Izhak Berkovich
Publications - In press
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Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic caused education systems to embrace remote schooling and online learning. In the context of this dramatic change, the principal’s role has also changed. Instead of interacting face to face, school leaders had to become distant leaders operating digitally. The field has no knowledge of digital instructional leadership. The study used new and adapted measures to explore principals’ digital instructional leadership, its mechanisms of operation, and its outcomes. In particular, the research examined how digital instructional leadership affects perceived student learning in online settings through teachers’ intrinsic motivation for digital instruction (i.e. the mediator). The study used data from 380 teachers in Bahrain. Results indicated support for mediation. This is an empirical exploratory study, and therefore it is limited in scope. Nevertheless, its concepts, measures, and findings offer valuable contributions to research and practice. The limitations, findings, and implications of the study are discussed. The significance of the study derives from the growing incorporation of hybrid schooling in education and digital instructional leadership practices in mainstream principalship.
Abstract
Much research is concerned with the contribution of middle-level management in the education system. Yet, little research has been devoted to investigating supervisors’ considerations in outlining job definitions of middle-level managers, and how these elements shape diverse middle-level managers’ leadership models. This study draws on role theory to understand supervisors’ contribution to the design of middle-level management roles, with emphasis on leadership styles. Data included 25 interviews with preschool superintendents who appointed new middle-level managers in the role of early childhood leaders. Based on the interviews, we identified four types of middle-level leadership models: pedagogical, supportive, change, and administrative.
Abstract
This study aimed to explore the rigor strategies and ethical steps reported in qualitative research of educational administration journals in the recent decades. Using a focused search procedure, 321 relevant empirical qualitative articles were identified. Results suggest that qualitative educational administration, management, and leadership research frequently reported using some rigor strategies and greatly underreport on using ethical steps. Moreover, we found stability in the number of strategies and steps reported over a period of two decades. Thus, it is unclear whether rigor and ethics norms in the field have been crystallizing over time. The findings and their implications are discussed.
Abstract
Growing numbers of school systems and employers now provide and mandate mentoring for novice teachers. Most studies, however, have focused on the extensive mentoring provided during the first year of teaching, and not on mentoring in the following years. There is little research on the functions and on the relational aspects of mentoring new teachers. To address these issues, the present study implemented a qualitative approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 35 Israeli novice teachers during their second year of teaching supported by a mentor. The findings shed light on the perceived meanings of the role of mentoring and the types of relationships that develop between the mentors and novice teachers in their second year of teaching. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
Abstract
Despite the popularity of distributed leadership theory, the investigation of the micro-political aspects of such models have scarcely been explored, and insights on the cultural variety of distributed practices in schools are limited. The present study aimed to explore what micro-political aspects emerge in participative decision‐making in collectivist and individualist cultures. To this end, a multiple case study method was adopted, focusing on four Israeli public high schools. Schools were chosen to represent an ‘extreme’ case selection rationale: two non-religious urban schools representing individualist cases, and two communal schools in religious kibbutzim representing communal schools. The analysis shed light on three micro-political points of comparison between the prototypes of participative decision making in collectivist and individualist cultures related to control, actors, and stage crafting. The findings and implications are discussed.