Management in Education

The article, as an opinion piece, considers the experience of Government policy change with reference to the further education sector in England. An Institute for Government report, ‘All change: Why Britain is so prone to policy reinvention, and what can be done about it’ focused on further education as one of its case examples. Those of us who have worked in some capacity in further education for many years will have almost taken for granted the expectation of regular policy changes. The Institute of Government report makes clear how much change there has been. The article considers the possible consequences for the governing of colleges from policy change on the scale experienced by the further education sector. There is no intention in the article to argue for stopping important and necessary improvements for learners and learning in the further education sector in England. However, the case is made for reviewing the nature of intent and the processes of change.

The professional development of middle leaders in higher education is little considered in existing research, though there are general concerns being raised about the suitability of the professional development opportunities currently available. This article develops and explores the use of meta-reflection as a method for professional development, particularly of academics with direct responsibilities for courses and programmes such as course leaders, directors and co-ordinators. As an extension of reflective practice, (co)meta-reflection is proposed as a joint activity involving two or more people, seeking to develop their thought and practice by moving from descriptive to analytical levels of reflection. We provide an example of a (co)meta-reflective exercise and identify it as an approach with considerable potential to address the problems that middle leaders face, and call for further exploration of it as a method for professional development.

Consistency in statements, decisions and practices is highly important for both organization members and the image of an organization. It is expected from organizations, especially from their administrators, to ‘walk the talk’ – in other words, to try to practise what they preach. However, in the process of gaining legitimacy and adapting to the organizational environment, discrepancies and even outright contradictions can arise between statements and real practice, and these paradoxical relations may lead to organizational hypocrisy in educational organizations. One of the mechanisms that eliminate the negative results of organizational hypocrisy in schools is ensuring organizational integrity. However, the number of theoretical and empirical studies on which parameters are affected by organizational hypocrisy, and what kind of outcomes it gives birth to in school contexts, are limited. In view of this, this study aims to evaluate organizational hypocrisy and organizational integrity theoretically, and make some inferences as regards schools.

This study investigated the leadership skills Early Years leaders demonstrated through their daily practice of teaching, assessing and teamwork within their setting. It explored how revealing the potential of Early Years leaders could have a positive impact on the leadership practice of other leaders in the same setting to improve pupil outcomes. A qualitative approach using interviews with Early Years leaders in 20 primary settings from the East Midlands and Bedfordshire areas was undertaken by two academics from two different UK based universities. Ethical guidelines ensuring anonymity and trustworthiness were followed. Using verbatim comments, data were analysed in themes against contemporary Early Years literature. Findings showed the skills of Early Years leaders could support pedagogy and practice but some of these skills were not utilized beyond this age phase. Our conclusion suggested that Early Years leaders had a range of leadership skills which were deemed specialist as they were unique to the success of the age phase, but needed to be exposed beyond Early Years for wider success and impact.

Women have long been under-represented in organization leader roles within higher education. Research has identified, mapped and examined the data, with recommendations for change. The research reported in this article adds to current knowledge, and raises methodological questions by focusing on senior female leaders in higher education in Bangladesh. Using a narrative approach to the construction of professional biographies, the study seeks to explore and understand the complex situations that Bangladeshi women in leader roles encounter and negotiate in their work and careers. This project makes a contribution to the field through not only adding more evidence, but also providing new insights into the contextual context in which women are aspiring to and securing senior roles. In addition, we help to inform the research design agenda by identifying a lack of information regarding the composition of the higher education workforce in Bangladesh, where the data in the public domain are neither sufficient nor robust.