Suchergebnisse

In this article Nel's argument that ministries (in the building up of the local congregation) need each other to facilitate the discovery and development of identity is tested. The role that the integration and coordination of ministries in a systems approach play in the discovery and development of a missional congregation's identity is investigated and research is done to see whether scholars agree with Nel's theory that all the ministries can facilitate identity finding and identity development. This empirical research (quantitative as well qualitative) was conducted among the ministers of the Highveld Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church. Hundred and thirty nine of the 144 ministers agreed to take part in the quantitative research, followed by partly structured interviews with 16 randomly selected ministers. During the empirical study (which formed part of PhD research) every attempt was made to obtain data in connection with the understanding ministers have regarding the building up, identity and missional being of a congregation as well as the integration and coordination of the ministries that are present in their congregations. Most of the ministers are aware of the fact that they need to develop their congregations as missional congregations, but the ministers do not always have the knowledge and experience to make the move. It was clear that not all the ministers understand the role that the ministries play in identity finding and identity development. Nel's theory has therefore been affirmed by the empirical research. The research has shown that some of the ministers seem to show a flawed understanding that identity is a relational reality. At the same time there exists quite possibly a defective understanding that a congregation's reason for existence originates in its identity, and it is clear that the role that the integration and coordination of the ministry play in the discovery and development of the identity are not fully understood. INTRADISCIPLINARY ANA/OR INTERDISCIPLINARY IMPLICATIONS : ...

Presents an examination of public sector leadership. This book explores the ways leaders of developed nations are addressing various challenges It addresses public sector leadership issues in a wide array of nations, integrating international perspectives with a globally diverse authorship

Internationale Schulleistungsvergleichsuntersuchungen haben in den letzten Jahrzehnten wiederholt zeigen können, dass trotz ganz unterschiedlicher kultureller, historischer oder politischer Rahmenbedingungen das Ziel der Bildungssysteme doch universell zu sein scheint: Schülerinnen und Schülern soll in den Schulen ein möglichst gutes Lernumfeld geboten werden. Hierzu zählen selbstverständlich auch die Lehrkräfte, weshalb in den letzten Jahren deren Ausbildung selbst in den Fokus internationaler Studien und nationaler Forschungsprogramme rückte. Die Befundlage aus internationalen Vergleichsuntersuchungen regt die Diskussion über die Lehrkräfteausbildung auch in Deutschland an. Mit Interesse wurde wahrgenommen, dass sich international betrachtet regionale Muster sowohl in den Überzeugungen der Lehrkräfte als auch in ihren fachlichen, fachdidaktischen und pädagogischen Kompetenzen zeigen. Ziel des vorliegenden Beitrags ist es, Herausforderungen, Hürden, aber auch notwendige Orientierungen einer wissenschaftlich orientierten (Weiter-)Entwicklung der Ausbildung von Lehrkräften zu skizzieren. Hierbei sollen insbesondere die Grenzen und Möglichkeiten, die internationale Vergleichsuntersuchungen bieten, in den Blick genommen werden. ; In the past decades, international large-scale surveys showed that the aim of educational systems is universal irrespective of different cultural, historical, or political conditions: students should be provided with a conducive learning environment. One necessary prerequisite for such learning environments are good teachers. Thus, teacher education itself has recently become a focal point of international large-scale surveys and national research programs. Results from international surveys have stimulated the discussion on teacher education also in Germany. With interest it was noticed that, from an international perspective, regional patterns of teacher beliefs as well as patterns in the domains of content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge can be described. The aim of this article is to outline challenges, obstacles, and needful orientations of a research-based development of teacher education. Here the focus is particularly directed to both the constraints and the potentials international large-scale surveys offer.

Existing research on war and peace lacks analysis of what allows peacebuilding to succeed at the subnational level. Instead, most scholars focus on peacebuilding failure and macro-level dynamics. This is unfortunate because the obstacles to peacebuilding are such that the most puzzling question is why international efforts sometimes succeed, rather than why they fail. The lack of focus on success is also problematic because it results in ambiguous findings. On the one hand, there is an emerging consensus that local conflict resolution is crucial to building peace. There is also an agreement that, all else being equal, international support tends to increase the chances of successful peacebuilding. On the other hand, when international actors have tried to back local initiatives, they have often generated counterproductive consequences and worsened the situation. Should international actors support local peacebuilding processes? If so, how can they actually do this? Drawing on in-depth interviews, field and participant observations in nine different conflict zones, and document analysis, this article takes the first step in explaining whether, how, why, and under what conditions international interveners (including donors, diplomats, peacekeepers, and the foreign staff of international and non-governmental organizations) can contribute to successful local and bottom-up peace efforts. It makes three central contributions. First, it shows that the policy and scholarly literatures suffer from a dearth of findings on successful international support to local conflict resolution. Second, it emphasizes the critical—and under-researched—role of assumptions in shaping peacebuilding initiatives. Third, it develops a theoretical framework to analyze how assumptions influence international peace efforts. By way of illustration, the article analyzes three widespread assumptions about peacebuilding and the role of peacebuilders. In each case, it challenges assumptions that international interveners take for granted but that are actually unfounded and detrimental, while identifying assumptions that promote peacebuilding effectiveness.