This dissertation describes and explores elementary teachers' perspectives on the influence of context on the quality of teachers. Utilizing a conceptual framework developed from a reading of the extant literatures and situated participation theory, this qualitative multiple case study of four nominated elementary teachers, who have switched…

Since 1940, when the AAUP formally defined academic freedom (AAUP, 1984), most faculty members believe they have the final authority in assigning course grades to their students. Faculty members may be surprised that several recent court decisions have concluded that college and university administrators have the right to change grades initially…

Teacher appraisal is viewed by bureaucrats as a means of effecting organisational change in schools. It is for this reason that educational policy leaders have turned to technical competency as a way of accounting for teachers' performance in classrooms. In other words, teachers' work is now subject to minute scrutiny by the observation of…

This descriptive study sought to determine the attitudes of middle school teachers in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio toward the current implementation of key components of the middle school concept within their schools. Researchers were asked to assess the relationship of state accountability programs to the implementation levels of such components.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to outline how collective capacity building is supporting system-wide reform in one country. It seeks to outline the way in which professional learning communities within, between and across schools are creating an infrastructure for improving professional practice and raising standards.…

Autonomy is considered to be an important feature of professionals and to provide a necessary basis for their informed judgments. In this article these notions will be challenged. In this article I use Michel Foucault's deconstruction of the idea of the autonomous citizen, and his later attempts to reconstruct that idea, in order to bring some new…

To effectively address teacher turnover, Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grantees need to follow an approach that entails aligning the tracking, diagnosing, and intervening processes. Unfortunately, too often retention strategies are implemented without regard to the various types of teacher turnover and specific data about the causes of turnover.…

The major curricula revisions in South Africa in the last two decades or so have changed the curriculum landscape. These revisions are meant to effect among other issues, the socio-economic development for all through quality education. The latest curricula transition from National Curriculum Statement (NCS) to Curriculum and Assessment Policy…

Context: Clinical education is the interaction between a clinical preceptor and student within the clinical setting to help the student progress as a clinician. Post-professional athletic training clinical education is especially important to improve these students' clinical knowledge and skills. However, little research has been conducted to…

This study explores how teachers' shared perception of empowerment influences teacher efficacy and organizational commitment in the Chinese Mainland. A two-level hierarchical linear model is used to test the proposed theoretical framework. The results indicated that "professional growth", a school-level teacher empowerment factor, was…

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the psychometric properties of Friedman's (1999) Teacher Work-Autonomy Scale (TWA) in order to determine whether it was an acceptable instrument to measure U.S. teachers' autonomy in the present educational context. A second purpose was to ascertain the current status of teachers' perceptions of their…

An evaluation of the impact of a professional development experience on participants' ability to explore student voices as input for improving the teaching of mathematics evolved into a self-study of our growth as non-evaluative listeners. This paper specifically describes our emergent awareness of the evaluative stance implicit within our attempt…

This book was written across a period of intense turmoil and change in higher education in Australia and England. The authors are deeply unsettled by these changes and wish to open up the discussion about what it means to be an academic and engage in academic work in the 21st century. Accordingly, each of the authors has nominated a theme or lens…

The development of critical sensibilities in English Language Teaching (ELT) in recent years has seen challenges to assumptions and methodologies in the field, placing an explicit focus on the manifestation of structures and relations of power. The critical stance affords a growing acceptance of English Language Teaching as a complex situated…

The aim of this article is to examine the role taken by the Institute for Learning (IfL) in England to promote the nature of professionalism in the lifelong learning sector. It raises the possibility that the decisions taken by the IfL, since its inception in 2002, are leading to the de-professionalisation of teachers. It is argued that what is…