Surviving, thriving and reviving in leadership: The personal and professional development needs of educational leaders

Introduction: Within a context of recruitment and retention challenges, growing emotional demands and work intensification, this opinion piece argues that greater attention needs to be given to individual leaders’ personal development – their well-being and developing the personal qualities required to operate in such demanding conditions. It also asks how can we ensure their continuing effective performance, all the more important while working within a high-stakes accountability culture? In other words, what is needed for head teachers and other senior leaders to ‘survive’, ‘thrive’ and also ‘revive’ in the current performative educational landscape in England and other jurisdictions? Given the widely recognised importance of effective leadership for successful schools, this opinion piece suggests how the work of leaders can be more sustainable, ensuring they continue to operate successfully, both in the interests of their pupils and their own well-being

Cow serum and colostrum immunoglobulin (IgG1) concentration of five suckler cow breed types and subsequent immune status of their calves

peer-reviewedB. Murphy would like to gratefully acknowledge receipt of a Walsh Fellowship provided by Teagasc.The objective of this study was to determine the effect of cow breed type on (a) cow serum and colostrum immunoglobulin (IgG1) concentrations and (b) subsequent calf serum IgG1 concentration and zinc sulphate turbidity (ZST) units. Five cow breed types were examined: LF (Limousin × Friesian), LLF (Limousin × (Limousin × Friesian)), L (Limousin), C (Charolais) and SLF (Simmental × (Limousin × Friesian)). Three blood samples were taken by jugular venipuncture from the cows at approximately 90, 60 and 30 days pre partum, at parturition and at 15 days or more post partum and from the calves at 48 (40 to 56) h post partum. Prior to suckling a 20 ml sample of colostrum was obtained. Milk yield was estimated using the weigh-suckleweigh technique. The decrease in serum IgG1 concentration in cows between 90 days pre partum and parturition was greater (P < 0.01) for LF cows than all other breed types, except SLF. There was no difference between LLF, L, C and SLF cows. There was no effect of cow breed type on colostrum IgG1 concentration. Milk yield was higher (P < 0.001) for LF cows than all other breed types, while that of SLF was higher than the three remaining breed types, which were similar. Calf serum IgG1 concentration and ZST units were higher (P < 0.01) for the progeny of LF cows than all others except SLF. There was no difference between the progeny of LLF, L, C and SLF cows. Calf serum IgG1 was affected by cow breed type and showed a positive relationship with cow serum IgG1 decreases in late pregnancy

Data and inquiry driving school improvement : developments in England

In this paper we draw upon recent developments in England to show how school leaders are using evidence and data for the purposes of school improvement and teachers are becoming more «research engaged» or research orientated. Particular interest is given to how schools are attempting to close the gap between the performance of children from different socioeconomic backgrounds. A policy initiative – the Pupil Premium – has led to school leaders looking closely at a range of improvement and intervention strategies, their effectiveness and the impact they have, especially on poor pupils. We consider this and other related developments further, within an emerging self-improving system, and argue that school leaders are crucial for both data-driven improvement and for ensuring that school-based decision-making becomes evidence based or at least evidence informed. Research engagement does not just happen – it has to be led and managed. The vision is to change the culture of schooling so that practitioner inquiry and research engagement are important parts of teachers’ professional practice. Inquiry-based school systems have been found to be a hallmark of high performing countries (Mourshed et al., 2010) and school leaders are key to the success of this system and cultural change. The paper concludes by considering what factors are important for this change to be realised

Schools as learning communities: effective professional development

This paper draws upon recent research and literature to discuss what is known about effective professional development. It begins with a brief discussion of terminology and offers a definition of professional development before investigating in more detail what constitutes effective professional development. This links to a discussion about the nature of learning communities and how professional development is led within such communities. Finally, we consider the changing nature of provision and approaches to teacher development and learning with a greater focus on school-based provision with a practitioner emphasis

Structural Identity Theory and the Dynamics of Cross-Cultural Work Groups

The creation of a global village, transnational corporations, internet and similar influences remind us constantly that a science of organizations and management is incomplete without the integration of concepts of culture and self-awareness. It is no longer appropriate to discuss organizational activities and employee actions without incorporating a more complete view of where such activities take place. Not only must we include an immediate social context, but we must deal with the international and cultural aspects of the social world as well. More than ever, understanding of employee action requires knowledge of how action is related to the environment in which it is embedded. Using this general focus, we examine a number of significant issues concerning cultural influences on work groups and teams. Our emphasis is the extension and elaboration of other reviews concerning work teams evaluated cross-culturally. The interested reader is referred to a number of articles including Mann (1980), Triandis (1994), Tannenbaum (1980), Earley and Gibson (in press), Granrose and Oskamp (1997), and Ravlin et al. (in press) among others. Our review contains three sections, the first of which is a discussion of traditional approaches to studying teams including the emphasis used in this chapter. In the second section, we use our framework to review literature concerning cultural influences in relation to work teams. Finally, we make a number of recommendations for future research and indicate how our contextual-structural approach extends existing lines of work

An outside-inside view of exclusive practice within an inclusive mainstream school

This article is a reflection on a sabbatical experience in a mainstream school where an inclusive ethos underpinned the curriculum and environmental approaches for all children. The period as Acting Head teacher raised some challenges for me in reconciling inclusion for all children and the exclusive nature of some professional and physical spaces available to the community of adults working in the school. It has highlighted some development opportunities for the senior management of the school and its governing body