The academic profession in Russia, represented by the personnel of scientific institutes and by university instructors, is going through difficult times. On the one hand, there are ongoing serious debates and discussion concerning the future of the Russian Academy of Sciences and directions in its reform; on the other hand, education reform and…

Each year thousands of graduates in Australia take up their first position in schools, eager to teach students and determined to make a difference in their lives. They are overwhelmingly motivated by a desire to "do good" and "be good". Often they have been imagining "their" class and "their" teaching for…

The study in this article involved a critical discourse analysis of five policy documents in relation to a curriculum reform proposed for lower secondary education in the Republic of Ireland. It examined the (re)positioning of governance in relation to curriculum and teacher education. Findings indicate a predominant clinical discourse closely…

Drawing from inquiry on human motivation can serve to inform seasoned educators in questing for a more individualized form of professional development. Experienced music teachers who have moved beyond the formative stages benefit from crafting self-defined experiences that satisfy needs-based states. Research in self-determination theory reveals…

Utilizing data from the National Center for Education Statistics Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), a multilevel model (Hierarchical Linear Model) was developed to examine the association of teacher/classroom and state level indicators on reported elementary social studies instructional time. Findings indicated that state testing policy was a…

Recent years have shown the growth of federal legislation and programs having a profound impact on educational policy and practice, and a decline in reliance on broadly based educational justifications. Paralleling this development has been the emergence of well-endowed and influential private foundations, and an increase in corporate influence in…

The present study was designed in order to look for the relationships among organizational dimensions of school teachers' responses of work satisfaction and perceptions of efficacy at work. For that purpose 280 secondary school teachers chosen from the six educational districts in Israel were required to complete the teacher self-efficacy and job…

This article examines the spread of new public management (NPM) across European education systems as it has traversed national boundaries. While recognising the transnational dimensions of the spread of NPM, the authors offer new insights into the importance of national contexts in mediating this development in educational settings by focusing…

Purpose: This paper aims at identifying factors that could contribute to the motivation of students in sustainable development (SD) education. The underlying idea of the paper is that SD education is not always as attractive among students and lecturers as many would like it to be. Design/methodology/approach: The paper briefly reviews literature…

The academic profession, like many others, is rapidly being transformed. This book explores the current challenges to the profession and their broad implications for American higher education. Examining what professors do and how academia is changing, contributors to this volume assess current and potential threats to the profession. Leading…

Drawing on findings from three qualitative studies, this article explores the distinct professional identities of two-year college English faculty. We examine full-time faculty patterns of engagement with professional organizations, their assertion of professional authority in institutional decision making, and the role of organizational…

In this essay, the author argues that inquiry and engagement in the social foundations of education is fundamental to cultivating professionalism in education. As many commentators on the subject have noted, teaching does not meet many of the criteria of a profession derived from the sociological study of fields of work. As Joseph Newman observes,…

Teachers in England and Wales are involved in the largest campaign of industrial action since the mid-1980s. At the heart of their grievances are government plans to abolish a national framework for teachers' pay and the removal of important safeguards relating to working conditions. Wider questions of workload and pensions are also involved. This…

Evaluators' experiences with being pressured by a key stakeholder to misrepresent findings were investigated in an anonymous survey of a random sample of over 2500 American Evaluation Association members; a response rate of 37% was obtained. Overall, 42% of the respondents had encountered misrepresentation pressure, with 70% of this subgroup…

Doctoral research was undertaken in 2012 to explore how academics construct and manage their sense of identity in the context of a dominant managerial discourse. The qualitative case study explored perceptions and experiences associated with the construction and reconstruction of academic identity within Australian universities. Eight academics…