Cascading training down into the classroom: The need for parallel planning

Cascade models of in-service training are widely considered to be a cost effective means of introducing educational change to large numbers of teachers. Data from 511 teachers completing a cascade training programme that introduced current ideas about and procedures for teaching English to young learners, suggests that provision of training alone is no guarantee that cascade training aims will actually be applied in classrooms. The paper considers implications for cascade projects, suggesting that planning needs to be a parallel process if an adequate return on outlay, in the sense of teachers applying skills introduced in training in their classrooms, is to be achieved

The Role of the Principal in School Reform

Fullan examines the principal\u27s role in school improvement and reform. He describes where principals are and what they do and don\u27t do in relation to change. He then talks about the complexity of leadership and offers guidelines for how principals might lead change more effectively

Food and Fiction: Literature and Creative Writing as Food Pedagogy

Writing about food has proliferated in the last few years and in many ways has been responsible for propelling the food movement, which can be broadly defined as the movement against alienating corporate industrial agriculture, into the mainstream. With the food memoir, or food alienation drama, becoming almost as ubiquitous as the nature memoir, this paper gives due attention to the works of fiction that perhaps less obviously deal with food issues, but nonetheless offer valuable insight. Food is always already storied and stories about food occupy a unique place in that every reader has their own material experience with food. Each reader has their own varied experiences with food and as such they bring with them a wide range of assumptions and understandings based on the role that food occupies in their lives. Both reading and writing offer a moment of intervention into those assumptions. Stories, particularly as they take shape in the novel, have the unique ability to transform our understanding by engaging readers beyond information transmission, making literature an important component of food pedagogy. Creative writing engages the mind and engages language in a way that is different from more formal academic writing, but in a way that is just as valuable. This paper consists of ecocritical readings of two novels—Timothy Taylor’s Stanley Park and Eden Robinson’s Monkey Beach—using food as the primary lens, as well as creative responses to those novels, in order to explore how both reading and writing offer different modes of research and inquiry. Together, ecocritical reading and creative writing offer complementary methods of food pedagogy that enhance and enrich the more common hands on approaches of current food pedagogy practices

Memórias do exílio e o testemunho como resistência

During the civic-military dictatorship in Brazil exile arose as a punitive action, but for many people who were against the oppressive regime, leaving homeland was also the only alternative to escape repression. The aim of this work is to observe the modes of production and representation of resistance presented in the book Memórias do Exílio, Brasil 1964-19??: De muitos caminhos (1976). Our theoretical framework is based on the works of Pedro Fornaciari Grabois and Rodrigo de Castro Orellana, regarding the concepts of power and resistance in Focault’s theories; Eurídice Figueiredo concerning the literary production during the Brazilian civic-military dictatorship. With reference to the testimonial narrative and its role as a politics of resistance, we will use the works of Márcio Selligmann-Silva and Beatriz Sarlo.O exílio foi utilizado pela ditadura civil-militar brasileira como um ato punitivo, mas, para muitas pessoas contrárias ao regime de opressão, ele também foi a única alternativa de fuga das ações repressivas. O objetivo deste artigo é observar os modos de produção e de representação da resistência presentes no livro Memórias do Exílio, Brasil 1964 - 19??: De muitos caminhos (1976). Para essa empreitada, nosso arcabouço teórico conta com as proposições de Pedro Fornaciari Grabois e Rodrigo de Castro Orellana a respeito do conceito de poder e resistência em Michel Foucault; Eurídice Figueiredo no que concerne a produção literária realizada durante a ditadura civil-militar brasileira. No que diz respeito à narrativa testemunhal e seu papel como política de resistência, utilizaremos os trabalhos de Márcio Seligmann-Silva e Beatriz Sarlo

Liderar los aprendizajes: acciones concretas en pos de la mejora escolar

In order to handle the role, incidence, and evolution of school leadership in recent years, Michael Fullan focuses his analysis on three fundamental themes: leading learning, creating coherence and facilitating the teaching professional task. From this perspective, the author highlights some key aspects of the Chilean context. Especially, he justifies, from the evidence, the value of making the greatest possible efforts to concentrate the leadership function in the improvement of teaching practices. A fim de dar conta do papel, incidência e evolução da liderança escolar nos últimos anos, Michael Fullan concentra sua análise em três temas fundamentais: liderar a aprendizagem, criar coerência e facilitar a tarefa profissional docente. Nessa perspectiva, o autor destaca alguns aspectos fundamentais para o contexto chileno. Especialmente, justifica a partir de evidências o valor de fazer os maiores esforços possíveis para concentrar a função de liderança na melhoria das práticas de ensino. Con el objetivo de dar cuenta del papel, incidencia y evolución del liderazgo escolar en los últimos años, Michael Fullan centra su análisis en tres temáticas fundamentales: liderar los aprendizajes, crear coherencia y facilitar la tarea profesional docente. Desde esa óptica, el autor subraya algunos aspectos claves para el contexto chileno. Especialmente, reivindica desde la evidencia el valor de hacer los mayores esfuerzos posibles por concentrar la función directiva en la mejora de las prácticas de enseñanza

Does e-learning policy drive change in Higher Education?: A case study relating models of organisational change to e-learning implementation

Due to the heightened competition introduced by the potential global market and the need for structural changes within organisations delivering e-content, e-learning policy is beginning to take on a more significant role within the context of educational policy per se. For this reason, it is becoming increasingly important to establish what effect such policies have and how they are achieved. This paper addresses this question, illustrating five ways in which change is understood (Fordist, evolutionary, ecological, community of practice and discourse-oriented) and then using this range of perspectives to explore how e-learning policy drives change (both organisational and pedagogic) within a selected higher education institution. The implications of this case are then discussed, and both methodological and pragmatic conclusions are drawn, considering the relative insights offered by the models and ways in which change around e-learning might be supported or promoted

Leadership for the 21st century: Breaking the bonds of dependency.”

Overload and vulnerability make it difficult for reformminded principals to think outside the box. But a new mindset and four guidelines for action can help them truly lead. Wanted: A miracle worker who can do more with less, pacify rival groups, endure chronic second-guessing, tolerate low levels of support, process large volumes of paper and work double shifts (75 nights a year out). He or she will have carte blanche to innovate, but cannot spend much money, replace any personnel, or upset any constituency. 1 The job of the principal or any educational leader has become increasingly complex and constrained. Principals find themselves locked in with less and less room to maneuver. They have become more and more dependent on context. At the very time that proactive leadership is essential, principals are in the least favorable position to provide it. They need a new mindset and guidelines for action to break through the bonds of dependency that have entrapped those who want to make a difference in their schools. The Context for Dependency Dependency is created by two interrelated conditions: overload and corresponding vulnerability to packaged solutions. First, the system fosters dependency on the part of principals. The role of principals in implementing innovations more often than not consists of being on the receiving end of externally initiated changes. The constant bombardment of new tasks and the continual interruptions keep principals off balance. Not only are the demands fragmented and incoherent, but even good ideas have a short shelf life as initiatives are dropped in favor of the latest ne

El significado del cambio educativo: un cuarto de siglo de aprendizaje.

Grupo de Investigación FORCE (Formación Centrada en la Escuela) Universidad de Granad