Reports recent research into how English secondary teachers construct and develop notions of professionalism, noting how this is affected by changes in their working lives and recent educational reform. Teacher interviews indicated that local contexts are influential in shaping their sense of professionalism and that this is an important source of…

Discusses the importance of educators' partnerships with colleagues, including the role of a shared sense of mission in the work environment. Considers the importance of providing highest quality services for children and their families and a healthy and supportive work environment for adults. Suggests that practitioners and parents need to…

Surveyed student affairs faculty members (N=35) and administrators (N=41) for recommendations of competencies, skills, and standards for doctoral preparation programs in student affairs administration. Results showed more agreement than disagreement. Possessing research skills was identified consistently by both groups. Identified six general…

Discusses barriers to preparing bilingual para-educators to assist in the teaching of limited English proficient students. These include financial, social, and academic obstacles. Effective recruitment of para-educators requires critical factors such as financial aid, social support, academic counseling, and improved working conditions. (28…

Reports a study of on-the-job special education trainees' perceptions regarding job satisfactions and challenges, congruence between expectations and reality of working conditions, and predicted commitment to special education. Results indicated 48 percent would eventually leave special education. (SM)

This study of lexical familiarity with black English for 324 African Americans, 266 whites, 21 Latino and "other", and 10 unidentified workers indicates that white industrial workers are more familiar with black English than are white white-collar workers. Black English is the core of an industrial lingua franca. (SLD)

Offers a social ecological analysis of health promotive environments, emphasizing the transactions between individual or collective behavior and the health resources and constraints that exist in specific environmental settings. Directions for future research on the creation and maintenance of health promotive environments also are examined. (JB)

Stress accompanies most superintendencies, but how much strain a superintendent experiences hinges on personality traits and coping ability. Superintendents are pressured by innercity work environments, changing demographics, tightening finances, confrontational school boards, and dissatisfied constituents. For some, the answer is early…

The state of the academic profession in the United Kingdom is examined, with some comparisons to Australia. Focus is on changes during the 1980s and the role of public policy. The disadvantaged status of academic women is noted, and changes in emphasis on teaching, research, and administration are discussed. (MSE)

Reviews literature at the micro- (individual, interpersonal, and small group) and macro- (organizational, societal, and cultural) levels relating to the experiences and outcomes of minorities in work settings populated primarily by members of the majority. Uses Tajfel and Turner's Social Identity Theory as an organizational and integrative…

A study of one small Canadian university used official employee records, details from contracts and employment terms, an employee survey, and structured interviews to investigate gender equity in university employment. Six employee groups were examined: faculty, librarians, professional and technical workers, secretarial-clerical workers, physical…

This article develops a framework for assessing how differential incentive policies affect teacher commitment and identifies key workplace conditions contributing to commitment. The framework is used to assess effects of such differential incentive policies as merit pay and career ladders. Increasing participation, collaboration, and feedback is…

Autobiographical reports were collected of workplace collegiality from elementary teachers who had successfully made fundamental changes from more traditional and routine to nontraditional, less routine reading and writing instructional practices. Results found collegial talk was an important component in the gradual process of making a…

A long-time teaching assistant and now adjunct faculty member at a major university looks at the forces both for and against unionization on campus and under state law, the theoretical but not practical support of faculty and administration, the value of unions for teaching assistants, and the nature of the graduate student-college relationship.…

Explores teachers' reactions to changing management cultures and argues for a complex reading of their responses. Utilizes data from several ethnographic studies that examined primary school teachers' reactions to the fact that the strictures and obligations of their vocation have become more professional. Many older teachers left whereas younger…