The Impact Of Faculty Appraisal At Tertiary Level: Two Exploratory Case Studies

This thesis investigates the impact of faculty appraisal at Rihab University and Al Fanar College, two federal Higher Education institutions in the same Middle Eastern country. It uses a case study approach intended to generate grounded theory from 38 semi-structured interviews, with appraisers and appraisees, alongside documentary analysis, participant observation and researcher reflection. The aim of the research is to determine firstly, how far each particular appraisal system is reported to embody paradigms (meaning goals and values, key assumptions, and management ethos) of professionalism and / or managerialism, and secondly, how far each particular system is said by informants to be appropriate to an educational context. On a more general level, it also looks at the extent to which changes in HE management in 'the West', principally, the United Kingdom, North America, Australia and New Zealand, find resonance in a Middle Eastern context, where HE institutions are staffed predominantly by people from those same Western countries, but are subject to quite different employment laws and practices. It concludes that although appraisers and appraisees both report a need for appraisal in educational contexts, there is little, if any, correlation between faculty appraisal and improved teaching or learning, most probably because feedback from the process is almost exclusively numerical, and very much oriented towards maintaining minimum standards of technical competency, rather than facilitating individualized, flexible and creative professional development. It suggests that such a state of affairs is not inherent in any appraisal system, per se, but is rather a function of the more general micro-political climate of any particular organisation. That is to say, any appraisal system simultaneously reflects and reinforces the underlying management structures and ethos of an institution. In the case of both Rihab and Al Fanar, these structures were said to be considerably more authoritarian than would normally be expected in Western countries, for a variety of reasons, including an acute lack of trade unions, tenure, industrial tribunals and legal safeguards. It therefore seems reasonable to conclude that the considerable antipathy many appraisees displayed towards the appraisal systems at Rihab and Al Fanar was more the result of these contextual factors than the particular procedures adopted by each institution. In other words, evaluative appraisal was not seen as automatically undermining pedagogy or professionalism, a very common complaint in much of the previous literature. Instead, it was seen as offering a potentially useful strategy for enhancing educational practices, but only in contexts where employees are protected from the misuse of management power by a variety of legal constraints

Differential Pulmonary Effects of CoO and La2O3 Metal Oxide Nanoparticle Responses During Aerosolized Inhalation in Mice

Background: Although classified as metal oxides, cobalt monoxide (CoO) and lanthanum oxide (La2O3) nanoparticles, as representative transition and rare earth oxides, exhibit distinct material properties that may result in different hazardous potential in the lung. The current study was undertaken to compare the pulmonary effects of aerosolized whole body inhalation of these nanoparticles in mice. Results: Mice were exposed to filtered air (control) and 10 or 30 mg/m3 of each particle type for 4 days and then examined at 1 h, 1, 7 and 56 days post-exposure. The whole lung burden 1 h after the 4 day inhalation of CoO nanoparticles was 25 % of that for La2O3 nanoparticles. At 56 days post exposure, \u3c 1 % of CoO nanoparticles remained in the lungs; however, 22–50 % of the La2O3 nanoparticles lung burden 1 h post exposure was retained at 56 days post exposure for low and high exposures. Significant accumulation of La2O3 nanoparticles in the tracheobronchial lymph nodes was noted at 56 days post exposure. When exposed to phagolysosomal simulated fluid, La nanoparticles formed urchin-shaped LaPO4 structures, suggesting that retention of this rare earth oxide nanoparticle may be due to complexation of cellular phosphates within lysosomes. CoO nanoparticles caused greater lactate dehydrogenase release in the bronchoalveolar fluid (BALF) compared to La2O3 nanoparticles at 1 day post exposure, while BAL cell differentials indicate that La2O3 nanoparticles generated more inflammatory cell infiltration at all doses and exposure points. Histopathological analysis showed acute inflammatory changes at 1 day after inhalation of either CoO or La2O3 nanoparticles. Only the 30 mg/m3 La2O3 nanoparticles exposure caused chronic inflammatory changes and minimal fibrosis at day 56 post exposure. This is in agreement with activation of the NRLP3 inflammasome after in vitro exposure of differentiated THP-1 macrophages to La2O3 but not after CoO nanoparticles exposure. Conclusion: Taken together, the inhalation studies confirmed the trend of our previous sub-acute aspiration study, which reported that CoO nanoparticles induced more acute pulmonary toxicity, while La2O3 nanoparticles caused chronic inflammatory changes and minimal fibrosis

Junior academic-manager in higher education : an untold story?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of new managerialism on junior academic-managers (defined as those having informal leadership or management roles below the level of head of department). It aims to discover: whether junior academic-managers experience the same tensions as Heads of Department; whether distributed leadership is possible and/or desirable in Higher Education; and what types of support junior academic-managers might welcome. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws upon previous literature and a small case study of one university department in a mid-ranking UK university. Findings – Junior academic-managers experience similar kinds of tensions to heads of department. Although distributed leadership is considered a necessity in higher education, in practice, devolved leadership is more common than genuinely distributed leadership. Junior academic-managers would benefit from the same types of support as heads of department, but increased administrative assistance would be particularly helpful. Some, though not all, of the tensions felt by both groups could be alleviated if higher education institutions (HEIs) adopted a modified form of workforce remodelling, similar to that being implemented in English and Welsh schools. Research limitation/implications – The empirical data come from within one department of one university. It is debatable how far the findings of this study are generalizable to other contexts. Originality/value – There are relatively few studies looking at academic heads of department, and virtually none looking at junior academic-managers. The argument that school workforce remodelling might be adapted for the HE sector is not made elsewhere

The challenges of insider research in educational institutions : wielding a double‐edged sword and resolving delicate dilemmas

This paper explores the challenges faced by educational researchers investigating the places where they work. It reviews the literature on insider research and draws upon the author’s own experience of researching faculty appraisal at two Higher Education institutions where she taught. It argues that the insider/outsider dichotomy is actually a continuum with multiple dimensions, and that all researchers constantly move back and forth along a number of axes, depending upon time, location, participants and topic. The assumption that one kind of research is better than the other is challenged, and the advantages and disadvantages of insider research are discussed in terms of access, intrusiveness, familiarity and rapport. Finally, three dilemmas relating to informant bias, reciprocity in interviews, and research ethics are examined from an insider researcher’s perspective, and the ways in which the author responded to these dilemmas at different points in her own four‐year two‐site study are critiqued

Responses to rejection : the experiences of six women early career researchers in the Education department of an English university

This paper maps the diverse experiences of six women early career researchers in the Education department of an English university. Within a case study approach, data were generated using methods originally developed in collective memory work. The paper analyzes the women's motivations and values, and the extent to which these render their research foci more or less malleable. It explores the women's expectations regarding rejection; their knowledge of the implicit rules of the productivity game; and their perceptions of reviewer feedback. It also discusses the kinds of help the women found most useful, namely, internal support from a departmental community of practice, and external support from academics at other institutions

Appraising higher education faculty in the Middle East: leadership lessons from a different world.

First paragraph: The research documented below investigates the impact of faculty appraisal at two higher education (HE) institutions, located about 15 kms apart, in the same Middle Eastern country. It has been motivated by two beliefs. The first is that the faculty appraisal system of an educational institution is particularly indicative of its more general approach to leadership and management; in other words, “the kind of appraisal system which an institution adopts reflects and reveals both the value system and the internal structures of the organisation” (Hutchinson, 1997:166). The second is that “the development of appraisal systems is part of the development of a more managerial approach to education” (Walsh. 1988, p. 365) and consequently, appraisal systems provide useful windows through which to examine claims of rising managerialism in educatio

Challenging Appraisal Orthodoxies: Teacher Evaluation and Professional Development in the United Arab Emirates

This paper presents findings from a 4-year study of faculty appraisal at two higher education institutions (HEIs) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It finds that neither teachers nor academic managers are opposed to evaluative appraisal, and, contrary to much of the literature, most are happy for evaluative and developmental elements to be combined. It then examines the apparent paradox of continuing professional development in a context where federally-funded HEIs have the money to attract more teachers than they need; the legal right to dismiss any of them for any reason; and a strong belief on the part of managers that these particular students need and deserve only the very best teachers. It concludes that these features of the UAE context present a considerable challenge to the popular notion that people are an institution’s most precious resource and need to be developed at every opportunity

Managing quality in higher education : a stakeholder perspective

This study proposes a framework for managing quality in higher education based on the key quality values of students, academics and employers. The proposed framework of the stakeholder determinants of quality (SDQ) is unique in that it is the only approach to quality that seeks to address differences in quality values between stakeholder groups while it builds on similarities in their views. The methodology employs sequential methodological triangulation and includes individual interviews and a larger survey. The sample includes students and academic staff on Business and IT undergraduate programmes from six of the largest private sector higher education institutions in Muscat, Oman and some of the largest private and public sector employers. The findings reveal strong congruence on many criteria between academic staff and employers, including the importance of developing core transferable skills, student transformation and empowerment and high academic standards. Student responses indicate a lack of congruence on those criteria that focus on student input and participation in the learning process, which are highly rated by academic staff and employers. There are a number of criteria in which there is congruence between the three groups, most significantly, the importance of the teaching and learning function. Students’ engagement with the learning process through the lecturers’ ability to motivate students’ interest, facilitate subject knowledge, stimulate thought and develop transferable skills are considered the most critical issues in managing quality by all three groups. The study suggests that an approach to quality that is based on an understanding of key values of the main participants will facilitate shared understanding and quality consciousness within institutions in comparison to current quality assurance regimes that are externally imposed.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo