tIt has been argued that virtuous teaching dispositions are essential to high-quality teaching. Discourse around dispositions, however, is still murky because there are contradictions in the field in regard to the issue of virtue. What is the source of teacher virtue, and how might it be cultivated? This essay explores evidence and implications…

Using grounded theory, we examined the ways in which undergraduate teacher candidates with disabilities developed a sense of purpose and constructed professional identities. Our findings suggest K-12 experiences with advocacy as well as exclusionary school experiences influenced their emerging professional identities. Resistance to a deficit view…

Over the last two decades, thousands of U.S. military veterans have entered teaching as a second career. This study documents the first year of teaching as experienced by two teachers recently retired from the U.S. military, including the challenges they faced, the professional support they received, their growth and development, and the rewards…

Over the last 30 years, teacher education has become a major area of government policy in many countries around the world. One of the key factors driving this change has been the growing significance of globalisation, "imagined" by most countries as necessitating the pursuit of neoliberal policies. But neoliberalism itself is not static;…

This essay invites reflection on the phenomena of time as it impacts the day-to-day life of teachers. It also explores assumptions about time and teaching in three areas: first, beliefs about the force of time and the teacher's struggle to control it; second, beliefs about the potential of time and the benefits of its passing for teachers and…

Though the filmed portrayal of teachers can be inspiring or humorously satirical, the stereotype offered in those films might tell us much about how the larger culture views traditionally trained teachers and how schools can be reformed. It is argued here that Hollywood's emphasis on the need for outsiders to come in and rescue students from…

Researchers designed a study to investigate educators' perceptions about whether teaching is a job or a profession. A survey was developed to investigate factors such as individual definitions of a job and a profession, years of experience teaching, grade level or category of education, and individual perceptions of a profession. The respondents…

This national survey of 1,201 kindergarten through Grade-12-U.S. teachers focused on three related areas: (1) sources of teacher stress, (2) manifestations of stress, and (3) suggested coping strategies. The survey instrument was adapted from the Teacher Stress Inventory and the Coping Scale for Adults. Results indicated that teachers nationwide…

This essay raises the question, "Is there a future for the teaching profession?" Beginning with a brief story illustrating the difficulties teachers and teacher educators face, this essay addresses three topics educators must address if the profession is to thrive: teaching and research within universities, the recruitment of educators, and the…

This essay challenges the conventional understanding of William Bagley and Arthur Bestor, which suggests that they held similar views in curriculum and teacher education. The author thinks this view is completely wrong and provides a radical new interpretation of Bagley and Bestor that uncovers a lost tradition within the field of education.…

Comparing teachers to Don Quixote, the author describes how the profession is caught between modernism and postmodernism. She offers action research and collegiality as ways to break the bounds of the entrenched, hierarchical system of education and its associated cultural values. (SK)

Invitational education is a theory of communicative practice stating that people construct ethical character through the messages they receive and give. An inviting ethical stance is based on respect, trust, optimism, and intentionality. (SK)

Teaching has a moral dimension, and framing teaching as a vocation instead of a profession restores the ethic of caring. Using narratives in teacher education is a way to explore ethical and moral aspects. (SK)

Teaching as an ethical enterprise is not presenting what is but moving toward what might be. Its fundamental message is that people can change their lives; teachers present possibilities and alternatives for doing so. (SK)

A teacher describes her attempts at creative teaching and shows how mandated programs can hinder teachers' attempts to be innovative. (SK)