Do we see through their eyes? Testing a bilingual questionnaire in education research using cognitive interviews

© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. The paper aims to demonstrate the value of cognitive interviewing (CI) as a survey pretesting method in comparative education research. Although rarely used by education researchers, CI has been successfully applied in different disciplines to evaluate and improve question performance. The method assumes that observing people’s thought processes when they answer survey questions can detect response problems and point to possible solutions. To illustrate the merits of CI, we present the findings from eight cognitive interviews, which informed the development of a bilingual English/Georgian online questionnaire. The main objectives of our CI study were to (a) examine cognitive validity of survey questions, (b) determine semantic equivalence of the source (English) and translated (Georgian) versions of the questionnaire and (c) establish conceptual equivalence of survey measures across two cultures. We conducted two rounds of cognitive interviews, one in each language, using a combination of think-aloud and verbal probing techniques. Our analysis suggests that CI can help to identify causes of response difficulties and develop more accurate and comparable survey measures for cross-cultural education research.Published versio

Women secondary head teachers in England: where are they now?

The underrepresentation of women in secondary school headship in England and elsewhere is an early and longstanding theme in the women and gender in educational leadership literature. The purpose of this article is to report findings from a statistical survey of secondary school head teachers across England. Data available in the public domain on school websites have been collated during a single academic year to present a new picture of where women lead secondary schools in England. Mapping the distribution of women by local authority continues to show considerable unevenness across the country. This article argues that a geographical perspective still has value. It might influence the mobilization of resources to targeted areas and ultimately result in women’s proportionate representation in school leadership. Alongside this is a need for schools and academy trusts to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty

Software Engineering: CSC 324

Software Engineering: CSC 324, supplementary examination November 2011

Human Computer Interaction: CSC 522

Human Computer Interaction: CSC 522, supplementary examination January 2012

A comparative analysis of intersections of gender and race among black female school leaders in South Africa, United Kingdom and the United States

In this chapter we use intersectionality theory to do a cross-cultural analysis of three black women leaders’ experiences of leadership in relation to their gender and race in the leadership of schools from three different contexts: England, South Africa and the United States. Through a life-history methodology, black women leaders were interviewed using a set of topics that focused on the interviews and allowed some flexibility to follow up interesting unexpected contextual patterns. The findings suggest that women’s constructions of success are strongly shaped by their gender and race and are deeply rooted in their cultural and familial histories as sources of courage, inspiration and values. These deep-rooted values compel them to practise leadership that is inclusive, fair and socially just. We conclude that the intersectional role of race and gender is significant and needs to be understood alongside the intersection with other aspects of identity such as culture, ethnicity and family background in order to bring stories of black women’s successful leadership to the fore

School Leadership and Management: Identifying Linkages with Learning and Structural Inequalities

RLOsThis chapter summarises three phases of research developments in South Africa that have successively brought more reliable quantitative evidence to bear on what we know about the linkages between school leadership and management (SLM) and learning outcomes. A common thread emerging through these studies is the educational value of managing time-on-task and curriculum coverage although more recent evidence suggests that the efficacy of these management practices in raising learning may be mediated through teacher capacity. These linkages are also only informed through mere associations rather than causal evidence. Notwithstanding the lack of rigorous casual evidence in South Africa on how to raise the quality of management in schools, analyses of distributional patterns and trends in school management team (SMT) post-provisioning reflect key areas that could be targeted to at least improve the quantity of SLM in schools and reduce related inequalities. While international evidence on the educational value of leaders and managers supports calls for the capacity development of SMTs, ensuring SMT members are allocated to schools and selecting the best people for these jobs at the outset are the first steps to improve and level differences in the school leadership and management landscape

School Leadership in West Africa: Findings from a Systematic Literature Review

The literature shows that leadership is the second most important factor influencing school and learner outcomes, including levels of literacy and numeracy, school leaving examination results, and progression to secondary and higher education. This paper focuses on school leadership in West Africa, drawing on a systematic review of the academic and 'grey' literature, commissioned by UNESCO. The aim of the desk research was to ascertain the state of school leadership at all levels. The paper shows that no West African countries provide specific preparation for school principals. It also shows that the predominant leadership style is managerial, with accountability to the hierarchy, within and beyond the school. The paper concludes that specific development programmes should be provided for current and aspiring principals