Educational Management

Management within the educational sector is good topic to go for if you have an interest in how different schools are run and managed. Here are some examples. 

Example educational management dissertation topic 1:

The head teacher who has not taught for a decade: Maintaining empathy and approachability in secondary school senior management

At the centre of senior management within schools there lies a paradox – the more experienced one becomes and the higher into management one progresses, the less one teaches (the reason for the appointment in the first place). This dissertation looks at two secondary schools: one in Sunderland, the other in Stoke on Trent. In so doing it notes how, over the last twenty years the job of headmaster has changed from being one of small-time CEO, supplemented and supported by not one but three deputy heads and in which life is spent anywhere but ‘at the chalk face’. Through its use of qualitative and quantitative research this dissertation asks the extent to which it is now more appropriate to consider the appointment of ‘school managers’ rather than head teachers and what the likely effect of such a move would have within a profession that is, historically, resistant to change within its working practices.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Evans, L. (1998) ‘The effects of senior management teams on teacher morale and job satisfaction: A case study of Rockville County Primary School’, Educational Management Administration Leadership, Vol. 26(4), pp. 417-428.
• Wallace, M. (2002) ‘Modelling distributed leadership and management effectiveness: Primary school senior management teams in England and Wales’, School Effectiveness and School Improvement: An International Journal of Research, Policy and Practice, Vol. 13(2), pp. 163-186.