Using a post-structural, interpretive perspective, we studied children's humour in a grade-1 and -2 classroom. In this article, we report our observations of two boys who took on the role of "class clown." The boys used humour to negotiate power, which we defined as participation in discourse, taking on the role of class clowns and…

This 18-month ethnographic study provides a snapshot of teachers' use of space and voice as they work in a newly formed Professional Development School (PDS) committed to shared responsibility for teacher education and developing a culture of simultaneous renewal through inquiry. The study identified the tensions produced when a PDS functions…

In this article, we examine the behaviors and contrasting perspectives, attitudes, and expectations of three sets of stakeholders--school personnel and the two communities of parents that represented equal portions of the population at an elementary school that had recently undergone substantial restructuring resulting from a desegregation order.…

It has been over ten years since the "Teacher's Law" took effect on January 1, 1994, and its promulgation and implementation have somewhat helped in protecting teachers' legal rights and interests. Undeniably, however, the "Teacher's Law" is defective in many aspects, such as the absence of teachers' legal identity, its failure…

This article traces key competences that are necessary to master as teachers are increasingly obliged to orchestrate learning as initiation into individual autonomy. The context is one that acknowledges that learning increasingly dissipates out into cyberspace. Inspired by Gilles Deleuze and Michel Foucault, the article explores preconditions for…

The approaches of 111 Thai and a matched set of 111 U.S. community mediators are investigated. Results show that Thai mediators are more apt to be assertive in their mediations; they put disputants together, demand concessions, criticize disputants, and threaten them more frequently than do U.S. mediators. Thai mediators more frequently seek…

This paper examines the role of history in power relations which suppress Indigenous knowledges. History is located as being about power and about how the powerful maintain their power. The paper further examines the Bering Strait theory/myth and ways that discourses in history combine with discourses in science to devalue Indigenous knowledges.…

As librarians involved with various technology initiatives, we have harnessed new technologies to create information systems and services to increase access to digital information for marginalized communities. The focus of this article is to share information about our work with two technology projects, the Chicano/Latino Network and the Community…

The Brazilian martial art, "capoeira", is popular in many countries outside Brazil, including the UK. "Capoeira" is generally taught by Brazilians whose livelihood depends on recruiting and retaining enough paying customers to keep their classes economically viable and socially pleasurable for the students. The teachers also…

This article explores the link between discourse and policy using a discursive web metaphor. It develops the notion of policy as a discursive web based on a post-positivist framework that recognises the way multiple discourses from multiple voices interact in a complex web of power relationships to influence reality. Using Ontario's Access to…

This paper examines the choices parents have made regarding language of instruction in their children's classrooms, particularly in California after the implementation of Proposition 227. The data for this study are drawn from a 2-year ethnography of eight Latino families from an urban immigrant Latino community. The parents in the study held a…

Perhaps no school reform has generated as much interest and controversy in recent years as the proposal to have parents select their children's schools. Opponents of school choice fear that rolling back the government's role will lead to profit-driven financial scandals, sectarianism, and increased class and racial isolation. School choice…

Objectification refers to the way in which everything (including human beings) is treated as an object, raw material, or resource to be manipulated and used. In this article, objectification refers to the way that education is often reduced to the packaging and delivery of information. A critique of objectification in instructional technology is…

Teaching at a distance raises ethical issues particular to the distance context. When distance teaching is also online teaching, the situation is even more complex. Online teaching environments amplify the ethical issues faced by instructors and students. Online sites support complex discourses and multiple relationships; they cross physical,…

Why do adolescents and young adults lack a full and coherent understanding of a religion? This is a phenomenon of wide-ranging proportions. Using a cultural, theological, and philosophical analysis, the author argues that one important reason behind the lack of religious content knowledge is the reluctance of teachers to move beyond the…