For most of the past decade, this author has studied union-management efforts to improve public education, and has witnessed extraordinary examples of teachers, union leaders, and administrators working together to improve teaching and learning. In this article, seven case studies on collaborative partnerships between teachers' unions and…

Nation states around the world, including Singapore, are endeavouring to reform their education systems in order to successfully compete in the global economy (Carnoy, 1999). With human capital as Singapore's primary resource, it is unsurprising that the state has placed great emphasis on strengthening the economic-education nexus. This tight…

This study describes a collaborative initiative with doctoral students to create an academic climate more conducive to fostering interaction across disciplinary groups in a faculty of education in North America. The project attempted to ensure that these students had a voice in creating practices, structures, and policies in the faculty that would…

In a policy climate driven by tests and external mandates, theories of school reform that place teachers, their knowledge, and their relationships at the heart of school improvement have garnered attention as promising alternatives. Yet little exists in print about how such theories actually work or what these approaches look like in practice.…

This article explores the social and professional dynamics "when teachers face teachers" seeking to impact colleagues' instructional practices to improve student learning. Specifically, it examines a group of 40 teachers leading staff development sessions at their schools in an effort to bring more literacy strategies into the pedagogies of…

This publication examines the situations in which school-based management has worked and, conversely, those in which it failed to meet expectations. It attempts to identify exactly what school-based management (SBM) is and what it is not. Information was obtained from interviews with researchers and practitioners, a review of literature, and a…

School-based development and self-evaluation were introduced at 16 Scottish schools. After 15 months, 5 schools had made substantial progress toward their chosen priorities, whereas 2 had hardly begun. Conflicts were evident between the collegiate style of self-evaluation and the hierarchical power structure in most schools. (SV)

An 18-month qualitative study documented the implementation of a shared-leadership environment in an elementary school. Data from faculty and the leadership team indicated positive perceptions concerning collaboration and the development of an atmosphere of open communication, although respondents expressed disappointment with the level of…

Describes the efforts of the Centre on Collaborative Research at Brock University (Ontario) to understand the processes of collaboration by participating in school-university collaborative research. Explores professional interrelationships and attitudes involved in collaboration and the necessary time-consuming commitment to relational processes.…

This document describes and assesses an ongoing systematic approach to educational renewal through staff development that has been in progress for the past four years in two school systems--Eastern Lancaster County School District and William Tennent High School, both in Pennsylvania. The essential characteristic of the staff development learning…

This review summarizes the rapidly growing body of findings on the social and organizational environment of teaching and examines one innovation--the collaborative school--that offers promise of an organizational context more conducive to effective teaching. Chapter 1 characterizes the actual conditions under which teachers work, focusing on…