practical implications – The findings provide implications for school administrators in relation to staff member access to formal communication channels, openness and approachability of principals, and support giving between school administration and staff, as well as among staff. Originality/value – The studies used a conceptual framework of organizational communication that is unique and comprehensive. The paper contributes new knowledge in an area that has received little attention, namely, communication in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – One of the features of the New Zealand secondary schools system is that achievement closely reflects the taught curriculum. The National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) directly assesses student achievement on the secondary school curriculum through a combination of criterion-based internal and external assessments. The nature of NCEA means school-level results not only reflect student achievement but also the ability of leaders to organise, deliver, and monitor a relevant curriculum for students. This paper aims to describe how NCEA data were used to develop a simple but fair system to assess the relative performance of secondary schools. Design/methodology/approach – No standardised measures of performance prior to Year 11 are available in New Zealand. Nor are student-level data available. In the absence of these, multiple indicators of gross performance, added value and improvement over time were analysed using a schools-of-similar-type methodology. Findings – Results indicated that schools in the low and middle SES communities were more likely to be improving than others, but these improving schools were also more likely to be already high- or mid-performing. Low-performing schools were least likely to be improving. Originality/value – Some advantages of this methodology are its ability to be utilised with any publicly available standards-based achievement data, its validity as an indicator of leadership and organisational performance, and its ability to track school performance trends over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This article aims to reinterpret principal preparatory programs to also include the collective learning-from-success process (success-based learning), thus providing a complementary instructional framework on how to prepare principals for today's public school reality. Design/methodology/approach – The discussion reviews the core leadership capacities for today's and tomorrow's principalship and the need to rethink principal preparatory programs accordingly. The interrelationship between problems and learning is described, coupled with the possibilities and limitations of problem-based learning. Success-based learning is then described, enumerating its potentials and pitfalls. Findings – The paper finds that focusing on both learning from problems and learning from successes in leadership education may better develop prospective principals' leadership capacities necessary to lead schools in a dynamic environment. Originality/value – The paper highlights the need to conceptualize and empirically investigate problem-based learning and success-based learning as interrelated instructional frameworks that are both necessary to develop effective future leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a review paper which aims to establish research-based arguments on the development of a national curriculum in Australia. It stresses the importance of stakeholders in considering certain aspects of the educational change including nature, purpose, values and implications, along with the role of politics and leadership to the national curriculum innovation. It asserts that community ownership of the process can be strongly attributed to genuine involvement of teachers and the collaborative participation among educational and political leaders.

Purpose – This paper develops a theoretical framework to guide future inquiry into board governance of independent schools. Design/methodology/approach – The authors' approach is to integrate literatures related to corporate and educational boards, motivation, leadership and group processes that are appropriate for conceptualizing independent school board governance processes. Findings – Shows that the institutional role of an independent school board is likely to be quite different, and considerably more significant than the role of a board of a systemic school. Originality/value – This paper develops an original theoretical framework that will provide a sound basis for investigation of an important but neglected aspect of educational administration in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The former colleges of advanced education were an important component of the higher education sector in Australia. Uses the Malmquist total factor productivity index to investigate the efficiency and productivity of Australian colleges of advanced education during the 1980s. The results from this analysis indicate that these colleges recorded modest growth in technical change and total factor productivity, but did not fare all that well in terms of growth in technical and scale efficiency during the 1980s. As a group, however, the former colleges of advanced education had attained high levels of technical and scale efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to estimate the prevalence of staff bullying in Australian schools, to identify bullies and targets and to examine some implications for school leaders in dealing with staff bullying. Design/methodology/approach -- The quantitative research design survey instrument contained 11 demographic items, 44 questions of bullying experience, two lists of possible bullies and targets, plus three open-ended questions. Findings -- Data revealed that 99.6 per cent of respondents had experienced some form of bullying during their employment. Half the respondents experienced 32 or more of the 44 listed survey items, while their health was adversely affected by persistent and frequent bullying. Practical implications -- The research revealed the existence of workplace bullying in Australian schools and some obvious implications for leadership. It profiled the experiences of respondents and identified strategies to eliminate or reduce bullying in Australian schools. Originality/value -- The exploratory study was the first national online survey into staff bullying in Australian schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines and compares the recent emphases in school education and school leadership training in Australia and the state of Tasmania as they relate to the democratic purposes of schools. It finds a strong emphasis on the democratic purposes of schools and congruence between these purposes and the means of achieving them, in respect of school principal training at the national but not state level. This finding raises a major issue in respect of the ongoing pervasiveness of educational bureaucracies and whether they continue to be the best means of delivering educational outcomes (including principal training) in, and for, a democratic and increasingly knowledge society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School principals have difficulty embracing the competing demands of school restructuring. These demands include being accountable for the outcomes of other decision-making groups within, or external to, the school community; having strong views while making decisions collaboratively; and using group processes without wasting the time, commitment, motivation and goodwill of those involved. The three sets of tensions were named the accountability, autonomy, and efficiency dilemmas, respectively. This paper outlines the development of an instrument to determine the saliency of particular domains of decision making in which these dilemmas are experienced by school principals. The instrument was trialled in Australia and New Zealand using Rasch analysis to check the fit of items. The instrument is currently being applied in The Netherlands, Australia and Taiwan, with other countries to follow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Without the support of school leaders, particularly the principal, the educational potential of information and communications technology may not be realised. Principals need to assume a major responsibility for initiating and implementing school change through the use of information and communications technology and can facilitate complex decisions to integrate it into learning, teaching and school administration. However, little is known about its use by principals, their perceived competence in it and their preferred means of acquiring these skills and understandings. This paper will report on these issues from an initial analysis of baseline data gathered from a survey of all elementary and secondary principals in government, Catholic and independent schools in the coastal Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia. Findings indicate that there were considerable variations in the use of information and communications technology by principals and in their perceived competencies. Preferences for learning more about it and possible professional development strategies to cater for these variations are explored and recommendations made for the attention of decision makers and policy developers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in teacher "stress" and its relationship to teacher well-being has a long and distinguished history. However, there has been criticism of this research endeavour for its conceptual narrowness and lack of psychometric rigour. An international project investigating teacher and school executive career satisfaction, motivation and mental health is initiated. This project sought to develop a model of teachers' occupational well-being that was wider than a focus on "stress", and, as noted, included occupational motivation and satisfaction. This paper reports on a sub-aspect of that research, the development of scales to measure teacher and school executive satisfaction with the work of teaching and its context carried out in Australia, England, New Zealand and the USA. Separate teams recruited participants in each of the four countries, giving a final sample of 3,000 teachers and school executive. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the Australian data resulted in a ten factor model, which was validated on the English and New Zealand data. Analyses of the US data resulted in a 16 factor model. As well as revealing relative satisfaction with various facets of the teaching role, these scales also prove useful in explaining how teachers and school executive view the construction of their respective educational and social contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addresses the persistent tension that exists between centralized, as opposed to decentralized (devolved), structures of school governance. Examines the claims made in the literature for the positive benefits of devolution and conversely for its neg ative outcomes, and proposes some more realistic expectations. Focuses on the relationship between devolution and improved teaching and learning. Contributes to future research by providing a detailed analysis of the meaning of devolution and proposes a preliminary research paradigm with a special focus on the variables likely to have a direct effect on student learning outcomes. Calls for a co-ordinated international programme of research into the effects of devolution under the leadership of the Commo nwealth Council of Educational Administration [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of a successful school principalship in Australia from the initial study in 2004 to the follow-up study in 2008. This longitudinal study outlines the findings of a multiple-perspective interview conducted by researchers with a school principal. It notes that this is part of the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) which indicates how the principal was able to sustain success despite challenges.

Gives direction as to how administrative quality at a university can be measured on an interval scale. The measure is based on a model of academic staff perceptions in relation to central, faculty or school administration (as the case may be). The Australian Government set up a new Australian University Quality Agency in 2001 and one of its objectives is to measure quality in administration (management). Proposes that academic staff perceptions of administrative quality consist of two first order aspects, operationally defined by a number of second order aspects. The 21 stem-items measuring each second order aspect are set up in Guttman patterns, conceptually ordered by increasing "difficulty". Academics are asked to respond to each of the 21 stem-items in two parts, conceptually ordered from "easy" to "hard". This model has been pilot tested successfully with a small sample (N = 27) and is now ready for a full test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates relationships between school and classroom environment. Explains how in Australian secondary schools, instruments were developed and validated for assessing seven dimensions of school environment (empowerment, student support, affiliation, professional interest, mission consensus, resource adequacy and work pressure) and seven dimensions of classroom environment (student affiliation, interactions, co-operation, task orientation, order and organization, individualization and teacher control). The study involved a sample of 2,211 students in 104 year nine and year 12 religious education and science classes and 208 teachers of religious education and science in Catholic and government secondary schools. Indicates that weak relationship between school and classroom environments emerged, suggesting that the school environment cannot be assumed to transmit automatically to the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the results of a national survey of government primary school principals in Australia on the purposes of education in the country in terms of the importance and level of enactment of those purposes in schools. Among the purposes of education are student love of learning and responsible citizens for democracy and common good, community development and resource, social justice and sorting for employment and the economy. Strategies to achieve the purposes are to foster professional student trust and collaboration, value and resource difference and disadvantage, community resource, development and involvement, emphasis on diversity within and between schools, student involvement in curriculum and national basic tests to sort students and schools.

This article discusses a study which aimed to posit and test hypotheses concerned with relationships between teachers' demographic characteristics, locus of control and career stages in Australia. The researchers gathered a sample consisting of non-executive high school teachers. They employed multilevel regression analysis reflecting the nested nature of the sample. The study found that significant gender and years of teaching experience differences were identified for a number of career stages. It also reported a number of multilevel models relating locus of control and demographic variables to career stages.

The article focuses on the need in educational leadership for a perspective that is more sensitive to cultural diversity and what values such leaders draw on when making decisions. It is noted that European colonialism and western hegemony were responsible for dispersing a particular educational system to developing countries. A model for cross-cultural communication is presented to show a best practice method that could be used to improve education through cooperation. The article provides an examination of research that was done in which administrators from China were sent to study leadership in Australia and how an introduction to Western education models influenced the participants.

This article researches the effect that secondary heads of departments (HoD) have on academic achievement in public high school students in New South Wales, Australia. The article examines the role of HoDs as one that is responsible for implementing educational change and argues that HoDs should receive training to help them move into being both a manager and an educator. The research was conducted under the auspices of An Exceptional Schooling Outcomes Project (AESOP), which is sponsored by he Australian Research Council. The role of HoDs in organizing their departments and writing policies that deal with student discipline and educational resources.

This article examines and highlights the potential ambit of liability for educational negligence within universities. While the absence of any existing body of case law on the liability of universities necessarily requires a degree of speculation as to the attitude of the courts, some guidance can be obtained from the principles and policy underpinning the existing case law and commentary on the negligence of teachers and schools. This article draws on recent developments in the United Kingdom with respect to educational negligence. The common law in Australia has traditionally developed alongside United Kingdom law and legal developments in the United Kingdom are indicative and pre-empt or parallel developments in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Recent preliminary research in secondary schools suggests that indicators other than the traditional performance outcome measures of school achievement can be used to differentiate between school performance. These indicators are student factors that have been associated with accepted notions of quality schooling outcomes, such as student attitude to school, their approaches to learning and their academic self-concept. This study examined student survey data collected from 30 schools in rural and metropolitan South Australia, including independent and public schools. The nature and strength of the relationships between student factors and selected school variables were tested against a range of school outcome measures such as school retention, academic results and SACE certification) completion. The implications of these results for the kind of teaching and learning environment that promotes valued school outcomes is explicated and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates teacher receptivity to a proposal to relocate Year 7 primary classes to secondary schools in the Western Australia Catholic school system. The proposal has not yet either been formally promulgated to schools, parents and stu dents or adopted by the Catholic Education Commission. A general model of teacher receptivity to a major planned change in a centralised education system, during the adoption stage, was used to guide the study. The dependent variable, receptivity, was me asured in two aspects - an evaluative attitude and behaviour intentions. Three independent variables, general beliefs about the secondary school and perceived readiness to leave primary school, perceived practicality of the change, and the perception tha t fears and concerns associated with the change will be alleviated, were measured. The environment in which teachers work was measured through the teacher (age, gender, experience, area of expertise and school size) and the school (primary or secondary, size and location), as situation variables, related to the independent variables. Receptivity was found to be strongly and positively related to the perceived practicality of the change and moderately, positively related to perceived readiness of Year 7 students for secondary school. The results are combined with other studies to provide advice to educational administrators about how to adopt and manage this proposed change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many young adults who drop out of school elect to re-enter the secondary education system after a period of absence. Reports the findings from a survey of 215 providers of education to re-entry students in three states of Australia. Few of these ed ucational providers possess formal qualifications in adult education, but most hold favourable attitudes to working with students who return to school. In general, the re-entry students were perceived to have high rates of academic success but also high rates of withdrawal. The study identified a number of challenges and problems associated with school re-entry, and makes recommendations to enhance rates of re-entry student participation, satisfaction and success. Emphasizes the advantages associated wi th re-entering an "innovative" senior secondary environment, rather than a traditional high school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many Australian educators believe that it is common in the USA for teachers to be sued by their students for careless teaching. Contends that this is a misconception, as the reported cases indicate that the US courts have been reluctant so far to f ind teachers liable at common law for careless teaching, or "educational malpractice". The courts have justified this reluctance on "policy" grounds, arguing that to impose such a liability on teachers would not be in the public interest. However, in a r ecent decision in Britain, the House of Lords held that educators are under a duty of care when advising on the educational needs of students. Examines the following issues: the extent to which at present Australian teachers could be liable for loss suff ered by students as a result of poor teaching; the House of Lords' decision on educational negligence, the US courts' policy reasons for refusing to hold teachers liable for poor teaching; whether the Australian courts should follow the US courts or the House of Lords; and the likelihood of Australian teachers being sued for educational malpractice in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The deputy principalship remains one of the least understood roles in the schools of contemporary education systems. Research which contributes to theory building about the deputy principalship has been hampered by the lack of survey instruments with known psychometric properties. Reports an exploratory study which uses latent trait theory to construct a variable which describes and conceptualizes practitioner perspectives of the deputy principalship in the self-managing school. The logic of constructing the variable is explained in terms of the requirements of the measurement model employed. A sample of 403 deputy principals, 179 principals and 138 teachers in government primary schools in Western Australia provided data for analysing the actual and ideal perceptions of these practitioners in terms of the variable as conceptualized. In this way, the variable provided the knowledge base for describing the "professional horizon" of school practitioners with respect to the traditional and emergent facets of the deputy principalship. Considers the outcomes of the analysis for further research about mapping the responsibilities of the deputy principal in a changing environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the attitudes of a small sample of older women in education to the future options of either continuing to participate in their chosen profession or retiring early. Little interest was shown in early retirement, partly because it was not an attractive financial option for many of the sample and partly because the majority of the women expressed strong commitment to continued workforce participation. The study highlights how former discriminatory practices in access to superannuation membership have disadvantaged women by not providing them with comparable financial benefits when their organizations begin to downsize and offer voluntary separation packages. Concludes with the thought that organizations should re-examine their stereotypes of older workers and implement policies which will use their talents more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The more it changes, the more it stays the same. This was the thought which launched this comparison of 1950s and 1990s Australian educational administration. It arose from the visit of this English academic to Australia in 1992 and the apparent contrast between what is happening now and the views of the seminal study made in 1955 by the American, Freeman Butts. Then, centralization was the dominant mode and Australia was much criticized for this. Freeman Butts proposed devolution to improve educational decision-making. His views are once again topical as Australian states and other countries move to devolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]