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There is a lack of clarity about how lecturer collaboration in light of learning and (professional) development fits within the framework of a quality culture in higher education institutions (HEIs). More specifically, it is unclear how collaboration is present or stimulated in the organisational context, triggering working mechanisms leading to quality-related outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to relate HEIs' quality culture to lecturer collaboration.

This exploratory study relates institutions’ quality culture to lecturer collaboration via semi-structured interviews and document analysis at the institutional level in four Flemish HEIs.

The results demonstrate collaboration as a working mechanism driven by the institutional strategy. In this way, lecturers’ professional development (PD) is stimulated. The results also indicate that collaboration is present within lecturers’ PD: working together during or sharing experiences after PD initiatives is considered useful for quality teaching and learning.

Following the growing attention in research and practice to lecturer collaboration, this study incorporates lecturer collaboration in the framework of quality culture within HEIs.

Work-related stress is a significant occupational health issue. Stress cannot be viewed separately from the perceptual or interpretive act by the individual. Self-efficacy is a personal characteristic that explains a high proportion of variation in the performance of school principals.

The current study examines if the COVID-pandemic is related to burnout among school principals. Additionally, the study analyzes if the self-efficacy of school principals plays a mediating role in the impact that the COVID-19 crisis had on their burnout level. To explore this, the authors used survey data of 981 Flemish school principals.

The findings indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic is related to feelings of burnout among Flemish school principals. In addition, self-efficacy mediated the relationship between the COVID-19 scale and the four core subscales of burnout: exhaustion, mental distance, emotional impairment and cognitive impairment. No mediating effect of self-efficacy was found for the secondary symptoms of burnout, psychological distress and psychosomatic complaints.

This paper emphasizes the importance of school principal's self-efficacy experiences for crisis management. Implications for school leadership training and support are discussed.

Performance appraisal is used internationally to improve employee performance, also in the educational field. However, doubts exist about the effectiveness of performance appraisal. This study aims to contribute by expanding the knowledge about important context variables of performance appraisal in secondary education. In particular, the study aims to examine the role of both characteristics of the teacher performance appraisal system and the school leader for procedural justice and perceived feedback utility by teachers.

Both interviews with school leaders and a questionnaire for teachers were used to collect data in 32 schools. Path analyses (n=298) were used to test the research model.

The results indicate that teacher participation in the teacher performance appraisal system significantly influences the perceived procedural justice by teachers, which in its turn significantly influences the perceived feedback utility. The role of the school leaders is found to be extremely important. Charismatic leadership influences both directly and indirectly (through procedural justice) the perceived feedback utility by teachers.

This study contributes to the research field of (teacher) performance appraisal by studying empirically appraisal system characteristics and leadership characteristics that effect appraisal reactions. In this regard, this study responds to the need for more empirical research to uncover the social context of performance appraisal, especially in the field of education where there is a general skepticism towards teacher appraisal and its possible positive outcomes.