Continuous professional learning through school based strategic planning

There is ample evidence that in many countries school science is in difficulty, with declining student attitudes and uptake of science. This presentation argues that a key to addressing the problem lies in transforming teachers’ classroom practice, and that pedagogical innovation is best supported within a school context. Evidence for effective change will draw on the School Innovation in Science (SIS) initiative in Victoria, which has developed and evaluated a model to improve science teaching and learning across a school system. The model involves a framework for describing effective teaching and learning, and a strategy that allows schools flexibility to develop their practice to suit local conditions and to maintain ownership of the change process. SIS has proved successful in improving science teaching and learning in primary and secondary schools. Experience from SIS and related projects, from a national Australian science and literacy project, and from system wide science initiatives in Europe, will be used to explore the factors that affect the success and the path of innovation in schools.

Strategic planning to build transformational preparedness : an application of enterprise architecture practice

Enterprises are continuously evolving systems; this evolution can be directed or emergent. Enterprise transformation has special aspects due to the enterprise being a socio-technical system whereupon evolution happens on the levels of individuals / humans / organisation, on the level of the technology and on the level of the Information Systems that integrates the activities performed by humans and by technology. Furthermore, changes are typically continuous, due partly to external factors and partly to strategic foresights. Either way, transformation needs to happen so that the enterprise can keep satisfying its objectives. An important transformation mechanism is to perform mergers or acquisitions (M&As). Interestingly, literature reveals that an unacceptably high percentage of M&As do not achieve the aimed objectives and (as we demonstrate) the success of such trajectory depends on several factors. This article proposes a methodology to overcome potential problems by making necessary anticipatory transformations opening up a possibility to perform M&As with a better chance of success.

Supporting athlete selection and strategic planning in track cycling omnium: A statistical and machine learning approach

This article describes the implementation of machine learning techniques that assist cycling experts in the crucial decision-making processes for athlete selection and strategic planning in the track cycling omnium. The omnium is a multi-event competition that was included in the Olympic Games for the first time in 2012. Presently, selectors and cycling coaches make decisions based on experience and opinion. They rarely have access to knowledge that helps predict athletic performances. The omnium presents a unique and complex decision-making challenge as it is not clear what type of athlete is best suited to the omnium (e.g., sprint or endurance specialist) and tactical decisions made by the coach and athlete during the event will have significant effects on the overall performance of the athlete. In the present work, a variety of machine learning techniques were used to analyze omnium competition data from the World Championships since 2007. The analysis indicates that sprint events have slightly more influence in determining the medalists, than endurance-based events. Using a probabilistic analysis, we created a model of performance prediction that provides an unprecedented level of supporting information that assists coaches with strategic and tactical decisions during the omnium.

Strategic planning for dairy cattle: SWOT analysis applied to a property of a farmers' association in Dracena, São Paulo state, Brazil

The sector of milk production in Brazil is very heterogeneous (high-tech in large scale X family properties). This study aimed to develop a diagnostic as a basis for a strategic plan to face the challenges inherent in operating a dairy farm in property of a farmers' association in Dracena, São Paulo, Brazil. It was observed that the association needs a more efficient guidance in the marketing, production and finance areas, not to compromise the search for new markets and continued growth in activity.

Everyone is; should healthcare? Outsourcing: Issues in strategic planning, organizational culture, and organizational ethics

Expenditures for personal health services in the United States have doubled over the last decade. They continue to outpace the growth rate of the gross national product. Costs for medical care have steadily increased at an annual rate well above the rate of inflation and have gradually outstripped payers' ability to meet their premiums. This limitation of resources justifies the ongoing healthcare reform strategies to maximize utilization and minimize costs. The majority of the cost-containment effort has focused on hospitals, as they account for about 40 percent of total health expenditures. Although good patient outcomes have long been identified as healthcare's central concern, continuing cost pressures from both regulatory reforms and the restructuring of healthcare financing have recently made improving fiscal performance an essential goal for healthcare organizations. ^ The search for financial performance, quality improvement, and fiscal accountability has led to outsourcing, which is the hiring of a third party to perform a task previously and traditionally done in-house. The incomparable nature and overwhelming dissimilarities between health and other commodities raise numerous administrative, organizational, policy and ethical issues for administrators who contemplate outsourcing. This evaluation of the outsourcing phenomenon, how it has developed and is currently practiced in healthcare, will explore the reasons that healthcare organizations gravitate toward outsourcing as a strategic management tool to cut costs in an environment of continuing escalating spending. ^ This dissertation has four major findings. First, it suggests that U.S. hospitals in FY2000 spent an estimated $61 billion in outsourcing. Second, it finds that the proportion of healthcare outsourcing highly correlates with several types of hospital controlling authorities and specialties. Third, it argues that healthcare outsourcing has implications in strategic organizational issues, professionalism, and organizational ethics that warrant further public policy discussions before expanding its limited use beyond hospital “hotel functions” and back office business processes. Finally, it devises an outsourcing suitability scale that organizations can utilize to ensure the most strategic option for outsourcing and concludes with some public policy implications and recommendations for its limited use. ^

Strategic planning tools for European negotiators to defend their national interests in the Council of the European Union. EIPA Working Paper 2013/W/02

Summary. Negotiating in the Council of the European Union poses some challenges that are common to most international negotiations but there are other dimensions that are a lot more specific. In order to understand better the specific nature of negotiations on a European level and to develop some practical guidelines for European negotiators, it is important to situate European negotiations in the more general context of the theory on international relations and to remember that European negotiations are governed by the general principles which characterise the negotiation theory. This working document has three objectives; after having reminded ourselves of the fundamental principles that govern European negotiations, it aims to provide a general foundation, which in turn will be useful for preparing most negotiations within the Council. A series of practical recommendations will then be made in order to contribute to the strategic thinking of the negotiator responsible for defending the interests of his or her Member State within the Council.

Outils de réflexion stratégique du négociateur européen pour la défense de ses intérêts nationaux au sein du Conseil de l’UE = Strategic planning tools for European negotiators to defend their national interests in the Council of the European Union. EIPA Working Paper 2013/W/01

No abstract.

The Strategic Planning of EU Military Operations - The Case of EUFOR TCHAD / RCA. IES WORKING PAPER 5/2008

On 28 January 2008 the European Union launched the military operation EUFOR in Chad and the Central African Republic. Its mandate was to contribute to the security of the civilian population, the numerous refugees from neighboring Darfur and the local presence of the United Nations. This paper describes and analyses the planning process of this operation at the political-strategic and military-strategic levels with the aim of understanding how the military instrument was intended to generate the desired political effects. The paper argues that, from a military perspective, the EUFOR operation is based on the concept of humanitarian deterrence: the threat of military force is used to discourage potential spoilers from targeting the civilian population. As with any military operation, the planning of EUFOR was plagued by various elements of friction. At least some of this friction seems to flow from the mismatch in expectations between the political-strategic and military-strategic levels. The various political and military-technical constraints within which the operation was planned resulted in an operational posture that is less decisive than what the political ambitions would have suggested.

OECD seminar on strategic planning for road research programs. Conference proceedings.

Federal Highway Administration, Office of Safety and Traffic Operations Research Development, McLean, Va.

Toward equality of well-being : strategies for improving minority health : strategic planning and coordination process.

S/N 037017-024-01504-1 (GPO).