Using Weicke's environmental-enactment theory, explores how 18 "successful" principals enact and structure the internal and external school environment. Examines what specifically captures principals' attention, using the critical-incident technique. Principals' environmental attention-structure seems driven by their concerns for…

Using the literature and experiences of theorists and practitioners from several interrelated areas (knowledge work, organization learning/development, sociotechnical systems design, and quality improvement), this article proposes a new instructional supervision paradigm called Knowledge Work Supervision aimed at improving school systems'…

Written as a position statement on educational leadership, this article uses a heart metaphor to delineate a workable managerial framework. Leadership is at the heart of managing all educational levels. Leading is the educational lifeblood that guides and flows into planning, organizing, and monitoring teachers' work. (Contains 43 references.)…

Analyzing survey data from 457 students in 29 U.S. school administration programs, examines the relative importance of factors influencing decisions to enter and leave the profession and the canonical correlation between reasons for leaving and reasons for staying. Self-actualization, esteem, and affiliation influenced entry decisions; salary…

Provides a literature review on project management related to corporate instructional design activities. Highlights include project integration, strategic planning, resource allocation, optimizing performance and quality, constructing a project team, generating a productive working climate, and implementation strategies. (LRW)

Reviews the profiles of a typical public library, the Redondo Beach Public Library (California), and its nearby community college library, the Schauerman Library at El Camino College in Torrance, California. Discusses similarities between staff in public and academic libraries; differences between the two environments; and like missions of both…

Surveyed administrators of branch campuses, in part, on the characteristics of faculty. Respondents were asked about full- to part-time faculty ratios, hiring practices, governance, tenure, resources, and faculty attitudes regarding working conditions. Findings included a much higher percentage of part-time faculty at branch campuses, and that…

The School at Work program is a work-based course offering basic skills and literacy courses to entry workers primarily in hospitality, retail, and medical fields. Instruction is delivered via Kentucky Educational Television. (JOW)

Surveyed new dental faculty about what factors influenced them to choose academic careers. Found that factors related to teaching and scholarship were the most important influences, while concerns about income and indebtedness were the most important negative considerations. Other positive factors included mentors and role models, long-term…

Surveyed new dental educators about their perceptions regarding salary, work environment, and workload to determine these factors' impact on recruitment and retention. Found that work environment was most important. Several other factors, such as educational resources, facilities, salary, benefits, mentoring, startup funds for research, and…

In this study I explored the reported effects of Literacy Collaborative, a whole-school literacy reform model, on teacher turnover through in-depth telephone interviews with 16 randomly sampled teachers. Although 8 of the teachers said Literacy Collaborative would have no effect on whether they stayed at or left their respective schools, the…

Purpose: This article examines factors within the long-term-care work environment that impact the effectiveness of continuing education. Design & Methods: In Study 1, focus group interviews were conducted with staff and management from urban and rural long-term-care facilities in southwestern Ontario to identify their perceptions of the…

This study examined the contributions of the 5-Factor Model (FFM; P. T. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1992) and RIASEC (J. L. Holland, 1994) constructs of consistency, differentiation, and person-environment congruence in predicting job performance ratings in a large sample (N = 514) of employees. Hierarchical regression analyses conducted separately by…

Against a background of declining union significance and falling membership, this article reviews the recent development of trade union workplace learning in Britain. It is argued that the dominant framework within which this learning is currently undertaken is one of "employability". Instead of an employability framework, it is…

This article provides a theoretical discussion of the concept 'object' within Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT). It also introduces some of the methodological considerations that are raised in the study of the formation and transformation of objects of activity. A research project is described in which a theoretical discussion concerning…