Education and globalization

The purpose of this descriptive non-experimental study was to determine if significant relationships exist between the leaders' use of strategic leadership actions and their success as perceived by their followers, and mediated by environmental contexts, and demographics. The participants in this study 3were 124 university professors and 22 Deans from Florida Atlantic University, Universiti Putra Malaysia, and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The participants were chosen via a random stratified sampling. They were asked to response to 77 questions on the Strategic Leadership Questionnaire ((SLQ), which was developed based on Pisapia's theory of Strategic leadership. The data collected was analyzed through multiple regression and correlation techniques to ascertain the hypothesized relationships. The criterion variable involved in this study was leader success as interpreted by the professors. The predictor variables were the adaptive actions employed by the Deans as interpreted by the professors. Environmental context and demographic variables serve as control variables. The results of the study revealed that the SLQ was reliable, even though the construct validity of the SLQ was not supported. The instrument is strongly recommended for use in measuring Pisapia's theory of strategic leadership. The study also found that successful leaders use a wider array of leadership strategies than less successful leaders. There was also a significant difference between the array of action sets used by successful Dean's in Malaysian and American Universities and the array of action sets used by less successful Dean's in Malaysian and American Universities. Therefore, these findings are supportive of Pisapia's proposition that leaders often fail because they are trained in and rely upon a linearity of thinking mindset, which does not work in situations characterized by ambiguity and complexity that requires them to be flexible and change oriented.

This quantitative study was designed to analyze the percentage of students pursuing selected Career and Technical Education (CTE) vocational courses in schools throughout the State of Florida and to determine if there is a relationship to school district size during school year 2008-2009. The study sought to determine if smaller districts are more likely to have a higher percentage of students enrolled in selected CTE programs that will provide entry into the work force in a skilled, preferably licensed occupation than larger districts. The study also sought to determine the relationship of the number of students enrolled in the CTE courses to school level student attendance rate, drop-out rate, graduation rate, percentage of Black students, percentage of Hispanic students, percentage of White students, and the percentage of students eligible for free and reduced price meals.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the development of global-mindedness (GM) in the leadership of primary schools offering international educational programs around the world with an emphasis on the need for school leaders that understand and support the development of a critical, global perspective of education. Reported findings identified the presence of the five dimensions of global-mindedness as well as the relationships between demographic variables such as travel experience, second language ability, and years of teaching experience. The findings also reported positive relationships between the subscales of Hett's (1993) Global-Mindedness Scale and the attributes of international-mindedness as defined by the International Baccalaureate's learner profile. The results of this study are intended to advance knowledge of the development of global-mindedness for school leaders around the world.

An assessment of the knowledge and the behaviors associated with sustainable development was conducted to determine the effect of adult education on sustainable development in Jamaica. The discourse for leadership commitment and governance, as well as continuous learning has its tenets in the discovery that the programs do not significantly address sustainable development (SD). While knowledge was significantly addressed, the programs failed to motivate useful action. The study has provided an explanation of the barriers, costs, and limits to sustainability so that program planners can devise transfer of learning strategies that foster adaptation and mitigation. The investigation involved 35 adult educators and 84 trainees from four programs of the premier adult and continuing learning facility in Jamaica. Both groups agreed that the programs addressed the knowledge, but not the behaviors associated with SD, despite the fact that all three dimensions of SD were addressed in an almost equitable manner. The requirements for achieving SD were met by 7% of the respondents, while the percentage of respondents that achieved environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, and social responsibility was 15%, 16%, and 13%, respectively. The six measures correlated highly with the SD variable and were significant. However, there were no significant differences across the groups. Instructors and trainees agreed that knowing about the concerns of SD had not changed their thinking and behavior. On average, the principles of sustainability were not applied. Although hospitality programs were more effective than agriculture, construction and automotive programs in addressing the content on environmental sustainability, no program paid attention to transfer of learning. Cronbach's alpha for the survey instrument was .973.