The role of ICT for school leadership and management activities: an international comparison

PurposeInformation and communication technologies (ICT) has an increasing impact on schools. School leaders play a key role in this context as drivers of innovation including those related to ICT. Against this background, the study presented in this article focuses on school leadership and management activities with ICT and related challenges. It sought to analyze how frequently German school principals use ICT compared to principals in other countries, what distinct clusters of German principals could be identified in terms of ICT usage and how principals viewed ICT in schools and related challenges.Design/methodology/approachA mixed-methods approach was chosen, using quantitative data from both the international comparative large-scale assessment study ICILS 2018 and the explorative qualitative data from Germany. For the international comparison, the school principal data sets of the 12 international participants of the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) 2018 were taken into account: Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Luxembourg, Portugal, Uruguay and the United States. To look beyond averaged frequencies, a latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted to identify possible clusters of school leaders with distinct usage patterns of ICT for leadership and management activities.FindingsThe results indicate that, in general, German principals use ICT for leadership and management activities on a similar level as their international colleagues. However, they seem to communicate with education authorities significantly more often than their international colleagues, whereas representative activities (presentations, home page) are rather infrequent. The qualitative data point to significant barriers to fully harnessing the potential of using ICT for leadership, management and school improvement such as lack of competencies and lack of adequate support.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that focuses on school leadership and management activities using ICT with such a data set. The results provide insights into how German principals use ICT to lead and manage their schools compared to their international counterparts. The qualitative data offers additional insights into possible reasons hindering a more effective use of ICT.

Understanding role conflict and role ambiguity of school principals in Nepal

In the context of developed countries, a lot of research has been done to uncover and identify the problems school leaders face in their work but little is known about the school leadership of underdeveloped countries. In a quest to discover contextual problems in terms of role conflict and role ambiguity of school leaders, this qualitative study tries to capture the experiences of principals in Nepal through in-depth interviews of six community school principals. The findings reveal that the major sources of role conflict and ambiguity for principals from Nepal are problematic power-sharing, low job autonomy, dual role conflict, limited professional development training, and lack of leadership knowledge. The study has several policy-level implications such as importance of hiring principals with proven leadership skills and increasing the leadership skills of current principals to ensure that they can tackle these challenges.

Al-Wasaţiyah al-Intiqâiyah al-Taqlîdiyah: Dirâsat Haula Harakâti wa Afkâri Kiâi Hâjî Hâsyim Asy’arî fî Fiqh al-Siyâsah al-Ijtimâ’iyah bi Indûnîsiâ

This article explores moderate and eclectic traditionalism beyond Kiai Haji Muhammad Hashim Ash’ari’s contribution in the shariah and Islamic jurisprudence of social politic (Fiqh al-Siyâsah al-Ijtimâ’iyah) in Indonesia. It is conceptual research referring to some of his works as well as discussion about his thought among Islamic scholars. Based on definition of moderation from the Qur’an, hadith, and some scholars’ opinion, Hashim can be best categorized as Islamic traditionalist figure who enforced both moderation and eclecticism. However, he maintained distinctive features compared to both traditionalist and modernist Islamic figures. It is mainly clear from both his thought and movement which rely on the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’ah in theology, four fiqh school leaders (Hanafiyah, Malikiyah, Syafi’iyah dan Hambaliyah), and thariqah sufiyah mu’tabarah. Additionally, he showed appreciation and promoted for adaptation to both local and foreign idea that later inspired distinctive religiosity in Indonesia. This particularly applies in the concept of relation between Islamic law and nationalism, jihad, political fiqh and governmental system in Islam. تستكشف هذه الورقة الوسطية التقليدية والانتقائية التي ساهمها كياهي حاجي محمد هاشم الأشعري في الشريعة الإسلامية وفقه السياسة الاجتماعية. إنه بحث مفاهيمي يشير إلى بعض أعماله وكذلك مناقشة حول أفكاره كعلماء المسلمين. بناءً على تعريف الوسطية من القرآن والحديث وبعض آراء العلماء، يمكن تصنيف هاشم بشكل أفضل على أنه الشخصية الإسلامية التقليدية التي فرضت الوسطية والانتقائية. ومع ذلك، فقد حافظ على سمات مميزة مقارنة بكل من الشخصيات الإسلامية التقليدية والحداثية. يتضح بشكل أساسي من فكره وحركته اللذين يعتمدان على أهل السنة والجماعة في العقيدة، قادة المذاهب الفقهية الأربعة (حنفية، المالكية، الشافعية والحبلية) والطريقة الصوفية المعتبرة. بالإضافة إلى ذلك، أظهر التقدير والترويج للتكيف مع الأفكار المحلية والأجنبية التي ألهمت لاحقًا التدين المميز في إندونيسيا. وهذا ينطبق بشكل خاص على مفهوم العلاقة بين الشريعة الإسلامية والوطنية والجهاد وفقه السياسية والنظام الحكومي في الإسلام.

Small Chunks, Deep Learning

Project I4 is a cohort-based, year-long program incorporating micro-credential experiences as a key element of learning for school leaders. The project focuses the micro-credential (MC) design, implementation, and study on a central aspect of a school leader's work: classroom observations and post-observation conversations. The leaders learn to observe academic discourse in STEM classrooms. To fully engage in the learning from the MC, leaders collect observational evidence on equitable instructional practices and use the evidence to have coaching post-observation conversations with teachers with the aim of changing instructional practices in classrooms. In the authors' model, a key component for the MC experiences is the opportunity for school leaders to work with leadership coaches in equity-centered networked improvement communities (EC-NICs) of 5-6 persons. This chapter presents a qualitative review of 10 school leaders from the first Project I4 cohort.

Racial Trauma-Informed Pedagogy Strategies for Educational Professionals

In order to address the racial trauma that teens who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) may face at home, and potentially experience in school, educational professionals must equip themselves with the specialized skills to meet students' academic, emotional, and social needs. School leaders must begin this task by examining their own personal racial biases as they lead their staff in the task of reviewing data, rules, policies, and the school environment to examine practices that support and promote institutional and systemic racism.

Leading Successful Novice Teachers

Instructional leaders have the ability to set the culture and climate of a school campus to be inviting, welcoming, and collaborative. Therefore, it is important that school leaders provide professional development opportunities to novice teachers that support growth in developing a sense of confidence and competence in content and pedagogy. Hence, the instructional leader becomes an important stakeholder in the life of a novice teacher.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Educational Leader Wellbeing

The COVID-19 outbreak resulted in higher anxiety levels, in which cyberchondria played a significant role. However, little is known about the factors that helped individuals maintain their wellbeing amid the pandemic. The current chapter presents selected results from three surveys carried out with school leaders in Ireland in relation to their source of stress, and factors that helped them cope with the COVID-19 crisis. The first survey took place a week after the COVID-19-related school closure (study 1, N = 2,864). The second survey took place two months after the school closure (study 2, N = 939). The third survey took place three months after the school re-opening (study 3, N = 861). Participants were asked about their source of stress and the actions they took to maintain wellbeing. Similarities and differences were identified across all three samples using thematic analysis. Unique factors associated with specific stages of the pandemic were identified. This chapter discusses implications in relation to the policy and practice of school leaders during the school closure.

Literacy and Deaf and Hard of Hearing Multilingual Learners

Deaf and hard of hearing multilingual learners (DMLs) face challenges when acquiring literacy. This is compounded by issues such as immigration. Educators and school leaders face difficulties serving these students in a culturally responsive way. The authors highlight the barriers faced by these students and provide strategies that promote literacy. Evidence-based strategies that involve collaboration with other learners on how to provide literacy skills are provided. Vignettes that bring to light issues and strategies that provide solutions to achieving literacy with deaf and hard of hearing multilingual learners have been included. The benefits of family collaboration are presented and strategies included to engage the family in increasing student achievement in reading and writing. Resources and tools are included. This chapter supports the book's objective: to support teachers, teacher preparation professionals, and other stakeholders to acquire the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to teach this special population.