School Leadership and Complexity Theory

Morrison, Keith

doi:10.4324/9780203603512

Cited by 105 publications

(133 citation statements)

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“…In the 1980's, chaos theory became called complexity theory. In the 1990's, the ideas of chaos theory became part of a larger domain referred to as complexity science which is embodied in a transdisciplinary research paradigm (Morrison, 2002). Thus, complexity science or complexity theory is based on a pluralistic methodology.…”

Section: B Research Paradigmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research Methodology in Education: Basic Principles and Procedures

Zidane¹

2015

Celal Bayar Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi

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Section: B Research Paradigmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research Methodology in Education: Basic Principles and Procedures

Zidane¹

2015

Celal Bayar Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi

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“…Since the late 1990s an alternative view of teaching and learning has begun to attract significant interest, the idea of complexity theory (Morrison 2002, Davis and Sumara 2006, Mason 2008. Complexity theory maintains that many natural and social systems are not composed of simple, linear relationships but are instead formed from complex processes which cannot be understood by recourse to reductive analysis.…”

Section: Classrooms As Complex Phenomena: the Quantifiable Conundrummentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance over professional learning and the complexity puzzle: lesson observation in England’s further education sector

O’Leary

Wood

2016

Professional Development in Education

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Attempts to measure the quality of teaching and learning have resulted in an overreliance on quantitative performance data and the normalisation of a set of reductionist practices in England's further education sector in recent years. Focusing on lesson observation as an illustrative example and drawing on data from a national study, this article examines the application of observation and its impact on further education teachers' practice. In viewing lesson observation through a complexity theory lens and contextualising it against the wider neoliberal backdrop of the marketisation of education, we seek to critique the inadequacies of current reductionist approaches to teacher evaluation, whilst simultaneously opening up a debate regarding the consequences of seeing classrooms as complex adaptive systems. In focusing on performative models of lesson observation in particular, the article exposes what we perceive as some of the epistemological and methodological shortcomings of neoliberalism in practice, but also offers an alternative way forward in dealing with the contested practice of evaluating the quality of teaching and learning.

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“…Understanding the role of the teacher in values education required an understanding of reality as perceived and acted by the teacher participants themselves (Morrison, 2002). One of the primary means of addressing this complexity was through the establishment of a 'cultural contact' who knew and understood this school and its environment.…”

Section: Establishment Of a Cultural Contactmentioning

confidence: 99%