Leadership succession in schools – an approach to developing a leadership philosophy in teachers

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.Recent trends within the NSW state school context point to possible concerns for succession planning and leadership capacity building in the future. The trends indicate a potential reduction in the number of aspirants for school principals' positions. The study investigates how the inclusion of experienced teachers might expand the target group for leadership succession. The purpose of the study is to address an apparent knowledge gap in leadership learning and development for this group and a lack of preparation of teachers for effective and sustained succession into the principal's role, in often challenging and complex contexts. The study explores the research question: What are the ways in which an intervention can promote leadership learning, development and succession in schools? The study draws on three key learning theories: Argyris and Schön (1978), Isaacs (1993) and Kolb (1984). These theories underpin ways to achieve effective leadership development through the use of experiential and reflective learning strategies. The literature reviewed suggests that leadership strategies, focused on collaborative work-based practices such as "Facilitated Reciprocal Peer Coaching," leadership projects and informal conversation, together with iterative cycles of inquiry and reflection, promote the capacity building essential for quality leadership development. This study explores whether these leadership strategies motivate experienced teachers to engage in leadership development activities and build their leadership philosophy. This study is distinctive because it uses elements of Design Based Research (DBR) methodology to collect data on the participants' experiences of a Leadership Learning Intervention (LLI) and the researcher's observations of leadership development. Data were gathered from interviews, the LLI itself, participants' learning journals and the researcher's observations. The LLI focused on collegial groupings of participants working on a range of experiential and reflective learning activities. These collaborative learning processes broadened the participants' understanding of the nature of leadership, fostered their attitudes and beliefs about leadership and developed contextual expertise. As a result of the processes used in the LLI, the participants developed Design Principles for leadership learning and development. The findings, drawn from the Design Principles and the data sources, led to the identification of four major factors for enhancing leadership learning, development and succession with experienced teachers in NSW state schools. The research is significant because it addresses a gap in knowledge, regarding the impact of learning processes, on the engagement and motivation of experienced teachers in ongoing leadership development. Further, the study provides valuable insights for future leadership development programs that explore ways to support experienced teachers to achieve their goals and develop self-confidence in their abilities

An analytic approximation to the Diffusion Coefficient for the periodic Lorentz Gas

An approximate stochastic model for the topological dynamics of the periodic triangular Lorentz gas is constructed. The model, together with an extremum principle, is used to find a closed form approximation to the diffusion coefficient as a function of the lattice spacing. This approximation is superior to the popular Machta and Zwanzig result and agrees well with a range of numerical estimates.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Clarifying the relationship between metformin, acute kidney injury and lactic acidosis

No abstract available

Potential Savings of Harmonising Hospital and Community Formularies for Chronic Disease Medications Initiated in Hospital

Hospitals in Canada manage their formularies independently, yet many inpatients are discharged on medications which will be purchased through publicly-funded programs. We sought to determine how much public money could be saved on chronic medications if hospitals promoted the initiation of agents with the lowest outpatient formulary prices.We used administrative databases for the province of Ontario to identify patients initiated on a proton pump inhibitor (PPI), angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) following hospital admission from April 1(st) 2008-March 31(st) 2009. We assessed the cost to the Ontario Drug Benefit Program (ODB) over the year following initiation and determined the cost savings if prescriptions were substituted with the least expensive agent in each class.The cost for filling all PPI, ACE inhibitor and ARB prescriptions was $2.48 million,$968 thousand and $325 thousand respectively. Substituting the least expensive agent could have saved$1.16 million (47%) for PPIs, $162 thousand (17$14 thousand (4%) for ARBs over the year following discharge.In a setting where outpatient prescriptions are publicly funded, harmonising outpatient formularies with inpatient therapeutic substitution resulted in modest cost savings and may be one way to control rising pharmaceutical costs

Impact of the PROFHER trial findings on surgeons' clinical practice : An online questionnaire survey

OBJECTIVES: To explore whether orthopaedic surgeons have adopted the Proximal Fracture of the Humerus: Evaluation by Randomisation (PROFHER) trial results routinely into clinical practice. METHODS: A questionnaire was piloted with six orthopaedic surgeons using a 'think aloud' process. The final questionnaire contained 29 items and was distributed online to surgeon members of the British Orthopaedic Association and British Elbow and Shoulder Society. Descriptive statistics summarised the sample characteristics and fracture treatment of respondents overall, and grouped them by whether they changed practice based on PROFHER trial findings. Free-text responses were analysed qualitatively for emerging themes using Framework Analysis principles. RESULTS: There were complete responses from 265 orthopaedic and trauma surgeons who treat patients with proximal humeral fractures. Around half (137) had changed practice to various extents because of PROFHER, by operating on fewer PROFHER-eligible fractures. A third (43) of the 128 respondents who had not changed practice were already managing patients non-operatively. Those who changed practice were more likely to be younger, work in a trauma unit rather than a major trauma centre, be specialist shoulder surgeons and treat fewer PROFHER-eligible fractures surgically. This group gave higher scores when assessing validity and applicability of PROFHER. In contrast, a quarter of the non-changers were critical, sometimes emphatically, of PROFHER. The strongest theme that emerged overall was the endorsement of evidence-based practice. CONCLUSION: PROFHER has had an impact on surgeons' clinical practice, both through changing it, and through underpinning existing non-operative practice. Although some respondents expressed reservations about the trial, evidence from such trials was found to be the most important influence on surgeons' decisions to change practice.Cite this article: L. Jefferson, S. Brealey, H. Handoll, A. Keding, L. Kottam, I. Sbizzera, A. Rangan. Impact of the PROFHER trial findings on surgeons' clinical practice: An online questionnaire survey. Bone Joint Res 2017;6:590-599. DOI: 10.1302/2046-3758.610.BJR-2017-0170

Testing bats in rehabilitation for SARS-CoV-2 before release into the wild

Several studies have suggested SARS-CoV-2 originated from a viral ancestor in bats, but whether transmission occurred directly or via an intermediary host to humans remains unknown. Concerns of spillover of SARS-CoV-2 into wild bat populations are hindering bat rehabilitation and conservation efforts in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Current protocols state that animals cared for by individuals who have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 cannot be released into the wild and must be isolated to reduce the risk of transmission to wild populations. Here, we propose a reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR)-based protocol for detection of SARS-CoV-2 in bats, using fecal sampling. Bats from the United Kingdom were tested following suspected exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and tested negative for the virus. With current UK and international legislation, the identification of SARS-CoV-2 infection in wild animals is becoming increasingly important, and protocols such as the one developed here will help improve understanding and mitigation of SARS-CoV-2 in the future