This article presents the results of an interpretive policy analysis of China's Ministry of Education Standards (2013) for the professional practice of principals. In addition to revealing the evolution of the evaluation of principals in China and the processes by which this policy is formulated, a comparative analysis was conducted to compare it…

The Dynamic Leadership Succession model is used to analyze a leadership succession case in an urban school district. The qualitative findings show that the district did not forecast school leadership needs well; however, the principal sought to develop and mentor teacher leaders as her assistant principals. Second, sustaining efforts within the…

Drawing on Bernstein's notion of pedagogic culture or the "mode of being" of the school, this paper develops and uses a theoretical framework for the analysis of school organization that draws attention to specialization of instructional practice. An understanding of the ordering principles of the school emerges from the analysis,…

The purpose of this study was to address the formidable effect that complex trauma has on children and their school success. Trauma impacts a significant number of school-age children and that impact compromises many developmental milestones and events, including learning and school success. This study examined one elementary school that has…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the variations in the ways that principals conceptualize their basis of power in schools. Design/methodology/approach: Phenomenography was used as the research method of this study. The interviewees consisted of 16 principals, eight from public schools and eight from private schools. Findings: The…

Principal's hands-on strategies reflecting their theories of changing have a substantial effect on the development of their schools and on how the large-scale reform takes root. The study explores five comprehensive school principals' leadership strategies during a large-scale school reform in Finland. The principals' strategies in the middle of…

There is developing interest in how professional identity can support educational leaders' management of change. This article explores the conceptualisation and interplay of identity formation with adaptive and contingent forms of educational leadership. The article draws on qualitative data obtained from two New Zealand school principals and…

In this quantitative and qualitative mixed study, the researcher focused on a range of factors that drive principals' decision making and examined the variables that affect principals' decision-making. The study assessed the extent to which principals' leadership and decision-making processes exert influence on the operations of inclusion…

The purpose of the current article is to reflect systematically on articles published in Leadership and Policy in Schools (LPS) since its foundation in 2002 to the present time (2016). Based on qualitative content analysis of the journal's articles, it was found that "LPS" has published articles about clear and demarcated areas of study,…

The focus on schools as communities of learning for teachers has prompted professionals to investigate the role of professional learning within a school context. This is an attempt to investigate the voice of the principal regarding the implementation of teacher collaboration in his or her school, and to determine how teacher collaboration is…

This case study focuses on education in three K-8 schools in Medjimurje County, Croatia. The object of inquiry is the development of successful educational practices for Roma students. Until recently, only a limited number of Roma students completed basic K-4 schooling. Today all students at these three schools complete K-8 education, with some…

The study of context-based leadership practices has gained currency during the last decade. This study aims to complement the recent efforts of researchers in identifying the context-based leadership practices of successful school leaders, and deliberating how these practices are enacted within their own unique contexts. An in-depth case study was…

Recent years have seen large-scale growth in the international school sector, with schools reporting increasing competition to recruit and retain expatriate teachers, particularly in hardship locations. Using a gap analysis framework (Clark & Estes, 2008), this study seeks to identify the knowledge, motivational, and organizational factors…

A review of student discipline and suspension data disaggregated by race highlights how school leader biases influence disciplinary decisions. Yet, the majority of principal preparation programs have failed to develop structures and norms that result in critical conversations pertaining to race and racial inequities. This article is written from a…

This paper reviews a selection of literature on secondary principal practice from which to propose an approach for further research. The review demonstrates that applications of Bourdieu's theory of practice have contributed to understandings about secondary principal practice, and that the distinction he made between rules and strategies has the…