This collection of papers links policy, school leadership, and teachers' lives, three factors that are influential in creating quality learning opportunities for students. Each chapter provides contemporary insights and represents a range of original empirical and conceptual research focusing on the ideological, social, and educational policy contexts, national and global trends and their impact upon leadership, and the quality of teachers' work in schools. There are 3 parts with 16 chapters. Part 1, "Teacher Professionalism and Conditions of Change," includes: (1) "Professional Knowledge and the Teacher's Life and Work" (Ivor Goodson); (2) "The Politics of the Secret Garden: Teachers and the School Curriculum in England and Wales" (Gary McCulloch); (3) "Changing Primary Schools in Hong Kong: Perspectives on Policy and its Impact" (Paul Morris, K. K. Chan, and Lo Mun Ling); (4) "Educational Researchers: Living with a Lesser Form of Knowledge" (David F. Labaree); and (5) "Rethinking the Practice of Teacher Professionalism" (Judyth Sachs). Part 2, "The Lives and Work of Teachers," includes: (6) "Multiple Truths and Contested Realities: The Changing Faces of Teacher Professionalism in England" (Gill Helsby); (7) "Stories of Change and Professional Development: The Costs of Commitment" (Christopher Day); (8) "The New Work Order and Australian Schools" (Shirley Grundy and Stewart Bonser); (9) "Working-Time Blues: How Norwegian Teachers Experience Restructuring in Education" (Kirsti Klette); and (10) "Student Teachers' Struggle in Becoming Professionals: Hopes and Dilemmas in Teacher Education" (Trond E. Hauge). Part 3, "Dilemmas of School Leadership," includes: (11) "Rethinking the Work of Teachers and School Leaders in an Age of Change" (Ibrahim Bajunid); (12) "Steering In and Steering Of the School" (Gunnar Berg); (13) "School Principals in Transition: Conflicting Expectations, Demands, and Desires" (Jorunn Moller); (14) "Preparing for External Inspection: School Leadership as a Continuing Project in Identity Construction" (Colin Biott and Franz Rauch); (15) "Leadership in an Era of Change: Breaking Down the Barriers of the Culture of Teaching" (Alicia Fernandez); and (16) "Reinventing School Leadership for Lasting Reform in the Third Millennium" (Brian J. Caldwell). (Each paper contains references.) (SM)