Abstract
This edition of Management in Education begins with a number of perspectives on emotion in education and within education practitioners. J Irudhaya Rajesh and L Suganthi focus on interpersonal communications in India between teachers and their supervisors and the ‘burn-out’ caused by teachers’ having high aspirations and high expectations of themselves. They argue that good communication and relations between teacher and supervisor has a significant positive impact on job satisfaction and reduces the risk of burn-out. Good communication with leaders and participation in decision-making should thus be a welcome step in improving teacher retention as should, the authors argue, a comforting hug. Ursula Edgington considers teaching and learning observation as a technique in Further Education. Ursula reports the emotional toll experienced during such observations and the reticence of educators to engage in discussion about emotions. She argues for more creative ways to manage the more judgemental aspects of observation to allow it to become more reflective and self-developing as a tool for improving practice. Perhaps in contrast, Christopher Hanley tackles the literature discussing the emotional demands of professional life, arguing that it is necessary to preserve private spaces. Christopher utilises ideas from Orwell to look at the totalitarianism of discourse about emotion. He challenges the leadership field to think more carefully and perhaps cautiously about the ways in which personal ‘emotional labour’ is employed in the workplace and the degree to which this represents an unacceptable intrusion.
Discussion then shifts to the ways in which judgements made about educational provision can impact upon practice. Dick Michael Carpenter II and Charity Peak discuss leadership of Charter schools in the USA. Dick and Charity argue that leaders in Charter schools carry greater responsibility than do other school leaders and this appears to lead them into more managerial roles where they lead meetings, focus on safety and manage wider staffing issues but have less confidence in relation to the curriculum taught. Thus it is argued that instructional leadership may be lacking and the Charter school leader role needs further investigation. Soribel Genao discusses the issue of Adequate Yearly Progress in a school in New York. Adequate Yearly Progress is a system that makes publically accessible judgements about pupil progress, teacher and leaders, placing pressure particularly on leaders to meet federally devised objectives which may be seen as unrealistic. Judgements are made on a pass/fail basis and the consequences of failing are high. The answer for relieving the pressure somewhat is, Soribel argues, working as teams within the school. Steven Courtney continues with the school leadership themes and considers head teachers’ experiences of the new Ofsted inspection framework. The new inspection process, he argues, is focussed on attainment and less on leadership qualities. Thus results have gained more prominence. Steven also argues that the ‘Outstanding’ category will be much more difficult to attain in areas of disadvantage as no account is now taken of background or geographical area based on the assumption that this has no effect on attainment. He also argues that connections to the community are no longer inspected and so may not continue to be developed which is contrary to evidence arguing about the importance of these links.
We then look at roles in terms of masculinity and then governance. Rachel Chard considers the links between leadership and masculinity to assess whether this in some way accounts for the greater numbers of men in headship positions in schools. Rachel argues that, from her small study, although male heads didn’t perceive there to be a gender issue at work, they nevertheless reported ‘sacrifices’ made by their partners to support them in their careers. She also points out that communication and listening were high on the agendas of all heads despite these being traits associated with the feminine. Rachel argues that there is further work to be done to fully understand what is taking place. Finally Robert Masunga considers the role of governors in Further Education settings which he argues has become increasingly important as educational institutions have gained autonomy. Robert argues that there is continuing ambiguity about this role but that there is a sense in which this role develops management based upon market principles. With the tasks required of governors increasing, Robert feels that it is an important time to review the purposes of the governors’ role.
I hope that you find this edition of MiE stimulating and I look forward to receiving any comments ideas and submissions to take us forward into 2014.