1,720,955 research outputs found
Leadership and organisational structure as requisite for Total Quality Management to improve academic quality in schools in Zimbabwe
Full text linkPhD (Education Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom CampusThe influence of leadership and structure in the implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) has not received much attention in the leadership literature. The potential for integrating the leadership and structure literature with the TQM literature is great and is likely to be beneficial for both theory and practice. This study sought to theorise about the possible implementation of TQM, based on the use of leadership and organisational structure, to improve academic quality in schools in Zimbabwe. The study assumed subjectivist ontology and presented an interpretative epistemology. It employed a qualitative research design, and specifically, case study methodology. Participants were sampled through purposeful sampling. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. These semi-structured interviews were audio recorded and the recorded interviews were transcribed. Data were analysed through ATLAS.ti (a qualitative data analysis software program). Codes were identified and organised into categories and themes, which were interpreted. In this study, it was found that agency and structure are directly linked to organisational structure and leadership in schools. The aforesaid are reflected through academic performance, expressed and measured as pass rate. It was found that trust and relationships with stakeholders were a prerequisite for academic quality improvement. Agency and structure were found to be potentially requisite if the leadership in schools were to implement all fourteen principles of TQM to improve academic quality. Findings also indicated that policies, work overload, mobility of teachers, resources and resistance to change were the factors that had the potential to derail the implementation of TQM so as to improve academic quality in schools. It was also found that a bureaucratic organisational structure was acceptable in schools; however, there were suggestions to change the terminology, policies and procedures, the level of centralisation of decision-making and the communication methods used in the schools. The researcher concluded that the leadership that uses its agency and structure to implement the principles of TQM, has the potential to improve academic quality in their schools. This is even more so given that agency and structure have been found to be directly linked to organisational structure and leadership through academic performance (academic quality). The researcher also concluded that the leadership that understands the organisational structure of their schools has the potential to influence academic quality improvement, since it is cognisant of its responsibilities. It was concluded that the leadership that uses its agency to make the bureaucratic organisational structures in their schools enabling, has the potential to implement the principles of TQM to improve academic quality. Trust and relations with stakeholders are thus a prerequisite in this process. It was further concluded that an agency-driven leadership, with structure playing a secondary role, influence academic quality improvement in schools positively. Agency and structure are therefore requisite if the leadership in schools are to implement all fourteen principles of TQM. Finally, the study concluded that time, policy issues, work overload, mobility of teachers, inadequate resources and negative attitude to change are some of the factors that may promote or inhibit the leadership as key to the implementation of TQM to improve academic quality in schools. Although a bureaucratic organisational structure has been found acceptable in the schools, it is concluded that the terminology, policies, procedures and centralisation and communication methods in schools should be changed to implement the principles of TQM to improve academic quality.Doctora
The Role of School Heads in Equalising Educational Opportunities in Disadvantaged Rural Primary Schools in Zimbabwe
Full text linkPrimary schools that exist in disadvantaged rural areas in Zimbabwe face serious challenges in delivering equal educational opportunities to the learners. Learners in these areas generally do not perform well in public examinations at grade seven level. They show reduced tendencies to progress beyond compulsory education cycles and contribute more to wastage indicators such as dropping out of school. Using Rawls’ Distributive Theory of social justice (1971), this study explores how school heads deliver equal educational opportunities in selected disadvantaged rural primary schools in Bindura District of Zimbabwe. The study used a qualitative research approach conducting a case study to gather data through semi structured interviews. The participants were primary school heads, deputy heads and school chairpersons selected from five purposively sampled disadvantaged rural primary schools according to their performance status, that is, bottom performing schools in national examinations at Grade Seven level for the year 2024 (based on the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC) rankings for Bindura District. For purposes of this study, a bottom performing school in the context of Zimbabwean schools is a pass rate below 25–30 for grade seven (7) examinations. The participants were selected because they experienced the phenomenon under investigation on a day-to-day basis. Findings reveal that school heads who focus on learner welfare, provision of school feeding programmes, using digital technologies, community involvement and collaboration, provision of teaching, learning and financial resources, have the potential to equalise educational opportunities in their disadvantaged primary schools in Bindura District. School heads must therefore prioritise identifying inequalities in educational opportunities that exist in their schools so that they are in a better position to enhance the equalisation of educational opportunities in the disadvantaged primary schools in Bindura District.
The Influence of Instructional Leadership Behaviours of School Heads on Teachers\u27 Instructional Practices in Primary Schools in Muzarabani District
Full text linkThe school\u27s effectiveness increases when the school head prioritises teaching and learning, dedicating significant time to academic programmes and inspiring teaching staff. Effective instructional leadership is known to enhance educational outcomes and yet its application in resource-constrained primary schools in rural districts in Zimbabwe remains underexplored. There is a notable gap in literature that scrutinises the influence of instructional leadership behaviours of school heads on the instructional practices of primary school teachers in rural districts of Zimbabwe. Addressing this gap is crucial for providing significant insights into the influence of instructional leadership behaviours of school heads on teachers\u27 instructional practices in primary schools in rural districts. This study therefore explores the influence of instructional leadership behaviours of school heads on teachers\u27 instructional practices in primary schools within Muzarabani District. The study employs a qualitative research approach through a case study to collect data using semi structured interviews. The participants were primary school heads and teachers selected by means of purposive sampling from five primary schools in Muzarabani district. The findings reveal that school heads\u27 instructional leadership behaviours, such as setting clear instructional goals, providing support and fostering a collaborative culture, significantly influence teachers’ adoption of innovative teaching strategies and practices. Despite these positive influences, barriers including limited resources, time constraints and inadequate professional development opportunities hinder the effectiveness of instructional leadership. The study concludes that school heads who prioritise the development and demonstration of instructional leadership behaviours in their schools can enhance the instructional practices of their teachers in the primary schools. This research contributes to the field of educational leadership by offering insights into the specific challenges and opportunities of instructional leadership in a rural context, providing actionable recommendations for enhancing leadership practices in similar settings.
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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