مجال
التميز
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تميز دراسي وبحثي
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البحوث المنشورة
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البحث (1):
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عنوان البحث:
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Identifying Characteristics of a
“Good School” in the British and Saudi Arabian Education Systems
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رابط إلى البحث:
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تاريخ النشر:
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30/09/2016
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موجز عن البحث:
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This study aims at establishing whether
primary schools in the Saudi education system conform to the characteristics
of what are referred to as ‘good schools’ in the British education system.
The findings established through this study show that only 43.75% of primary
schools in Saudi conform to the characteristics of what are referred to as
‘good schools’ in Britain. Moreover,
it is established that there are more similarities than differences in the
roles played by headteachers in these two education systems when it comes to
fostering effective schools and developing schools as learning organisations.
Nevertheless, it is established that there are more headteachers in British
primary schools than in Saudi primary schools who take up roles geared
towards fostering effective schools and developing schools as learning
organisations. This disparity has been attributed to the fact that in the
Saudi education system the role of headteachers is highly regulated and
constrained due to the bureaucratic and centralised nature of the country’s
education system whereas in the British education system headteachers have
more autonomy and control over school management. Generally, this study
provides invaluable insights that can be used to improve the professional
practice of educators. It illuminates different characteristics and roles
that can contribute to the realisation of effective schools and schools as
learning organisations. It also provides an explicit outlook towards school
leadership in the global context. As the world is increasingly becoming
globalised, it is crucial for educators to acquaint themselves with how
different systems of education function.
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البحث (2):
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عنوان البحث:
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Comparing Roles of
Head Teachers in Developing Schools as Learning Organisations in the British
and Saudi Arabian Education Systems
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تاريخ النشر:
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01/06/2017
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موجز عن البحث:
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The main purpose of
this study was to critically compare the roles of headteachers in the Saudi
Arabian and British education systems particularly in relation to fostering
effective schools and developing schools as learning organisations. These
aims were achieved by using a positivism quantitative approach as it was
deemed most suitable for this study. Survey questionnaires were primarily
used as the method of data collection and questionnaires were administered to
a total of forty participants (twenty teachers and twenty headteachers) from
twenty different primary schools in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. The
findings established through this study showed that in relation to the
similarities and differences in the roles that British and Saudi headteachers
play towards the realisation of schools as learning organisations, a majority
of headteachers in both the British and Saudi education systems proactively
take up roles geared towards developing the school as a learning
organisation. It was established that approximately 74% of headteachers in
the Saudi education system and 90% of headteachers in the British education
system proactively take up roles geared towards developing schools as
learning organisations. Thus it was
concluded that more headteachers in British primary schools take up roles
geared towards developing schools as learning organisations than headteachers
in Saudi primary schools. It is therefore recommended that headteachers
especially those in the Saudi education system should be given more mandate,
control and autonomy to take on roles that foster effective schools and
develop schools as learning organisations.
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البحث (3):
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عنوان البحث:
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Time Constraints
and Daily Responsibilities: the Dilemma of Saudi and English Middle Leaders
in Primary Schools
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تاريخ النشر:
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30/12/2017
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موجز عن البحث:
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Among the many
research studies that have discussed and debated different factors
influencing educational leadership practices in primary schools, only a
limited number has rigorously discussed the connection between time and
leaders’ daily responsibilities. In this paper however, the focus is not on
how middle leaders are using their time, but rather on what hidden matters
influence time and in turn the daily responsibilities of middle leaders. In
this study, 18 semi-structured interviews were conducted with English and
Saudi middle leaders in six different primary schools. A few prevalent
challenges seemed to influence middle leaders’ time and in turn their daily
practices. For example, the regular changes imposed on schools without
pre-arrangement with school leaders left middle leaders with very little time
to complete their daily duties, taking into consideration the large amount of
time they had to spend on paperwork. Middle leaders were drawing on their
moral and religious values as a source of energy to complete their daily
duties. With lack of time during school, middle leaders used their own
private time and space to complete their duties. Although soft skills such as
time management can help take control of overtime, further studies should be
conducted to verify the effectiveness of such skills in the daily practices
of middle leadership. At the same time, there is a need to conduct further
studies to examine how the concept of time is understood by educational
policy makers, school staff and leaders and to what extent the differences in
their understandings may influence school performance.
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المؤتمرات العلمية:
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المؤتمر (1):
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عنوان المؤتمر:
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ICGEPOL 2017: International
Conference on Global Education Policy, Organization and Leadership
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تاريخ الإنعقاد:
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16-17 February 2017
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مكان
الإنعقاد:
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London, United Kingdom
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طبيعة المشاركة:
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Oral presentation
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عنوان المشاركة:
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Examining the Influence of
Organisational Culture on Middle Leadership in Primary Schools in Saudi
Arabia and United Kingdom
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ملخص المشاركة:
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Shared values, beliefs, norms and
assumptions within the organisation can affect personal and team
effectiveness. Organisational culture can also affect the performance of
organisational members. The nature of middle leadership in a primary school
is largely influenced by organizational culture. The effectiveness of middle
leadership in primary schools and their performance is strongly determined by
the circumstances in which they work and can be political or institutional.
This study aims to examine the influence of organisational culture and
government policy on the performance and effectiveness of middle managers,
using the English and Saudi education systems as case studies. To examine how
education policy conditions educational discourse, and answer the research
questions, there is a need to collect qualitative data on middle manager’s
perceptions and experiences in the English and Saudi Arabian contexts. The
study involved a qualitative and interpretative approach. In-depth interviews
with 6 middle managers and school supervisors in 3 English primary schools
and 6 middle managers in 3 Saudi Arabian primary schools were conducted to
answer the research questions. The study also included ethnographic tools
such as observations of a sample of three primary schools in both England and
Saudi Arabia where the researcher observed middle managers’ interactions with
their peers. The sample of three enabled the study to identify trends and
make comparisons between leadership approaches in both systems based on
observations without the bias of prescriptions. The use of ethnographic tools
not only makes the study empirical but also increases the reliability and
validity of the findings by reducing prescriptive bias. The observations will
be triangulated with the results of the interviews to draw comparisons and
conclusions on whether middle managers act as leaders or as followers in
their respective political contexts.
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المؤتمر (2):
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عنوان المؤتمر:
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ICER 2017: International
Conference on Educational Research
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تاريخ الإنعقاد:
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28-29 December 2017
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مكان
الإنعقاد:
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Paris, France
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طبيعة المشاركة:
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Oral presentation
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عنوان المشاركة:
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Factors Influencing the Roles
and Responsibilities of Middle Leaders in Saudi and English Primary Schools:
A Comparative Critical Study
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ملخص المشاركة:
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The role of middle leaders, especially in
primary schools, is a multi-faced role that has been subject to changes in
nature over recent decades, with claims for more distributed leadership
practices. This research examines the way 18 middle leaders in Saudi and
English primary schools conceptualise their roles and responsibilities, and
different factors influencing those roles and responsibilities. It begins
from the premise that both the power of the role and the values of middle
leaders are grounded in cultural and political bases, a belief held by the
researcher as an ‘insider’ within the Saudi educational leadership context.
The study consisted of a comparative analysis of the role and the
responsibilities of middle leaders in Saudi primary schools and their
equivalents in English primary schools. A purely qualitative methodological
stance was adopted, using in-depth face-to-face semi-structured interviews,
observations and document analysis. Middle leaders were asked to reflect
deeply on their perceptions and understanding of their roles and explain what
they thought influenced their daily practices and responsibilities. The
findings suggest that the concept of middle leadership has been influenced by
power imposed from above by political authority, via internal and external
hierarchical structures, which shapes the nature of the role of the middle
leaders and forces them to comply. Middle leaders seem to believe they have
the power to make decisions and promote change, but these findings suggest
that this is illusory. The power that keeps middle leaders performing is the
power of their cultural and religious values. Those values are the resource
to which they turn in their search for more energy when they lack support and
are short of time taken. Middle leaders in Saudi, just like their equivalents
in English schools must comply with the requirements of their role. However,
Saudi middle leaders are given no leeway to make decisions or implement
change, neither do they have the culture of collegiality that seems to give
middle leaders in England more power over their resources and decisions.
However, in neither educational setting have middle leaders been given the
power to lead, so they remain managers rather than leaders. The findings of
this research suggest that there are more similarities between the
educational settings of Saudi and England than differences; and in the light
of different factors identified in the study, suggest the establishment of a
framework for middle leadership, in the hope of enhancing the way the role is
practiced.
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