Organic school meals in three Danish municipalities

In order to prevent children and young people from becoming obese, healthier eating patterns are urgent. Organic school meals may be an effective strategy to provide healthy food to children. The purpose of this study was to take a closer look into the current status of organic school meal systems in Denmark, by conducting a case study of three municipalities in the Zealand region that have the most developed models for school meals service in this country. These municipalities have for some years introduced organic food for sale in their primary schools, with three quite different approaches. Copenhagen has established a large central kitchen, producing partly organic food that is heated and sold in tuck shops at the schools. Roskilde cooperates with an organic catering company, delivering food to be sold in school canteens. Gladsaxe has part-time employed staff preparing and selling food at each school, and these people are educated about organic food by a municipal coordinator. Based on interviews with key informants in the three municipalities, the report describes the involved actors, interactions among actors, and barriers and future plans regarding an increased consumption of organic food in school meals. Similarities and differences between the municipalities are discussed. The main challenges for an increased consumption of organic food in schools are related to lack of infrastructure in the schools such as kitchens and dining halls, and that the school meal systems developed so far are not well rooted among the pupils, teachers, other school staff and the parents

The role of religious institutions in community governance affairs: how are communities governed beyond the district level?

Ahmad Idrees Rahman

Purposes, Uses, and Practices of Leadership Assessment in Education

Explores recent research literature dealing with personnel evaluations, professional learning, accountability, and the relation of leadership to learning, in order to clarify how leadership assessment practices impact student achievement

A National Dialogue on Health Information Technology and Privacy

Increasingly, government leaders recognize that solving the complex problems facing America today will require more than simply keeping citizens informed. Meeting challenges like rising health care costs, climate change and energy independence requires increased level of collaboration. Traditionally, government agencies have operated in silos -- separated not only from citizens, but from each other, as well. Nevertheless, some have begun to reach across and outside of government to access the collective brainpower of organizations, stakeholders and individuals.The National Dialogue on Health Information Technology and Privacy was one such initiative. It was conceived by leaders in government who sought to demonstrate that it is not only possible, but beneficial and economical, to engage openly and broadly on an issue that is both national in scope and deeply relevant to the everyday lives of citizens. The results of this first-of-its-kind online event are captured in this report, together with important lessons learned along the way.This report served as a call to action. On his first full day in office, President Obama put government on notice that this new, more collaborative model can no longer be confined to the efforts of early adopters. He called upon every executive department and agency to "harness new technology" and make government "transparent, participatory, and collaborative." Government is quickly transitioning to a new generation of managers and leaders, for whom online collaboration is not a new frontier but a fact of everyday life. We owe it to them -- and the citizens we serve -- to recognize and embrace the myriad tools available to fulfill the promise of good government in the 21st Century.Key FindingsThe Panel recommended that the Administration give stakeholders the opportunity to further participate in the discussion of heath IT and privacy through broader outreach and by helping the public to understand the value of a person-centered view of healthcare information technology

Leading with political astuteness: A study of public managers in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom

Combining quantitative survey data from over 1000 middle and senior public managers, as well as qualitative data from 42 in-depth interviews, the study sheds light on how managers understand politics in their work; how they rate their own and their colleagues’ political skills; how they use their political skills; and how these skills were developed. The report also sets forth recommendations to improve the development of managers’ political astuteness at the level of the individual, the organisation, and the professional body/training provider

Education policy: process, themes and impact

Education policy is high on the agenda of governments across the world as global pressures focus increasing attention on the outcomes of education policy and on the implications for economic prosperity and social citizenship. However, there is often an underdeveloped understanding of how education policy is formed, what drives it and how it impacts on schools and colleges. Education Policy: Process, Themes and Impact makes these connections and links them to the wider challenges of educational leadership in a contemporary context

The management of academic workloads: full report on findings

The pressures on UK higher education (from explicit competition and growth in student numbers, to severe regulatory demands) are greater than ever, and have resulted in a steady increase in measures taken by universities to actively manage their finances and overall quality. These pressures are also likely to have impacted on staff and, indeed, recent large surveys in the sector have indicated that almost half of respondents find their workloads unmanageable. Against this background it would seem logical that the emphasis on institutional interventions to improve finance and quality, should be matched by similar attention given to the allocation of workloads to staff, and a focus on how best to utilise people’s time - the single biggest resource available within universities. Thus the aim of this piece of research was to focus on the processes and practices surrounding the allocation of staff workloads within higher education. Ten diverse organisations were selected for study: six universities in the UK, two overseas universities and two non higher education (but knowledge-intensive) organisations. In each, a crosssection of staff was selected, and in-depth interviews carried out. A total of 59 such interviews were carried out across the ten organisations. By identifying typical practices, as well as interesting alternatives, views on the various strengths and weaknesses of each of their workload allocation approaches was collated; and associated factors requiring attention identified. Through an extensive process of analysis, approaches which promoted more equitable loads for individuals, and which might provide synergies for institutions were also investigated