Known as the proverbial "living room of campus," college student union facilities date back to the late 1800s. Unions were a place for congregation and fellowship, a place where student engagement was crucial. Today's college union varies from campus to campus, with some focused on student development, some with a keen focus on…

This paper points to teaching policy issues that need to be addressed if micro-credentials are going to spur the transformation of professional learning that researchers call for and teachers seek. The paper also documents what a growing number of states and districts, as well as the nation's largest teachers' union, are doing with…

This paper examines the successes and challenges of a Supplemental Instruction/Peer Assisted Learning (SI/PAL) scheme at an Irish Higher Education Institute that was the outcome of a co-working approach between academic staff and the Students' Union. It considers how novel approaches can enhance student experience, support student learning and…

The past decade has seen a rise in social justice teacher unionism, with an emergence of caucuses that push for bottom-up, race conscious union reform in which members bargain for the common good. While a burgeoning body of scholarship has focused on understanding the goals and organizing strategies of these caucuses, there are few up-close…

Many peer mentorship programs in academia train senior students to guide groups of incoming students through the rigors of postsecondary education. The mentorship program's structure can influence how mentors develop from this experience. Here, we compare how two different peer mentorship programs have shaped mentors' experiences and development.…

This article explores the efficacy and cost effectiveness of New Labour's skills-based policies to help low paid workers adjust to the pressures generated by globalisation, of which the leading example was Train to Gain (T2G). It also analyses the more general issue of how, why and under what circumstances education, training and skills can help…

People learn by doing. This is the idea at the heart of apprenticeship, where lessons in the classroom are reinforced by on-the-job training, resulting in education that transcends the textbook and extends to physical and even cultural learning. Students get paid, and employers get custom-trained talent. For Louisiana, the opportunity of…

This article examines the postdoctoral unionization movement at the University of California (UC) using case study methodology. More specifically, we examine postdoctoral union organizers involved in the United Automobile Workers of America (UAW) Local 5810, focusing on their efforts to unionize postdoctoral employees at the UC. The study is…

Over the last decade, teacher evaluation has moved onto center stage in efforts to strengthen schooling. In this article, we address the question of whether focusing on this administrative process is likely to accomplish what reformers hope. We answer that question by examining the available evidence, both direct and indirect. We deepen the…

One year ago, the "Wall Street Journal" dubbed 2011 "the year of school choice," opining that "this year is shaping up as the best for reformers in a very long time." School-choice laws took great strides in 2011, both in the number of programs that succeeded across states and also in the size and scope of the adopted…

Historians and educationalists have often assumed that working-class adult education emerged at the beginning of the twentieth century with the introduction of state-funded technical colleges. This was not the case. In 1823, the Glasgow Mechanics' Institute was opened and within a few years similar institutions were being established across the…

Together, a school district and a local union are working to ensure that educators are trained in restorative practices in order to improve school climates and keep students in school and learning. This article describes how, in recent years, administrators and teachers have shifted from traditional school punishments, such as suspension, to…

The beloved WESIB/ESIB/ESU (from here on labelled mostly as ESU) is turning 30 this October. This momentous occasion is of course a wonderful excuse to celebrate, but also an opportunity to reflect where the organization is and where it could be and to connect numerous generations of student activists that have made and will continue to make the…

The study examined in this paper focuses on whether monetary bonuses for teachers improved schoolwide academic achievement in New York City public schools. Study authors analyzed data from 389 high-need elementary, middle, and high schools in New York City in the first year of the bonus program (2007-08) and from 371 of those same schools in the…

There is significant and growing interest in teacher pay reform as a number of states and localities have begun experimenting with departures from the single salary schedule--a pay system employed in most school districts, which links teacher pay solely to degree and experience level (Chait, 2007; Goldhaber, 2009; Podgursky and Springer, 2007).…