"Learning and Teaching in the Early Years" provides a comprehensive, contemporary and practical introduction to early childhood teaching in Australia. A strong focus on the links between theory, policy and practice firmly aligns this text with the Early Years Learning Framework. Written for students of early childhood programs, this book…

This paper examines the influence of life histories and apprenticeship of observation on the formation of student teachers' idealised identities. The life histories of 15 student teachers are decoded. Through eliciting from the student teachers the teacher they wish to be, the paper focuses on the interplay between the personal histories and ideal…

This exploratory study seeks for understanding the relationship between Turkish elementary school English teachers' espoused beliefs about the effective ways of teaching English and their self-reported practices. 6 teachers, who were working at different state schools in a town located in the Northwestern part of Turkey, were interviewed.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a national survey of government primary school principals in Australia, investigating the purposes of education, in terms of the importance and level of enactment of those purposes in schools. Design/methodology/approach: In 2009, an electronic survey was distributed to government…

Over the past several decades, researchers, politicians, and corporate leaders have focused reform efforts on the size of educational contexts. Hundreds of billions of public and private dollars have been invested to reduce the size and scope of both classrooms and schools (Lee & Ready, 2007). Unlike many education reforms, these downsizing…

Administrators, particularly those who engage in instructional leadership, play a key role in school improvement. Past research describes the types of activities instructional leaders engage in but has paid little attention to how they do it. The authors use the case of one school to unpack instructional leadership as a practice, paying close…

Client-centered thinking is gradually transforming British schools, where there is increased emphasis on competitive marketing, enhanced "customer" information (for parents), and quality assurance systems. However, children are rarely seen as clients and even less seldom listened to as customers. This article explores British primary…

Contends that teachers are routinely given a mandate to train that requires following administrative dictates without question, constraining independent thought and action. Proposes that teachers be given instead a charter to educate, in which they are encouraged and expected to challenge normative practices and policies. (Author/SK)

This paper discusses homework policy as a product of 50 years of experimental research. Part 1 discusses homework guidelines in grades 3 through 8 by suggesting that homework should be assigned, graded, and individualized. In addition, homework should provide feedback about student achievement that includes parental monitoring. Part 2 recommends…

In 1985, the Michigan State Board of Education revised state policy for reading instruction. The old definition of reading instruction concentrated on skills; the new one highlighted both the readers' role in constructing the meaning of text and the impact of reading experience on readers' textual interpretations. The new ideas for reading…

Describes a collaboration among policy makers, test developers, curriculum specialists, researchers, and classroom teachers in Michigan that has produced a new interactive definition of reading, new statewide reading objectives, and efforts to develop statewide tests that are more consistent with current theory and research. (FL)

This paper uses the SACMEQ II data to carry out an analysis of classroom context factors that accounted for student scores in reading and mathematics as well as a review of methods used to derive policies in Kenya in order to emphasise the need for evidence-based research for the derivation of policies for the leadership and management of primary…

The notion of national unity through a single official language is defended by policy makers, who point out the practical and financial drawbacks involved in teaching in the vernacular in multilingual nations. Findings from grassroots-level case studies in Senegal, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Malawi, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, and Sri Lanka attest to the…

Assessed first- and fifth-grade teachers' perceptions of student retention. Found an unwritten policy among teachers advocating retention of students as beneficial. Respondents believed that retention improved academic performance or facilitated student growth and increased learning success. Results suggest a serious gap between research…

This case study examines the teaching practices of Alan Woods, (pseudonym) who teaches elementary students in an outdoor education program. It describes a typical teaching day, including Alan's comments about his work and important aspects of being an outdoor educator. Alan stated that he used recitation questioning (asking students to recite…