ELLTA Conference 2011

ELLTA 2011 Highlights

Conference Temes/ Topics (not limited to)

The following themes are being suggested for submissions:

  1. Applicability/application of general theories on leadership, learning, education and/or management in Asia
  2. The adaptation of leadership, learning, education and/or management theories to particular Asian contexts
  3. Reviews of existing, but not acknowledged, leadership, learning, education and/or management theories that have Asian origins, including studies of the use of locally developed theories and ideas, and of the spread and impact of Asia-developed theories in various parts of Asia as well as in other parts of the world
  4. Applications of Asian philosophical literature to the existing understanding of leadership, learning, education and/or management
  5. On differences in leadership styles, learning styles, and teaching styles throughout Asia
  6. Teachers’ perceptions on whether or not theories are universally applicable
  7. Comparing literature/theory on leadership, learning, education and/or management among different parts of Asia
  8. Comparing Asian educational concepts, theories and practices: Comparisons between how concepts in the leadership, learning, education and/or management areas (e.g. ‘leadership’, ‘learning’, ‘education’, ‘school’, ‘learning organization’, ‘manager’, ‘delegation’, ‘decentralization’, ‘development’, ‘human resources’) are defined in Asia and other parts of the world, and among different contexts in Asia
  9. General well-grounded thoughts on globalizations on the basis of experiences from Asia , including reflecting upon concepts like imitation, adaptation, innovation and legitimization of theories and ideas
  10. Humanistic values and social issues in Asian management, leadership, and educational management
  11. Differences between educational methods currently being practiced in Asia and those practiced elsewhere
  12. Evaluations of current leadership, learning, education and/or management in Asia – is there a need for new theories and perspectives?
  13. Suggestions for new perspectives on leadership, learning, education and/or management, which when applied could contribute to improved leadership, learning, education and/or management in Asia
  14. Exploring/examining learning, education, leadership and management in social movements and/or learning embedded in community social action in Asia
  15. Examples of the learning organization, organizational learning and/or knowledge management in Asia
  16. The role of universities and business schools – and in particular management and leadership education and educational management – in the development of Asia
  17. Asian perspectives on the role of learning technologies.

Please see also information about the Special Issues of highly-ranked academic journals that collections of papers from the conference will be published in.

Chairs & ICC

More Members:


Workshop/Panel Discussions

ELLTA Co-Founder Anders Ortenblad

Professor Anders Ortenblad
Assistant Professor in Organisational Behavior
Nottingham University Business School China,
University of Nottingham Ningbo

  • Associate Editor of International Journal of Management Reviews (Wiley-Blackwell)
  • Member of the International Editorial Boards of:
    • Management Learning (Sage)
    • The learning Organization (Emerald)
    • International Journal of Quality and Innovation (Inderscience)
  • Guest Editor for:
    • International Journal of Learning and Change (Inderscience) , Special Issue on ‘The learning organization: A universally applicable concept or an ambiguous basis in need of local interpretation?’ (2010, Vol. 4, No. 1)
    • Learning Inquiry (Springer) , Special Section on ‘Are organizations able to learn?’ (2009, Vol. 3, No. 1)
  • Advisory board member of the following conferences:
    • OLK6 2005
    • OLKC 2006
    • OLKC 2008
    • OLKC 2009
    • OLKC 2010
    • OLKC 2011
  • The ‘reviewer of the year’ award 2004 by Management Learning, Sage, for:
    • “…sound intellectual work in helping pursue our joint field by way of your reviews”…“Anders has undertaken this role with insight, has been a great support to authors in the development of their papers whether they were eventually published or not, and has always been in good time with his reviews. We could not have asked for more.”
  • Published research articles in, among other journals:
    • Human Relations (Sage)
    • Management Learning (Sage)
    • International Journal of Management Reviews (BAM/Wiley-Blackwell)
    • The Learning Organization (Emerald)
    • Philosophy of Management
  • Human Resource Development Quarterly ( Academy of Human Resource Development/Wiley)
  • Producing Difference: Markets, Standards, and Inequalities in Education

    by

    Professor Michael W. Apple

    Across international contexts, particular kinds of reforms are now being proposed and implemented in education. These include neoliberal policies involving marketization, privatization, and competition, neoconservative policies calling for a return to the "common culture" of a romanticized past, and new managerial proposals for strict measures of accountability and the constant production of "evidence of success." While all of these tendencies argue that they will lead to better schooling and more democratic results, they often can lead to the reproduction of inequalities. I critically examine the ways in which these reforms change the meaning of democracy from "thick" to "thin" understandings. In the process, I point to more critically democratic alternatives in a number of nations from which we can learn.

  • Towards an Integrated Theory of the Ecology of Learning and Leadership: Mirroring Multiple and Shared Realities across Cultures

    by

    Prof. Dato' Dr Ibrahim A. Bajunid

    Professor Dato' Dr Ibrahim Ahmad Bajunid is Professor of Management, Education and the Social Sciences. Professor Bajunid is the First Director of the Regional Center for Educational Planning (UNESCO-RCEP), Al Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. He was Professor of Management, Leadership and Policy Studies and the Founding Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at University Tun Abdul Razak (UNITAR) for seven years before taking the post of Director, RCEP. He is the former Director of Institut Aminuddin Baki (IAB) - The National Institute of Educational Management and Leadership. He was a member of the Task Force that established Institute Aminuddin Baki in 1979.

    For more than two and a half decades, Professor Bajunid has been a key figure in the Field of Educational Management and Leadership in Malaysia and exercises many leadership roles and has provided services as consultant in policy-making governmental committees, private sector and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). He was President of the Senior Educators' Association, Fellow of the Council of Education Management in Commonwealth Countries, Distinguished Fellow of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia, Fellow Emeritus of the National Institute of Educational Management and Leadership (IAB), Fellow of the National Research Institute on Youth, Senior Fellow of the Malaysian Social Institute, Consultant Fellow of the International Institute of Educational Planning (IIEP). Member of the Advisory Board of Asia Pacific Centre for Leadership and Change (APCLC), Hong Kong Institute of Education, and, Honorary Life Member of the Malaysian Association for Music Education (MAME). He was actively involved as a Trade Union leader and is currently leading professional associations, including, as President of the Malaysian Institute of Human Resource Management (MIHRM), Malaysian Association for Education (MAE), and, the Malaysian Educational Management and Leadership Association, and Board Member and President Elect of the Asia–Pacific Educational Research Association (APERA).

    He has been a consultant in Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Botswana, and Cambodia and had the opportunity of contributing to the activities of UNESCO, UNDP, ASEAN Council of Teachers (ACT), and Education International (EI).

    Professor Bajunid is Editor and Editorial Advisor for several educational journals, locally and internationally. He has presented keynote addresses at various national and international conferences in Malaysia and abroad. He was the National Advisor/Consultant for Asia–Europe Initiative on Lifelong Learning in Malaysia, and, is currently engaged in several research projects and is supervising several Masters and Doctoral scholars. Professor Bajunid is on the Academic Advisory Boards in several national universities. He has written over five hundred articles and academic papers covering significant issues in national development relating to education, social and intellectual capital creation, the strengthening of families and communities, and the enhancement of human potentialities. He has been a Panelist in many public media fora discussing issues on education, human resources development, and societal change. He was a regular columnist in the New Straits/Sunday Times with a weekly column every Sunday, titled, ‘As I Wonder'. His latest publication is Bajunid, I. A (2008) (ed.). Malaysia - From Traditional to Smart Schools - The Malaysian Educational Odyssey. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford Fajar Sdn. Bhd.

    Professor Bajunid has also been recognized by the Malaysian Historical Society and the Malaysian Library Association for his contributions to the promotion of historical literacy and knowledge culture respectively. He has been recognized for contributions to the Teachers Trade Union Movement by the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP), as well as by the Malaysian Association of Music Educators (MAME) for his support of their works. He is Member of the National Committee on the Study, Review and Reform of Higher Education in Malaysia. He is Adjunct/Visiting Professor at several universities. He has exercised several key roles pertaining to the National Quality Agenda in Education in the Educational Quality Journey over the last two and a half decades particularly in initiating Training Programmes, in Quality Control Circles, Quality Control, Quality Assurance, and in Total Quality Management in Education. He has been involved in the National Accreditation Board and Malaysian Qualifications Agency Processes both as practitioner and as member of the wider policy making community (in the education bureaucracy, in private sector education leadership and as contributor from the Non Governmental Organization Stakeholder – the Professional Association Sector).

    Professor Dr. Ibrahim Ahmad Bajunid is the recipient of the “Tokoh Kepimpinan Pendidikan Kebangsaan” the National Educational Leadership Award, the highest Educational Leadership Award in Malaysia granted/awarded only to a few individuals who have demonstrated distinguished and exemplary leadership across institutional, national and international contexts

    The paper searches for answers to a broadening range of the recurring and emerging questions confronting the fields of learning and leadership. In seeking to clarify the utility of various theories, the paper identifies the connections between learning and leadership by examining surface and underlying integrating concepts which indicate links and meanings. The explorations of such concepts as the Personal Realms of Knowledge, Received Wisdom and Insights, and Acquired Disciplinary Knowledge provide clues to elements of the thinking, valuing and actions of leaders and learners. The paper addresses the matter of the untapped wisdom of cultures in the periphery, particularly, Indigenous Knowledge which lies outside of the dominant Disciplinary Knowledge of contemporary Western Civilization. Several Fundamental Lessons learned from the Sciences of the Hereafter and the Worldly Sciences regarding Learning and Leadership are reconsidered. Concepts of the power and purpose of learning and leadership, vision, causation, willing, motivated learners and authentic leaders, as well as the negative learning and negative leadership actions are examined. Rethinking and reframing learning and leadership in terms of Thought Leadership Weltanschauung and shaping of minds and cultures permit examination of the melding of the past, present and future. The paper explains the processes of the creation of knowledge, intellectual and social capital which involve leaders as learners and learners as leaders in a coherent societal tapestry of the Ecology of Human Cultures. The Pursuit of Knowledge, Clarification of Thinking, Values and Performance of Virtuous Deeds and Actions by learners and leaders in the building of a Community of Virtue are examined from Multidisciplinary, Multicultural and Multireligious perspectives. The various strands of concepts and theories identified in literature are pulled together to suggest a general theory of learning and leadership, ancient and futuristic.

  • Developing a Knowledge Base for Educational Leadership and Management in East Asia

    by

    Professor Philip Hallinger

    Professor Philip Hallinger is the Director of the Asia Pacific Centre for Leadership and Change, Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong, China. Professor Philip Hallinger is recognized internationally as an innovator in leadership development. A prolific author, trainer and consultant, he has lived in Asia for the past 18 years and works extensively with both private and public sector organizations. Prior to joining Hong Kong Institute of Education in 2008, Professor Philip Hallinger served as Chief Academic Officer and Professor of Management in College of Management at Mahidol University, Thailand from 2000 to 2008. From 1987 to 2000 he was Professor of Leadership and Organization and Director of the Center for the Advanced Study of Educational Leadership at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA.

    Professor Hallinger is an internationally recognized scholar in the field of Educational Leadership and Change. He has published 10 books, 35 book chapters, over 100 journal articles on leadership and management including 30 in SSCI journals and twice serving as a Senior Co-editor of the International Handbook of Research in Educational Leadership and Administration. He has co-authored the most widely cited series of reviews of empirical research on school leadership published in the field.

    Professor Hallinger is acknowledged as an innovation leader in the areas of instructional leadership, educational change, leadership development, and school improvement. He authored the Principal Instructional Leadership Rating Scale (PIMRS), the most widely used survey instrument in the world employed internationally by researchers for measuring school/ instructional leadership. More than 125 doctoral dissertations have used the PIMRS internationally.

    Professor Hallinger, with collaborator Prof. Edwin Bridges, pioneered the use of problem-based learning in management education and has trained professors from throughout the world in the use of PBL. Most recently, he led in design and implementation of a “problem-based learning track” in a large Master of Management degree program in Asia. He authored a series of problem-based, computer simulations for use in management education that have been translated and adapted into Thai, Korean, Malay and several European languages.

    He has been instrumental in stimulating the initiation and development of school leadership development centers in the USA, Canada , Thailand , Singapore , Malaysia , Hong Kong , Taiwan and Australia . He has been selected by education ministries in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand to be personally responsible for designing and implementing (i.e., training) induction and professional development programs for large numbers of school principals. As Chief Academic Officer of the College of Management, Mahidol University, he led the development of a highly successful student-centered graduate program in management education.

    The critical role of school leaders in educational reform has reached the status of a truism among education policymakers throughout the world. Yet, the centrality of the leadership role in education reform is based largely on findings from research conducted in Western cultural contexts (e.g., North America, Europe, and ANZ). While similar policy trends are evident in East Asia, the empirical knowledge base underlying the role of school leadership is distorted and lacking in validation. This paper first offers evidence in support of this assertion. Then it examines the process of knowledge production in educational leadership and briefly management as it has unfolded in Western academic contexts. Finally, it assesses the current normative and structural context in East Asia and offers recommendations for accelerating the development of a valid knowledge base underlying educational, leadership and management in the region.

    Keywords: Asia, leadership, educational change, knowledge base

  • Cooperative Learning in Viet Nam and the West-East educational transfer

    by

    Dr. Phuong-Mai Nguyen

    Dr. Phuong-Mai Nguyen, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands, is an Interculturalist and a Researcher. She started her career as a journalist in Viet Nam and traveled extensively around the world. She obtained her PhD in intercultural communication and education from Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

    As a journalist and a researcher, she has been publishing broadly both, in Viet Nam and foreign countries. Dr Nguyen currently teaches Cross-culture Management at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences where she is involved in a variety of research projects on Multi/Cross-cultural education. Her own agency Culture-Move delivers consultancy and training in international negotiation and management.

    Under pressure of the continuing need to modernise, Viet Nam is rapidly reforming its education system. Cooperative Learning (CL) with a Western-based model is being enthusiastically applied. In this article, we identify three factors that can advance and hinder the application of CL: Institutional, reform pressure, and cultural factors. The paper further identifies that an authentic culturally deeply embedded form CL has been existing in the texture of the Vietnamese learning style. The urge to adopt an alien Western-based form of CL may stem from the reform pressure and misunderstanding that educational West-East transfer is value-free. The paper concludes that it is essential to develop a culturally appropriate version of CL.

    Keywords: cooperative learning, Asia, West(ern), culture, appropriate

Conference Program