Distributed Leadership for Equity and Learning

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)This paper explains the foundations and development of the concept of distributed leadership for equity and learning (DLE), undertaken as part of the work of the European Policy Network on School Leadership. It draws from research and reviews of research into distributed leadership and work on social justice, democratic leadership and a rich conception of democracy (holistic democracy). The importance of the concept of DLE is that, unlike most other approaches to distributed leadership, it integrates values of democracy, holistic learning and social justice into its definition. This has significant practical implications. For example, where DLE is adopted as a guiding definition, it helps to ensure that issues such as inequalities in participation, exclusion, the value of collaborative learning and factors important in creating the conditions for developing democratic citizenship are less likely to be marginalised when initiating or enhancing distributed leadership. The conceptualisation of DLE is offered as a resource and guide where there is a will to make education participative, collaborative and a more fulfilling and self-affirming experience for all.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Newness Against the Grain: Democratic emergence in organisational and professional practice

What is the nature of democratic innovation in a performative culture? The purpose of this chapter is to help answer this question by giving conceptual substance to the notion of democratic emergence as a specific kind of innovation in the context of contemporary governance trends. It is argued that the performative governance which is the product of these trends is not invulnerable to challenge because of deficiencies in the capacity of managerialism and performative governance to improve services, and the creative spaces for agency and initiative created by the valuing of entrepreneurialism and innovation. The chapter draws on existing conceptual work on democratic approaches to school organisation and innovation, relevant literature on entrepreneurialism, and offers a brief insight into an example of democratic innovation in practice

Collaborative School Leadership in a Global Society: A critical perspective’

The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Educational Management Administration & Leadership, February 2018, published by SAGE Publishing, All rights reserved.In the context of evolving global challenges and opportunities, this article explores the kind of leadership that moves beyond the philosophy of dependence which pervades many of the everyday assumptions of educational leadership practice. The article argues for educational leadership that places relational freedom, self-determination, and critical reflexivity as the driving aim of distributed leadership by teachers, students and others in non-positional leadership roles. A project arising from the International Teacher Leadership initiative is examined in order to offer practical illustration.Peer reviewe

Current Challenges to Educational Leadership & Administration: An International Survey Report on the Pilot Survey

Published in the UCEA Review, Summer 2018. It was also published in 2017 as a stand-alone report (entered into the RIS)

Dadi’s dal: deciphering India’s ‘national dish’?

Drawing on his PhD fieldwork, Ken Kuroda proposes that dal – which comes in diverse guises yet is ubiquitous throughout the country – is the best contender for India’s national dish. He writes that observing how someone prepares and consumes their dal, and what they add or subtract from this basic unit offers an important insight on the structures of society

The beginning of the end of Empire? Reassessing the reporting of the British retreat in Burma

The British-Indian army fighting in Burma during 1942 is sometimes misleadingly referred to as a ‘Forgotten Army’. In fact, the army’s long retreat was given good coverage in the western press which provided twenty-six correspondents to cover the campaign. Philip Woods’ new book is the first scholarly analysis of media coverage of this retreat, focusing on newsreel, magazine and newspaper correspondents. It argues for the historical value of the journalists’ contribution, most especially in their published memoirs. The book has implications for the study of journalism and the history of Burma and India

Researching Holistic Democracy in Schools

This is an Open Access article made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License CC BY NC-ND 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.The article is an invited response to the following article in the same issue: ‘Bradley-Levine, J. (2017). Examination of the New Tech Model as a Holistic Democracy’. Bradley-Levine reports in her article how she created an opportunity to explore research data with the aim of examining the degree to which New Tech schools were democratic in the sense conceptualised by the notion of holistic democracy which I have developed in my work. My response is in three parts. The first sets out my understanding of the significance of the model of holistic democracy and the purpose of the framework. The second is a review of Bradley-Levine’s findings, with reflections that occurred to me as I worked through these. The third comprises my conclusions. The framework has been applied, in my judgement, in a diligent and systematic way, enabling the creation of a profile of schools showing where indicators of holistic democracy are present and where critical enquiry and further research and reflective dialogue would be worthwhile. My review of Bradley-Levine’s account and analysis also suggests that further work on the conceptual clarity of the framework would be helpful in improving its usefulness.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Evaluating the impact of the rural dimension of specialism

Commissioned by the Specialist Schools and Academies TrustThe rural dimension is intended to offer the opportunity to schools to enhance and extend the curriculum. Its focus is the understanding of environmental issues and the countryside, and it is seen as relevant to all schools, including those in urban areas. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) wishes to evaluate the extent to which the rural dimension is effective in raising standards. The aim of this study, commissioned by the SSAT, was to ascertain the extent to which the work schools undertake as part of their rural dimension has a demonstrable impact on achievement and attainment - in particular concerning: 1) attainment (pupil performance and school standards); 2) behaviour and attendance (on the part of pupils); 3) engagement (pupil interest and motivation, and raising aspirations among pupils and their families). The approach taken in the study is chiefly an interpretative and illuminative one with the aim of throwing light on how the rural dimension acts as an influence within the school context. Rather than looking for linear cause-and-effect, methodologically it was seen as more helpful to view organisations as complex processes of continual interaction in which any one initiative is the catalyst to multiple interpretations and reactions which generate further initiatives. Qualitative data are particularly helpful in throwing light on these processes. An exploratory case study approach was used, generating both qualitative and quantitative data in order to reflect the complexity of practice and experience in the rural dimension. Six case study schools were selected from rural dimension schools which expressed a wish to participate in the study. Criteria were used to maximise the variation in the sample used, although those with relatively large farms are over-represented. Each of the six case study schools was visited by one or more of the research team. Visits involved interviews, observation and perusal and collection of documentary data (including schools’ websites). This report also includes a selective literature review, highlighting some of the issues concerning research into specialisms and the value of education for sustainable development

Stretch Activation During Fatigue Improves Relative Force Production in Fast-Contracting Mouse Skeletal Muscle Fibers

Stretch activation (FSA) is the delayed increase in fiber specific tension (force per cross-sectional area) following a rapid stretch and can improve muscle performance during repetitive cyclical contractions. Historically considered minimal in skeletal muscle, our recent work showed the ratio ofstretch- to calcium-activated specific tension (FSA/F0) increased from 10 to 40% with greater inorganic phosphate (Pi) levels in soleus muscle fibers (Straight et al., 2019). Given Pi increases with muscle fatigue, we hypothesize that FSA helps maintain force generation during fatigue. To test this, FSA, induced by a stretch of 0.5% fiber length, was examined during Active (pCa 4.5 (pCa = -log([Ca2+]), pH 7.0, Pi 5 mM), High Ca2+ Fatigue (pCa 4.5, pH 6.2, Pi 30 mM) and Low Ca2+ Fatigue (pCa 5.1, pH 6.2, Pi 30 mM) in fibers expressing myosin heavy chain (MHC) I, IIA, IIX and IIB isoforms from soleus and extensor digitorum longus muscles of C57BL/6NJ mice. F0 of all MHC isoforms decreased from Active to High Ca2+ Fatigue to Low Ca2+ Fatigue, as expected. In MHC IIX and IIB fibers, FSA occurred under all conditions and FSA/F0 increased from Active (17-20%) to High Ca2+ Fatigue (32-35%) to Low Ca2+ Fatigue (42-44%). In MHC IIA fibers, FSA/F0 increased similarly to MHC IIX and IIB fibers from Active (14%) to High Ca2+ Fatigue (32%) but stayed elevated under Low Ca2+ Fatigue (35%). For MHC I fibers, no discernable FSA was apparent in either High – or Low Ca2+ Fatigue, leaving an FSA/F0 value in Active only ( 4%). These results show that FSA is a significant modulator of specific tension production under fatiguing conditions in fast-contracting muscle fibers. This mechanism could play an important physiological role during cyclical contractions, when the antagonistic muscle rapidly stretches the agonist muscle, by reducing the effect of fatigue on specific tension production

Researching Holistic Democracy in Schools. A Reponse to Examination of the New Tech Model as a holistic Democracy

Bradley-Levine reported in her article how she created an opportunity to explore research data with the aim of examining the degree to which New Tech schools were democratic in the sense conceptualized by the notion of holistic democracy. My response is in three parts. The first sets out my understanding of the significance of the model of holistic democracy and the purpose of the framework. The second is a review of Bradley-Levine’s findings, with reflections that occurred to me as I worked through these. The third comprises my conclusions. The framework has been applied, in my judgement, in a diligent and systematic way, enabling the creation of a profile of schools showing where indicators of holistic democracy are present and where critical inquiry and further research and reflective dialogue would be worthwhile. My review of Bradley-Levine’s account and analysis also suggests that further work on the conceptual clarity of the framework would be helpful in improving its usefulness