The Educational Decision-makers.

This paper examines the results of research into the learning experiences of a group of adult learners in a university preparation programme in a college of Technical and Further Education in Sydney, NSW, Australia The research was conducted over a three year period by the author as a teacher-researcher and is grounded in the phenomenological work of Schutz, and Berger and Luckmann Students identified the diverse segments of their complex life-worlds and the salient situated interactions within these segments which support or distract them from learning What emerges is a representation of the life-world of the adult learner which enables adult educators and students to better understand the complex world of learning in adulthood An understanding of this world has become increasingly significant as recent economic and social changes have ensured that more adults return to formal education

Identifying supporters and distracters in the segmented world of the adult learner

This thesis investigated influences on primary school deputy-principals’ motivations to apply for principalship in the early twenty-first century in the Irish Republic. This required the exploration of both principals’ and deputy-principals’ roles in management and leadership to discover how better to prepare deputies to continue to the principalship. The research approach sat firmly within the qualitative paradigm, using semi-structured interviews with twelve primary deputy-principals exploring their construction of deputyship and principalship from their professional socialisation experiences. Findings revealed the complex relationship which exists between both roles and the extent to which the pervading school culture determines how much meaningful leadership opportunity is distributed beyond the principal. A major outcome of the study is a constructed knowledge of the nature and culture of Irish primary deputyship. Three new typologies of deputy-principalship provide a new perspective on the deputyship role, concluding that the gap in experiences and knowledge between deputyship and principalship is so great that energy should flow into the formation of formal, planned and structured preparation for a deputyship transition into principalship.

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Becoming a primary school principal in Ireland: deputy-principalship as preparation

The debate amongst Australian sociologists about the causes of educational inequality appears to be gathering momentum. Two major issues have been mooted. The first concerns the relative importance of ’cultural’ vis-a-vis ’economic’ influences in causing the restrictions on educational opportunity for lower-status children. Connell (1972, 1974) has emphasised the role of differences in wealth produced by the institutions of capitalism. In his view the resulting educational inequalities are made possible and acceptable within the society by the operation of a dominant valuesystem which is individualistic, competitive, progress-oriented and meritocratic, and which leads to a definition of educational failure as being individual rather than system-centred. He rejects the existence of class differences in values and supportiveness for educational success of a non-

Educational Disadvantage and Meritocratic Schooling

Twenty first century Lutheran secondary schools operate in a complex and demanding social, historical and theological environment. Leadership needs to be conceptualized in a manner which is appropriate for a fluid, dynamic learning community. Contemporary thinking about school leadership explores concepts such as teacher leadership, shared and distributed leadership. Successful school leadership is also perceived to impact positively on student educational outcomes. The leadership of the deputy principal in many school sectors has traditionally been structured on the basis of a bureaucratic, hierarchical model. Such models are increasingly perceived as unhelpful in the school context, yet in response, little has changed for deputy principals. The purpose of the current study was to consider the situation in Lutheran secondary schools. It explored the understandings about leadership embedded in the current role of the deputy principals. This was achieved by comparison of the participants' perceptions with historical leadership narratives. The key finding of this research is that in Lutheran schools, the leadership role of the deputy is often not as fully developed as would be appropriate in the existing climate, where schools and principals are expected to provide ever expanding services and fulfil multiple purposes. In many schools, the leadership role of the deputy does not provide sufficient training for succession to the principalship. Deputy principals are seen to focus on activity which supports educational leadership, but leaves them on the fringe of it. Deputies are often not involved in major teaching and learning strategic planning, vision and change management. This hinders their preparation for a future role as principal, but also deprives the school of a potentially significant source of leadership activity.;Deputy principals are seen to model the Christian ethos of the school through the way they interact with staff and students and their involvement in the devotional life of the school. However, in-depth involvement in ongoing dialogue about Lutheran identity and the church in the school is usually dependent on the interest and passion of the individual deputies, not inherently demanded by the role. There is also a limited understanding of servant leadership influencing the practice of deputy principals in the schools. In order to maximise the effectiveness of the leadership role of the deputy principals in Lutheran secondary schools, it would be timely to draw together key doctrinal statements, leadership theory and Luther's reflections on vocation, into a cohesive and practical understanding of leadership. This could form the basis for further development of distributed leadership in Lutheran secondary schools and help to ensure that they continue to successfully meet the needs of their communities.

To lead, or not to lead: That is the question. An exploration of understandings of leadership in the context of the deputy principal in the Lutheran secondary school

Hall. Edward T. 1966 The Hidden Dimension. Garden City, New York: Doubleday. Hawley. Amos, H. 1960 Human Ecology. New York: Ronald Press. 1972 ’Population density and the city’. Demography, 9 (November): 521-529. Jacobs, Jane 1961 The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Random House. Michelson, William H. 1970 Man and his Urban Environment: A Sociological Approach. Menlo Park, California: AddisonWesley. Mitchell, Robert E. 1971 ’Some social implications of high density housing’. American Sociological Review, 36 (February): 18-29. Schmitt. Robert. C. 1966 ’Density, health and social disorganisation’. Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 32 (January): 38-40. Stokols, Daniel 1972a ’A social-psychological model of human crowding phenomena’. Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 38 (March): 72-83. 1972b ’On the distinction between density and crowding’. Psychological Review, 79 (May): 275-277. Tucker, James and Friedman, S. Thomas 1972 ’Population density and group size’. American Journal of Sociology, 77 (January): 742-749. Williams, Robin M. Jr. 1971 ’Social congestion and social conflict’. Unpublished.

Orientation to Learning: a Study of Organisational Differentiation in Attitudes

‘We have nothing against them but we don't mingle much with them. Classes seem to be divided into intelligence levels. Brains hang around with brains. People with average intelligence hang around with people of average intelligence.’ Stream One (two languages, including Latin) girl.

Academic stratification and the sustaining of identity types

In recent years a noticeable policy trend in South Australia has been towards according to state high schools a greater measure of autonomy in the conduct of their affairs, a phenomenon which has prompted a study of the power structure of high schools in that State. Much of the research into this subject focussed on the question of professional leadership within individual institutions. While many investigations in the past have concentrated on the role of the principal as a professional leader, this examination sought in addition to include, for the purposes of comparison, teachers' perceptions of the professional leadership roles of deputy principals and senior subject teachers. The results indicated that while the influence of the principal in professional matters tended to be greater than that of the deputies, it was less than that of the subject seniors.

Professional leadership within some south australian high schools

according to thc occupational prestige scale developed by Broom and his colleagues (Broom et al, 1968). The six point scale was collapsed to three categories. Thc ‘track/ stream’ position measure was derived from a classification of the eleven fourth ycar classes, cach of which was labelled (implicitly if not explicitly) as being ’academic’, ’less acadcmic’ or ’non academic’. One ’academic’ class, distinguishcd within thc school as a ’top stream’ class, has been categorised as ’elite academic’. The remaining six ’academic’ classes form an ’other academic’ category. Three ’less academic’ classes form one category, and the one ’non academic’ class constitutes a category of its own. ’Evaluations of legitimacy’ were indicated by responses to three qucstionnaire items designed to measure evaluations of legitimacy of thc class structure, from a study carried out by Julienne Ford (1969). There were five response categories but here these

John Maddock

Papers

Orientation to Learning: a Study of Organisational Differentiation in Attitudes

Academic stratification and the sustaining of identity types

Professional leadership within some south australian high schools

Evaluations of Legitimacy