Leading from equity: Changing and organizing for deeper learning

Purpose – This study aims to explore how educational leaders in South Korea adopted equity mindsets and how they organized changes to support students’ deeper learning during COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach – The developed a comprehensive framework of Equity Leadership for Deeper Learning, by revising the existing model of Darling-Hammond and Darling-Hammond (2022) and synthesizing equity leadership literature. Drawing upon this framework, this study analyzed data collected from individual interviews and a focus group with school and district administrators in the K-12 Korean education system. Findings – The participants prioritized an equity stance of their leadership by critically understanding sociopolitical conditions, challenging unjust policies, and envisioning the big picture of equity-centered education. This led them to operationalize equity leadership in practice and create a more inclusive and supportive environment for student-centered deeper learning. District leaders established well-resourced systems by creating/developing instructional resources and making policies more useful. School leaders promoted quality teaching by strengthening access, developing student-centered curricula, and establishing individualized programs for more equitable deeper learning. Research limitations/implications – This study builds on scholarship of deeper learning and equity leadership by adding evidence from Korean educational leaders during COVID-19. First, the findings highlight the significance of leaders’ equity mindsets in creating a safe and inclusive environment for deeper learning. This study further suggests that sharing an equity stance as a collective norm at the system level, spanning across districts and schools is important, which is instrumental to scale up innovation and reform initiatives. Second, this research also extends comparative, culturally informed perspectives to understand educational leadership. Most contemporary leadership theories originated from and are informed by Western and English-speaking contexts despite being widely applied to other contexts across the culture. This study’s analysis underscores the importance of contextualizing leadership practices within the socio-historical contexts that influence how education systems are established and operate. Practical implications – Leaders’ adopting equity mindsets, utilizing bureaucratic resources in creative ways and implementing a school-wide quality curriculum are crucial to supporting students’ deeper learning. District leaders can leverage existing vertical and horizontal networks to effectively communicate with teachers and local communities to establish well-resourced systems. As deeper learning is timeless and requires high levels of student engagement, school leaders’ efforts to establish school-wide curricula is critical to facilitate deeper learning for students. Originality/value – The study provides a nuanced understanding of how equity focused leaders responded to difficulties caused by the pandemic and strategized to support students’ deeper learning. Existing studies tend to prioritize teacher effects on student learning, positing leadership effects as secondary or indirect. Alternatively, the authors argue that, without leadership supporting an inclusive environment, resourceful systems and student-centered school culture, deeper learning cannot be fully achieved in equitable ways

Teaching with resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic: Korean teachers and collective professionalism

This study applies system-focused resilience and collaborative professionalism to examine how teachers in Korea collectively developed resilience and transformed teaching during COVID-19. Using qualitative data from seven individual interviews and four focus groups, we found Korean teachers navigated complex challenges (rapidly changing policies, online teaching, exacerbated learning gaps, and excessive social pressure) and utilized contextual resources (collective autonomy and flexibility, solidity and solidarity, and collective responsibility) to develop strategies (collaborative inquiry, timely communication, and envisioning the future of schooling). The study extends teacher resilience toward more collective and communal, from the individual level, by linking resilience to collaborative systemic changes

Pay dispersion and team performance in the National Basketball Association

This study examines the relationship between player pay dispersion and team performance in the National Basketball Association (NBA) in North America. Specifically, the pay dispersion across teammates in each NBA team was analyzed according to four different models based on their playing time and team performance. Salary data for all NBA teams were collected over 23 consecutive seasons from between 1995-96 to 2017-18. Pay dispersion was measured using the Gini coefficient. Key findings are that the effects of the dispersion are positive for the model with all players in their teams, whereas the effects of pay dispersion on team performance are negative for the models with players who have more playing time, which indicates that greater pay dispersion among the most contributing players is associated with lower team performance. Teams should consider how they can more fairly allocate their capped payrolls among the highest contributing players on their teams based on the equity principle of distributive justice. Teams should consider how they prepare and incorporate other reward methods, such as signing bonuses, which may reduce injustice perceptions of underpaid players and eventually enhance team performance

Analysis of the Relationship between Physical or Mental Problems and Health Maintenance Methods by Personal Differences

PURPOSE This study aimed to investigate the differences in the association between physical or mental problems and health maintenance methods. METHODS This study used data from the 2019 Korea National Sports Participation Survey, conducted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, as a nationally representative cross-sectional survey. This study included 7,863 participants (3,918 men, 3,945 women). A generalized linear model analysis was conducted and adjusted for sex, education, marital status, number of family members, children, monthly income, employment status, city type, residential type, and age. Additionally, we conducted a stratified analysis according to sex, monthly income, employment status, and city type. RESULTS For the “regular sports activities” item, only women had a statistically positive result regardless of monthly income. For the “stop drinking and smoking” item, men had a statistically significant positive result regardless of monthly income and employment status. CONCLUSIONS This study aimed to determine the differences in the relationship between physical or mental problems and health maintenance methods. The results confirm that the health maintenance method differs between men and women. Monthly income, employment status, and city type could also influence simultaneously. The health maintenance methods with differences between men and women were regular sports activities for monthly income and cessation of drinking and smoking for monthly income and employment status. Therefore, in future exercise physiology studies, the differences between men and women must be considered when selecting a method for maintaining health

The impact of environmental barriers on attendance of outdoor and indoor professional sports: the case of the South Korean soccer, baseball and basketball leagues

© 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.Purpose: This study sought to determine if environmental barriers (i.e. air pollution, temperature and precipitation) affect outdoor (i.e. soccer and baseball) and indoor (i.e. basketball) professional sport attendance in South Korea. Design/methodology/approach: By including actual air quality, temperature and precipitation data collected from each place where the sporting events take place, this study conducted a regression analysis to examine factors that influenced outdoor and indoor sport attendance. Findings: In outdoor sports, the estimated results suggested that soccer and baseball attendance were not affected by air pollution. Indoor sport consumers did not change their consumption behaviors in attending sports despite the presence of air pollution. In addition, there was mixed evidence on the effect of weather-related variables on attendance. Average temperature had a positive effect on baseball (outdoor) and basketball (indoor) sport attendance, indicating that the warmer the temperature, the more likely those fans were to attend the games. Average precipitation was negatively associated with outdoor (soccer) sport spectators. Originality/value: The present study contributes to the sport environment literature by examining the impact of environmental barriers on spectators' behaviors in the context of outdoor and indoor professional sports.N

Competitive balance and medal distributions at the Summer Olympic Games 1992-2016: Overall and gender-specific analyses

This article examines competitive balance at the Summer Olympic Games between 1992 and 2016 by measuring the distribution of gold medals, medals and medal points amongst nations, for overall and male and female competitions. The key findings are overall; there has been no improvement in competitive balance since the 1992 Olympics. There is some evidence that competitive balance has improved in male competitions, as shown by decreased HHIN, CV and CR4 values. The analysis of female competitions suggests that competitive balance has remained largely unchanged. However, the CV Gold indicator provides evidence of a significant decline in competitive balance. The findings facilitate a more evidence-based evaluation of existing policy measures and strategies, and their refinement where appropriate. Policy suggestions are proffered for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and various International Federations (IFs), and non-major nations to promote a more balanced development and competition particularly for women

Athletic justice: Scale development and validation

The current study aimed to create a reliable and valid scale to measure athletes' perception of fairness regarding coaches' behaviors. The study utilized a scale development process, including three steps: (a) item generation, (b) scale development, and (c) scale evaluation. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were utilized to generate items and achieve content validity. In developing the AJ scale, elite athletes from 29 different sports in Saudi Arabia were recruited for two rounds of data collection. The first data set (n = 279) was collected using an initial 35-item AJ scale developed from existing justice scales and interviews with elite athletes, while the second data collection (n = 503) was performed using a refined 12-item scale based on the analysis of the first data set. The results of ESEM showed an appropriate model fit for the scale with 12 items including four dimensions. In addition, the criterion validity was supported as each dimension of AJ was positively associated with athlete satisfaction. The newly developed AJ scale will help researchers measure perceived fairness toward coaches’ behaviors based on the unique culture, climate, and environment that exists in the context of sports and explore the relationships between AJ and important attitudinal and behavioral outcomes that impact team performance