New Zealand's early childhood curriculum, "Te Whariki", has two learning outcomes, dispositions and working theories. While a sociocultural perspective of dispositions has received significant attention in research and teaching, "working theories" as a concept has remained somewhat nebulous. This paper describes ways teachers…

Using a theoretical lens of democratic education, this study critically analyzes pilot schools in the Boston Public School system, a school model gaining influence and imitation around the United States. Building on theories regarding the role of democracy in schools, and especially workplace democracy, this article juxtaposes these conceptions of…

When we tend to analyze the living conditions of teachers, system arrangement and identity identification can be considered a significant method for analysis. In reality, there appears a phenomenon of overlapping identification in the identity identification of teachers in China, which leads to plural selections in the identification manners of…

Purpose: The aim of this article is to challenge the concept of "the learning organization" as unproblematic and inherently good. Design/methodology/approach: The research looked at how teachers--as an example of public sector professionals in a work organization that claims to be a learning organization--view their conditions for…

Research Findings: This article reports on two studies. Study 1 considered ways in which Head Start teachers' (n = 90) psychosocial stressors are related to teachers' ability to maintain a positive classroom emotional climate and effective behavior management in preschool classrooms. Study 2 tested the hypothesis that among teachers randomly…

The aim of this research is to study the impact of teacher leadership on the school effectiveness. A total of 181 teachers from six primary schools in Male (the capital island of Maldives) were chosen as respondents for this study. A quantitative survey method using questionnaire to obtain the data is employed. The findings showed there is a…

This paper explores perceptions of professional identity in the early childhood care and educations sector (ECCE) in the Republic of Ireland (ROI). It is concerned with the status, salary and conditions of those working with children aged four to six in pre-school and primary school settings. Using qualitative methodology, the study garnered…

Within the UK there are grave concerns about retention and attrition rates within the teaching profession, particularly in challenging schools. These are compounded by worries about the gap that will be left as long-serving teachers reach retirement age. This article is about the working lives of long-serving teachers in three high-poverty urban…

School placement is an essential part of student teachers' professional learning. Yet in Scotland, as elsewhere, there is evidence of inconsistency in the nature and quality of the support that students receive in schools. This article draws on data from 16 Secondary English student teachers on the one-year Professional Graduate Diploma in…

Introduction: In this paper we present a comparative analysis of three samples of teachers from Coimbra, Barcelona and Murcia that provides insight into the importance teachers attach to disruptive behavior and how different perspectives and values affect their daily work. Method: This research is framed within a quantitative empirical-analytic…

This study examined teacher job satisfaction in Chinese middle schools from the aspects of school, community, and life and the relationships between these factors and teacher moving. A convenience sample of 294 teachers was approached through a 35-item questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS. Three major results were found: (1) Chinese middle…

This study investigated the resources allocated to Science, Technology and Mathematics Education (STME) in junior secondary schools in Anambra State between 2003 and 2006. The study, which was based on three research questions and one null hypothesis, adopted the ex-post-facto research design. Twenty-six schools were selected using proportionate…

Education leaders and much literature exhort teachers and school leaders to use data more often and more effectively to guide planning and decision making--called, "data driven decision making." This term is ubiquitous in literature and reform discourse, but "on the ground," so to speak, practitioners face significant challenges in analyzing,…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to estimate the prevalence of staff bullying in Australian schools, to identify bullies and targets and to examine some implications for school leaders in dealing with staff bullying. Design/methodology/approach: The quantitative research design survey instrument contained 11 demographic items, 44 questions of…

In this paper, we report on (1) how preservice secondary mathematics teachers (PSMTs), who had experiences doing and practice-teaching mathematics in a technology-rich environment, subsequently used this technology when planning lessons and (2) how the use of technology affected other aspects of the PSMTs' quality of classroom life. These results…