Monica Mincu
Biographic Data
| ID | 4816820 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Monica Mincu |
| GIVEN NAMES | Monica |
| FAMILY NAME | Mincu |
| SIGNATURE | MINCU M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Turin |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0934-7460 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 11 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
How school leaders decide when school autonomy is low
This theory-building article explores how governance structures shape school leadership practices in contexts with limited autonomy. In low-autonomy environments, principals often occupy dual roles, functioning as administrative enforcers of centrally determined regulations and limitedly as instructional leaders, striving to influence teaching and learning processes. Various governance features, such as low decisional power at the school level, h…
Determinants of middle leaders' career aspirations
Purpose This article engages with three sources of middle leaders' aspirations for school leadership: support from principals, organisational arrangements and perceptions of competencies and efficacy beliefs. Design/methodology/approach Formal leadership positions, related competencies and efficacy beliefs are investigated on the background of school arrangements in a low school autonomy system. Stepwise logistic regressive models have been used …
Global schooling and social justice
This conceptual article identifies tensions and dilemmas that cut across global schooling and social justice, albeit in context-rooted and multifaceted ways. We pay particular attention to social justice dilemmas and tensions, and oscillations between them in school governance, curriculum, and identities. We argue that a global analytical tool for enhancing a socially just approach to schooling must include (1) a redistribution of resources, (2) …
School Leadership in the Anthropocene
This article explores how school leadership can effectively respond to the challenges of the Anthropocene—an era defined by environmental and social crises. It presents four key pillars for fostering intelligent, humane leadership, underpinned by pragmatist philosophy combined with Raworth’s doughnut model. These are: bridging ideologies, shared agency, context relevance and intelligent and shared accountability. We invite further thinking and re…
Lessons from Two Decades of Research about Successful School Leadership in England
This paper reviews the research on successful school principalship carried out in England over the last 20 years. Drawing on evidence synthesized from the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) and related English school leadership research conducted by ISSPP scholars, this review aims to answer a conceptual research question: How do the principalship’s moral purposes and contextual understanding shape the time-sensitive, i…
Teachers’ informal leadership for equity in France and Italy during the first wave of the education emergency
During the education emergency, teachers’ leadership was indicative of their capacity to stay resilient and innovative in a changed educational environment. This study analyses their capacity to act as leaders and to promote equity in relation to the specific aspects of the French and Italian school systems. A pool of 16 interviews constitutes a unique case study of teacher leadership for equity under similar contextual conditions. Teacher leader…
A feasible balance? The Italian teachers’ standpoint on assessment literacy, assessment practice, and teacher professional development
The unprecedent times of the COVID-19 pandemic have had a relevant impact on schooling. In this context, identifying the features of effective and responsive teachers’ professional development paths in the assessment domain has never been as critical as it is today. However, despite the widespread interest in teacher assessment literacy and despite the efforts of educational policies and teacher education programs, research continues to show that…
Governance mechanisms, school principals and the challenge of personalized education in contexts
Schools around the world are diverse and there are a variety of progressivist initiatives in place that aim to promote quality and equitable pedagogy and overcome formalist paradigms. Country contexts present different challenges based on factors such as the type of governance, teachers’ autonomy, and pedagogical cultures. Most critical, however, is the unequal distribution of leadership opportunities. Beyond conflicting or contrived possibilitie…
Tutors’ relational professionalism and care-based personalisation in Italy
Progressivist approaches to teaching and learning are rare in the Italian school system. Equality of inputs, whole class teaching and curriculum transmission are preferred. However, the case of a vocational education and training (VET) programme, run by a private State-recognised school, shows a way forward to introduce personalised approaches in school systems characterised by formalist pedagogies. Constructivist teaching and personalised educat…
Why is school leadership key to transforming education? Structural and cultural assumptions for quality education in diverse contexts
Failing to recognize the role of leaders in quality and equitable schooling is unfortunate and must be redressed. Leadership is fundamentally about organized agency and collective vision, not managerialism, since it is an organizational quality, not merely a positionality attribute. Most important, if change is to be systemic and transformative, it cannot occur uniquely at the individual teachers’ level. School organization is fundamental to circ…
The governance of a school network and implications for initial teacher education
This paper presents a case study of a local school network in England that is well established as a provider of initial teacher education (ITE). School networks are now the favoured providers of ITE in England in a ‘school-led’ system. Our evidence comes from participant observation and interviews conducted over a five-month period (more than 400 h of data collection). We present evidence of the strategic intent and enactment of this programme. T…
The Italian middle school in a deregulation era
In the current context of intensified moves towards educational deregulation, the configuration of the Italian middle school and its relationship to education governance is an interesting case. Historically, it represents a unique example of the successful ‘decision-making' model of the welfarist era. Despite some internal constraints, at the end of the 1970s it was considered a progressive model of schooling for its time. At present, however, in…
Balancing citizenship and interculturalism
The premise of this article is that unbalanced versions of inclusion politics are usually at work in European contexts. Some inclusion patterns may be more relevant for certain aspects or levels of the education system or various models may be applied to specific ethnic groups. A necessary balancing approach is discussed in this article, drawing on examples from Italy and Romania. In this article, I will engage with the profile of the inclusion p…
Learner-centred education in international perspective. Whose pedagogy for whose development
Michele Schweisfurth defines learner-centred education as a ‘pedagogical approach which gives learners, and demands from them, a relatively high level of active control over the content and the pro
School Community, Parent Participation and Non-Neutrality in the context of globalization
Le communautarisme s’est développé en réponse à un individualisme croissant et il a des conséquences majeures dans le domaine des politiques de l’éducation et de leur théorisation. Au moment précis où des approches tendent à durcir les tensions entre processus de mondialisation et identités cosmopolites, certaines perspectives soulignent combien la reconnaissance des identités culturelles et religieuses dans l’espace public constitue un mouvement…
Myth, Rhetoric, and Ideology in Eastern European Education
(2009). Myth, Rhetoric, and Ideology in Eastern European Education. European Education: Vol. 41, Looking Back, Looking Forward: Continuity and Change in Scholarship on European Education (part I), pp. 55-78
Learner-centred education in international perspective. Whose pedagogy for whose development
Michele Schweisfurth defines learner-centred education as a ‘pedagogical approach which gives learners, and demands from them, a relatively high level of active control over the content and the pro
The governance of a school network and implications for initial teacher education
This paper presents a case study of a local school network in England that is well established as a provider of initial teacher education (ITE). School networks are now the favoured providers of ITE in England in a ‘school-led’ system. Our evidence comes from participant observation and interviews conducted over a five-month period (more than 400 h of data collection). We present evidence of the strategic intent and enactment of this programme. T…
Myth, Rhetoric, and Ideology in Eastern European Education
(2009). Myth, Rhetoric, and Ideology in Eastern European Education. European Education: Vol. 41, Looking Back, Looking Forward: Continuity and Change in Scholarship on European Education (part I), pp. 55-78
Balancing citizenship and interculturalism
The premise of this article is that unbalanced versions of inclusion politics are usually at work in European contexts. Some inclusion patterns may be more relevant for certain aspects or levels of the education system or various models may be applied to specific ethnic groups. A necessary balancing approach is discussed in this article, drawing on examples from Italy and Romania. In this article, I will engage with the profile of the inclusion p…
Learner-centred education in international perspective. Whose pedagogy for whose development
Michele Schweisfurth defines learner-centred education as a ‘pedagogical approach which gives learners, and demands from them, a relatively high level of active control over the content and the pro
School Community, Parent Participation and Non-Neutrality in the context of globalization
Le communautarisme s’est développé en réponse à un individualisme croissant et il a des conséquences majeures dans le domaine des politiques de l’éducation et de leur théorisation. Au moment précis où des approches tendent à durcir les tensions entre processus de mondialisation et identités cosmopolites, certaines perspectives soulignent combien la reconnaissance des identités culturelles et religieuses dans l’espace public constitue un mouvement…
The Italian middle school in a deregulation era
In the current context of intensified moves towards educational deregulation, the configuration of the Italian middle school and its relationship to education governance is an interesting case. Historically, it represents a unique example of the successful ‘decision-making' model of the welfarist era. Despite some internal constraints, at the end of the 1970s it was considered a progressive model of schooling for its time. At present, however, in…
The governance of a school network and implications for initial teacher education
This paper presents a case study of a local school network in England that is well established as a provider of initial teacher education (ITE). School networks are now the favoured providers of ITE in England in a ‘school-led’ system. Our evidence comes from participant observation and interviews conducted over a five-month period (more than 400 h of data collection). We present evidence of the strategic intent and enactment of this programme. T…
Tutors’ relational professionalism and care-based personalisation in Italy
Progressivist approaches to teaching and learning are rare in the Italian school system. Equality of inputs, whole class teaching and curriculum transmission are preferred. However, the case of a vocational education and training (VET) programme, run by a private State-recognised school, shows a way forward to introduce personalised approaches in school systems characterised by formalist pedagogies. Constructivist teaching and personalised educat…
Why is school leadership key to transforming education? Structural and cultural assumptions for quality education in diverse contexts
Failing to recognize the role of leaders in quality and equitable schooling is unfortunate and must be redressed. Leadership is fundamentally about organized agency and collective vision, not managerialism, since it is an organizational quality, not merely a positionality attribute. Most important, if change is to be systemic and transformative, it cannot occur uniquely at the individual teachers’ level. School organization is fundamental to circ…
Lessons from Two Decades of Research about Successful School Leadership in England
This paper reviews the research on successful school principalship carried out in England over the last 20 years. Drawing on evidence synthesized from the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) and related English school leadership research conducted by ISSPP scholars, this review aims to answer a conceptual research question: How do the principalship’s moral purposes and contextual understanding shape the time-sensitive, i…
Teachers’ informal leadership for equity in France and Italy during the first wave of the education emergency
During the education emergency, teachers’ leadership was indicative of their capacity to stay resilient and innovative in a changed educational environment. This study analyses their capacity to act as leaders and to promote equity in relation to the specific aspects of the French and Italian school systems. A pool of 16 interviews constitutes a unique case study of teacher leadership for equity under similar contextual conditions. Teacher leader…
A feasible balance? The Italian teachers’ standpoint on assessment literacy, assessment practice, and teacher professional development
The unprecedent times of the COVID-19 pandemic have had a relevant impact on schooling. In this context, identifying the features of effective and responsive teachers’ professional development paths in the assessment domain has never been as critical as it is today. However, despite the widespread interest in teacher assessment literacy and despite the efforts of educational policies and teacher education programs, research continues to show that…
Governance mechanisms, school principals and the challenge of personalized education in contexts
Schools around the world are diverse and there are a variety of progressivist initiatives in place that aim to promote quality and equitable pedagogy and overcome formalist paradigms. Country contexts present different challenges based on factors such as the type of governance, teachers’ autonomy, and pedagogical cultures. Most critical, however, is the unequal distribution of leadership opportunities. Beyond conflicting or contrived possibilitie…
How school leaders decide when school autonomy is low
This theory-building article explores how governance structures shape school leadership practices in contexts with limited autonomy. In low-autonomy environments, principals often occupy dual roles, functioning as administrative enforcers of centrally determined regulations and limitedly as instructional leaders, striving to influence teaching and learning processes. Various governance features, such as low decisional power at the school level, h…
Determinants of middle leaders' career aspirations
Purpose This article engages with three sources of middle leaders' aspirations for school leadership: support from principals, organisational arrangements and perceptions of competencies and efficacy beliefs. Design/methodology/approach Formal leadership positions, related competencies and efficacy beliefs are investigated on the background of school arrangements in a low school autonomy system. Stepwise logistic regressive models have been used …
Global schooling and social justice
This conceptual article identifies tensions and dilemmas that cut across global schooling and social justice, albeit in context-rooted and multifaceted ways. We pay particular attention to social justice dilemmas and tensions, and oscillations between them in school governance, curriculum, and identities. We argue that a global analytical tool for enhancing a socially just approach to schooling must include (1) a redistribution of resources, (2) …
School Leadership in the Anthropocene
This article explores how school leadership can effectively respond to the challenges of the Anthropocene—an era defined by environmental and social crises. It presents four key pillars for fostering intelligent, humane leadership, underpinned by pragmatist philosophy combined with Raworth’s doughnut model. These are: bridging ideologies, shared agency, context relevance and intelligent and shared accountability. We invite further thinking and re…
Sociology (12 works) · Pedagogy (10 works) · Political science (10 works) · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies (8 works) · Global Educational Policies and Reforms (7 works) · Corporate governance (5 works) · Educational leadership (5 works) · Public relations (5 works) · Educational Assessment and Improvement (4 works) · Global Education and Multiculturalism (4 works)