Learning to be a Woodturner

National and international Government policies and reports suggest that lifelong learning is a necessity to promote the cultural, social, educational and vocational dimensions of a person’s life. Many community based organisations play a significant role in providing learning opportunities for adults and thus promote a broad lifelong learning agenda. One such organisation is the Woodturners’ Society of Queensland (WSQ). The aim of the WSQ is the dissemination of information to its members (the majority of whom are over 50 years old) pertaining to the craft of woodturning in addition to providing workshops, seminars and training courses that help to develop and enhance their skills of woodturning. Via semi-structured interviews, the research reported in this paper explores the experiences of ten mature aged members of the WSQ with a view to examining not only their motivation to learn woodturning but also, and most importantly, the learning processes and activities they nominated as critical to their growth. Key factors that facilitated and inhibited the learning processes are identified and discussed. The paper concludes with implications that point to the need to support communities of practice

Learning New Practices in Small Business: Engagement and Localised Support

Discusses the findings of a study that investigated how the learning of innovative practices might best proceed in small businesses. The recent implementation of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) in Australia presented an opportunity for understanding how small business operatives learned to implement a new practice. The procedures comprised semi¬-structured interviews with 30 small businesses about how they had learned about and implemented the GST. A case study was written about each small business' experience that were verified for their accuracy by each small business. These case studies became the data source. It was found that the small business operatives that appeared to have learned most about the GST were those who were highly engaged in the task of learning about the GST - active learners and also accessed high levels of support from localised sources. A typology comprising dimensions of support needed and engagement by small business operatives was synthesised from the findings and is discussed

Completing an Educational Leadership Picture: Feminine Essentials from an Australian Perspective.

The position of women in Australian society, and other westernized countries has not improved greatly. Over the past two decades, a variety of feminist frameworks have been put forward to explain women's almost absence from formal leadership positions and highlight the various barriers that have contributed to this situation. In this book chapter we argue that the dominant culture of educational institutions is masculine. Thus valued practices are those which support competition, hierarchy and individualism (Blackmore 1997), while more feminine models of caring, concern and consensus are devalued or ignored. Because of this incomplete picture, our chapter outlines some important principles and relevant practices that create more feminine ways of leading organizations

Developing Senior Management Teams in Schools: Can Micropolitics Help?

While there is a vast body of literature that examines the role of the principal in schools, it has been only relatively recently that attention has focused on the working practices and relationships o f members in the Senior Management Team (SMT). This paper suggests that the study of micropolitics has potential for illuminating SMTs since it provides a lens to understand the dynamics of the team and the interactions and inter-relationships between and amongst their members. This micropolitical lens is concerned with how players use a variety of strategies such as power, coercion, cooperation, cooption and influence to obtain resources and achieve goals. This paper examines some of the recent research into SMTs and micropolitics and identifies five hey issues or pointers that may be linked to either facilitating or inhibiting the effective functioning of SMTs in schools. The set of issues provides a useful framework for members of SMTs to critically reflect upon as they seek to build shared purpose, cooperation and collaboration

Learning From the Story of a Great Leader

This paper reports on research findings from a larger study which seeks to understand leadership from the experiences of well-known and well-recognised Australian leaders across a spectrum of endeavours such as the arts, business, science, the law and politics. To date there appears to be limited empirical research that has investigated the insights of Australian leaders regarding their leadership experiences, beliefs and practices. In this paper, the leadership story of a well-respected medical scientist is discussed revealing the contextual factors that influenced her thinking about leadership as well as the key values she embodies as a leader. The paper commences by briefly considering some of the salient leadership literature in the field. In particular, two prominent theoretical frameworks provided by Leavy (2003) and Kouzes and Posner (2002) are explored. While Leavy’s framework construes leadership as consisting of three “C’s‿ – context , conviction and credibility, Kouzes and Posner (2002) refer to five practices of exemplary leadership. The paper provides a snapshot of the life forces and context that played an important role in shaping the leader’s views and practices. An analytical discussion of these practices is considered in the light of the earlier frameworks identified. Some implications of the findings from this non-education context for those in schools are briefly noted

Outcomes and Perennial Issues in Pre-Service Teacher Education Mentoring Programs

The growing body of literature on mentoring across a variety of professional disciplines such as education, medicine, nursing, law, business, and public administration is an indication of its high profile. This paper reflects our ongoing interest in the phenomenon of mentoring and takes as its focus, pre-service teacher education mentoring programs. In this paper we review a substantial body of the research literature that identifies the outcomes of mentoring for pre-service teachers and their mentors. We also consider some important perennial issues in the field experience / mentoring of pre-service teacher education programs which have implications for the quality of the experience for pre-service teachers

Mentoring: Pros and cons for HRM

Mentoring has received considerable coverage in recent decades and this is evident by the proliferation of research and popular literature available to the reader. It has been hailed as an important human resource management strategy, a career tool, and a workplace learning activity for men, women and minority groups in a variety of organisational settings such as hospitals, large corporations, schools, universities and government departments. In this paper we review the literature on this ubiquitous yet elusive concept. We begin by exploring what is meant by mentoring, the functions of mentors, three different categories of mentorship, and the benefits and hazards for the mentor, mentee and organisation. In the final part of the paper we highlight some of the implications of setting up a formal mentoring programme for human resource managers

Towards an understanding of Ethical Dilemmas Faced by School Leaders

The field of ethics has attracted increasing interest in educational contexts in recent times and one reason for this heightened interest is the more complex operational milieu (Grace in Campbell 1997, p.223) in which leaders are now working. In the current climate, it is likely that educational leaders could find themselves confronted with ethical dilemmas which require a choice among competing sets of principles, values, beliefs and perspectives. This paper reports on a model for conceptualising ethical dilemmas. To illustrate the application of the model in practice, we provide a scenario and a commentary based on that scenario using the model for analysis

Student-centred schools make the difference

The primary focus of this review is on how school leaders can develop and sustain a student-centred philosophy at all levels within their schools in order to increase the quality of education for all students. The authors draw on research literature from Australia and internationally to examine the impact that student-centred education can have on student outcomes, particularly for those students in disadvantaged contexts. The review initially explores the concept of student-centred schools and how this notion is nested within a range of theoretical and philosophical constructs. The authors draw from research into student-centred pedagogy, learner-centred education, student-centred teaching and learning, and student-centred/ learner-centred leadership to provide a description of a student-centred school. They then consider models of leading student-centred schools, drawing from AITSL’s Australian Professional Standard for Principals and looking at the large-scale student-centred reforms in Ontario, Canada. The authors use Viviane Robinson’s five dimensions of school leadership that impact on student outcomes: 1) Establishing goals and expectations, 2) Resourcing strategically, 3) Ensuring quality teaching, 4) Leading teacher learning and development, and 5) Ensuring a safe and orderly environment.  They then extend this framework to include three additional dimensions of student-centred schooling that emerged from the literature: a) Working with the wider community, b) Ethical Leadership, and c) Student voice. This report offers a critical review of literature to address the hypothesis that student-centred schools make the difference

The centrality of ethical leadership

Purpose The central argument in this paper is that ethical school leadership is imperative in a context of increasing performance-driven accountability. The purpose of this paper is to focus on school principals’ perceptions of how they understand ethical leadership and how they lead the ethical use of data. Design/methodology/approach This study utilises semi-structured interviews with six state school principals (one primary and six secondary) to explore their perceptions of ethical leadership practices; and how they balance current competing accountabilities in a context of performance-driven accountability. Findings There were four key findings. First, principals used data to inform and direct their practices and their conversations with teachers. Second, while ethics was a central consideration in how principals’ led, practising in an ethical manner was identified as complex and challenging in the current context. Third, Starratt’s (1996) ethical framework proved to be relevant for interpreting principals’ practices. Finally, all of the principals referred to dilemmas they faced as a result of competing priorities and all used a variety of strategies to deal with these dilemmas. Originality/value While there is a small body of research that explores school leaders’ understandings of ethical tensions and dilemmas, there is little research that has focused on school leaders’ understandings of the ethical use of data. This study, then, contributes to this area as it provides a discussion on school principals’ leadership practices in the current climate driven by data use