Originally published in 1989. The pursuit of excellence is much discussed with reference to education, but the question remains, 'How can a school become excellent?' This book demonstrates that excellence depends on good management which, in turn, depends not only on a clear understanding of good management theory, but on the ability to translate theory into practice. The authors offer profound insights into three crucial areas of leadership: culture, structure, and public accountability. Drawing on areas outside education, such as advertising and business, they discuss many innovations that are already current - flexitime, the vertical curriculum, mastery learning, community support - and depict ways in which these can be brought together into a total educational experience. More strikingly, however, they look ahead, examining the potential changes to our concept of schooling: for instance those brought about by the growth of information technology. This book emphasises that at the heart of outstanding schooling are visionary leadership, a clear sense of purpose, and creatively conceived and flexible support structures.

Much has been written about globalization and the challenge of preparing young people for the new world of work and life in times of complexity and continuous change. However, few works have examined how globalization has and will continue to shape education in the East. This volume discusses education within the context of globalization and examines what is occurring in schools and systems of education in the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Singapore, and Australia. Closer examination of recent developments and current trends reveal the same turbulence and a range of common issues in areas such as assessment, curriculum, leadership, management of change, pedagogy, policy, professional capacity and technology. This volume demonstrates the commonalities and differences and offers tremendous insight into the way things are done in places where student achievement is high but there is also a sense of urgency in continuing an agenda of change.

Much has been written about globalization and the challenge of preparing young people for the new world of work and life in times of complexity and continuous change. However, few works have examined how globalization has and will continue to shape education in the East. This volume discusses education within the context of globalization and examines what is occurring in schools and systems of education in the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Singapore, and Australia. Closer examination of recent developments and current trends reveal the same turbulence and a range of common issues in areas such as assessment, curriculum, leadership, management of change, pedagogy, policy, professional capacity and technology. This volume demonstrates the commonalities and differences and offers tremendous insight into the way things are done in places where student achievement is high but there is also a sense of urgency in continuing an agenda of change.

This text provides an analysis of the efforts to establish systems of self-managing schools around the world. The core of this book is the description of the transformation of the education system in the state of Victoria, Australia, from dependence in a highly centralized and bureaucratized structure to one that values local decision making and the creation of a system of self-managing schools. The text goes on to show how these and similar programmes in other nations could lay the foundations for similar reform. The authors propose that there must be changes in the role of key stakeholders, including government, community and profession; traditional approaches must be challenged and new ways to fund schools to be canvassed.

This text provides an analysis of the efforts to establish systems of self-managing schools around the world. The core of this book is the description of the transformation of the education system in the state of Victoria, Australia, from dependence in a highly centralized and bureaucratized structure to one that values local decision making and the creation of a system of self-managing schools. The text goes on to show how these and similar programmes in other nations could lay the foundations for similar reform. The authors propose that there must be changes in the role of key stakeholders, including government, community and profession; traditional approaches must be challenged and new ways to fund schools to be canvassed.

This is a book on the good practice of mentoring written by scholars and practitioners in education, health and industry. It considers the roles of the mentor-mentee in changing workplaces affected by external forces including technology, the economy and the dismantling of middle- management structures, and offers guidelines for those who seek good practice, and the nurturing of the individual in a caring and collaborative culture.; A brief history of mentoring and its subsequent usage is presented, with special attention paid to the gender issues. New concepts such as "shadowing" and "reflective interviewing" are introduced and explained, and strategies are presented in such a way that they can be applied and adapted in any setting. The whole process, therefore, aims to empower the professional in a school, university or industrial level, and with others, towards a more effective and perceptive practice.; All those involved in education and training of individuals at a school, college or industrial level training will find this useful.

This work is a sequel to The Self-Managing School and deals with leadership responsibilities on two levels - as head of a school responsible for loca management and as a director in a Local Education Authority responsible

Caldwell and Spinks' sequel to the highly successful The Self-Managing School deals with leadership responsibilities on two levels - as head of a school responsible for local management and as a director in a Local Education Authority responsible, in turn, for the local framework within which local management should proceed. Guidelines for action at both levels are provided.

Offers a model for self-management based on research in effective schools. Guidelines and illustrations based on successful adoption are offered throughout. The aim is quality in education, with the beneficiary being the pupil.

The Self-Transforming School combines an insightful meta-analysis of factors contributing to the success of schools, and an examination of powerful mega-trends that are shaping developments in education, to offer the first mega-analysis in education policy and practice. The book spans fifty years, beginning with Caldwell and Spinks' ground-breaking work The Self-Managing School which advocated innovative approaches that are now accepted as preferred practice, before offering a prognosis and plan for the future. The book argues that all schools in all settings can secure success for all students in an era where society and the economy are changing constantly and dramatically. Although schools find some support in local and global networks, externally designed re-structuring, re-staffing, or command-and-control direction isn't sufficient to achieve transformation. Instead of replicating particular approaches to achieve modest improvement, leadership of the highest quality needs to be deeply embedded in schools and their systems. Caldwell and Spinks propose three important points that need to be taken into consideration: -schools are often at different stages of self-transformation -self-transformation requires a high level of professionalism, and must include teacher education and on-going professional development -funding is critically important, and efforts to build a capacity for self-transformation are constrained by what is available. The book gives particular attention to developments in Australia, Brazil, Canada, England, Finland, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Shanghai, Singapore and the United States. It will be of key interest to school leaders, policy makers, and academics and postgraduate students engaged in research on equity, student performance in highly disadvantaged settings and education policy.

The Self-Transforming School combines an insightful meta-analysis of factors contributing to the success of schools, and an examination of powerful mega-trends that are shaping developments in education, to offer the first mega-analysis in education policy and practice. The book spans fifty years, beginning with Caldwell and Spinks' ground-breaking work The Self-Managing School which advocated innovative approaches that are now accepted as preferred practice, before offering a prognosis and plan for the future. The book argues that all schools in all settings can secure success for all students in an era where society and the economy are changing constantly and dramatically. Although schools find some support in local and global networks, externally designed re-structuring, re-staffing, or command-and-control direction isn't sufficient to achieve transformation. Instead of replicating particular approaches to achieve modest improvement, leadership of the highest quality needs to be deeply embedded in schools and their systems. Caldwell and Spinks propose three important points that need to be taken into consideration: -schools are often at different stages of self-transformation -self-transformation requires a high level of professionalism, and must include teacher education and on-going professional development -funding is critically important, and efforts to build a capacity for self-transformation are constrained by what is available. The book gives particular attention to developments in Australia, Brazil, Canada, England, Finland, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Shanghai, Singapore and the United States. It will be of key interest to school leaders, policy makers, and academics and postgraduate students engaged in research on equity, student performance in highly disadvantaged settings and education policy.

Originally published in 1989. The pursuit of excellence is much discussed with reference to education, but the question remains, 'How can a school become excellent?' This book demonstrates that excellence depends on good management which, in turn, depends not only on a clear understanding of good management theory, but on the ability to translate theory into practice. The authors offer profound insights into three crucial areas of leadership: culture, structure, and public accountability. Drawing on areas outside education, such as advertising and business, they discuss many innovations that are already current - flexitime, the vertical curriculum, mastery learning, community support - and depict ways in which these can be brought together into a total educational experience. More strikingly, however, they look ahead, examining the potential changes to our concept of schooling: for instance those brought about by the growth of information technology. This book emphasises that at the heart of outstanding schooling are visionary leadership, a clear sense of purpose, and creatively conceived and flexible support structures.

Raising the Stakes provides an understanding of the breadth of resources that are needed in order to provide a quality education to all students so that every individual, organisation and institution can become a stakeholder in the enterprise. This comprehensive book draws on best practice in several countries to show how resources can be allocated to help achieve high expectations for all schools. The book demonstrates how schools can move from satisfaction with improvement to accepting the challenge to transform, identifying and exploring the need to align four kinds of resources: intellectual capital, that is, the knowledge and skill of talented professionals social capital, being support in the form of cash, expertise and advocacy drawn from a range of individuals, organisations, agencies and institutions in the broader community financial capital, which must be carefully targeted to ensure that these resources are aligned and focused on priorities for learning; and finally spiritual capital, which can be viewed in a religious sense or in terms of the culture and values that bring coherence and unity to these endeavours. The authors also outline a Student-Focused Planning Model with particular attention to the deployment of resources to support each student and embracing the notion of personalising learning. Practitioners and researchers reading this book will be inspired to work more closely in networking knowledge about how 'high quality' and 'high equity' can be achieved. Raising the Stakes is essential reading for those with the responsibility of ensuring that resources are acquired and allocated to achieve the best possible outcomes for students.

It is time for a new narrative on schools in Australia. The Alignment Premium proposes its major features. Analysis of approaches in 13 countries, including most of the world's top-performers, provides 15 benchmarks against which Australia's performance is assessed. Findings include: Alignment among different levels of government may be commendable in some respects but there is much that is coercive, contrived, dysfunctional or illusory; While achieving a top-ten ranking will depend on what occurs in schools, attention should shift to how systems are adapting to support all schools to become as good as Australia's best; Lack of trust and inertia are serious constraints on efforts to transform Australia's schools. Programs for professional learning of teachers and school leaders are impressive when assessed against international benchmarks. These should be the top priority. Building on findings in The Autonomy Premium, the focus should be on professional autonomy. The challenge is to design a system in which all those who work in or for schools are fully professional. This challenge extends to early childhood and innovative approaches to polytechnic education. The Alignment Premium is essential reading for policymakers, school leaders and researchers who wish to write the new narrative.

An education leader is engaged in work that is difficult, complicated and, at times, risky. It calls for purposeful, and often daring activity. It is an undertaking that is coherent in intent and thrilling in execution. This is the experience of leaders at all levels, who have achieved success in the transformation of schools.

The most grounded and incisive treatment of the future of schooling you will ever find. Caldwell and Spinks show in clear and compelling terms how to raise the stakes for each and every student by putting the system to work on a new set of solutions. Brilliantly and specifically insightful and action oriented. - Michael Fullan, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Raising the Stakes provides an understanding of the breadth of resources that are needed in order to provide a quality education to all students so that every individual, organisation and institution can become a stakeholder in the enterprise. This comprehensive book draws on best practice in several countries to show how resources can be allocated to help achieve high expectations for all schools. The book demonstrates how schools can move from satisfaction with improvement to accepting the challenge to transform, identifying and exploring the need to align four kinds of resources: Intellectual capital, that is, the knowledge and skill of talented professionals; Social capital, being support in the form of cash, expertise and advocacy drawn from a range of individuals, organisations, agencies and institutions in the broader community; Financial capital, which must be carefully targeted to ensure that these resources are aligned and focused on priorities for learning; and finally Spiritual capital, which can be viewed in a religious sense or in terms of the culture and values that bring coherence and unity to these endeavors. The authors also outline a Student-Focused Planning Model with particular attention to the deployment of resources to support each student and embracing the notion of personalizing learning. Practitioners and researchers reading this book will be inspired to work more closely in networking knowledge about how 'high quality' and 'high equity' can be achieved. Raising the Stakes is essential reading for those with the responsibility of ensuring that resources are acquired and allocated to achieve the best possible outcomes for students.