Purpose: This paper aims to contribute to the literature and practice on beginning principal socialization by identifying the features of post-industrial work that create a more complex work environment for the practice and learning of the principalship in the USA. Design/methodology/approach: Based on recent literature on the changing nature of…

Despite a long history and considerable study, leadership remains a notoriously perplexing and enigmatic phenomenon. Although the "new leadership" perspective has revived convictions and general interest in leadership studies, conceptual and methodological problems nevertheless remain a feature of the research and theory-building terrain, and some…

This article argues that school improvement requires the consultation of pupils to see learning from their perspective. It reports on a video-based research approach to the investigation of pupil-teacher reflections and identifies an apparent disjunction between teacher-pupil views on what constitutes learning. It describes how the use of…

Whether it is volcanoes or video games, teachers know that when children enjoy a subject, they are far more motivated to take charge of their education. What teachers are learning now is that offering high interest topics may be less important than offering kids challenging tasks--new problems to solve--that tap into the way children's brains are…

In this paper, I reflect on equity research in order to describe a perspective on the mathematics classroom as a non-neutral place where issues of power and identity play out in teaching and learning processes. This view of the mathematics classroom takes seriously issues of equity in the form of power and what becomes constituted as legitimate…

What causes students to leave school? According to Azzam (2007), over 47% of students in the United States who drop out of school reported they did so because school was boring and irrelevant to their life situation. What can schools and teachers do to encourage students to stay in school? One possible solution may be to look at experiential…

Influenced by Freinet, Freire, and Sherover-Marcuse, the author describes the evolution of her pedagogy, including a demystifying and empowering approach to working with graduate students in the dissertation process. Alma Flor Ada's educational philosophy and praxis, grounded in critical pedagogy and transformative education, developed in the…

Across the U.S., teachers are encountering students who are in the process of learning English as a second language. In the past two decades, this student population, known as English-language learners (ELLs), has more than doubled. Because of the linguistic demands of social studies content, ELLs may have particular difficulty understanding this…

Globalization is on everyone's tongue, and the discussion is not only limited to economic exchange, but expands to the intermingling of cultural values. To be truly successful in the international arena, whether as an immigrant, student, businessperson, or tourist, openness toward other cultures is vital and the most obvious door to those cultures…

This document represents an innovative and radical landmark in the development of external quality arrangements for Scotland's colleges. The quality framework and arrangements for annual engagement, subject-based aspect reports, and external review reflect new thinking nationally, within HMIE, in the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding…

This paper outlines Explanation Construction Theory, a psychological theory of how people come to comprehend scientific explanations. Explanation Construction Theory has three components: (1) a theory of how scientific knowledge is represented in memory; (2) a taxonomy of different representations that can be formed in response to an encounter…

Recent reforms in social education have emphasized the study of history and global education. Thus, educators expect students to develop historical empathy and the ability to take divergent cultural perspectives. In other words, students should be able to see the world as others see it. From a psychological perspective this capacity is known as…

This paper asserts that through the process of observation, documentation, and interpretation of children's goals, strategies, and theories, teachers gain insight into children's thinking. As a result of this process, teachers are better able to engage children in conversations and investigations that have the potential to extend their learning in…

Vygotskian theory suggests that maturation and learning are not mutually exclusive; rather together they constitute development and are thus dependent on each other and interactive. The concept of the zone of proximal development involves determining two developmental levels of mental functions for each learner--the actual and the potential…

This paper describes some salient aspects of inservice education that focus on constructivist learning/conceptual change. Major issues for inservice education based on the constructivist approach are described. These issues arise from viewing teachers as constructivist learners, and from the assumption that constructivism and conceptual change…