Background: This article gives an account of what I learned through the process of a self-study research project. Self-study teacher research allows teacher educators and teachers to improve their learning, plan new pedagogies and impact students' learning. Aim: The aim of this self-study research was to improve my own practice in early childhood…

An adequate understanding and classroom application of the Nature of Science (NOS) has become imperative for science teachers. Current research in senior high school science teachers' understanding of NOS is extensive but junior high school natural sciences teachers' understanding of NOS and planning of lessons requires further exploration. Six…

This study examines the care work of teachers employed at two schools in situations of severe deprivation. At the teachers' places of employment, basic amenities and complementary support structures for sustaining students' psychosocial, economic and emotional needs were absent. The focus of the article is twofold: firstly, to fathom the reasons…

This research makes use of hierarchical linear modelling to investigate which teacher characteristics are significantly associated with student performance. Using data from the SACMEQ III study of 2007, an interesting and potentially important finding is that younger teachers are better able to improve the mean mathematics performance of their…

This article examines the effects of political, socio-economic and educational change on a South African teacher's identity trajectory. Our research was conducted at a primary school in a historically disadvantaged community in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. We applied a cultural-historical activity theoretical (CHAT) lens to explore the…

Despite its chequered history in relation to human rights issues, South Africa has been playing host to peoples displaced and dispossessed by geographies of anger and war, poverty, economic meltdown and other human rights atrocities. Perceiving South Africa as a sanctuary, there has been a steady wave of immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees…

In many public primary schools across different countries, generalist primary teachers are required to teach all subjects, including music, dance, drama and visual arts. This study investigates the background and confidence of preservice primary teachers from five countries in relation to drama and drama education. It also examines if there is a…

This paper reports the findings of a study on pre-service teachers' background and confidence in music and visual arts education. The study involved 939 non-specialist pre-service primary teachers from five countries. Initially the paper identifies the students' perceptions of their background and confidence in relation to music and visual arts…

The aim of this article is to investigate the rural educators' understanding of the legislations that impact on school practice. An argument is presented that the understanding of the legal frameworks that govern school practice begins with the educators' understanding of the Bill of Rights and the South African Schools Act. The article reports on…

Highlights the recent history of South African education using life histories of two black teachers (one beginning and one experienced) whose careers as students and then teachers evolved against a backdrop of social and political conflict. The article considers ways that selected theories of oppression and resistance explain or fail to explain…

Reports on a study of 36 U.S. teachers and 114 teachers, administrators, and students in South Africa on their knowledge and opinions of each other's culture. Finds a low level of knowledge among U.S. teachers. Discovers that neither U.S. nor South African teachers include teaching about the South African elections in their curriculum. (CFR)

This theme issue of the serial "Educational Foundations" contains five articles devoted to the topic of "Politics and the Schools." In "Resisting Racial Awareness: How Teachers Understand the Social Order from Their Racial, Gender, and Social Class Locations," Christine E. Sleeter discusses the conception of…