Hannay Lynne M., University of Toronto

Earl Lorna, Aporia Consulting Ltd.

The global demand for educational reform and advent of the Information Age requires that schools and school boards act as learning organizations with the goal of creating and sharing knowledge supportive of improving student learning. Ironically school districts – charged with the responsibility for student learning – are rarely learning organizations as conceptualized by Senge (1990). Yet if school districts are to meet the knowledge creation reform challenge, they must become learning organizations that attends to the systemic whole and not just the parts.

Since 2000, we have engaged in research in one large and new Ontario school district which was created through a forced amalgamation of four smaller school districts. In this continuing programme of research (through annual interviews in 12 out of 184 schools), we have collected data from approximately 72 principals and 144 teachers in 72 schools. When appropriate, we conducted focus groups with senior administrators, central school district personnel, and twice we interviewed a sample of senior administrators.

Over the six years, we documented that the school district has gradually assumed characteristics of a learning organization. This paper focuses on one discipline of a learning organization: building a vision (Senge, 1990). Our initial research indicated that the parts of the school district were operating as independent ‘silos’ with the vision considered a discrete event. Gradually, this vision evolved and began shaping the norms of practice. As this happened, the focus of the organization shifted from individual parts to one that was supporting cohesive whole systemic change. This cohesive whole is beginning to support system thinking which, according to Senge, is critical for a learning organization. This paper tracks this evolution since 2000. More importantly, we identify changes to leadership, school and district organizational practices that facilitated and sustained such organizational learning.

Hoe Wee Meng, Jurong Secondary School

Yeo Tiew Kin, Jurong Secondary School

Tham Yoke Chun, Jurong Secondary School

Jurong Secondary School is a typical mixed government school in Singapore. Over the past three years, the school has embarked on various innovative changes to effectively reform education so that students can meet the challenges of the next century. In developing our strategic capabilities and promoting organizational learning and sharing, a balanced scorecard strategy map is drawn up to align all school programs and processes to our strategic thrusts and goals. The concept of parallel leadership is employed to empower all individuals in their core work functions. In teaching and learning, we have identified problem-based learning (PBL) as the key approach to curriculum design and instruction, focusing on student-centered pedagogies. Emphasis is given to authentic assessment and the use of IT, including a learning management system, tablet PCs and wireless technology, to enhance student learning. We are one of six secondary schools selected by the Ministry of Education (MOE) as a TLLM ("Teach Less, Learn More") prototyping school to design a school-based PBL curriculum for Science. To create a holistic "learnscape", where every part of the school is potentially a learning space, we are also a pilot school awarded funding by MOE to transform the physical environment to facilitate engaged learning. A four-year Special Talents and Achievements Recognition (STAR) Scholarship Program is started to systematically nurture talents. In the character development of students, a four-level Student Leadership Framework is conceptualized to align all programs to systematically develop student leadership. In daily administration and management, effectiveness and efficiency is enhanced through streamlining, innovative organizational structure and timetabling. A strategic partnership model is developed to establish and manage partnerships with our stakeholders. Finally, the sustainability and evaluation of the school's innovative culture is achieved through an "iterative reflexive loop". In 2006, the school won the Thinking Culture Award ( Best Zonal School) awarded by MOE for our outstanding efforts and achievements in promoting a thinking culture and innovation within the school. This paper details the progress of the school, highlighting school reform efforts at the organizational level in response to the changing educational landscape in an era of globalization.

Larpkesorn Panthep, The University of Melbourne

This research investigates the merit of decentralising significant authority, responsibility, and accountability to a genre of reformed school namely the self-managing school. it, as venue and culture, could deploy the operational power to prioritise students' thinking and creating with technology 1) in complex tasks, 2) like professionals, 3) with time consuming, 4) by choice, 5) in multiple-academic disciplines, and 6) in collaboration with peers and outside experts. However, policymaking and governmental intervention in this area have internationally confronted with chronic barriers to secure the effective use of tools, software, application, network for transformational learning even though operational power and resources have been presumably given to schools. If the self-managing school concurrently shares the same view with post-modern research in learning with ICT by moving the school reform toward the transformation of learning, what are and how do characteristics of the self-managing school stabilise the robustness of learning effectiveness as well as technology efficiency in the classroom?

With a combination of statistical methods to measure and analyse previous empirical studies that are available at the Education Resource Centre, the University of Melbourne, using the meta-analysis is aptly justified. Fifteen post-modern studies conducted from 1990-2005 have been located and selected. This leads to the hypothetical selection of 5 features of ICT stability in classroom and 18 characteristics of the self-managing school for inferential statistics. Finally, locating effect size quantified by means, standard deviations, and Z or T scores of feature/characteristic correlation would be drawn into the statistical association between two policy domains.

This statistical perspective confirms a tipping point from transmitional to transformational learning in the institutionalisation of self-managing school in UK, Australia, and New Zealand where personalising learning and new logic of entreprise allow school stakeholders to use their decision-making power to mobilise and allocate intellectual as well as social capitals to integrate ICT for learning. This discovered universal features and characteristics can clearly be incorporated into an increasing popular concept of strategic policymaking and programming where improving student achievement is the name of the game.

S Retna Kala, Victoria University of Wellington

The learning organisation (LO) concept was introduced in many Singaporean schools to promote a learning culture. The implementation of the LO concept in organisations was in response to Singapore’s call for all schools to be ‘thinking schools’ and the Singapore Ministry of Education’s pronouncement that the foremost prerequisite of a thinking school is that it must be a learning organisation. This paper describes a qualitative study that was conducted in a secondary school that practiced the LO concept. The research was undertaken with a key focus of understanding how the implementation of the LO concept has enhanced critical and creative thinking, open communication and a learning culture, and also to identify constraints, especially the cultural ones. The findings suggest that LO concept has helped to increase the level of awareness and the importance of critical and creative thinking in the school. However, strategies and activities used to promote critical and creative thinking were used sparingly so as not to undermine the ‘academic excellence’ that is important to the school’s reputation as a ‘good school’. Also, the curriculum structure and compulsory coverage of syllabus for examination and general cultural inhibitions were some of the factors that limited the growth of critical and creative thinking in the school. The paper concludes with implications for both academics and practitioners within organisations.

Mehta Arun Chandra, National University of Educational Planning and Administration

Indian education system is perhaps the largest system in the world that caters to the need of 1,026 million people. Keeping in view the size of the system, it is obvious that it has limitations that can be distributed into administrative and non-administrative limitations. Keeping in view these limitations, it was felt that a sound information system is essential for successful implementation of programmes concerning elementary education. In the light of the above, at the time of initiating District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) in 1994 it was decided to develop a computerized educational management information system with district as its unit of collection responsibility of which was entrusted to NIEPA. With the UNICEF support, NIEPA initiated district information system for education (DISE) in 1994 in 42 districts spread over 7 DPEP phase one states. The information system has since been expanded to both DPEP as well as non-DPEP states in as many as 581 districts across 29 states. It is expected that remaining states and districts will also adopt DISE in year that follow as the Government of India decided that the present system of manual collection of information system will be gradually replaced by DISE and statistics generated through it will be accorded the status of official statistics.

In the districts that are covered under DISE, up-to-date information on more than 450 variables is made available which has become the basis of formulating elementary education plans under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (EFA) Programme. The information is made available on the internet (http://dpepmis.org). Raw data as well as State & District Report Cards both can be downloaded from the DISE website. Practically information is made available on all aspects of universal elementary education at different levels and time-lag in data is now reduced to less than one year. There are no more data-gaps. The entire set of data can be extracted at different levels.

In the present paper organization and management of DISE and departure from the traditional method of data collection is presented. Evolving DISE in terms of Data collection, coverage, major achievements, features of DISE software, dissemination, limitations etc. is presented in the paper.

Vaziri Mojdeh, Psychology University, Tehran

Jahani Shiva, Alzahra University

Earthquakes are among the most destructive phenomena known to human beings throughout the history .Accurate prediction of it is not possible yet, despite the considerable knowledge about it.

Iran is located on the ‘Earthquake belt “thus ,is often faced with disasters caused by strong earthquake as well as other natural disasters.

Unfortunately , this fact makes Iran the first most vulnerable nation in today’s world.

Natural disasters are not caused by gods of nature .The crisis which arise after them are mostly social problems due to sudden imbalance between needs are resources in the area affected .Some nations has found ways to successfully confront and solve the complications, others still have to work on it. From this point of view ,disasters are considered to be cultural phenomena. It means that it is people’s interpretation that makes an Earthquake a disaster , not the geological shocks all by itself .If people find ways to control the social cultural consequences ,an Earthquake would become as natural as rain rain fall, sunset _sunrise , or the tide of seas .Thus ,human knowledge about his behavior at the time of crisis ,plays a major role in preventing disasters. Educating nations would help them so react accordingly to any event .

The aim of this paper is to present a solution so improve the quality of Education in order to enable people to confront Earthquakes or any other unpredictable

event. survey was conducted in Bam, Iran which experienced a very strong earthquake on December 26,2003 and more than 40.000 lives perished after that .The surviving teachers and students were questioned about their experiences and opinions. In addition , literature on the experiences of other vulnerable countries to natural disasters such as Japan, Turkey and the U.S. was investigated. It was concluded that the difference between

the damages rate among these countries id due to the level of public knowledge and readiness based on comprehensive education and training specially for elementary school students .At the end, a model for school management at the time of crisis is introduced which would enable school _building managers to reduce level of possible damages and tensions and to promote disaster mitigation activities by forming a special action committee.