This paper offers a critique of the corporate-management culture manifested in Australian education systems and institutions. It is argued that in Australia, the drive toward a market culture is a form of administrative achievement that turns culture into commodities. One of the major features of the current educational reform context is a…

This practical guide to the process of planning educational programs for adults explains the key challenges of planning in the real world of conflicting interests and power relations. Part 1 draws attention to the importance of program planning practice in adult education (Chapter 1) and offers a model of what adult educators actually do when…

There are a number of approaches to the provision of services in the early childhood education field, one of which involves collaboration between organizations and individuals. This paper explores the challenges of collaboration as a strategy to expand and enrich early childhood services. Philosophical challenges involve: (1) facing the problem of…

After criticising the prevalent assumption of organizational theory that organizational behavior is based on common typological forms, this paper proposes a political analysis of schools as organizations as a practical theory general enough to be useful to practitioners. The first section reviews the basic elements of comparative structural…

Background information and an analysis of issues involved in the governance of new regional educational laboratories are presented. The new laboratories are to be established through a 1984 competition administered by the National Institute of Education (NIE). The analysis is designed to assist the Study Group on Regional Laboratories to advise…

Researchers conducted individual and group interviews with 76 individuals in Dinar, Turkey, from August 14 to 21, 1990. They also observed numerous expressions of local economic activity. Findings indicated the population appeared ample to support increased economic activities despite some danger of a brain drain. The natural resources and the…

Although much has been written about the potential applications for computers in the classroom, instructional computing has not so far affected classrooms and teaching practice in the manner or to the degree in which it was foretold. An analysis of the discourse surrounding educational computing reveals conceptions of teaching and prescriptions…

A 4-year ethnographic study in Carpinteria, California, examined the school district's parental involvement activities for their effectiveness with lower-class Spanish-speaking parents. Research at three elementary schools included observations of traditional activities, such as parent-teacher conferences and open house, and non-conventional…

The formation of hypotheses and generation of a theory to explain and predict the outcomes of educational reforms based on the concept of school reform cycles is the purpose of this paper. Two complementary hypotheses are proposed to explain the success or failure of educational reforms. The first hypothesis is based on an inverse relationship…

Democratic participation in education suggests that communities will be served best when decision-making is decentralized and when people--teachers, parents, and students alike--are encouraged to participate directly in making decisions that affect them. In contrast, the notion of administrative leadership implies hierarchical elevation of chief…

A study examined increasing employee participation in a Roman Catholic seminary using an analysis of management style to display a profile of recent changes in the seminary's management not unlike similar changes made in secular organizations. Management behaviors relevant to participation were analyzed according to Likert's taxonomy, which…

The paper discusses the political events and issues that affected North Carolina and the nation between 1776 and 1789. Attitudes and philosophies on government and its centralization form the foundation for North Carolina's traditional and firm opposition to centralization of power and changes in government structure. North Carolina's…

Of the three organizational variables that can be understood to influence the work of school specialists, only organizational structure appears to be under the control of school officials. This conclusion was reached by researchers following a year-long study involving close observation of nine carefully selected school specialists from California…

This learning unit on supervising with authority is one in the Choice Series, a self-learning development program for supervisors. Purpose stated for the approximately eight-hour-long unit is to enable the supervisor to define authority, distinguish between different types of authority, and use authority more effectively in the workplace. An…

Confronted by complex and divisive issues and by groups seeking participation in policymaking, the Salt Lake City Board of Education adopted a shared governance policy in the middle 1970's. The policy mandated creation of two related councils at each school site. The School Improvement Council (SIC) consisted of the principal and specified school…