The Competent Head A Job Analysis Of Heads Tasks And Personality Factors

This text provides an evaluation of headteachers' tasks, including categories and specific tasks. It also contains a list of heads' preferred personality characteristics, indicating their favourite ways of working, leadership styles and team roles.

Education management and leadership is a key area of study in education. Educational Management: Major Themes in Education brings together the most important literature in the field, exploring the historical context, the training and development of leaders and their roles in leading people and managing resources in education. The collection provides a focus on the major issues which are current in educational management throughout the world. The four volumes are arranged thematically, as follows: Volume 1: Educational Values Values and Religion Emotions and Gender Politics and Micropolitics Volume 2: Educational Theory Theory School of Effectiveness and School Improvement Financial Management and LSM Further Education Volume 3: Educational Leadership Leadership and Headteachers Learning Leadership Middle Leadership Volume 4: Educational Change History and Research Strategy, Marketing, Change and Culture A new introduction by the editor provides an overview of the field and guides the reader through this wealth of material. Titles also available in this series include, Literacy (June 2004, 4 Volumes, £495), Special Educational Needs and Inclusive Education (August 2004, 4 Volumes, £495) and the forthcoming Early Years Education (2005, c.4 Volumes, c. £475)

`Aims to enhance management practice in education by presenting research findings and theory from a wide range of contributors′ - Skills and Enterprise Update ′This is indeed a book which could be useful to a much larger readership than the normal closed circle of those working in education′ - Managing Schools Today The book presents relevant research and theory in order to enhance management practice in education. The editors′ intention is to articulate good practice on the basis of evidence in educational settings. The ideas presented here are derived from international research and practice and apply to all phases of education, with the emphasis on applying research findings to improve practice in schools and colleges.

The post of headteacher presents a vast array of responsibilities and challenges, which can be difficult to anticipate and manage. Providing a fully comprehensive support and development package for new and aspiring headteachers, this practical book will help first-time headteachers to confidently deal with the challenges of their post, and inform senior teachers about what they can expect in the role, and prepare them for a future in headship. This book covers: " The nature of headship " The transition to formal leadership " Preparing for headship " National standards and NPQH " Applying for a headship " Entering headship " Consolidation and extension Being an Effective Headteacher will help new and aspiring headteachers to get to grips with the challenges of headship and encourage them to fulfill their potential as educational leaders.

Women Leading Education across the Continents is the first collection of research about and stories of women in basic and higher education leadership from every region of the globe. The chapters are authored by scholars representing every continent, including a keynote from the first all female team to traverse Antarctica. The book captures not only statistical data about the position of women in basic and higher education in over 17 countries, but relates compelling insights and stories about the challenges that women face in leadership, the limited access to education by young women, and some strategies for success that have fanned a flame to light the way for both women and men to follow toward equity and social justice.

The Handbook of Gender and Education brings together leading scholars on gender and education to provide an up-to-date and broad-ranging guide to the field. It is a comprehensive overview of different theoretical positions on equity issues in schools. The contributions cover all sectors of education from early years to higher education; curriculum subjects; methodological and theoretical perspectives; and gender identities in education. Each chapter reviews, synthesises and provides a critical interrogation of key contemporary themes in education. This approach ensures that the book will be an indispensable source of reference for a wide range of readers: students, academics and practitioners. The first section of the Handbook, Gender Theory and Methodology, outlines the various (feminist) perspectives on researching and exploring gender and education. The section critiques the notion of gender as a category in educational research and considers recent trends, evident especially in the gender and underachievement debates, to locate gender difference solely within biology. This section provides the broad background upon which the issues and debates in the other sections can be situated. Section two, Gender and Education, considers the differing ways in which gender has been shown to impact upon the opportunities and experiences of pupils/students, teachers and other adults in the different sectors of education. It also includes a chapter on single-sex schooling. Section three, Gender and School Subjects, comprises chapters that cover gender issues within the teaching and learning of particular school subjects (for example, maths, literacy, and science). It also includes topics such as sex education and assessment. The chapters in section four, Gender, identity and educational sites, address up-to-date issues which have a long history in terms of explorations into gender and educational opportunities. More recent inclusions in the debates, such as disability, sexuality, and masculinities are discussed alongside the more traditional concerns of ′race′, social class and femininities. The final section, Working in Schools and Colleges, illuminates the working lives of teachers and academics. The chapters cover such topics as school culture, career progression and development, and the gendered identities of professionals within educational institutions. The contributors to this book have been selected by the editors as authorities in their specific area of gender and education and are drawn from the international scholarly community.

* What have we learned after three decades of research into school effectiveness? * What are the messages for policy-makers, for schools, for classroom teachers, for parents and their children? * What can we say with confidence about how schools improve? * What do we want from our schools in the future and how can we achieve it? This book sets out to answer these questions, reviewing findings from seminal international work and from a major study conducted recently in Scotland, the Improving School Effectiveness Project. It builds up a fascinating picture of what effectiveness is, how it can be measured, and what it means for teachers, parents and pupils. It provides key quantitative data that shows just how schools can and do make a difference (but that their effects tend to be more powerful at different stages in a child's school career, and with differing effects for girls and boys, and for different school subjects). From in-depth work with twenty-four 'case study' schools we are also given much rich qualitative evidence about, for instance, the links between attitudes and attainment within a school, about the ethos of a school and its capacity for change, about the significance of a school development plan in bringing about changes, and about the role and impact of 'critical friends' in pursuing improvement in schools. Improving School Effectiveness is an important book for everyone who is interested in valuing the effectiveness of and securing improvement in schools: for teachers, heads, inspectors, policy-makers, and students and scholars of school effectiveness and improvement.