Gender, generation and leadership: Lessons for recruiting and retaining the next generations of women leaders

While most education systems have collectively made great strides in supporting all leaders, in this paper, we focus on women leaders and what barriers may be in place that do not support the talent spotting, recruitment and retention of women leaders in schools and systems. We believe firmly that until all current members of an education system, including our own team, can get better at identifying and encouraging all potential leaders, we will not be able to make the most important strides in our schools and communities. We need leaders who bring a range of perspectives and experiences to the table. Those ideas underpin our overall work with leaders and our commitment to widening and deepening the pool of leaders wanting to join the ranks and remain

Discovery of a Large-scale Wall in the Direction of Abell 22

We report on the discovery of a large-scale wall in the direction of Abell 22. Using photometric and spectroscopic data from the Las Campanas Observatory and Anglo-Australian Telescope Rich Cluster Survey, Abell 22 is found to exhibit a highly unusual and striking redshift distribution. We show that Abell 22 exhibits a foreground wall-like structure by examining the galaxy distributions in both redshift space and on the colour-magnitude plane. A search for other galaxies and clusters in the nearby region using the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey database suggests that the wall-like structure is a significant large-scale, non-virialized filament which runs between two other Abell clusters either side of Abell 22. The filament stretches over at least >40 Mpc in length and 10 Mpc in width at the redshift of Abell 22.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS letter

Generation X leaders from London, New York and Toronto

Inspired by scholarly calls to focus more intently on the influence of context on leaders’ construction and negotiation of identity, this paper draws on evidence from our Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) project in London, New York City and Toronto. Throughout the paper, we strive to illuminate how the city-based context influences how race/ethnicity is experienced and described. We use social identity theory, organisational fit and in-group prototypes to frame school leaders’ explicit discuss race/ethnicity when reflecting on identity. We describe our data gathering process using our Professional Identity card-sort Tool, which guided leaders’ reflections on identity. The analysis details how we extracted and interpreted evidence from leaders who were explicit about the interrelationship between their own personal racial/ethnic identification and its alignment or misalignment with their school-level communities. We explore how different city contexts influence leader experience of in-groups and out-groups and the related leadership challenges and opportunities. In conclusion, we reflect on the influence that structures, policies and communities have on how leaders experience identity and the possible implications for their work. We also explore the value of attending to potential context-based identity-driven experiences for school leader development and support

Generation X School Leaders as Agents of Care: Leader and Teacher Perspectives from Toronto, New York City and London

This paper draws on evidence from our three-year Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded research study of the lives, careers, experiences and aspirations of Generation X (under 40 years of age) principals and vice-principals in London, New York City, and Toronto. More specifically, the paper examines interview evidence from nine school-based studies in which nine leaders and 54 teachers discuss their perspectives on leaders’ care of their staff members. The evidence demonstrates that leaders and teachers both place a high level of importance on leaders’ ability and willingness to be supportive, understanding, and approachable. Teachers also expect leaders to serve as advocates for and role models of good work/life balance. While the school-level studies take place in radically different city-based contexts, the expectation of leaders’ care for teachers transcends different accountability and policy structures. Both groups focus their discussion on work/life balance and, more specifically, the need for leaders to understand that teachers are people with lives beyond school. The paper highlights implications for policy, practice, and future research

International Symposium White Paper: Principal Work–life Balance and Well-being Matters

In November 2016, delegates from over 32 school leader associations (SLAs) from across the globe participated in the third Annual International Symposium on the Role of Professional Associations for School Leaders held in Toronto, Ontario. The symposium explored research on work intensification, generational theory and its influence on principal work and aspirations, and work-life balance and well- being. This White Paper draws on the work of the symposium and the wider evidence base to argue that we currently face a crisis in principal well-being on a global scale that, without urgent policy and practice intervention, will impact school- and system-level outcomes for generations. We argue for the importance of national and local recognition and understanding of the current status of principal well-being and work-life balance, highlight the factors and conditions that impact the work of principals with implications for well- being and work-life balance in the role, and proffer strategies and interventions that SLAs can undertake to enhance and promote principal well-being....a crisis in principal well-being on a global scale. School leaders have an influential and essential role in securing student academic and personal success, creating the conditions required for school improvement by acting as ‘lead learners’, focusing intently on the quality of teaching and learning. Yet there is growing evidence of a global transformation in the roles and nature of principal work (UNESCO 2009; OECD 2003, 2008) shaped by global patterns of educational reform over the last decade (Fullan 2008; Evans 2016; Edge 2016), the rapidity of innovation in information and communication technology (ICT) and its integration into the work and personal lives of educators and students (Dibbon & Pollock 2007; Gurr 2004, 2000: Pollock & Hauseman 2017; Pollock 2015; Carroll 2010), and the growing diversity (and growing awareness of diversity) of student populations and student needs (Ryan 2006; Briscoe & Pollock 2017; ATA 2014; Pollock, Wang & Hauseman 2015). The resulting escalation in workload brought about by these shifts has been described as “principal work intensification” – a phenomenon defined by an increasing volume and complexity of school leaders’ work, roles and responsibilities (Pollock 2014, 2015, 2016; Pollock, Wang & Hauseman 2015). Principals in several jurisdictions are reporting term-time work hours between 50 and 65 hours a week (Riley 2013, 2014, 2015; Bristow, Ireson & Coleman 2007; Alberta Teachers’ Association 2014). In a 2012 MetLife Foundation principal survey “75 percent of the respondents said that the job had become too complex,” creating undue stress (Pollock et al 2012, p. 3). Work intensification hinders the development and sustainable healthy work-life balance, with significant implications for principal well-being (La Placa et al 2013) and subsequently the well-being of schools and school systems. ...intended and unintended consequences. Globalization, demographic changes, growing global awareness of social equity and human rights issues, and rapid technological innovation create a demand and pressure on public education systems to respond and adapt. Over the last decade, educational change in many jurisdictions has been characterized by a rapid flow of initiatives designed to improve student outcomes. These shifts are occurring against a backdrop of structural and funding pressures that demand increased flexibility and creativity from school leaders, without a concomitant increase in, and at times a reduction of committed resources (Auerbach 2012; Barr & Saltamrsh 2014; Ontario Ministry of Education 2010; People for Education 2012; Sanders 2014; Wallace Foundation 2013). The constant pressure to adopt new programs, a lack of alignment between reforms, and competing accountability systems for different initiatives all contribute to work intensification and negative well-being outcomes for school leaders. Under these conditions, the increasing challenges to principal work-life balance and well-being are creating multifaceted implications for schools and school systems. The principalship is an increasingly undesirable position for prospective and current administrators, creating issues of both recruitment and retention across systems (Leithwood & Azah 2014a, b). Simultaneously, current school leaders find themselves pulled away from instructional leadership, with time increasingly co-opted by operational, accountability and administrative demands created by misaligned system-level priorities (SPEF 2015; The Human Cost 2014; Riley 2014). ...support and advocacy, practice and decision-making. SLAs play an important role in addressing these pressures, acting as knowledge brokers, advocates and policy activists for the well-being of their constituents. Globally, SLAs are developing strategies to support their members’ well-being and advocate for better approaches to work-life balance. Building on the current best practices and experience of symposium participants, this White Paper makes several recommendations for areas of advocacy and operational support that address the unintended consequences arising from the pace and scale of education reform, the growing centrality of ICT, and the changing nature of the principals’ role. These recommendations fall into four key categories: • Jurisdictional policy advocacy • Redefining the principals role • Advocacy for school- and system-level support and • Delivery of support and development opportunities. The applicability of specific recommendations depends on local and national context, SLA jurisdiction, mandate and membership structure. Importantly, while SLAs can act as advocates for policy change, work to share resources, and offer continued professional learning, coaching and mentoring for their members, the challenge of addressing principal well-being and work-life balance extends beyond principals and their professional associations: it rests in the hands of policy makers and school systems

Discovery of the Central Excess Brightness in Hard X-rays in the Cluster of Galaxies Abell 1795

Using the X-ray data from \ASCA, spectral and spatial properties of the intra-cluster medium (ICM) of the cD cluster Abell 1795 are studied, up to a radial distance of $\sim 12'$ ($\sim 1.3$ $h_{50}^{-1}$ kpc). The ICM temperature and abundance are spatially rather constant, although the cool emission component is reconfirmed in the central region. The azimuthally- averaged radial X-ray surface brightness profiles are very similar between soft (0.7--3 keV) and hard (3--10 keV) energy bands, and neither can be fitted with a single-$\beta$ model due to a strong data excess within $\sim5'$ of the cluster center. In contrast, double-$\beta$ models can successfully reproduce the overall brightness profiles both in the soft and hard energy bands, as well as that derived with the \ROSAT PSPC. Properties of the central excess brightness are very similar over the 0.2--10 keV energy range spanned by \ROSAT and \ASCA. Thus, the excess X-ray emission from the core region of this cluster is confirmed for the first time in hard X-rays above 3 keV. This indicates that the shape of the gravitational potential becomes deeper than the King-type one towards the cluster center. Radial profiles of the total gravitating matter, calculated using the double-$\beta$ model, reveal an excess mass of $\sim 3 \times 10^{13}~ M_{\odot}$ within $\sim 150 h^{-1}_{50}$ kpc of the cluster center. This suggests a hierarchy in the gravitational potential corresponding to the cD galaxy and the entire cluster.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures; to appear ApJ 500 (June 20, 1998

Investigating Heating and Cooling in the BCS & B55 Cluster Samples

We study clusters in the BCS cluster sample which are observed by Chandra and are more distant than redshift, z>0.1. We select from this subsample the clusters which have both a short central cooling time and a central temperature drop, and also those with a central radio source. Six of the clusters have clear bubbles near the centre. We calculate the heating by these bubbles and express it as the ratio r_heat/r_cool=1.34+/-0.20. This result is used to calculate the average size of bubbles expected in all clusters with central radio sources. In three cases the predicted bubble sizes approximately match the observed radio lobe dimensions. We combine this cluster sample with the B55 sample studied in earlier work to increase the total sample size and redshift range. This extended sample contains 71 clusters in the redshift range 0<z<0.4. The average distance out to which the bubbles offset the X-ray cooling in the combined sample is at least r_heat/r_cool=0.92+/-0.11. The distribution of central cooling times for the combined sample shows no clusters with clear bubbles and t_cool>1.2Gyr. An investigation of the evolution of cluster parameters within the redshift range of the combined samples does not show any clear variation with redshift.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Quasi-hydrostatic intracluster gas under radiative cooling

Quasi-hydrostatic cooling of the intracluster gas is studied. In the quasi-hydrostatic model, work done by gravity on the inflow gas with dP \neq 0, where P is the gas pressure, is taken into account in the thermal balance. The gas flows in from the outer part so as to compensate the pressure loss of the gas undergoing radiative cooling, but the mass flow is so moderate and smooth that the gas is considered to be quasi-hydrostatic. The temperature of the cooling gas decreases toward the cluster center, but, unlike cooling flows with dP = 0, approaches a constant temperature of \sim 1/3 the temperature of the non-cooling ambient gas. This does not mean that gravitational work cancels out radiative cooling, but means that the temperature of the cooling gas appears to approach a constant value toward the cluster center if the gas maintains the quasi-hydrostatic balance. We discuss the mass flow in quasi-hydrostatic cooling, and compare it with the standard isobaric cooling flow model. We also discuss the implication of \dot{M} for the standard cooling flow model.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in A&

Constraints on Type Ia Supernova Models from X-ray Spectra of Galaxy Clusters

We present constraints on theoretical models of Type Ia supernovae using spatially resolved ASCA X-ray spectroscopy of three galaxy clusters: Abell 496, Abell 2199 and Abell 3571. All three clusters have central iron abundance enhancements; an ensemble of abundance ratios are used to show that most of the iron in the central regions of the clusters comes from SN Ia. These observations are consistent with the suppressed galactic wind scenario proposed by Dupke and White (1999). At the center of each cluster, simultaneous analysis of spectra from all ASCA instruments shows that the nickel to iron abundance ratio (normalized by the solar ratio) is Ni/Fe ~ 4. We use the nickel to iron ratio as a discriminator between SN Ia explosion models: the Ni/Fe ratio of ejecta from the "Convective Deflagration" model W7 is consistent with the observations, while those of "delayed detonation" models are not consistent at the 90% confidence level.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures, accepted by The Astrophysical Journa

X-ray Diagnostics of Thermal Conditions of the Hot Plasmas in the Centaurus Cluster

X-ray data of the Centaurus cluster, obtained with {\it XMM-Newton} for 45 ksec, were analyzed. Deprojected EPIC spectra from concentric thin shell regions were reproduced equally well by a single-phase plasma emission model, or by a two-phase model developed by {\it ASCA}, both incorporating cool (1.7--2.0 keV) and hot ($\sim 4$ keV) plasma temperatures. However, EPIC spectra with higher statistics, accumulated over 3-dimentional thick shell regions, were reproduced better by the two-phase model than by the singe-phase one. Therefore, hot and cool plasma phases are inferred to co-exist in the cluster core region within $\sim 70$ kpc. The iron and silicon abundances of the plasma were reconfirmed to increase significantly towards the center, while that of oxygen was consistent with being radially constant. The implied non-solar abundance ratios explains away the previously reported excess X-ray absorption from the central region. Although an additional cool ($\sim 0.7$ keV) emission was detected within $\sim 20$ kpc of the center, the RGS data gave tight upper limits on any emission with a tempeartures below $\sim 0.5$ keV. These results are compiled into a magnetosphere model, which interprets the cool phase as confined within closed magnetic loops anchored to the cD galaxy. When combined with so-called Rosner-Tucker-Vaiana mechanism which applies to solar coronae, this model can potentially explain basic properties of the cool phase, including its temperature and thermal stability.Comment: 53 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journa