Beliefs and assumptions appear in many guises in applied linguistic designs. They illustrate the connections among technical life and the certitudinal sphere. On the norm side, these certitudinal anticipations appeal to designs that are trustworthy. Technical subjects are inspired by steadfastness and commitment to designing credible language…

This article describes the need for health professions educators to consider their and others' epistemologies in their work. It introduces four categories of epistemic beliefs and discusses common topics and their relationships to epistemological traditions, including how they can conflict with one another. It also suggests a mechanism for…

When a conflict between science and faith is perceived by the child, who will help them? Parents, grandparents, and other caretakers can model the embrace of both faith and science. In some situations, schools and teachers can foster both spirituality and science education. More commonly, with proper guidance and practical examples from different…

Of his numerous contributions, Albert Bandura's introduction of the self-efficacy construct is arguably the most notable one. The primary aim of this article is to illustrate why it is so critically important to arm students with strong self-efficacy beliefs and how parents and teachers can achieve that goal. We begin with a brief overview of the…

What is an ethical instructional goal for students who position themselves in opposition to the key tenets of a discipline they are required to learn? Is it fair to judge students unfavorably in a circumstance where their ideological disagreements with course materials bump up against their abilities to take seriously these materials, let alone…

For too many educators, the idea of a morally centered school may seem like a fantasy--or be so novel a concept that it is hard to grasp. In this article, the authors describe such schools, which truly serve students' best interests by following a set of shared professional values, and how educators and their unions can help create them. The four…

Over a period of 13 years, I taught a class in photography to high school students, using a taxonomy I developed based on my own understanding of what makes for excellence in photography. Five of the elements of this taxonomy are explained and illustrated by photographs taken by my students; I submit these as evidence of my success in this…

In the same way that libraries defend the privacy rights of library users so should they respect library workers' privacy of thought. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training, as it has been approached in recent years, impinges on privacy of thought and cognitive liberty. It is possible to see the profession's shift away from a…

A coach's purpose and core value system are used in everyday decision making with relation to student-athletes. Understanding one's perspective as a coach in educational athletics can help all coaches, specifically young or beginning coaches, to recognize the importance of establishing a personal coaching philosophy they can rely on in difficult…

Teaching a course on religions of the world is challenging, especially considering the cogent critiques of that paradigm and the history of its construction. In our courses and text, we have employed a strategy comparing different representations of a single religion to help students develop analytical and critical thinking skills. Within this…

Practical arguments or enthymemes are interactive. Speakers typically set out some premises of their own while asking listeners to supply others already known or believed. Such arguments are likely to fail if a speaker leaves out key premises that listeners cannot or will not covertly fill in, or if a speaker attributes premises to listeners that…

This conceptual paper puts forward the construct termed "teacher curriculum competence," which is an amalgamation of theoretical or formal and personal practical teacher knowledge and orientations in relation to curriculum. We situate the competence in institutional, political, and philosophical contexts. Drawing on research related to…

School reform efforts have long dominated the educational landscape, but the fixes that characterize many school improvement initiatives swing on the hinges of deficit beliefs about Black students. This book calls for a disruption in these models and urges educators to take seriously the significance of beliefs and cultures within schools. Focused…

Since 1981, James Fowler's stage model of faith development has provided researchers with a framework for understanding the ways in which people develop belief systems over the course of their lives. Despite its helpfulness, there are several notable areas of critique that can be levelled against the model, including its lack of parsimony, heavy…

While complaining is ubiquitous in everyday interactions, it can seem out of place when a teacher complains within a setting devoted to reflective practice and professional development. In this article, we show examples of a novice teacher's complaints to her mentor within post-observation meetings, making the case that these complaints raise…