Abstract

Research on school principals’ behaviours that affect teachers’ emotional state is limited. Currently, the focus is primarily on extreme manifestations of mistreatment and emotional abuse; normative daily behaviours, such as emotionally manipulative ones, have yet to be explored. The purpose of the present study is to investigate primary school principals’ manipulative behaviours, i.e., principals’ actions aimed at enlisting others to advance their goals by stimulating emotions. Based on the self-report scale of Austin et al. (2007), we developed a modified other-report scale to explore principals’ emotionally manipulative behaviours with both negative and positive orientations. The scale was used in a cross-sectional field survey, in which teachers rated their principals’ manipulative behaviours. We found support for the prevalence of both types of principals’ emotionally manipulative behaviours and of their effects on teachers’ negative and positive emotions arising from interactions with the principals. We also found that principals who ranked higher in negative and positive emotionally manipulative behaviours self-reported having greater controlling tendencies. The findings and their implications are discussed.

Abstract

This qualitative study investigates teachers’ emotion regulation strategies in coping with discipline issues in primary and secondary schools. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 Israeli teachers, 12 from each level of education. Findings indicate that teachers at both levels of education used several similar strategies to regulate their emotions in coping with issues of discipline, but situation modification and reappraisal of the emotional stimulus were the most frequently reported strategies by primary school teachers. Suppression of expression (masking), self-talk, and rumination were most frequently reported by secondary school teachers. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Abstract

Purpose

This study investigated the relationship between principals’ abusive leadership and teachers’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, exploring the potential moderating effects of the duration of the relationship and group size within educational settings.

Design

Data were collected from a sample of teachers in Bahrain, using self-report measures. The data were analyzed using regression analyses.

Findings

The findings reveal a significant negative relationship between principals’ abusive leadership and teachers’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. The results also show that the duration of the relationship moderates the correlation between abusive leadership and teachers’ extrinsic motivation, with teachers who have been in longer relationships with their principals showing greater resistance to the detrimental effects of abusive leadership on their extrinsic motivation. Group size was found to moderate this correlation, with larger groups exhibiting stronger buffering against the negative effect of abusive leadership.
Originality

The findings provide valuable insights into the dynamics of abusive leadership in educational settings and the potential moderating factors that can help alleviate its detrimental effects on teachers’ motivations.

Abstract

This qualitative study investigated the perceptions of masculinity and fatherhood of male school leaders and their perceptions associated with leadership practice. We used purposive sampling to recruit male Israeli school leaders for participation in the study. We collected the data by semi-structured interviews, which we then subjected to thematic analysis. The results indicate that the participants were divided between hegemonic and caring views of masculinity. By contrast, two-thirds of the leaders held an emotional view of fatherhood, and only one-third had an instrumental view. The results shed light also on the perceived connection of leaders’ masculinity and fatherhood views with their leadership practice. The findings and contributions of the study are discussed.

Abstract

This study examined the effects of enabling and coercive bureaucracies of the government education authority (GEA), and perceived organizational support during the pandemic on teachers’ intention to leave the profession in Israel. Data were collected through a cross-sectional survey of 267 Israeli public school teachers (80% women). Participants were highly experienced: 56% had teaching experience of 4-14 years and 44% of over 15 years, and 75% had BA or MA degrees. We used a series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses to examine the differential effects of GEA and school-level factors on teachers’ intention to leave the profession, and explored a path model in which school-level factors mediated the effects of GEA. The results indicated that the enabling GEA bureaucratic structure and perceived organizational support during the pandemic negatively predicted teachers’ inclination to leave, whereas its coercive bureaucratic structure positively predicted teachers’ inclination to leave. In addition, the analyses showed that perceived organizational support during the pandemic had the greatest influence on intention to leave, and that the extent of this influence canceled out and overcame the negative effect of the coercive bureaucratic structure of GEA. Furthermore, the path model indicated that perceived organizational support partially mediated the effects of GEA on teachers’ inclination to leave.

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

Purpose: The caring leadership of principals is viewed as a professional method for utilizing emotional capital. The present study investigated the moderating relationship of caring leadership with the associations between emotional geographies, emotional distance, and school climate.

Design: Data from a cross-sectional survey of 305 Israeli teachers working in public schools were used to investigate a model of moderated mediation.

Findings: Caring leadership of principals moderates the association of emotional distance with school climate and is related to mediated associations between emotional geographies and school climate.

Originality: This is the first study to combine Hargreaves’ theory of emotional geographies of schools with principals’ caring leadership, providing insight on the role of school leadership in bridging fundamental gaps between key actors and treating crippling emotional dynamics.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role of teachers’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the relationship between principals’ perceived distributed leadership and organizational learning capability at the school.
Design

The study employs a quantitative research design and a survey methodology. Data were collected from 400 teachers in Bahrain.
Findings

The results reveal that teachers’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation fully mediates the relationship between principals’ perceived distributed leadership and organizational learning capability at the school.
Originality

The study contributes to the literature on distributed leadership, organizational learning, and motivation by highlighting the important mediating role of teachers’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the relationship between principals’ perceived distributed leadership and organizational learning capability. The study also has practical implications for school administrators by suggesting that distributed leadership practices can be an effective strategy for promoting organizational learning capability in schools.

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.

Abstract

The myth of “tough love” leadership emerges in cultural narratives as a superior approach to improving students’ educational opportunities in urban schools facing challenging circumstances. This model, however, has not been conceptualized, and consequently, empirical research about it is lacking. We formulated a typology of tough love leadership as a mix of four behaviors that combine “tough” and “loving” approaches, with a focus on crisis management and a positive school vision. The study used the tough love leadership conceptualization to explore different mixes of tough love leadership, manifesting in four urban schools facing challenging circumstances. The study’s implications are discussed.

Abstract

The present study examines how changes in higher education systems ― caused mostly by neoliberal ideologies and the knowledge revolution ― affect non-faculty professionals such as academic librarians, and how they cope with these changes. Specifically, relying on Bourdieu’s theory of distinction, we show how Israeli academic librarians adopt three types of distinctions ― cultural, aesthetic, and professional ― and construct occupational capital that bestows on them power and renewed legitimacy in the face of threats to their professional identity and to their role in academic studies. The study in based on interviews with librarians working in the leading universities in Israel, and it examines the librarians’ experiences and attempts to adjust their professional identities to the emergence of neoliberal “new public management” (NPM) culture within academia.

Abstract

The present study examined the relationship between workgroup emotional climate in schools, teachers’ burnout and coping style. Data were collected from 278 teachers in 19 state elementary schools in Israel. Confirming the hypotheses, there was a positive relationship at the individual level between an other-focused negative workgroup emotional climate and burnout, and a positive cross-level relationship between an ego-focused negative workgroup emotional climate and burnout. In schools with a high ego-focused negative workgroup emotional climate, teachers’ active coping style impacted less on their burnout than in schools with a low ego-focused negative workgroup emotional climate.

Abstract

This article aims to integrate over two decades of empirical research findings on teachers’ organizational commitment (OC) to explore its antecedents and outcomes. Via a criteria-based approach, 68 peer reviewed quantitative empirical articles published between 1994 and 2018 were identified and included for analysis. A systematic review revealed three core themes: demographic, within-person and role related predictors of teachers’ OC; interpersonal and contextual predictors of teachers’ OC; and outcomes of teachers’ OC. Our review detected major “blind spots” related to antecedents, mediators and moderators, and outcomes. Recommendations are provided to help advance knowledge on teachers’ OC in upcoming decades.

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

The organisational literature has overlooked the diversity of change agents’ psychological ownership experiences in the context of major (or second-order) change. The present study examined the psychological ownership of change agents while assimilating a second-order change in schools, specifically how psychological ownership is experienced, its components, and how it is perceived as guiding the agents’ actions. The study used the case study method and focused on six Israeli state-religious schools, which adopted a new liberal curriculum. Thirty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with six principals and 25 teachers (middle-level managers and educators). Analysis of the findings revealed the types of psychological ownership that change agents experience (ownership by process, by interest, and by means); two main components of the agents’ psychological ownership (accountability and territoriality); and three perceived types of sharing associated with ownership (active, passive, and defensive). The implications of the findings are discussed.

Abstract

This essay coins and conceptualizes the term “publicwashing.” In educational systems and organizations, publicwashing is a symbolic communication that emphasizes organizational publicness for the purpose of a superficial repair of reputation. The essay defines publicwashing and describes its motives and manifestations. Additionally, it illustrates publicwashing by discussing the concept in the context of the US charter school reform. Adopting the lens of symbolic communication in the charter school case illustrates how the discrepancy between the “public” label and private characteristics of charter schools is managed through public relations. Future studies of publicwashing in education can further apply the symbolic communication approach to various cases, contexts, and deceptive strategies.

Abstract

The present study explores the effect of teachers’ authentic leadership in second chance programmes on students’ psychological need satisfaction climate (according to self-determination theory), and the manner in which teachers’ gender moderates this effect. Data collected from 60 teachers and 183 students in second chance programmes in Israel wеrе analysed at the group level. The study found that for male teachers, authentic leadership negatively predicted psychological need satisfaction climate in the classroom. The implications of findings for authentic leadership in general and for teaching in second chance programmes are discussed.

Abstract

This study aimed to extend the limited knowledge on the motivational and identity aspects of youth at-risk in second chance programmes. The study examined the relationships between autonomy-supportive climate, adolescents’ sense of authenticity, and their dropout risk, as well as the mediating role that authenticity plays in the relationships, within the context of a second chance programme for at-risk youth. Participants were 181 students at-risk from Israel. Results from a multilevel path model analysis support the hypotheses. The findings indicate a positive correlation between autonomy-supportive climate and authenticity of students at risk. The analyses also revealed a negative individual-level relationship between authenticity of students at risk and their dropout risk, and a negative cross-level relationship between autonomy-supportive climate and students’ dropout risk. The effect of autonomy-supportive climate on students’ dropout risk was partly mediated by students’ authenticity. The present study extends the knowledge on the influence of autonomy-supportive climate on schooling by pointing out cross-level relations between this climate and youths’ authenticity, and by shedding light on the connection of these constructs with dropout risk. As this model of relationships is often reflected in the pedagogical rationale behind the design of second chance programmes for youths at risk, the study has important practical implications for administrators, teachers, and policymakers leading these programmes.

Abstract

This first years of teaching constitute entry stage to the profession and are considered a period of critical importance for determining the new teacher’s professional identity. This study explores the associations between novice teachers’ perspectives of their relationship with their mentors and their professional commitment. This qualitative study utilises data from semi-structured interviews conducted with 35 second-year Israeli teachers (subsequent to a year of internship). The findings indicate an association between novice teachers’ high professional commitment and a functional mentoring relationship and lack of association between novice teachers’ low professional commitment and other types of mentoring relationships. The results and their implications are discussed.

Abstract

The present research explored the effect of different profiles of emotional feedback in principal-teacher relations on followers’ perceptions of the leader (attributed charisma and leader-member exchange (LMX)). The study is based on a field survey of 645 teachers. The findings indicate four profiles of emotional feedback from principal, as experienced by teachers: profile 1 – positive emphasis: high positive emotional manipulations (PEM) and low negative emotional manipulations (NEM); profile 2 – mixed feedback: high PEM and high NEM; profile 3 – non-manipulative: low PEM and low NEM; and profile 4 – negative emphasis: high NEM and low PEM. In general, profile 1 (positive emphasis) resulted in higher attributed charisma and higher LMX quality, followed by profile 2 (mixed), profile 3 (non-manipulative), and profile 4 (negative emphasis). The study showed that as long as there is a positive feedback, even if it is accompanied by a negative one, the followers’ perceptions of the leader are positive. Negative feedback was less associated with positive followers’ perceptions of the leader than was low emotional feedback (i.e., non-manipulative).

Abstract

Research knowledge about the role of teachers’ personality in shaping their mood is still limited. The present study explores the associations between teachers’ five broad personality traits (known as the ‘Big Five’), emotion regulation (suppression and reappraisal), and mood. Data collated collected from a sample of 113 Israeli teachers were analysed using structural equation modelling analysis and cluster analysis. Path model analysis indicated that suppression mediates the relations between teachers’ conscientiousness, extraversion, and neuroticism on one hand, and their negative mood on the other, and that reappraisal mediates the relations between teachers’ conscientiousness and their positive mood. Cluster analysis revealed associations between three personality types of teachers with their emotion regulation and mood. The study clarifies the role that teachers’ personality traits play in determining their affective life.

Abstract

In this paper, I define and measure the new phenomenon of defensive citizenship in Europe. The literature suggests that defensive citizenship engagement is related to attempts by entitled citizens to preserve their threatened interests. It has been on the rise worldwide,  especially in Europe. Based on studies and reports on the phenomenon, I argue that defensive citizenship can be assessed among entitled citizens (those born in the country, whose both parents were born in the country) based on mistrust toward political institutions, anti-immigration attitudes, and a challenging personal situation. Our analysis, based on European Social Survey data, ranks European countries and uncovers concentrations of counties with high levels of defensive citizenship in Eastern Europe. I contend that this phenomenon has significant implications for the democratic functioning of European countries and the stability of the continent.

Abstract

Despite the centrality of research concerning both ethics and leadership styles in education administration, our knowledge of the relations between them is limited. The present study closes this gap by investigating the relations of transformational and transactional leadership with multiple ethical paradigms that have been suggested as relevant to solving moral dilemmas in education. Participants selfreported on their leadership behaviors, and the Ethical Perspectives Instrument (EPI) was administered to assess their moral reasoning. Transformational leadership predicted resorting to the ethics of critique and profession, whereas transactional leadership predicted use of the ethics of utilitarianism. The study’s findings are discussed.

Abstract

Purpose

Principals are considered central in initiating and mobilizing changes in schools; however, their political behaviors in the course of school changes are underexplored. The present research investigated the influence tactics used by school principals to induce teachers to join a process of second-order (deep and wide) change in the school teaching and culture. In specific, we were interested in which influence tactics principals and staff considered to be efficient during such a second-order change process.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was based on a case study method focusing on four Israeli Jewish state public religious schools participating in the “Routes” program aimed at strengthening religious values in schools. Data collection included semi-structured interviews with principals, teachers with program coordinators responsibilities, and teachers in four schools.

Findings

The results suggest that school principals who are considered successful in leading changes display two key influence prototypes: a hybrid type that combines soft and hard influence tactics, and a unitype that relies on soft influence tactics.

Originality/value

The research contributed to the limited knowledge in educational administration on micro-politics and political behaviors in the course of school changes.

Abstract

Purpose

Taking ownership is considered vital for sustaining change in organizations, particularly when second-order changes are the goal. Yet, few studies explored psychological ownership of change agents in educational organizations. Moreover, no knowledge exists on how agents’ individual psychological ownership augments collective psychological ownership in schools and on how collective ownership of change relates to school culture. The present study aims to address these two lacunae.

Design/methodology/approach

The case study method was adopted to investigate the psychological ownership of teams of change agents in schools. Six Israeli secondary state-religious schools adopting a new liberal curricular program were studied. Thirty one interviews were conducted with principals, program coordinators, mid-level teacher leaders, and teachers who were active change agents in the promotion of the program. The interviews were complemented by quantitative data on students’ perceptions of school discipline and tolerance of diversity, based on the national school culture survey.

Findings

The analyses revealed the prevalence of three types of psychological ownership in the sample of schools. The analyses also showed how key components of psychological ownership, i.e., responsibility and territoriality in relation to change manifest in the schools that were explored. Institution-level analysis shed light on the different effects psychological ownership of the change team had on sharing within the faculty. In addition, analyses showed how the scope of agreement between two key change agents, the program initiator and the principal, on psychological ownership affected various psychological ownership aspects of the team. Last, the analysis shows that the two types of collective psychological ownership emerged in the course of a liberal school change, and that the types were differently related to school outcomes.

Originality/value

The study offers an innovative typology of collective psychological ownership during second-order change in schools, mapping two ideal types: cooperative and fragmented collective psychological ownership. The new types provide a better understanding of the dynamic of collective psychological ownership and its outcomes in organizations in general, and schools in particular.

Abstract

This paper explores the OECD framing of the role of the school leader in a series of its publications, drawing on role theory, using critical analysis of how school leaders’ roles are represented in a body of OECD texts. The research findings provide insight into the multi-faceted portrayal of the ‘ideal’ role of school leadership as framed by the OECD. The findings also demonstrate the dominance of classic scientific management ideas in the framing of the role of school leadership by the OECD. The study demonstrates how adopting role theory can provide a deeper understanding of how OECD discursive actions redraw new roles for those working in education.

Abstract

Ethical considerations have been examined in American and European school management research, indigenous and comparative aspects have largely been understudied. To better understand the ethical decision-making of indigenous school leaders, the present research aims to examine the ethical considerations of one such minority group—Bedouin Arab educators in Israel—and to compare their ethical decision-making with that of their counterparts in Israel’s Jewish majority. The research utilised the pre-designed multiple Ethical Perspectives Instrument, which requires participants to resolve school dilemmas by choosing one of two given ethical perspectives taken from the following six: fairness, utilitarianism, care, critique, profession, and community. Two exploratory studies were carried out: Study 1 examined the ethical judgements of Bedouin BEd students (n=28), and their perceptions of the ethical judgments of hypothesized Bedouin school leaders. Study 2 compared the ethical judgements of Bedouin (n=30) and Jewish (n=39) MA Ed-Admin students. Bedouin undergraduates reported care and critique as their own dominant ethical preferences, but viewed utilitarian considerations as being dominant among hypothesized Bedouin school leaders. Among the graduate students, utilitarian considerations were more dominant among the Bedouin group than the Jewish group. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Abstract

The present study is a developmental review that aims to conceptualise, using empirical data, the mediating paths connecting effective school leadership (i.e., transformational leadership and distributed leadership) to teachers’ affective and normative organisational commitment (OC). The review is based on empirical studies on teachers’ OC published in peer-review journals during two decades. Data analysis resulted in an integrative conceptual model where two central paths – socio-affective factors and teachers’ psychological capital – mediated the impact of effective school leadership on teachers’ OC. This synthesised model, with its higher level generalisability, extends the scope of previous research, and may stimulate interest in new empirical explorations in effective school leadership research.

Abstract

This paper explores the link between the OECD TALIS 2013 survey’s framework for defining the ideal teacher and national educational goals by focusing on the teacher self-efficacy items, using cross-country comparisons. Surprisingly, cross-country analysis of the TALIS 2013 data combined with World Value Survey data about Desired Child Qualities demonstrate that the OECD TALIS teacher self-efficacy items are aligned with traditional collectivist educational goals. Thus, the findings indicate that the ideal teacher characteristics embodied in the OECD TALIS 2013 teacher self-efficacy items favour countries that prioritize socialization and culturalization. The implications for theory and practice are discussed herein.

Abstract

Since the 2000s there has been a growing global interest in policies that redefine, support, and monitor school leadership roles. Despite this, research knowledge on the international use of school leadership standards is limited, specifically on its relationship to various role demands (or imperatives) of school administration. Drawing from data from the International Leadership Standards Study and Teaching and Learning International Survey, we performed a descriptive analysis of leadership standards through the lens of the four imperatives of school administration, i.e., managerial, instructional, moral, and socio-political. The findings indicate that the seemingly unified emerging global phenomenon of standards policy for school leaders is more diverse than frequently argued with the focus on various imperatives. At the same time they reveal a broad consensus among countries promoting standards on managerial aspects as well as isomorphism and detachment of policy from practice in several contexts. The study expands the knowledge base on the international adoption of the school leadership standards policy and its interrelations with the imperatives of school administration.

Abstract

Leaders’ reframing of employees’ negative emotions is a vital part of socio-emotional support at work. This qualitative research aimed to achieve a richer understanding of principals’ reframing of teachers’ negative emotions in principal-teacher relations. The study used data from semi-structured interviews with 12 principals and 24 teachers and found that teachers’ emotional reframing by principals commonly follows intense negative emotions linked to threats to teachers’ occupational identity. In addition, the study revealed the use of reframing communication strategies, such as empathic listening, empowering messages and normalizing messages. The results of the study and their implications are discussed.

Abstract

This study adopts a structural perspective to explore micropolitics in senior management teams, and identify the principals’ inner circle. Based on data from an Israeli random sample of state primary teachers, profiles of trust in principal are identified and used to break down the subgroups of teachers serving in various roles in senior management teams. Odd ratios and two-sample t-tests between percentage analyses revealed that senior management teams are composed from three layers. Two layers form the principals’ inner circle and include the vice-principal as a central political ally, and the more political layer of officials (form heads) chosen as part of a reward or cooptation strategy. The third layer (counselors and subject heads) of senior management teams is less political, and these teachers are less likely to be part of the inner circle. The implications for research and practice are discussed, particularly in regard to idealized discourse on distributed leadership.

Abstract

Purpose

Schools are complex and imperfect organizations; thus, it is not possible for school leaders to completely avoid failures. The capacity to learn from failure is essential to the effectiveness of teachers as individuals and for teams and schools. However, it is hardly practiced in most schools. The present theoretical article seeks to offer an integrative conceptual framework in which intelligent failure is conceptualized as an organizational learning process. The purpose is twofold: first, to address the question of why school faculty fails to learn from failure; second, to show how learning from intelligent failure in the school context can be framed as a resource for school improvement.

Design/methodology/approach

The present theoretical article seeks to offer an integrative conceptual framework in which intelligent failure is conceptualized as an organizational learning process.

Findings

The present study draws upon the social capital theory as an overarching framework to develop a conceptual model that incorporates the learning settings and a leadership tolerant of “intelligent failure” that might enable us to identify the root causes of failure and the kinds of lessons that can be drawn from failure analysis. In the proposed conceptual model, school organizational features combine with a leadership tolerant of intelligent failures to enhance opportunities to analyze, manage and learn from intelligent failures in school settings.

Originality/value

An important lacuna in educational scholarship is that although detecting and correcting school failures is normal, investigating the root causes of these failures or pinpointing the behaviors necessary to avoid their reoccurrence is often neglected in both theory and practice. By integrating research from both non-educational and educational literature, this study may provide a new perspective for school management, since it emphasizes the reframing of intelligent failure as an organizational asset for school improvement. The present study broadens the literature on educational management and organizational learning and provides a new approach for school failures and failure management.

Abstract

Purpose

The practice of theory borrowing from other research fields is common in interdisciplinary and applied research. Nevertheless, educational administration researchers seldom discuss this phenomenon and its complexities in depth.

Design/methodology/approach

This essay provides an overview of what has been written about the practice of theory borrowing.

Findings

After presenting the criticism on misusing theory borrowing, it outlines several recommendations to improve theory borrowing in education administration research by domesticating it through conceptual blending.

Originality/value

The purpose of this essay is to motivate educational administration scholars to reflect on the practice of theory borrowing. The guidelines offered here for promoting conceptual blending serve as a middle ground for mitigating a key problem of theory borrowing.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore the conception and construct of ideological leadership (IL) as it relates to public organizations, such as public schools, and to validate a tool for its measurement in this setting.

Design/methodology/approach

Data was collected from 633 teachers working at 69 randomly-sampled Israeli public schools. In each school, an average of nine (SD=2) randomly-sampled teachers completed questionnaires that measure IL, transformational leadership, organizational commitment, leader-member exchange (LMX), and motivational factors. The data underwent validity and hypotheses tests.

Findings

The hypothesized presence of the personalized and socialized IL orientations among public-school principals has been confirmed. Only personalized IL predicted teachers’ outcomes above and beyond transformational leadership, affecting measures of organizational commitment, LMX, and controlled motivation.

Originality/value

New evidence supports the validity of this proposed measurement tool. New evidence also suggests that although ideology has been known to be a factor of charismatic leadership, IL in close public-school settings accentuates practices of control, rather than proselytizing coherent worldviews to teachers. This, in turn, may have a deleterious influence on work outcomes and outweigh the possible benefits of IL. Accordingly, it is suggested that school leaders should critically consider the desirability of embracing ideological zeal as part of their leadership tools.

Abstract

The discourse on ideal teachers and teaching has recognised the importance of empathy. Despite the popularity of the concept in educational training and practice, research knowledge remains limited and fragmented. The present paper aims to analyse the empirical research on empathy in K-12 teaching. The search for empirical studies has yielded 28 articles, which were grouped according to four conceptualizations: empathy as a trait, empathy as a state, empathy as communication, and empathy as a relationship.

Abstract

Mid-level roles in education have been widely explored, primarily in schools, but little research has been conducted during the systemic reform that involves creating a mid-level role between end units and the system. The present study explores the sense-making of Early Childhood Leaders (ECLs) at the initial stage of their new role as mid-level managers. The new role was established as a result of a national administrative reform that, among others, made the systemic hierarchy more vertical by establishing a new mid-level layer between superintendents and early childhood teachers. This qualitative research included semi-structured interviews with 47 mid-level preschool managers. The study sought to uncover their views of the main challenges associated with assuming a new mid-level managerial role, and their coping styles in this role. The analysis revealed that the new mid-level management role raises three challenges concerning the ambiguity of identity: power base, voice and interpersonal loyalty. ECLs cope with these challenges by assuming different types of leader identities, those of the representative, the companion, and the mediator. The implications of the findings for the limited knowledge on ECLs and for the introduction of the new mid-level roles are discussed.

Abstract

Attitude development and identity formation in educational leadership are the goals of non-traditional, and in the 21st century also of neo-traditional, development initiatives. Ethics education emerges as one of the linchpins in neo-traditional and non-traditional development initiatives. Yet, despite considerable interest in ethics education in educational leadership development, ethics education has not been examined systematically, and empirical research on its effects is scarce. The present paper aims to address this lacuna by exploring the effects of ethics education based on extended multiple ethical paradigms in the context of educational leadership programme. Moreover, the study follows a systematic longitudinal design, based on pre- and post-course measurements that used the Ethical Perspectives Instrument (EPI) in six Israeli cohorts of educational administration graduate students (N=73). The findings indicate that ethics education has a limited effect on the student body as a whole, but when students were separated into those who did and did not change their dominant ethics, differences emerged. The results suggest that school leadership development focusing on attitude development and identity formation in general and on ethics education in particular lead to different outcomes.

Abstract

This study uses critical discourse analysis (CDA) to examine Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) texts on teacher quality and the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) framework. Specifically, it explores the forewords of documents written by OECD leaders, which we believe are charged with meanings related to the Global Education Reform Movement (GERM) discourse. We suggest that CDA of the texts sheds light on the manner in which OECD leaders attempt to gain normative control in the teacher quality discourse. Based on Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework for studying discourse, our analysis shows that the OECD (a) uses a discourse of fear to market teacher quality in light of global changes, implicitly framing teachers as “bad teachers;” (b) advocates reliance on the organization as a protector; and (c) promises a remedy by regulating teachers in the name of effectiveness and the knowledge economy. The study offers a nuanced insight into OECD efforts to promote normative control in the teacher quality discourse, using three dimensions of discourse (i.e., the textual micro linguistic dimension, the meso interdiscursive dimension, and the macro sociocultural dimension) that help gain ideational powers.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the societal orientations (individualist vs. collectivist) of educational aims, in constructions of teacher professionalism framed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) insight and lesson reports. The critical discourse analysis of OECD TALIS documents suggests that the OECD discourse on teacher professionalism attested to a dual orientation: individualist and anti-collectivist. Our results contribute to the theoretical understanding of the educational aims of the OECD, which lead the global discourse in education, and of the cultural orientation that is part of its conceptualization of new professional teaching. The article discusses the implications of its findings.

Abstract

Despite the interest in governance transition in public education, it is challenging to find a theorised account of the process, and even more so in social democratic countries. To fill this gap, Israel can serve as a good case study for investigating how educational governance in social democratic countries changes under neoliberal influences. In the mid-2000s, the Israeli government presented the Dovrat reform, a greatly detailed plan for a new governance mode and multiple neoliberal policies in public education. Shortly after its introduction, political circumstances led to its formal demise, and as a result, many researchers called it a ‘failed’ neoliberal reform. As this analysis indicates, however, key features proposed by the reform ended up being implemented. This case study combines the ‘garbage can model’ and ‘institutional change’ theories to explain the dynamic of transition from a bureaucratic to a neoliberal governance mode in public education. The findings suggest that in Israel, and possibly in other social democratic countries, transition to neoliberal governance is a result of a dynamic that combines direct and indirect policy changes. The article discusses this dynamic and the circumstances that have helped produce it.

Abstract

Purpose – In recent years, third sector-school partnerships have become more common and received increasing research attention. Yet, the ethical aspects of third sector-school partnerships have not been discussed in-depth. As a result, the field lacks a conceptual framework that makes possible in-depth understanding of the ethical characteristics involved in partnerships between public schools and the third sector. The aim of this paper is to fill this lacuna.

Design/methodology/approach – An integrative review of the general literature on stakeholder theory, corporate social responsibility, cross-sector partnerships, and strategic alliances, as well as of empirical studies on partnerships between schools and the third sector, offers insights on ethical conduct in these partnerships and their antecedents.

Findings – Based on the general literature on cross-sector partnerships and the educational literature on third sector-school partnerships, we offer a conceptual model and propositions about ethical conduct in these partnerships and its antecedents.

Originality/value – The innovative conceptual model makes possible a reevaluation of existing knowledge on third sector-school partnerships, and can support direct research of ethical aspects in these partnerships. In addition, the model provides conceptual language for administrators for managing practical ethical dilemmas in these partnerships.

Abstract

This article provides a fresh perspective on the introduction of global ideas, particularly managerialism, into national educational settings, based on insights of the discursive institutionalism approach. We argue that this introduction may occur as various policy actors promote different versions of managerialism, leading to a debate between education policy actors holding common managerialist assumptions and beliefs, in other words, a pseudo-conflict. The result is a conflict over education policy that is strictly bounded by shared assumptions and beliefs. We analyze the discourse of leading policy actors during two consecutive tenures of Israeli Education Ministers (2009-2013, 2013-2015), using parliamentary protocols and press interviews.

Abstract

This comparative case study adopts a process implementation perspective on neoliberal regulation to explore developments in national curricula and standard-based reforms in the USA and Australia. Date sources include research reports, books, PISA data, and US Schools and Staffing Survey data. The comparison of the dynamic of two countries reveals that whereas policymakers in the USA adopted a transforming regulatory strategy (targeting the ambiguity and conflict levels in local policy) to implement, Australian policymakers adopted a congruence regulatory strategy (ratifying ambiguity and conflict levels). As a result of this dynamic, the education system in the USA displays a relatively tighter structure, which is related to the tighter professional teaching culture. The analysis suggests that the effect of global ideas and policies adopted locally depends on policymakers’ regulatory strategy, and that local system change drastically only when policymakers adopt the neoliberal default preference for active transformative implementation. Hence, a specific implementation dynamic is a key factor in the global neoliberal agenda, and its presence or absence indicates convergence or divergence between countries adopting similar policies.

Abstract

OECD dominance in the international educational policy discourse in the developed regions of the world, particularly in promoting teaching policy has been long acknowledged. While many works have explored the organization’s verbal discourse, no study has considered exploring the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) visual discourse despite the potential contribution of such an analysis to uncovering the organization’s underlying constructions. To close that gap, we employed a visual discourse analysis on the covers of OECD documents pertaining to teachers and teaching (i.e., TALIS and ISTP). Our goal was to use this analysis to better understand the OECD’s discourses. The analysis found that OECD’s covers drew mainly on two discourses, a conservative discourse on teachers and teaching, and a liberal diversity discourse. However, the latter was entangled with constructions of traditional gender relations and whiteness, both of which serve to maintain a conservative order. Visual representations constitute a significant part of OECD documents and shed new light on the constructions of teachers and teaching used by the organization.

Abstract

This exploratory study is based on a multidimensional perspective of trust relationships proposed by Lewicki, McAllister, and Bies (1998) to classify the profiles of teachers’ trust in the principal. The main purpose of the present study was to examine the type and frequency of profiles of teachers’ trust in principal, and the implications of these profiles for teachers’ relational wellbeing and their organisational citizenship behaviours (OCB). Cluster analysis of a field survey data of 654 public primary school teachers in Israel was used to identify the profiles of teachers’ trust in the principal and the prevalence of various profiles. Analyses of variance show differences in teachers’ wellbeing and OCB as a function of trust profile. The findings and their implications are discussed.

Abstract

In many Western public primary school systems, the gender composition of the principals is more heterogenic than that of the teachers, but research on the effect of gender on social psychological processes related to school leadership is scarce. The present work aims to address this lacuna by exploring the effects of principal-teacher gender similarity in the Israeli public primary school system, where most teachers are women, on teachers’ trust in their principals and on organizational commitment. Data from 594 female public primary teachers working with male and female principals were analyzed. The results show that when the principal and teacher are of the same gender, both affective and cognitive trust in the principal are higher. Moderation analysis indicated that female teachers’ affective trust in male principals increases with relational duration. A second moderation effect that was found indicated that gender similarity and cognitive trust in principal have a negative interactive effect on teachers’ continued commitment to school, countering the positive effect of gender similarity on commitment. The results and their implications are discussed, and future research is recommended.

Abstract

Social support at work is considered useful in treating job-related stress, and supervisors’ emotional support has been found to be the most effective source of support at work. But an understanding of what elements make employees use supervisors as a source of emotional support is lacking. The present qualitative study included in-depth interviews with 24 teachers and 12 principals, and a focus group with 12 school counselors. The findings pointed at two groups of determinants of subordinates’ intentions of asking socio-emotional help from supervisors. The structural-organizational factors included low formalization structure, supportive and open work climate, shared goals, and manager’s professional expertise; the dyadic factors included quality of relationship and demographic similarity. The determinants reflected different dimensions of psychological distance forming a close construal level that played a central part in employees’ viewing the supervisor as an accessible socio-emotional resource. The role of construal fit is discussed.

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to achieve a deeper understanding of emotional support in principal-teacher relations. The study aimed to shed light on the role of principals’ supportive communication strategies in providing emotional support to teachers, and on the proximal affective outcome of such support. The study used quantitative data obtained from 190 school teachers to explore the effect of principals’ emotional support on teachers’ emotional reframing through principals’ supportive communication strategies (empathic listening, and empowering and normalising messages). The analysis indicated an indirect effect of principals’ emotional support on teachers’ emotional reframing through principals’ supportive communication strategies. The results and their implications are discussed.

Abstract

Policymakers often overestimate the power of agentic players in the system and their own as the causes for the successes and failures of reforms. These are but a small part of the powers in play. The article sheds light on contextual factors that are underestimated when planning and implementing reforms in education. The study utilises a case study method to explore three failed reforms in public education to identify the influence of DESCP (i.e., demographic, economic, social, cultural and political) factors on reform success. The study provides an in-depth understanding of why factors in the action environment are as important as agentic players when aspiring to improve national education. The analysis highlights the impact of DESCP factors on basic capacities toward successful implementation of educational reforms. The DESCP factors are discussed, their relevance to reform success is explicated, and their impact is exemplified with policy cases.

Abstract

The principal’s leadership style is one of the most common ways of conceptualizing school leadership behaviors. We lack understanding, however, of how the effectiveness of school leadership styles varies across degrees of challenging circumstances. Data obtained from a quantitative survey of primary school teachers in Israel (N = 570) and from the Ministry of Education database were used to account for principals’ leadership styles and their effectiveness in schools facing more challenging circumstances (N = 15) and in those facing less challenging circumstances (N = 46). Differences were found in the relations between principals’ transactional behaviors on one hand, and the teaching dimension of school culture and principals’ perceived effectiveness on the other, as a function of challenging school circumstances. The study also found a difference in the relations of principals’ transformational behaviors and the safety dimension of school culture, by level of challenging school circumstances. The data also revealed that in schools facing less challenging circumstances, principals’ passive behaviors were related to students’ achievements and principals’ perceived effectiveness, but not in schools facing more challenging circumstances. The findings and their implications are discussed.

Abstract

Educational leadership plays a significant role in school success, which it is said to achieve through its effects on teachers’ emotions, attitudes, and behaviours. However, the knowledge of how school leaders influence teachers’ emotions is greatly limited. Most existing evidence focuses on general explanations that are not the result of controlled research designs, which is why we lack solid operative knowledge on principals’ emotional support of teachers in emotional distress. The present study seeks to address this lacuna. Our approach focuses on interpersonal communication aimed at expanding the operative knowledge about emotionally supportive communication in principal-teacher relations. The study is based on the experimental vignette method, which makes it possible to infer causality. The data were collected using a sample of 113 primary school teachers. The study found that principals’ empathic listening is associated with greater attributed emotional reframing (i.e., positive emotional change), irrespective of the message that principals communicate; however it is only the presence of reframing message, whether empowering or normalising, that influences the actual reframing of negative affect.

Abstract

The article aims to explain how regulation in education operates in the neoliberal age. The paper discusses two possible regulatory implementation strategies: congruent and transforming. Congruence regulation strategy adopts a regulation mechanism set according to the array of circumstances, as determined by the nature of the goals and by conflict level in a given context; transforming regulation strategy aims to reshape the array by defining the existing policy circumstances. I argue that neoliberal policymakers favor transforming regulation as a leading strategy to implement policies that result in tightening the regulatory governance of the education system and of professional culture in education.

Abstract

Purpose
Scholars have identified various uses of Facebook by activists and social movements in political activism and beyond. They overlooked, however, the possibility that social movements may take advantage of certain capabilities provided by social media platforms, while neglecting others, thereby creating differences in patterns of use between movements. This article aims to investigate these differences and to assess the role of the lived experience of activists and supporters in shaping them.

Design/methodology/approach
The study compared two protests in Israel with respect to (a) activists’ use of social media, (b) the class profile of participants, and (c) the leadership’s demands and their resonance among various social groups. Each case was analyzed by combining thematic and quantitative analysis of online data from Facebook pages and of offline data from various sources.

Findings
The two protests exhibited distinctively different patterns of use of the capabilities provided by Facebook. These differences are associated with the lived experience of protest participants and of the individuals the movement leadership sought to mobilize.

Originality/value
The study is the first to show that successful public policy protests can exhibit distinctive use patterns of social media for political activism. It also identifies lived experience as an important factor in shaping these patterns.

Abstract

In recent years, PISA assessments have become more frequent, and transnational borrowing and policy adaptation have steadily increased, with implications on national education reform policies. The growing impact of globalization in education policy seems to have reinforced the underlying legitimacy of an educational world that lacks cultural diversity. This study seeks to highlight cultural dimensions as significant indicators of disparities in educational performance across countries in international tests. Combining data from the World Values Survey with the PISA scores database, we examined how the Schwartz cultural dimensions relate to student PISA achievement at the national level. Results of regression analysis indicate that when controlling for GDP per capita, Conservatism (i.e., tradition, conformity, and security) remains the best predictor of PISA test results in the three core disciplines. Cultural dimensions in general, and Conservatism in particular, play a significant role in explaining academic achievements per country. Paradoxically, while globalization, in some instances, has led to positive educational policies and multicultural values that challenge Conservatism and Traditionalism, Conservatism may ultimately serve to build the group identity, social cohesion, and national solidarity necessary in this dynamic global era. This study emphasizes the need for comparative exploration that takes into account the influence of cultural dimensions at the national level. This is something that we hope will assist educational administrators to make their educational systems both more effective and more socially responsive.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore how the rise of the new public management (NPM) culture in higher education affected librarians. Librarians are a central part of the traditional intellectual model of academia, whose professional ethos is challenged and threatened by the new market-oriented culture. Using a qualitative methodology based on semi-structured interviews with managers and professional staff of academic libraries at a public university, the present study provides insights into the perceptions of non-faculty professionals on the infiltration of NPM into higher education. Our findings reflect a cultural appropriation of integration taking place under the dominant NPM, resulting in a hybrid traditional-NPM culture. Theoretical and practical implications of the effect of NPM on professional staff of academia are offered.

Abstract

This article discusses social justice leadership in education, aiming to contribute to the Israeli discourse on this issue. The article resorts to international literature to point out the gap between the conceptualizations of social injustices and desired social changes, which are described as linked with multiple social systems on one hand, and with social justice leadership that operates only within schools on the other. The purpose of the article is to extend the conceptualization of social justice leadership in education and associate it with the concepts of activism and social change. The article embraces a socio-ecological perspective and reviews works on social justice leadership in education, activism, and social change in order to present the idea that in the presence of existing barriers to social justice, educational leaders should serve as activists in schools, communities, and in the policy arena. The article offers a macro framework focusing on individual leaders in the field, and emphasizes the need to maintain coherence between intentions, actions, and outcomes in order to promote effectively social justice in a socio-ecological system. The article also discusses the possible tensions that can emerge in a heterogeneous, multicultural, and sectoral society such as the Israeli one as a result of trying to translate abstract ideas of social justice into concrete actions and suggests a cooperative and pragmatic approach as a way to deal with this complexity.

Publication in Hebrew

Abstract

Scholarly discourse concerning the distinction between qualitative and quantitative approach often takes on a binary character. This structuralism undermines the legitimacy of positivist qualitative research, a unique method frequently used in social science research. In the present essay, the author argues that positivist qualitative research should be recognized as a unique form of qualitative research. The essay focuses on three issues: (a) the paradigmatic roots of positivist qualitative research, (b) the components of positivist qualitative research as an empirical research approach, including a typology for mapping various manifestations of partially and fully positivist qualitative research, and (c) incorporating a paradigmatic disclaimer section in articles to improve the quality of qualitative research, positivist and non-positivist alike. Recognizing positivist qualitative research as a distinct and legitimate type can improve qualitative studies in social science.

Abstract

The present work builds on Larry Cuban’s (1990) seminal work on reform waves. The research explores reform waves in Israeli educational policies since 2000s. The historical case study analysis focuses on conservative and liberal-progressive reforms in education, and reveals that these reforms took place as reoccurring alternating cycles, connected with political and institutional pressures that promote reform waves. The paper argues, however, that it is necessary to further develop Cuban’s theory because it does not provide an explanation for the temporal frequency of reform waves. The paper suggests betwixt and between situations as factors pushing reform waves into hyperdrive. The paper ends with a discussion of the implications of reform hyperwaves.

Abstract

Purpose
This a methodological review of the literature on educational leaders and emotions that includes 49 empirical studies published in peer-reviewed journals between 1992-2012.

Design/methodology/approach
The work systematically analyzes descriptive information, methods, and designs in these studies, and their development over time.

Findings
The review suggests that scholarly interest in educational leaders and emotions has increased over time, and identifies methodological patterns in this body of research. The results are compared with methodological data from other syntheses in the disciplines of educational administration (EA) and organizational behavior (OB) for the purpose of using the findings to produce broader insights into the meaning of an emerging research field in EA.

Originality/value
The findings of the methodological review are interpreted from two conceptual perspectives: functionalist and critical. Together, they offer a holistic portrayal of the meaning of producing scientific knowledge in an emerging research field in EA.

Abstract

Purpose
Empirical evidence links transformational school leadership to teachers’ autonomous motivation and affective organizational commitment. Little empirical research, however, has focused on the emotional mechanisms behind these relations. Following the argument in the literature that transformational leadership can transform followers’ emotions, we examine whether teacher’s experience of emotional reframing by principal mediates the relationships between transformational school leadership and these work-related outcomes (i.e., teachers’ motivation and commitment).

Design/methodology/approach
Questionnaires were used to collect information from 639 primary school teachers nested in 69 randomly sampled schools. The data were analyzed using multilevel path analysis software.

Findings
The results indicated that the effect of transformational school leadership behaviors on teachers’ autonomous motivation was fully mediated by emotional reframing, and that the effect of transformational school leadership on affective organizational commitment was partially mediated by it. We further found an indirect relationship of transformational school leadership with affective organizational commitment through emotional reframing and autonomous motivation.

Originality/value
The present study makes a unique contribution to the literature by confirming that teachers’ sense of emotional reframing is a key affective mechanism by which school leaders influence teachers’ motivation and commitment.

Abstract

Purpose
Fundamental aspects of educational leadership preparation programs regarding social justice are embodied in program design elements, yet the scholarly community did not adequately address these issues.

Design/methodology/approach
The essay suggests that organizational theories dealing with person-environment fit can shed light on the models, possibilities, and limitations of various preparation programs.

Findings
The essay proposes a meta-conceptual framework that builds on Schneider’s attraction-selection-attrition theory and on the socialization literature to classify leadership preparation programs by design. In addition, the paper reflects on the implications of program design in relation to the power and the responsibility of the faculty.

Originality/value
The essay argues that design decisions made by the faculty a priori enable and constrain its power and responsibility. The conclusion is that design decisions should be made by faculty with awareness of these issues.

Abstract

In discussions about transformational leadership theory, three conceptions frequently emerge: (a) principals’ transformational leadership behaviours are more prevalent in national contexts than are restructuring-oriented; (b) principals’ transformational behaviours are more effective than transactional behaviours; and (c) principals are either transformational or transactional. These conceptions are repeatedly addressed but seldom explored in an empirical manner. Accepting conceptions as given might result in flattening scholarly discourse and depriving practice of research knowledge. The present paper aims to investigate these conceptions based on data derived from published works and from the author’s database. The results of the investigation suggest that conceptions about principals’ transformational leadership in education are unsupported by empirical exploration. Educational leadership research may be improved by periodically subjecting conceptions to empirical test and incorporating in future works only those that show empirical support. Such exploration is necessary to maintain relevance in an applied research field such as education.

Abstract

The present study aims to examine whether principals’ emotional intelligence (specifically, their ability to recognize emotions in others) makes them more effective transformational leaders, measured by the reframing of teachers’ emotions. The study uses multisource data from principals and their teachers in 69 randomly sampled primary schools. Principals undertook a performance task to allow assessment of their emotion recognition ability; half the teachers’ sampled (N = 319) reported on principals’ leadership behaviors and the other half (N = 320) on teachers’ subjective perceptions of principals as promoting teachers’ reframing of negative emotions into more positive ones. Data were analyzed through multilevel structural equation modeling. Findings indicated a cross-level relationship between principals’ transformational leadership behaviors and teachers’ emotional reframing, as well as a relationship between principals’ emotion recognition ability and their transformational behaviors. Furthermore, the study revealed that principals’ emotion recognition ability has an indirect effect on teachers’ emotional reframing through principals’ transformational leadership behaviors. The results provide empirical support for the claim that transformational leadership promotes emotional transformation. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.

Abstract

The present paper focuses on middle-class parent activism in the Israeli policymaking arena. In recent decades, public education governance in Israel has been gradually moving from a quasi-social democratic mode to a neoliberal one. Two e-mobilizations of middle-class parents are studied: the “Strollers Protest” of 2011 and the “Sardines Protest” of 2014. First, we explore how these two protests used social media to promote changes in education policies. Next, we argue that social media can be used to promote both anti- and pro-neoliberal policies in public education. We conclude by discussing the possible implications of social media on parent activism in the policy arena.

Abstract

This commentary is a criticism of the dominating technical approach to critical teaching, which the author views as inherently linked with promoting what Jack Mezirow called transformative learning. The author suggests that both cognitive and dialogical orientations are necessary to promote authentic transformation through critical teaching. The author discusses the problems involved in over-focus on the technical cognitive aspect in critical teaching, and welcomes a dialogical focus in critical teaching as a way to promote students’ authentic transformative learning.

Abstract

Purpose

After decades in which transformational leadership theory has prevailed as the dominant paradigm in leadership scholarship, critical voices have started raising serious concerns about its falsifiability, suggesting that transformational leadership theory should be abandoned. Although transformational leadership is key to conceptualizing ideal school leadership, the discourse did not find its way into the education field. The present work aims to address this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

The essay combines a review of the critique of the falsifiability of the transformational leadership theory with a discussion of the utility and fit of the theory.

Findings

On the 25th anniversary of transformational leadership theory, I suggest to the educational administration community not to abandon transformational leadership, but to address its shortcomings and look toward future challenges as the community contemplates the promises the theory holds for the field.

Originality/value

The essay examines the current status of the transformational leadership theory in the field of educational administration and offers an interpretative critique.

Abstract

Purpose
The concept of teams tend to be marginalized in the scholarly discussion of school improvement. The present paper argues that teams play a crucial role in promoting an holistic integration of school operation necessary to support school change. Specifically, the paper outlines the dynamic of effective teams at times of school improvement.

Design/methodology/approach
The article presents the concept of teams, elaborates on their central function as a ‘coupling mechanism’, and describes the reciprocal relations between teams and school change.

Findings
The article emphasizes the reciprocal effects of teams and change, suggesting that teams can serve as key change agents in school restructuring processes, specifically when balancing between ‘coping’ and ‘pushing’ forces. Based on the model, effective team leadership and effective school leadership at times of school change are introduced. Practical implications are discussed for school leaders.

Originality/value
The integration of the concept of teams into the school improvement discourse might assist school leaders to develop processes and procedures that will enable both school teams and schools to react more effectively in times of change and restructuring.

Abstract

The present study addresses a topic neglected by the public administration literature: government corruption and its effects on public service systems. Specifically, the study focuses on the institutionalized form of government corruption and offers a framework to explain how corrupt industry operates. The results indicate that in countries with a high level of corruption, a higher ratio of public expenditure on education is associated with less effective educational outcomes, supporting the “wagon-wheel effect” (i.e., policy aimed to promote public service quality leads to its deterioration). The implications of the results for the administration of public service systems are discussed.

Abstract

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present the gap between conceptualizations of social injustices and the desired social transformation that addresses multiple social subsystems and levels on one hand, and social justice leadership that addresses intra-school efforts on the other. The paper aims to expand the conceptualization of social justice leadership and tie it together with concepts of activism and social change.

Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts a socio-ecological perspective. It reviews works about social justice leadership in education, activism, and social change to present the notion that in light of existing social justice barriers educational leaders should serve as activists in schools and in the community and policy areas.

Findings
The paper presents a macro framework, focussing on individual leaders in the field and on the consolidation of intentions, actions, and outcomes in a manner necessary for using social justice as an effective socio-political agenda in a socio-ecological system.

Originality/value
The paper presents a conceptual framework which can enable practitioners and researchers to better understand social justice efforts.

Abstract

The Israeli Ministry of Education has recently initiated a program of reform in the training of public school principals that aims to expand state licensing regulations for educational leaders. This article suggests that the principals’ training and licensing (PTL) reform should be linked to the attempt by Israeli policy makers to institutionalize evaluative neoliberal governance in the Israeli education system. To support this suggestion, the article traces the historical development of PTL policies in Israel to set the new centralized reform in its neoliberal context, and links it to the rise of “new professionalism” in Israeli educational administration. The innovative framework presented here links educational governance and PTL policies together to facilitate a systematic analysis of licensing regulation policies and reforms in other national contexts.

Abstract

This paper is a critique of the dominant functionalist discourse in authentic leadership theory, which shapes the manner in which we perceive authentic leadership development. As an alternative, I offer adopting dialogical philosophy as a theoretical lens for conceptualizing authentic leadership development. Drawing on various dialogical communication works, I explore how dialogical pedagogy can be used to improve authentic leadership development. I suggest eight components of dialogical pedagogy that can be adopted in authentic leadership development: self-exposure, open-mindedness, empathy, care, respect, critical thinking, contact, and mutuality. The advantages, limitations, and implications of dialogical pedagogy for authentic leadership development are then discussed.

Abstract

The present study adopts a multidimensional approach to classifying countries in international comparative policy analyses. The article builds a data-based typology founded on future demographic projections of the United Nations. Latent class analysis is used to identify various demographic profiles of countries based on fertility rates, net migration rates, and dependency ratios. There is great value in identifying future changes in population composition, as it enables governments to set policy agenda, prioritize needs, and prepare better for what lies ahead. The paper demonstrates the value of such typology to social services, by analyzing the demographic profiles and estimating their implications for future challenges in educational provision. The contributions of the paper to international comparative policy analysis are discussed.

Abstract

Purpose
The purpose of this article is to address the involvement of third sector organizations in state public education in Israel, with emphasis on the decision‐making processes affecting the geographic distribution of service provision.

Design/methodology/approach
A collective case study approach was used to investigate non‐governmental organization (NGO) procedures for the deployment of the educational services they provide. The study was based on semi‐structured interviews with key personnel and on documents from four NGOs operating in the Israeli public education system.

Findings
The article illustrates the extent of third sector organizations’ involvement in the Israeli public educational system, in most cases operated with significant governmental funding. The findings reveal two main factors in the NGOs’ decision‐making process that affect their operational deployment: the type of financing model they adopted and the nature of their relationship with the Ministry of Education.

Practical implications
The paper’s findings have led to several policy recommendations. It recommends that NGOs be more aware of their financing model and more critical in its appraisal. It also recommends that the state take into account the vision and financing model of NGOs and its own strategic responsibility for reaching nationwide social goals when selecting partners.

Originality/value
The study examines the increasing involvement of NGOs in state public education. As trends of privatization and democratization continue, the number of NGOs operating in the public education system continues to rise, and their importance continues to increase.

Abstract

Purpose
Scholars have adopted a multiple ethical paradigms approach in an attempt to better understand the bases upon which everyday ethical dilemmas are resolved by educational leaders. The aim of this study is to examine the ethical considerations in ethical judgments of aspiring principals.

Design/methodology/approach
To examine the ethical considerations involved in school leadership decision making, a specially designed ethical perspective instrument was developed that draws on the multiple ethical paradigms. This exploratory instrument was pre‐tested for validity and reliability among school principals and students of educational administration. The research sample consisted of 52 participants in principal training programs in Israel.

Findings
Negative correlations were found between choices reflecting values of fairness and those reflecting utilitarianism and care. In addition, negative correlations were found between choices reflecting values of community and those reflecting care, critique, and profession. Critique turned out to be the value most widely adopted by educational leaders to solve ethical dilemmas, followed by care and profession.

Originality/value
The common notion in the literature is that the various ethics complement one another. There is, however, little empirical work on ethical judgments of educational practitioners. The importance of this exploratory research is twofold: first, it examines the extent to which multiple ethical considerations can be taken into account simultaneously; and second, it identifies the prevailing values that come into play most often.

Abstract

Purpose
Teachers’ resistance to educational reform has been explored, with special attention given to the reasons driving opposition and the resistance practices employed inside school walls. These studies have not, however, examined the agenda setting strategy employed by teachers opposing new policy on the national level, nor has any extensive study focused on the messages or rhetoric characterizing their opposition. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the rhetoric and images used in web‐based campaigns by teachers to secure public support for their resistance to the “New Horizon” reform in Israel 2007 teachers’ strike.

Design/methodology/approach
This study employs a descriptive case study methodology to illustrate the bottom‐up political strategy employed by teachers seeking public support for their opposition to reform. Content analysis of entries and manifestos posted on prominent teachers’ weblogs and partisan school web sites during Israel’s 64‐day teachers’ strike in 2007 was conducted. Texts discussing the reform and its leaders, as well as educational and policy issues were analyzed inductively, divided according to meaning units, and then grouped together into categories.

Findings
Data indicate that the media, and specifically the internet, are perceived as major arena for garnering legitimacy and support. Teachers’ rhetoric of resistance to reform was found to be characterized by: the use of emotional and rational appeals, the attempt to present teachers as “champions of education”, the use of dramatic labeling addressed at reformist leaders, and symbolic images of political parties.

Originality/value
The paper presents a conceptual model of political processes in the education system. The findings show the agenda setting strategy as reflected in teachers’ cross‐level bottom‐up attempts to influence politics. Furthermore, teachers’ rhetoric in resisting educational reform shows great similarity to the rhetoric of political campaigns. Theoretical and practical implications of findings are discussed.

Abstract

Purpose
Successful visionary educational leaders promote a shared vision with great commitment and manage to connect other organizational members to it. In spite of this, the source of their personal commitment to the organizational vision has not yet been the subject of extended study. The purpose of this paper is to correct this by investigating leaders’ personal ethos; the personal experiences and values which form their motives and personality. This paper furthermore considers the influence of personal ethos on the content of the vision promoted in educational organizations. Finally, it explores the link between leaders’ personal vision and the organizational vision they promote.

Design/methodology/approach
Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with visionary educational leaders. These interviews were narrative in nature and aimed to explore the development process and the interrelation of personal and organizational vision in an educational framework.

Findings
Data indicate that visionary educational leaders do not separate their personal vision from their organizational vision. Furthermore, the educational leaders interviewed told of formative experiences which affected their worldview and shaped their personal ethos. Personal ethos proved to be a key element in formulating the leaders’ personal and organization vision. Four prominent factors emerged as central to the personal ethos of educational leaders: identity, culture and values, professional experience, and family.

Originality/value
The findings suggest that educational leaders should engage in a process of self‐reflection in order to form a significant personal vision to which they can fully commit. Furthermore, the insights of leaders about what is important to them can enable an open dialogue with other organizational members and the development of a shared vision.

Abstract

Considering Cohen, March and Olsen’s (1972) “garbage can model,” this paper seeks to examine how educational reforms, adopted by Israel from pre-statehood to contemporarily times, have impacted the role of principals and whether these reforms have prepared them to address challenges of the system. Using second-order historical sources, the paper employs a socio-historical based data analysis to examine the complex relationship between policies, structures, and values and their impact on the role of the principal. For each historical period in the Israeli education system the paper discusses the immediate societal challenges, the origins of the adopted reforms, and the influence of these reforms on the role of the school principal and his/her ability to respond to the challenges placed before him/her. This analysis demonstrates how imported policies and international trends, that are loosely connected to local social, cultural, political and educational contexts and the first fundamental layer of centralized reform adopted in Israel, have impact policy-making and limited the principal’s response to contemporary socioeducational challenges. It is consequently argued that because the system is consistently delayed in adopting educational reform, principals have been forced to respond to the challenges of yesterday instead of focusing on future, and even current challenges. Few studies have employed both the “garbage can model” and a sociohistorical perspective for studying policy-making in education and its influence on the evolution of the role of the principal. The present novel study has the potential to fill this gap in our knowledge by analyzing long-term processes and turning points that have simultaneously shaped the principals’ ability to face societal challenges.