Editorial
Editorial
Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Educational Management, Volume 27, Issue 3.
I give you a very warm welcome to the third issue of 2013. In this issue there are now eight papers instead of the six, which had applied for many years. It is hoped by the publishers that this will improve the flow and quicken turn round thus hopefully reducing waiting times for authors to have their papers published. As the journal has become more popular then the number of papers received has increased, which has implications for authors on waiting times and chances of publication hopefully this new move will meet more aspirations!
In this issue there is a very mixed international group of authors from Canada,the USA, the UK, Singapore, Japan, Israel, Italy and South Africa. The first paper is by Christin Moeller and Greg A. Chung-Yan of the University of Windsor,Ontario, Canada. Their subject is the “Effects of social support on professors’work stress” and the purpose is to examine how various types of workplace social support, from different support sources interact with occupational stressors to predict the psychological well-being of university professors. The results support the hypothesis that the effects of occupational stressors on professors’psychological well-being vary depending on the level of perceived workplace social support. However, although workplace social support buffered the effects of some occupational stressors (i.e. work overload), social support exacerbated the adverse effects of others (i.e. decision-making ambiguity).
Coincidentally, the next paper is also from Canada, written by Naqi Sayed of Lakehead University, Ontario, Canada. The author writes on “Ratify, reject or reverse: balanced scorecard and universities”. The balanced scorecard (BSC) has been adopted by many non-profit organisations although it was originally directed towards profit-oriented businesses. Universities and institutions adopting this approach soon discovered that the classical BSC approach and also a modified approach suited for non-profit organisations had to be further modified to suit their unique circumstances. Questions have been raised as to whether BSC is an appropriate strategic management tool for universities. Through an examination of 30 international universities it was found that most universities are ill positioned to benefit from the initiative. Based on the review the author argues that although BSC can be a powerful tool for translating strategies universities should be cautious when extending it beyond this objective.
Alan Cheung of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and John Hopkins University,Baltimore Maryland, USA, contributes a piece on “Language, academic,socio-cultural and financial adjustments of mainland Chinese students studying in Hong Kong”. The growth in the international student population is led by China with over 380,000 Mainland Chinese students studying abroad for degrees at overseas universities. This figure is predicted to grow dramatically. The top five destinations are the USA, Japan, the UK, Australia and Germany. Hong Kong has also become increasingly popular for Mainland China students. The process has proved stressful for the students and the study points to the need for higher education (HE) to attend to their needs more and to provide more support.
In the next paper, Nan Jiang and Victoria Carpenter of the University of Derby,UK, contribute on faculty specific factors of degrees on HE internationalisation– an evaluation of four faculties of a UK post-1992 University. The purpose of the research was to investigate the difference in the process of HE internationalisation across faculties in a post-1992 University and to identify faculty-specific factors through evaluating the four faculties in the case study. A total of 20 interviewees were involved from the faculties.
Michael Vallance and Phillip Towndrow of the National Institute of Education,Singapore and the Future University, Japan have collaborated on a paper “Making the right decision: leadership in 1-1 computing in education”. The paper details the necessity for more informal decision making and leadership in the implementation of 1-1 computing in education. The examples of Singapore and Japan reveal different stages of technology implementation in education. Singapore has a broad government backed vision for technology integration and has invested heavily in infrastructure and human capital. However, the paper highlights how the benefits of 1-1 computing are not easily recognisable in practice and its implementation does not fit well into schools’ strategic plans. Japanese education on the other hand, has low technology utilisation in its schools and subsequently produces graduates who lack basic digital and technological literacy skills.
Chen Schechter of Bar-Ilan University, Israel presents a paper on “Collective learning in schools: exploring the perceptions of leadership trainees”. The purpose of the paper is to explain leadership trainees’ perceptions of determinants of collective learning in school settings and the principals’ role in collective learning. Leadership trainees pointed out three main difficulties facing collective learning: time and place, staff reaction to collective learning and acceptance atmosphere. Trainees listed four main roles that principals have in shaping the collective process: administrator, team leader,collaborator and visionary.
A trio of Italian writers from the Politecnico di Milano present the next paper– they are Sibiano, Catalano and Agasisti. Their work asks “Can schools be autonomous in a centralised educational system?” The aim of the paper is to examine the difference between formal and real school autonomy in the Italian educational system. Three archetypes of schools are identified entrepreneurial,chaotic and bureaucratic. It is hoped that the paper helps policy makers to improve understanding of the characteristics and internal heterogeneity of the educational system.
In the final paper, Seabi and Payne, of the University of Witwatersrand,Johannesburg, write on the “Effects of identity processing styles on academic achievement of first year University students”. Academic achievement of first-year university students in the international arena as well as South Africa has been a point of concern because of high failure and drop-out rates. The purpose of this study was to investigate of identity processing styles on academic achievement in first-year university students. The study also explores the composition of students according to their identity processing styles to determine the predominant identity style.
Prof. Brian Roberts
