This book provides detailed insights on the training and development for Pacific Island school leaders. It draws extensively on original empirical research that explores school leaders’ perceptions of how leadership and management training impacted their professional practices, and how these practices in turn impacted the dynamics of school operations. This book addresses a critical need to understand how to support leadership development for all Pacific schools, but especially in schools that are faced with the increasing challenges of learning and teaching conditions. In small island developing states in the Pacific region, school leaders face a myriad of challenges due to limited human and material resources, and a fragile economic base. Written by Pacific Islander authors, this book provides insights from different countries in the Pacific Islands. It shows how contextual challenges can exert enormous pressure on school leaders who are leading and managing schools without any leadership preparation. Given the importance of effective leadership practices and its impact on student learning outcomes, this book aims to be a source of reference for practitioners and educational authorities who have a vested interest in the provision of quality education in the Pacific region and beyond.

The aim of the Handbook is to present readily accessible, but scholarly sources of information about educational research in the Asia-Pacific region. The scale and scope of the Handbook is such that the articles included in it provide substantive contributions to knowledge and understanding of education in the Asia region. In so doing, the articles present the problems and issues facing education in the region and the findings of research conducted within the region that contribute to the resolution of these problems and issues. Moreover, since new problems and issues are constantly arising, the articles in the Handbook also indicate the likely directions of future developments. The different articles within the Handbook seek to conceptualize the problems in each specific content area under review, provide an integration of the research conducted within that area, the theoretical basis of the research the practical implications of the research and the contribution of the research towards the resolution of the problems identified. Thus, the articles do not involve the reporting of newly conducted research, but rather require a synthesis of the research undertaken in a particular area, with reference to the research methods employed and the theoretical frameworks on which the research is based. In general, the articles do not advocate a single point of view, but rather, present alternative points of view and comment on the debate and disagreements associated with the conduct and findings of the research. Furthermore, it should be noted, that the Handbook is not concerned with research methodology, and only considers the methods employed in inquiry in so far as the particular methods of research contribute to the effective investigation of problems and issues that have arisen in the conduct and provision of education at different levels within the region.

Reshaping the Landscape of School Leadership Development: A Global Perspective traces developments in this arena as they evolved since 1980. The book is comprised of chapters authored by the leading scholars in the fields of educational leadership and school leadership development from the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The vol

This book casts a refreshingly new light on current literature on school leadership, which has predominantly been viewed through Western lenses. Accordingly, key concepts and theories on leadership and school leadership have primarily been generated from thinking and research in the Western sphere. This is problematic, considering the fact that the leadership concept or construct, and its practices, are significantly influenced and shaped by contexts, and even situations. However, there are various contextual conditions and forces that can separately or collectively affect how school leadership is understood and practiced, including social, cultural, historical, geographical, economic and political conditions. In response, the book seeks to provide readers a better awareness of how the leadership construct or phenomenon is shaped by the varying contexts constantly affecting school leadership, while specifically focusing on the Asia Pacific region. In turn, it highlights various Asia Pacific contexts that shape school leadership, so as to ‘speak back’ to existing theories on school leadership.

The Asia-Pacific region has rich and unique traditions, cultural diversity and common as well as unique challenges, including obstacles of language and geographical separation. As home to over 60 per cent of the world's population, this region has a diverse range of educational issues, which have not as yet been fully explored. This ground-breaking volume considers current perspectives on educational diversity, challenges and changes occurring across a number of countries in the region and provides a closer look at these complexities. Focus has been given to the influence and impact that these complexities are having on policy and practice in leadership, governance and administration structures. Who has been given the agency? What kinds of power currents are in play? What are the hidden political enablers and disablers in these narratives? The authors of chapters in this series have presented some solid examples of what is currently happening, the discourse that is emerging around it, the effects of these changes and their impact within the region. While some of these narratives are a synthesis of literature and policy, other chapters have focused on findings from empirical studies being conducted in this space. As a timely collection of works from active researchers in Education, the book supports and encourages the importance of on-going educational research within the Asia-Pacific region The findings in this book have been drawn from original and current research which is anticipated as being a valuable academic reference as well as a teaching resource in the field of Education. This volume will be beneficial to students and academics of Education around the world as well as a useful reference to educational academics, researchers, policy-makers and administrators across the Asia-Pacific region.The Asia-Pacific region has rich and unique traditions, cultural diversity and common as well as unique challenges, including obstacles of language and geographical separation. As home to over 60 per cent of the world's population, this region has a diverse range of educational issues, which have not as yet been fully explored. This ground-breaking volume considers current perspectives on educational diversity, challenges and changes occurring across a number of countries in the region and provides a closer look at these complexities. Focus has been given to the influence and impact that these complexities are having on policy and practice in leadership, governance and administration structures. Who has been given the agency? What kinds of power currents are in play? What are the hidden political enablers and disablers in these narratives? The authors of chapters in this series have presented some solid examples of what is currently happening, the discourse that is emerging around it, the effects of these changes and their impact within the region. While some of these narratives are a synthesis of literature and policy, other chapters have focused on findings from empirical studies being conducted in this space. As a timely collection of works from active researchers in Education, the book supports and encourages the importance of on-going educational research within the Asia-Pacific region The findings in this book have been drawn from original and current research which is anticipated as being a valuable academic reference as well as a teaching resource in the field of Education. This volume will be beneficial to students and academics of Education around the world as well as a useful reference to educational academics, researchers, policy-makers and administrators across the Asia-Pacific region.

This book provides detailed insights on the training and development for Pacific Island school leaders. It draws extensively on original empirical research that explores school leaders' perceptions of how leadership and management training impacted their professional practices, and how these practices in turn impacted the dynamics of school operations. This book addresses a critical need to understand how to support leadership development for all Pacific schools, but especially in schools that are faced with the increasing challenges of learning and teaching conditions. In small island developing states in the Pacific region, school leaders face a myriad of challenges due to limited human and material resources, and a fragile economic base. Written by Pacific Islander authors, this book provides insights from different countries in the Pacific Islands. It shows how contextual challenges can exert enormous pressure on school leaders who are leading and managing schools without any leadership preparation. Given the importance of effective leadership practices and its impact on student learning outcomes, this book aims to be a source of reference for practitioners and educational authorities who have a vested interest in the provision of quality education in the Pacific region and beyond.

Developing Leadership in the Asia-Pacific focuses on the design of leadership programs that are able to meet the needs of students, teachers and the wider community. Rather than taking an all-encompassing approach that cover all contexts of leadership development, this book is based on research that guides the leadership teacher in designing a course that takes into account the specific context and needs of individual students, the purpose of the course, and how the course can be evaluated for its effectiveness. Emphasising learner diversity, the book argues that the students’ specific cultural and educational contexts need to be taken into account when designing leadership programs. Although these courses are often taught outside of the regular curriculum, components of leadership can be found in the regular curriculum. Accordingly, this book helps the leadership teacher to integrate the leadership program with the regular curriculum through the use of guiding questions, quizzes, case studies, dilemmas, and other pedagogical strategies. It links research with practice, scaffolding teachers in understanding the content or issues described in each chapter, assisting them in building a fully defensible leadership program. A number of real life worked examples are also provided throughout each chapter as a practicable framework that can be used in teaching design for everyday units of work. This book is a useful reference for researchers working in leadership as well as an essential tool for teachers developing leadership programs for students in primary, secondary or tertiary contexts.