In order to improve the retention of science teachers, studies have focused on understanding the issues teachers encounter and identities they construct. Most studies examined the early years of teaching science. However, fewer studies of professional trajectory and identity examine the departure/dropout of mid-career and late-career science…

The introduction of the new Teacher Career Model, the School Inspectorate and the Complex School Assessment imply the basic question "What makes a good teacher?" The scholars have been focusing on the issue for a long period of time. The target of the recent studies is the teachers', school principals' and the teacher students' beliefs.…

Collective approaches to practice development are increasingly common in the teaching profession. Such initiatives frequently involve groups of teachers taking responsibility for introducing, sharing and developing new pedagogical resources and for aiding their integration into existing practices. This article explores teachers' knowledge work as…

The purpose of this study was to determine the factors influencing FFA members to continue their FFA experience beyond high school. Two focus groups were conducted, one for collegiate FFA members and one for past/current state officers. Participants provided several areas of improvement for collegiate and alumni FFA membership. Participants noted…

The focus of this study is the self-perceptions of leadership engagement of FFA members in two FFA chapters in Missouri. This multiple case study used documentation of student self-perceptions, researcher observations, and focus groups. The two cases included 24 high school students comprised of FFA officers and members, who provided their…

In the spring of 2005, the author began collecting data for a three-year study investigating the effectiveness of preservice preparation as measured by the transfer of pedagogical practices from preservice settings into novice inservice settings. She was interested in whether or not what was being taught, modeled, and/or espoused in a given…

In education, professional development (PD) is the continuing education of teachers and administrators. Many studies have described PD as a conventional, top-down type of training that teachers experience in schools. Commonly known as the "institutional model," this type of PD is isolated from classroom practice and occurs as mandatory…

High quality teachers are an essential piece of the agricultural education model and directly influence the quality of the total program. However, there has been a steady consolidation and elimination of agricultural education teacher preparation programs in New England. In order to understand how this trend affected agricultural education in this…

Teaching is a messy profession, the details of teachers' work are tightly woven into the myriad ways of humans. Even with uncertainty, teachers do improve their practice. In this article, the author describes how she moved her thinking forward over 35 years as an increasingly experienced teacher. Like many CES teachers, the ways that she has…

Many teachers perceive an erosion of their professionalism since "A Nation at Risk" appeared, and they have felt that erosion accelerating since the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act. Myriad factors contribute to this climate so contrary to teacher professionalism: poor funding, poor parenting, overstuffed classrooms, low-quality…

This paper presents a qualitative study about how teachers entering the profession at different times over the last five decades made sense of their professional lives and continuing professional development (CPD) experiences against the backdrop of the CPD policy infrastructure and wider educational context in Hong Kong. The life history method…

This book seeks to raise the discussion of globalisation's effects on teacher education, development and work, and its reforms and institutions, to a more theoretical and analytical level, and to provide specific examples in the comparative tradition to illustrate teacher policy in the context of education systems' widespread variability and…

Helping regular education students transition from high school to the post-secondary world can be a daunting task. Assisting students with special needs do this can be quite intimidating. According to the Harris Poll 2000, 20% of the general population was unemployed, while 71% of adults with disabilities were unemployed (Miller, Lombard, &…

The author discusses the case of Rose Freistater, a teacher at James Monroe High School. Freistater's application for her teaching license was rejected by the New York City Board of Examiners due to overweight. Although a number of overweight and underweight teachers were rejected by the Board of Education in the ten years that the standards had…

In the last quarter century, China has come a long way toward building a strong contingent of secondary teachers, including English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers. Over the years, impressive progress has been made in strengthening teacher education and raising the educational levels of the teaching force, with the result being a…