The University of Buckingham Press Journals
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REFLECTIONS ON THE CHALLENGES OF HEADSHIP
Full text linkI retired in April 2020 after 17 years as a Headteacher, serving four different schools across two local authorities. One thing that remained constant throughout this period was the privilege I felt being a school leader. I deliberately chose to work in challenging schools serving more deprived communities. I was driven by the belief that a high-quality education has the power to transform the life chances of young people, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds.In this paper I reflect on my personal experience of government policy during this period and the impact it had on school leaders. In doing so, we will revisit two underpinning themes that featured throughout my headship career. The first was that education became part of the election battleground with each party developing their own ideas and thinking about the direction of education that, in turn, became policy for the successfully elected party. Successive Secretaries of State had their own view of what state education should look like. I have not always been convinced that all policy was based on educational theory and sometimes wonder if it derived from the minister’s own personal experience of education! Sir Kevan Collins describes this as the ‘Complacency of Certainty’ (2021) where ministers speak with authority on education without any substance or research to back it up. The impact this had on school leaders was to experience a see-saw effect as policies swung one way and then the other as governments and ministers changed. The second underpinning theme was the breakdown in trust between the government and the education profession. It is evident that this lack of trust in the system led to the growth of a command-and-control model whereby schools were compelled to follow government policy.To explore these themes, I will focus on three key areas of government policy that were intended to improve standards and reduce education inequality. First the rise of academisation under Tony Blair’s New Labour that accelerated with the Coalition government under David Cameron. Second the government policies designed to give parents far greater choice whilst also creating competition between schools. To this end, we will explore the two system changes that successive governments utilised to drive this culture of choice and competition starting with the high stakes accountability associated with examination results and then finally, reviewing my experience of the Ofsted process
EDITORIAL NOTE
Full text linkIt is surely part of being engaged in the academic study of and enquiry into education to explore alternatives. To offer an alternative perspective which provides evidence that there may be another way of succeeding at a personal, school, community and global level
THOSE WHO WOULD LEAD…
Full text linkThis edition of the Buckingham Journal is focussed on Leadership and Management. Whilst curating this edition I have been struck by the realisation that this edition could have been focussed on Change Management. All of the contributors to this edition of the Buckingham Journal are either reporting on or observing seismic changes in the way schools are organised, led and managed. Sometimes change is strategic and well-planned at other times change is chaotic and a response to a situation. I recall in the early 2000s whilst working in school senior leadership I said that I would vote for any party who promised to leave education alone for five years, that teachers would make any system however imperfect work. At the time we had revised OFSTED frameworks, SEAL, ECM, new vocational qualifications, Leadership Incentive Grant, new progress measures and Building Schools for the Future
Macroeconomic Determinants of Housing Prices in Hong Kong
No full textThis article aimed to study the causal relationship between the housing prices and the macroeconomy in Hong Kong from 1998M1 to 2019M12. We explored both the long-term and short-term causalities between the housing prices, proxied by the Centa-City Index (CCI), and six selected macroeconomic variables. The results indicated the presence of causality between the housing prices and two macroeconomic variables: money supply and exchange rate index. These two variables had an impact on housing prices, regardless of short-term dynamics or long-term equilibrium. While the relationship between money supply and housing prices was found to be bidirectional, the effective exchange rate index Granger caused housing prices only. Additionally, a long-term negative correlation was observed between the housing prices and the interest rates. Our findings may help investors understand the determinants of housing prices in Hong Kong and provide policymakers with some valuable insights on how to introduce fiscal policies to stabilize housing prices
Medical Students’ Knowledge of Autism Compared to the General Population: A Pilot Study
Full text linkBackground: Historically, there has been some concern regarding the level of training in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) for medical students. Throughout medical programs in the US, there is no standardised curriculum, and therefore, to make improvements in this area of medical training, a first step is to determine the current areas of competency of medical students. This pilot study investigated whether differences exist in knowledge among third-year medical students and a general population sample.
Methods: We investigated beliefs about autism among a group of third-year medical students (n = 202) and among a crowdsourced sample of the general public (n = 858). A survey assessed autism knowledge regarding sources of information, causes, age of earliest diagnosis, front-line treatment providers, and diagnostic versus non-diagnostic symptoms. The third-year medical student sample was obtained from a Health Sciences Center in the Southwest. Third-year medical students were surveyed during their paediatrics rotation. The general public sample accessed and completed the survey through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) platform.
Results: Results suggested that although third-year medical students had lower confidence regarding their autism-knowledge base, they possessed more knowledge of autism related to sources of information, causes, and diagnostic testing options than the comparison sample. Additionally, they were significantly better at differentiating diagnostic symptoms from non-diagnostic symptoms.
Conclusions: Overall, the results suggest that by their third year, medical students know more about autism than the general public. Results from the current study indicate an improvement in medical students’ knowledge with respect to autism. Treatment options and the continued need for more training to enhance medical student confidence are discussed
Economic Uncertainty and Bitcoin Volatility: Evidence During COVID-19
No full textThis research investigates the predictability of economic uncertainty indexes on the volatility of Bitcoin (BTC) during COVID-19. The economic uncertainty indexes include US economic policy uncertainty (EPU), Twitter economic uncertainty (TEU), Twitter market uncertainty (TMU), geopolitical risk index (GPR), and trade policy uncertainty (TPU) index. The empirical findings show that the Twitter market uncertainty (TMU) and geopolitical risk (GPR) uncertainty index are valuable predictors of BTC volatility. Moreover, the combination forecasts information for all economic uncertainty indexes is useful for BTC volatility forecasting. Also, we find evidence during high and low volatility and the Russia–Ukraine war. Our results show that Twitter market uncertainty and geopolitical risk uncertainty index are effective predictors of Bitcoin volatility during high volatility periods. During the Russia–Ukraine war, economic policy uncertainty (EPU), the Twitter market uncertainty index, and combination forecast information for all uncertainty indexes are effective for Bitcoin volatility prediction. Our findings are robust with the alternative method MCS test
VULNERABLE LEADERS AND TEACHERS IN ENGLISH SCHOOLS IN THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: IMPLICATIONS FOR LEADERSHIP OF WELLBEING, RETENTION AND EQUITY
Full text linkThis paper explores the wellbeing of school leaders and teachers in England who assessed a specific health risk during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. It explores how this cohort, guided to physically shield, was affected in attitudes towards work and the extent to which leadership behaviours supported a positive and perhaps ‘thriving’ physical return in a post-Covid-19 environment for effective schools and staff retention.Educational systems worldwide have become a high-stakes accountability landscape, with leaders questioning how they can lead with integrity. Staff wellbeing has moved up the agenda in England, forming part of England’s inspection framework, with one criterion being that staff consistently report high levels of support for wellbeing issues (Ofsted, 2019).Insufficient numbers of teachers, with an early exit of novices, is a particularly negative structural feature of the English school system (OECD 2017). A large scale quantitative study indicates that teacher retention is crucial to meet rising pupil numbers (Worth and van den Brande 2020). In the same study, unmanageable workloads and low job satisfaction are cited as significant factors determining teachers’ retention decisions and where teacher autonomy is strongly related to the extent to which teachers regard their workload as manageable (ibid).The study is as concerned with leadership capability as the wellbeing and retention of staff and decision-making driving processes. It is in the development of leaders faced with extraordinary stresses that researchers can understand where gaps lie in leadership development and organisational structure and culture and how these gaps might be strategically addressed. The empirical research on which the paper is based explores some facets for leading effectively in extraordinary circumstances. The paper presents findings on how external structural government directives have challenged schools in carrying out their instructions, amplifying inequality
Bitcoin Versus Gold Prices: Correlation or Mis-specification
No full textBitcoin is a newly created currency, which is also considered as “Digital Gold.” Whereas, Gold is a precious yellow metal. Bitcoins are more independent of the government than gold. Both gold and bitcoins are scanty resources, and thus, prices of both these assets appreciate or deteriorate depending on the demand and supply. An attempt was made to examine the association between prices of these two currencies. For this purpose, three different models were run: independent sample t-test, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. The outcomes of the independent sample t-test revealed that there exists a significant difference between the gold and bitcoin prices. However, the findings of correlation analysis show that movements in gold prices are statistically and positively linked to bitcoin prices. These findings indicate that gold prices move in the same direction as bitcoin prices. Further, the results of regression analysis also depicted that movement of bitcoin prices depends on movement of gold prices. Since its genesis, bitcoin prices have experienced around 37,418 appreciations, which make it an extraordinary currency. However, this study argued that bitcoin is establishing itself as an investment asset for the short term only because fluctuation in prices is very abnormal and unreliable in the long run. Moreover, robustness checks further show that gold prices are increasing at a steady rate, but increments are regular and trustworthy. Finally, the study found that bitcoin provides much higher returns to investors than gold. These results are crucial for the risk-taker investors who are looking for higher returns because bitcoins are getting growing public exposure day by day and attracting investments throughout the world
WHY I ABSOLUTELY LOVE EOTAS (EDUCATION OTHER THAN AT SCHOOL)
Full text linkFive years ago, a colleague and I discussed the increasing number of children who we were meeting through our work as autism and education consultants who were unable to access their education within a school or college. Almost all these children were neurodivergent, bright and wanting to learn, and they just could not do it within the confines of the national curriculum and within the environment of a school building. Many of these children had experienced trauma as a result of their time within the education system and were now suffering from emotionally based school avoidance