Research was conducted to identify the events and experiences influencing the development of clinical self-confidence during the first year of client contact for beginning marriage and family therapists. Thirty-nine recent graduates of a master's degree training program participated in a semistructured interview in which they were asked to…

In this article, I reflect on the events and experiences that occurred during (and after) my studies for a Diploma in Teacher Education. The elements required for the award of Diploma included a professional development journal, a number of peer teaching observations and an action research project. At an early stage, I selected vaguely "peer…

This article presents the authors' perspectives on Electronic Collaborative Educational Learning Laboratory (ECELL), an innovative summer school experiment conducted over 5 years from 1997 to 2001. The authors offer a detailed picture of the ECELL as a philosophy of professional development, as an organizing framework, and as a community of…

In this article, the authors focus on three relatively concrete reform efforts now being implemented in a number of schools of education that took part in the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate (CID) study: (1) the establishment of a core of educational courses; (2) significant changes in the preparation of educational researchers; and (3) new…

Life in the academy is a complex and difficult journey. Future faculty must learn how to adapt and grow because the landscape of their career and higher education will constantly change. We are honored that Dr. Dan Landers asked us to contribute our thoughts regarding future faculty preparation and the Arizona State University (ASU) Preparing…

Like many other universities around the globe, the University of Calgary is preparing to offer its graduate programs through distance delivery. The MEd TESL program, a course-based master's degree in Teaching English as a Second Language, offered through the Faculty of Education, is piloting the first of its courses by distance. Designing ESL…

This paper reports on the work in progress undertaken with young children, artists and early childhood education students in an innovative arts education partnership between Windmill Performing Arts, the national performing arts company for children and families, and the University of South Australia. The paper explains how the project was…

This article focuses on the challenge of educators in keeping up with an information environment that has changed dramatically in the past 10 years. Thus, it is crucial that when teaching literacy to students, educators emphasize skills that reflect the information environment of the present, not the past. With the information age comes a whole…

Significant progress has been made toward greater professional recognition for adult ESL instructors in Canada over the past decade. At the same time, an ever-increasing demand for English-language teachers, particularly abroad, has resulted in a substantial growth in the number of private companies offering short-term ESL/EFL teacher training.…

Current recommendations for achieving high-quality professional development for teachers include the creation of a professional learning community. Key to the success of this approach, however, is the role of the peer mentor or coach. This study examined the experiences and perceptions of 31 professional development coaches in order to highlight…

In the fall of 2003, the Eastern Townships School Board grades 5 & 6 teachers were faced with implementing a one-to-one laptop initiative, a new provincial curriculum, a balanced literacy framework and a language initiative whereby the students would receive more of their instruction time in a second language. To guard against Initiative…

Apparently, the department of agriculture is the last bastion for ideological pluralism in the modern American academy. Almost everywhere else, according to research by Stanley Rothman et al., a monolithic liberal orthodoxy holds sway, rewarding its own and conferring career disadvantage upon scholars deemed politically inconvenient. As his…

Adult and continuing education practitioners must engage in continuing professional education as a means of developing and maintaining their professional competence. This paper reviews the literature on competencies for continuing educators and examines the strengths of existing instruments for continuing educators to self-assess their…

There is increasing pressure on small island states to reconceptualize education policies, education management practices and curriculum to address the emerging issues caused by global economic, social and cultural changes. It has generated increasing demands on limited available resources which is further confounded by the often contradictory yet…

The findings reported here are part of a larger study of the role of middle managers in the UK further education colleges. The study proposes and discusses a typology for the middle manager role, analyses factors which facilitate and impede managers in role, and models the interaction of the college environment with the role. This process gives…