Explaining the success of the world's leading education systems: the case of Singapore

International comparative data on student performance has led McKinsey & Company, among others, to suggest that education systems will inexorably converge in their developmental trajectories with principals and schools enjoying more autonomy. This article challenges these assumptions through referencing Singapore where schools and professionals are still tightly controlled in key resources, curricula and assessment, and where other key factors contribute to its success – thereby evidencing multiple pathways to success

Re-conceptualising learning-centred (instructional) leadership: an obsolete concept in need of renovation

For more than thirty years, ‘instructional leadership’ has been at the forefront of research and practice in school effectiveness and improvement. Governments, employers, universities and professional developers, all see it as a mainstay of raising school and student performance. Wave-after-wave of educational policy reforms during this period have changed school environments, widening and deepening the (instructional) leadership roles and functions of principals and other school leaders. Terminology has changed – while Americans still use ‘instructional leadership’, others prefer ‘learning-centred’ and ‘leadership-for -learning’, disputing whether they encompass the same or different meanings. Yet curiously, the concept itself – as defined and measured by academic researchers and scholars - has changed relatively little since Hallinger and Murphy’s first seminal contribution in 1985. This paper argues the case for wholesale renovation of the concept if it is to maintain relevance going forward. The case is supported by important and powerful trends in policy and practice

Examining Cultural Capital and Student Achievement: Results of A Meta-Analytic Review

This meta-analysis summarized the relationships between cultural capital and student achievement (155 effect sizes involving 685,393 K-12 students) published in education journals between 1981 and 2015. Results showed a small-to-medium overall mean effect size, and larger individual effect sizes for parental education and parental expectations compared to parent-child cultural participation and discussions. Effect sizes were also larger for older students, reading achievement, and studies published earlier. The results affirm the role of cultural capital in explaining student achievement, and indicate that cultural capital is not a unidimensional construct with unequivocal effects on achievement.Cette méta-analyse résume les rapports entre le capital culturel et le rendement des élèves (ampleur de l’effet =155 comptant 685 393 élèves K-12) publiés dans des revues pédagogiques entre 1981 et 2015. Les résultats indiquent que globalement, l’ampleur moyenne de l’effet est entre petite et moyenne et que l’ampleur de l’effet individuel est plus grande pour l’éducation des parents et les attentes parentales que pour la participation culturelle et les discussions parent-enfant. L’ampleur de l’effet est également plus importante chez les élèves plus âgés, pour le rendement en lecture et dans les études publiées antérieurement. Les résultats affirment le rôle du capital culturel dans le rendement scolaire et indiquent que le capital culturel n’est pas une construction unidimensionnelle ayant des effets clairs et explicites sur le rendement

Credit Rationing and Firm Exports: Micro Evidence from SMEs in China

In this study we examine the effect of credit rationing on export performance for small and medium sized firms in China. We use a detailed firm-level data provided by the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Dynamic Survey (SMEDS) to conduct this analysis. SMEDS provides firm-specific measures of credit rationing based directly on firm-level responses to the survey rather than indirectly from firm-level financial statements. We find that, at the extensive margin, weak and strong credit rationing reduce SMEs' export probability by 22% and 36%, respectively. At the intensive margin, they decrease SMEs' export values by more than 32% and over 66%, respectively. Different from existing literature, we construct valid firm-level instruments, firm-level housing investments and receivables, for credit rationing rather than using province-level instruments. In addition, credit rationing exhibits heterogeneous impacts on firms with different liquidity ratios, product portfolios, external collateral and capital utilization rates

Heterogeneous Impacts of Finance on Firm Exports: Evidence from Export Deregulation in A Large Developing Country

This paper investigates the heterogeneous effects of finance on firm exports through the lens of differential exporting modes. China's WTO accession leads to an export deregulation, which empowers private domestic firms with low registered capital to export directly. This quasi-natural experiment encourages firms switching from indirect to direct exporting, and thus providing an ideal setting to explore the heterogeneous effects of finance on exports for switchers and non-switchers. Applying the difference-in-differences(DID) approach to a comprehensive survey data on Chinese manufacturing firms, we find that finace improves exports more for firms switching from indirect to direct exporting, relative to continuous indirect exporters. Moreover, we show that the heterogeneous effects of finance on exports of switchers and non-switchers are more pronounced in the post-WTO accession period. The time-varying heterogeneous impacts suggest an economic loss causes by the export distortion before China's WTO accession because it prevents productive but financially constrained private domestic firms from direct exporting

Time-Varying Impacts of Financial Credits on Firm Exports: Evidence from Trade Deregulation in China

This paper investigates the heterogeneous and time-varying effects of financial credits on firm-level export performance. Using a data set covering comprehensive Chinese manufacturing firms and employing a difference-in-differences approach, we find that financial credits improve firm-level exports and productivity more for firms switching from indirect to direct export than continuing indirect exporting firms. Further, we employ a difference-in-difference-in-differences approach and find that improvements in firm-level finance have larger positive impacts on firm export values in the post-WTO accession period, conditioning on the firm switching from indirect to direct exporting. The time-varying impact may suggest an export distortion in China before its WTO accession

Heterogeneous Impacts of Finance on Firm Exports: Evidence from Export Deregulation in A Large Developing Country

This paper investigates the heterogeneous effects of finance on firm exports through the lens of differential exporting modes. China's WTO accession leads to an export deregulation, which empowers private domestic firms with low registered capital to export directly. This quasi-natural experiment encourages firms switching from indirect to direct exporting, and thus providing an ideal setting to explore the heterogeneous effects of finance on exports for switchers and non-switchers. Applying the difference-in-differences(DID) approach to a comprehensive survey data on Chinese manufacturing firms, we find that finace improves exports more for firms switching from indirect to direct exporting, relative to continuous indirect exporters. Moreover, we show that the heterogeneous effects of finance on exports of switchers and non-switchers are more pronounced in the post-WTO accession period. The time-varying heterogeneous impacts suggest an economic loss causes by the export distortion before China's WTO accession because it prevents productive but financially constrained private domestic firms from direct exporting

How school leadership practices relate to student outcomes: Insights from a three-level meta-analysis

The present study aims to generate broad insights from the large corpus of literature on the associations between a comprehensive range of school leadership practices and student outcomes in different school contexts. Three-level meta-analysis of 493 independent effects from 108 studies published since 2000 showed that the mean effect size was small at r  = 0.14. Effect sizes for leadership practices ranged from r’s  = 0.10 to .26. Results underscored the importance of different types of leadership practices related to instructional management, enhancing teacher capacity, and engaging external stakeholders to improve student outcomes. School leadership practices were significantly associated with students’ academic achievement (in different subjects except science) and learning attitudes/processes but not attainment. Moderator analyses showed that school leadership effects were significant in studies using a school-level analysis but not in those using a lower-level of analysis. Additionally, school leadership effects were significant at different grade levels (G1–G6, G7–G12) and in research reported in different study types (articles, dissertations) and in different years (2000–2009, 2010–2018)