For years, advanced-practice nurses have struggled for greater autonomy from doctors while physician groups have fought back, trying to protect what they see as their turf. This article reports that a new degree and a new certification test are blurring those boundaries even further. The test, and the "doctor of nursing practice" degree it…

Based on two years of extensive data collection in four urban elementary schools, this paper examines the role of principals in the implementation of the Together Initiative (TI), a school reform model for schools labeled low-performing per state accountability standards. The reform model aims to increase school autonomy from district mandates and…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand better how, if at all, eight campus-based mental health clinicians experienced and negotiated managerialist practices, and with what outcomes. It was found that managerialism was experienced as challenges to professional ethics, clinical judgment, and challenges related to professional role…

Traditionally, the Nordic curriculum has been viewed as a document with school subjects in focus. This article reports on how two national curricula function as instruments for governing education and explores the possible differences in how national curricula govern education. This investigation was carried out by researching curricula for…

Since the inception of a "Nation at Risk" (1983) and the gradual growth of the school reform movement over the following several decades, the social and political milieu that exist today under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) can be best described as an era in which public education is fending itself from extinction and takeover, often from…

Despite a growing awareness among teachers of the importance of recognizing and valuing a broader range of students' literate resources and experiences, including those that are culturally and linguistically linked, in many language arts classrooms students' literacy practices continue to be marginalized--remaining peripheral to, if not at odds…

In a time where standards and accountability override trust in teachers and principals, mandated versions of pedagogy have recently appeared in the Australian landscape. This article critiques one pedagogical reform initiative and suggests that in performative times, it may be preferable for principals and teachers to speak "over" reform…

New graduate veterinarians report differing experiences of the transition to practice. Some make a rapid transition to professional autonomy while others require prolonged and extensive support from their colleagues. Factors contributing to this variation are unclear. This study used phenomenography to analyse the conceptions of and approaches to…

Qualitative research was conducted in a large suburban school district implementing co-teaching as a new service delivery model for special education. Researchers examined the changes that resulted from the new service delivery model using a socio-technical systems lens. This framework views schools as open systems that contain a structural, task,…

The author examines 1 experienced teacher's image of teaching and how it was purposely changed--through external intervention and against the individual's will--from the view of teacher as curriculum maker to the view of teacher as curriculum implementer. Laura's account of the "butterfly under a pin" image, a version of the…

Among the first things the author did upon becoming a professor in 1959 was to join the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). To do so almost seemed like a religious obligation, a step any serious academic would eagerly and proudly take. The AAUP was then the largest and most influential academic association in the United States,…

In our continuously changing society, a need for updating one's skills and knowledge puts pressure on safeguarding the labour market position of low-qualified employees. However, prior research and official statistics show that employees with a lower level of education tend to participate less in training than highly-educated individuals. This…

About 15 percent of the American workforce of 3.5 million teachers either moves or leaves the profession each year. The size of the teaching force coupled with the high annual turnover rates seriously compromises the nation's capacity to ensure that all students have access to skilled teaching. If the dominant teacher workforce policies and…

This paper is written in response to two BCPSEA (British Columbia Public School Employers' Association) documents: (1) "Teacher professional development: A question of development, growth and currency." From the series of BCPSEA papers "Perspectives in Practice."…

This study compares self-directed work structures to more traditional supervised work structures in order to determine if the expenditures and efforts required to implement self-directed work teams are warranted. Multiple internal performance metrics are examined in comparing plant work structures in various degrees of implementation between…