This study explored job satisfaction, work-related stress, consequences of stress, and coping strategies among Norwegian teachers. The study is based on qualitative interviews with 30 working teachers and four retired teachers. The respondents reported high job satisfaction but also severe stress and exhaustion. Teachers of different ages or at…

This Eurydice report analyses the relation between the policies that regulate the teaching profession in Europe, and the attitudes, practices, and perceptions of teachers. The analysis covers aspects such as, initial teacher education, continuing professional development, transnational mobility, as well as teacher demographics, working conditions,…

The metaphors of the ivory tower and ivory basement are used in this chapter to reflect how many women understand and experience the academy. The ivory tower signifies a place that is protected, a place of privilege and authority and a place removed from the outside world (and consequently the rigours of the market place). The ivory tower, by…

The purpose of this article is to present a specific approach to the practice of action research "in complex organisations". Clearly, there are many approaches to the challenge of doing action research in organisations; approaches that are, and also must be, quite context dependent and specific. But my purpose is neither to give an…

In today's business thinking, innovation is commonly equated with progress, indicating an underlying assumption that company management have the power to choose a specific future and control the way into it. Drawing on examples from a longitudinal research initiative in the Norwegian petroleum company StatoilHydro, this article raises some of the…

Working conditions for employees in the transport sector might present an opportunity structure for gambling by providing access to gambling during the workday. This study investigates connections between opportunity structure, gambling during the workday, and gambling problems among employees in the transport sector. Data has been collected from…

The focus of this paper is on the work-related values, preferences, and future expectations among female students at two elite business schools in China and Norway. The paper argues that while gender theory predicts no significant differences between these two groups, both cultural and economic development theory imply fundamental differences. The…

Most citizens with long-term mental distress want a real job, and both Norway and European policies agree that work is a crucial part of social inclusion goals. Yet we know little about the actual impact of work on the recovery process for people with severe and often enduring mental distress. This article reports findings from a qualitative study…

This article explores the influence of working conditions on work-family conflict (WFC) among married/cohabiting employees across seven European countries. Using data from the European Social Survey, the paper first investigates the role of working conditions relative to household level characteristics in mediating work-family conflict at the…

Educational researchers are accustomed to institutional review board (IRB) requirements (e.g., protecting participants) with students often identified as the only "vulnerable population" for IRB purposes. However, as practitioner research has gained more prominence, the vulnerability of teacher-researchers themselves has begun to…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide new insights into the implementation of large-scale learning projects; thereby better understanding the difficulties, frustrations, and obstacles encountered when implementing enterprise-wide e-learning as a tool for training and organization transformation in a complex organization.…

The focus of this paper is to present a model for empowering all parties in the Practicum triad, school-based and university-based teacher educators, as well as student teachers, in assessment. Assessment of the Practicum, which shares a number of commonalities with Work-Based Learning, plays a crucial role in the certification of new teachers.…

Applies research on the adult work environment to schoolchildren's daily lives, using health survey data from 11-, 13-, and 15-year-old students in Finland, Latvia, Norway, and Slovakia. The most important school-setting predictor of students' perception of their academic achievement is satisfaction with school, teachers, and classmates. (59…

Compared the identity-formation process of three groups of Norwegian late adolescents: university students, employed youths, and unemployed youths. Interview data indicated that all groups considered work of primary importance to sense of identity. Three factors initiated identity transitions differently across the groups: qualities of vocational…

This population-based 24-year follow-up study evaluated the association of occupational physical activity (OPA) with overweight and mortality in 47,405 men and women, healthy at baseline, and reporting OPA as sedentary (reference), light, moderately heavy, or heavy. The adjusted odds ratio for overweight was slightly less than 1 for all categories…