Similarly to many other countries, what has been spreading in Poland for about two decades is the global ideology of market neoliberalism. This takes place alongside the aiming at bigger effectiveness of education with the use of some procedures typical of the business sphere. Simultaneously, an excessive focus appears at school on the…

Teachers in Estonia are working in a tense environment of conflicting expectations which, on the one hand, involves a neoliberal approach to standards and, on the other, the humanistic values of education and well-being of students. The purpose of the study was to identify the factors of school climate which ensure both the job satisfaction of…

This article, emerging from a wider study on internationalization in the Republic of Ireland, explores internationalization through the everyday lived experience of faculty and its impact on their professional contexts. It highlights issues that faculty members face in a national context, where internationalization is viewed as an economic goal…

Purpose: From a workplace learning perspective, the purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between conditions for learning and stressful work and, to analyse the learning conditions that support the management of stressful work. The model of effort-reward imbalance (ERI) is adopted as an indicator of stressful work by measuring the…

Effective professional development (PD) interventions that promote high quality teacher-child interactions are important mechanisms to support social-emotional and cognitive development in early childhood. One PD intervention that has shown to be effective is MyTeachingPartner (MTP); however, previous research has suggested that both teacher and…

This study examined the relationships between principals' leadership, school climate, and teachers' sense of self-efficacy. Drawing on existing scales, this study examined six aspects of principal leadership (professional interaction, participatory decision-making, individual support, intellectual stimulation and moral perspective) and four school…

This is a conceptual paper. I argue that knowledge-construction, or learning in a profession, has changed with the introduction of professional doctorates, though the divide between these new forms of doctoral study and the older and more established forms such as the PhD are now not as wide as they once were. In particular, three elements of the…

The problem addressed by this study is the impact of the current high-stakes accountability policy on the work of teachers, and whether this impact has created an environment of intensification. Research has shown that intensification manifests itself in teachers' feeling a loss of autonomy, a de-professionalization of their working environment,…

The intent of this research was to describe school-based physical therapists in North Carolina (NC) and examine relationships between personality traits of this group, their job satisfaction and their perception of factors that influence decisions to remain at or leave their jobs. School-based physical therapists across NC (n=97) anonymously…

Although critical thinking skills are important for all citizens participating in a democratic society, many community college students appear to lack these skills. This study addressed the apparent lack of research relating critical thinking instruction to campus climate. Critical thinking theory and Moos's organizational climate theory served as…

Provides an overview of empowerment philosophies and practices in business and educational settings. Role changes for empowerment are discussed, and resistance factors regarding empowerment are described for each setting. (four references) (LRW)

Social, cultural, political, and organizational characteristics of urban schools that make them difficult settings for teachers are discussed. It is suggested that, while an emphasis on professional community would be beneficial for all students, it is particularly pressing for urban schools where other resources for school reform are limited.…

Teachers' views on their control of school policy and classroom practices are analyzed on the basis of data from the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) of 1990-91. The SASS, a nationally representative survey of more than 53,000 teachers, reflects teachers' opinions of school conditions. Overall, teachers (61 percent) did not believe that they had…

This article develops a framework for assessing how differential incentive policies affect teacher commitment and identifies key workplace conditions contributing to commitment. The framework is used to assess effects of such differential incentive policies as merit pay and career ladders. Increasing participation, collaboration, and feedback is…

This paper, one in a series about the priorities of the professoriate, explores several alternatives to tenure for faculty and institutions. Data for the study was drawn from a series of site visits to seven institutions during winter/spring 1995-96. Seventy-one interviews were conducted with administrators, senior faculty, and full-time…