Abstract
Welcome to this edition of MiE which gathers a range of interesting articles that look first at higher education, then at children’s services and children’s centres followed by some challenges for thinking around schools. We begin with Coral Pepper and Wendy Giles who look at the experiences of associate deans in higher education with a focus on Australia. They discuss the stresses and responsibilities associated with a role that has little actual power. Through exploring narratives, Coral and Wendy argue that this is an isolated role that is seen in terms of a phase, or step on to other positions of responsibility. The importance of communication and networks with others in similar positions is stressed as is the need for good support structures. Looking at an alternative aspect of higher education Herman Kok, Mark Mobach, and Onno Omta relate the conditions of the built environment to the success of students in Dutch higher education institutions. Data is gathered through questionnaires and their findings indicate that environment reveals something about the discipline and expectations of the institution which can be related to student outcomes. Herman, Mark and Onno state that functional space has an effect on the teaching staff which then impacts upon their attitudes and ability to teach effectively. Moreover, they found that cleanliness has a positive effect on successful study.
Focussing next upon multi-disciplinary approaches to education Christine Tarpey and Val Poultney look at leadership in children’s services and how rapid and frequent change can be managed. Through data that includes vignettes Christine and Val argue that as working practices become more integrated schools are having to think more carefully about their own leadership styles as the begin to work more collaboratively with other services in order to develop communities of practice with a shared moral authority. Gill Weston and Mary Tyler then consider children’s centers from the perspectives of the management and leadership involving engagement across multi-disciplinary settings. This article looks at one context in relation to the activities of an improvement and development officer and explores the need to take a distributed approach to leadership. Gill and Mary report how a theoretical model has been applied in practice, resulting in the growth of a more distributed, discursive and trustful approach to leadership across the settings involved.
Next, Chris James and Izhar Oplatka challenge us to review notions of perfection in education and whether it is desirable to create ‘perfect schools’. They argue that becoming too ‘risk averse’ acts to limit opportunities in schools to experiment and learn in ways that develop their practice. The discussion is brought into focus through a series of vignettes where Chris and Izhar use these to explore notions of risk, where risk can be helpful rather than damaging, and a sense of where the divide between the two lies. Margaret Etherington tackles the issue of art and its marginalisation in secondary education exacerbated through a lack of support shown by senior managers who often take their emphases from government policy. Through a case-study, Margaret points out the downward spiral caused when a subject is not seen as important, therefore attainment is not stressed, thus students attain less, which then supports a view that the subject is not important. This raises a number of questions about the priorities given to core subjects in comparison to marginal subjects.
This edition poses us with a number of issues to consider. First, how do we enable people to learn and develop as professionals in an environment that can lead to people feeling unsupported and isolated? Second, how do we celebrate achievement and keep this within the boundaries of reality so that we nurture excitement, good practice and a rounded appreciation of a full curriculum? If you have some answers – please submit an article to the journal.