Management in Education

Declining state revenue, increased expenditures and rising costs at public universities are critical issues that are further heightened by the current economic environment. In an effort to address the challenges associated with reduced revenue and rising costs, this theoretical paper will explore how public institutions can leverage the resource dependency theory framework for strategy formulation and increased resource capacity. The organization of the paper begins with an introduction that sets forth the topic parameters and rationale of the paper. This is followed by a literature review that provides an overview of pertinent fiscal issues and strategies that were designed to mitigate these issues in public higher education. The authors then introduce the resource dependency theory and its linkage to public higher education based upon an understanding of the institution’s interdependence with the external environment. Based upon the resource dependency theory, the authors discuss strategies that can garner greater resources and serve as a guide for university administrators and leaders during strategic planning efforts.

This paper asks whether schools and colleges should be regarded as institutions as well as organizations, and if so what are the implications. Different conceptions of ‘institution’ are examined including an attempt to distinguish ‘institution’ from ‘organization’. It is suggested that institutions are committed to a set of values beyond the transmission of knowledge and skills, as well as to breadth in education and the importance of continuity and a degree of stability. Positive and negative connotations of the idea of institution are briefly reviewed. The discussion is placed in a wider context of the debate about the public realm and its boundaries. Institutional theory is drawn on regarding the interplay between schools and colleges and their environments. Finally there is a brief discussion of the conception of ‘civic institution’, and its implications concerning the ownership of publicly-funded schools and colleges.

In many sub-Saharan African countries, the endorsement of the 1990 Education for All (EFA) and the 2000 Millennium Development Goals agreements have resulted in the introduction of ‘fee-free’ education policies in recent time. Yet, in 2015 it is becoming unlikely that education for all will be attained, as it has not been achieved through previous pledges. Using a ‘processual analytical approach’, this paper examines literature from disparate sources to exemplify challenges faced by countries in the sub-region in their attempt at getting children from disadvantaged communities to enrol in primary education. In the process, the paper contends that ‘new’ research is needed to examine how political imperatives and democratic processes impinge on implementation of EFA policy initiatives in the sub-region. This endeavour, the paper argues, is necessary to unearth the commitment, progress and constraints of sub-Saharan African governments (as well as commitment of international donor countries and agencies to helping the sub-region) towards meeting the EFA goals.

Education human resources (HR) professionals have often been neglected in education research. This study seeks to better understand their role in the American school industry, by first examining how districts conceptualize the position of HR professionals and then exploring how the professionals themselves understand their role in school business. Emphasis is placed on identifying the dominant employee management philosophy (i.e. personnel vs. strategic HR management) that is promoted for and practiced by the professionals. Data was collected by document analysis and focus group interviews. The document analysis was conducted with data from a recruitment/job advertising system that most school employers use in the state of California, USA. The focus group was conducted with HR professionals in primary and secondary education institutions across Northern California (n = 14). Findings suggest that personnel management is emphasized for HR professionals in public school districts more often than strategic HR management. Results are discussed.

This small-scale interview study considers experiences, difficulties and dilemmas of local Special Educational Needs (SEN) professionals such as SEN caseworkers, and examines the neglected ethical dimensions of their role. It argues that fostering ‘ethical knowledge’ (Campbell, 2003), rather than an increase in prescriptive guidance, will enable more productive partnerships between professionals, and between parents and professionals respectively. The study demonstrates a SEN professionalism that is able to respond to moral complexity and that is willing to carry significant personal and moral burdens in order to meet the needs of children and young people with SEN. It also highlights experiences of routine moral stress (Cribb, 2011) which are not adequately addressed by either individuals or their organizations.

Research has shown that the overall climate in a school can encourage or deter learning. One significant factor promoting a positive climate is the use of motivational language by school leaders. This article presents empirical evidence of teachers’ perceptions of motivational language used by school principals and the effects of this language on perceptions of school climate. The aim is to make principals aware of the importance of language choices. The approach used involved survey responses and correlational analysis. Teachers’ perceptions of the motivational language of school principals, as well as the climate in schools, were independently examined, and the impact of the language on perceptions of school climate was tested. The study reveals that climate, in a range of public schools in Kuwait, is rated by teachers as moderately good; similarly, motivational language forms used by school principals were rated as only modestly effective. Comparative analysis showed that a school leader’s motivating language in all forms affects public school climates in Kuwait. It is proposed that with further testing it is likely that this will be revealed as a more general finding. The study recommends further training and experience with motivational language for school principals in Kuwait.

For English primary schools, the framework of distributed leadership has been growing in status for a number of years and is now deemed to be the dominant model. However, the landscape has altered quite significantly for primary schools and their staff since the Coalition government took office in 2010, effecting fast-paced and wide-ranging reform. Therefore, it is a timely matter to consider whether a distributed model of leadership remains useful and appropriate for primary schools in 2014. In order to do so, this article identifies five defining features of the current context to use as a lens through which to scrutinise the distributed leadership model.