The document comprises three articles which analyze roles and tasks of teachers in innovative elementary schools in the United States, Netherlands, and England. Innovative schools are interpreted as schools which favor educational practices such as open classrooms, team teaching, parent involvement, nongraded classes, global orientation, self-pacing, individualized and small group instruction, and student-centered activities. The first article compares two elementary schools in the Boston area--the Hanscom Primary School (located on a military base) and the River Alternative Elementary School (in an urban setting). Although the educational settings of the schools are quite different, teachers at each school are pupil-oriented, informal, and open to new methods such as open classrooms, elimination of formal testing and standardized curriculum, and involving parents in class activities. The second article focuses on The Holy Heart School in S'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, where the central theme for innovation is global orientation. Important concepts in the world orientation curriculum are realization that the school is the place of encounter between the child and the outside world, stress on the role of teacher as supervisor of this encounter, and placement of knowledge and skills within a world orientation context. The third article explains how teachers in four innovative elementary schools in Bristol, England, stress indiVidual instruction, an integrated and thematic approach to curriculum, and freedom to experiment until appropriate themes are found for all children. (DB)