Concerned that various reforms promising greater professional autonomy and status as well as student success are actually disempowering teachers, impoverishing intellectual life in schools, and serving as a portal for the marketization of teaching and education, editors invited teachers to respond to the ways in which the proliferation of…

Responds to Holloway and Roehlke's article on training counseling psychologists. Identifies two critical issues: (1) the importance of professional identity and identification with the specialty of counseling psychology and (2) a means of communicating the specialty's similarities to and differences from other psychological specialties. (ABB)

Therapists surveyed in this study exhibited similar occupational behavior practices, despite students' claims of differing ideologies. Therapists adhering to the occupational behavior ideology were less affected by the environment in shaping their roles according to professional beliefs. (Author/SK)

Discusses an article by Cyril O. Houle in which he provides a reference point for reflection and discussion of continuing professional education. Indicates that those who follow Houle in approaching the subject from a comprehensive perspective must be prepared to take issue with Houle's understanding of professionalism. (JOW)

The scientist-practitioner professional judgment framework for psychologists is reviewed, and three judgment components are identified--the range of alternatives in professional behaviors; identification of personal practice style; and potential error sources. Strategies to analyze professional judgments, and conceptual links between analysis of…

The Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium Standards are ambiguous and empirically insupportable. "Professional consensus" does not equal epistemology. Administrators licensed for practice in the 21st century will resemble secular Jesuits following an ideological agenda that exceeds the science left behind in the pragmatic…

The decision to leave a successful career and great earning potential to start over as a novice with new surroundings and expectations is not made without consideration of a wide array of variables. Making the transition to higher education was not an easy one and the transition itself has presented various other challenges and joys that I have…

This article deals with the question of how the restructuring of educational systems in Nordic countries affects teachers' working conditions. It is based on results from the project "Restructuring in Education: Reform policy and teacher professionalism in different Nordic contexts" in which the construction of the "New…

The Motivation of Teachers to Assume the Role of Cooperating Teacher This study explored a phenomenological understanding of the motivation and influences that cause experienced teachers to assume pedagogical training of student teachers through the role of cooperating teacher. The research question guiding the study was what motivates teachers to…

The cornerstone of quality curriculum is teachers and teaching. Efforts should concentrate on changing perceptions of teachers and administrators regarding what curriculum content ought to be and how learning occurs in human beings. (MT)

Many mental health counselors develop apprenticeships characterized by submission to more experienced clinicians. Recommendations for the prevention of professional dependence are offered. (Author)

Career and technical educators (n=827) completed measures of empowerment in terms of decision making, professional growth, status, self-efficacy, autonomy, and impact. Decision making rated lowest. Significant differences appeared according to teaching area (agriculture, business, family/consumer, industrial, marketing) and educational level…

Background: Throughout the Western world, the fallout from the standards/standardization agenda has resulted in potential leaders questioning educational leadership as a career path. Moreover, the aging of the baby boom generation has created a shortage of qualified principals in many educational jurisdictions. Policy makers have responded to…

It is known for a fact that textbooks are widely used in today's classrooms. Admittedly, textbooks may have some advantages in the sense that they provide the framework for any educational course. However, exclusively depending on them may restrict both teacher and student autonomy. Textbooks have been criticized for promoting rote instead of…

Background: Support for small schools, and specifically for the creation of small, autonomous schools of choice, has grown considerably in the past decade--particularly in the context of urban schooling. Funded by private and public monies, small-school initiatives have been implemented in most of the nation's city school districts and have become…