No abstract

PurposeThis study examines the experiences of five teachers working in two English secondary school subject departments after being given the opportunity to engage with Lesson Study (LS) to increase student performance in their subject areas. This study aimed to reveal the drivers for the teachers' engagement in LS, and how this experience of Joint Professional Development (JPD) might be contributing to their learning as teachers.Design/methodology/approachThis study applies an analytic approach to evidencing teacher learning, based on the work of Knud Illeris, offering this as a methodological contribution to the field of professional development literature.FindingsFindings reveal that, despite all the teachers developing a passion for learning through LS, there are constraints on its sustainability and impact which can be attributed to the teachers' broader contexts and which affected them differently. The constraints centre on tensions between priorities and agendas within and beyond the school, related largely to budgets and visions of staff development.Research limitations/implicationsThis focused study on two subject departments engaging in LS limits its generalisability in terms of findings. However, the study offers a practical research application of a model of learning for analysis of teacher reflections on collaborative learning experiences.Originality/valueUnderstanding individual teacher reflections on LS experiences is under-represented in the literature, in particular studies providing insights into conditions conducive and constraining to JPD.

Much of what we understand about school governance is generally under-researched, and there has been almost no recent research undertaken into the governing of schools in the non-maintained, private or independent sectors that are financed by the payment of fees. These schools broadly follow a model of governance that is similar to that of the maintained sector in their constitution, with some notable differences around how governors are appointed and their roles are conceived. This article aims to analyse the nature of independent school governance generally, focusing on a case study of a small private school located in the Midlands, England. The context of this school is a fairly unique one, with governance being held accountable to non-executive trustees who have overall control of the school operation, but who devolve that responsibility to the governing body. This article starts with a review of the current governance model in private schools, then looking in more depth at the characteristics of governance in this independent school. An analysis of the findings is then explored, with some thoughts and conclusions around opportunities for further exploration into private school governance.

This article employs a reflexive methodology to critically examine the opportunities and challenges raised for a leader of a UK EdD programme when the home institution undertakes short periods of intensive teaching abroad – a model known as ‘flying faculty’. The University of Derby had, until 2010–11, a large institutional partnership with Israel via its own Inter-College and UK EdD programme. Academics from the UK made regular trips abroad to teach and tutor doctoral students, working alongside an Israel-based professor. This article identifies two key leadership themes arising from this type of work. The first is related to an academic team working abroad under pressure to deliver an intensive course in a short time period. The second theme looks at issues of sustainability of an EdD programme in this context, namely the maintenance of productive working relationships with the local professor and student cohorts over distance and protracted time of study.

This article looks at the potential of using an online self-completing inventory that measures leadership consciousness awareness. The Consciousness Quotient inventory (CQ-i) has been developed to encourage leaders to be more conscious of their ability to be accountable and responsible for their leadership practice. The CQ-i as a method for researching leadership is piloted here between a university academic and a primary headteacher in the context of a school–university partnership. Pilot outcomes reveal that the inventory can be used as an evaluation of partnership work and ways of thinking about leadership on two levels: the personal and the partnership. The method is somewhat limited by a lack of distinctive criteria for personal domain statements and the absence of an overall profile outcome for the CQ score. Its strength lies in the way the outcomes of the inventory can be used as a starting point for personal reflection on leadership and as a vehicle for discussing a range of different ways of leadership working within different settings, such as school and university contexts.