Research has highlighted the role of workplace experiences in relation to outcomes, such as job satisfaction, among inservice physical education teachers. More recently, scholars have extended this line of scholarship to explore how higher education faculty members experience and navigate the sociopolitical context of higher education. Guided by…

Teachers of color often work in schools with few colleagues from the same racial or ethnic background. This racial isolation may affect their work experiences and important job outcomes, including retention. Using longitudinal administrative and survey data, we investigate the degree to which Tennessee teachers who are more racially isolated are…

Higher education institutions are heavily reliant on part-time adjuncts to teach their students. These part-time adjuncts now account for the majority of faculty in the United States. This qualitative study utilizes a phenomenological approach to explore the essence of the lived experiences of part-time adjuncts who travel to more than one…

Teachers' shortage is a challenging problem at the secondary level internationally. Secondary schools recruit and co-ordinate with universities and training agencies to fill up the gaps in teachers' shortage. However, the turnover rate of pre-service and in-service teachers is still high. Based on the self-efficacy approach, the purpose of this…

The literature reports high levels of occupational stress for teachers, exacerbated by heavy loads of emotional labour in the classroom. We know less, however, about teacher mental health concerns as they relate to leaves of absences and returns to work, and the role gender may play related to leaves of absences and returns to work. Our pilot…

There has been a growing interest in and research on the construction of teachers' professional identity and parameters of practice among researchers worldwide. This piece examines the nature of teachers' perceptions about their professionalism and practice. It also explores teacher isolation stemming from assumptions related to…

Several years ago, when his college first financed a writing program administrator (WPA) position--reassigned time and a budget to pay adjunct faculty stipends for program development--the author met with all the most senior adjunct faculty. "Without you," he told them, "this effort to build a better writing program won't work. Participation and…

Educational researchers are accustomed to institutional review board (IRB) requirements (e.g., protecting participants) with students often identified as the only "vulnerable population" for IRB purposes. However, as practitioner research has gained more prominence, the vulnerability of teacher-researchers themselves has begun to…

Studying one's profession, especially when done in community with others, where the learning is richer and deeper, has not been the norm in the education community. Educators typically have been physically isolated from each other because of the structure of school facilities and the schedules that dominate the school day. This physical isolation…

A case study explored availability of collaboration benefits and the difficulties teachers experienced in attaining them in a traditional comprehensive high school that hosts a career academy and a school-within-a-school. Administrators should encourage teachers' voluntary participation, allow adequate planning time, provide training, and increase…

In remarks to members of the NAS affiliate in California, Martin Trow reflects on goals and missions. The push for intellectual diversity does not resonate as did the message of equal opportunity that once drove the California Civil Rights Initiative. Our campaign at the national level to create new havens of serious scholarship is promising, he…

Account of one woman's climb to full professorship after over 20 years of teaching. Greeted with an icy reception at a midsize southern college, this Ivy League graduate was reluctantly hired in 1973. Recounts various specific instances of sex discrimination endured by the only full-time female professional in the music department. (LSR)

In 1998, the proportion of full-time faculty at U.S. community colleges was reported to be 36%, versus 64% part time. Adjunct faculty are attractive to community colleges primarily because they provide low-cost labor. The conditions under which many community college adjunct faculty work can contribute to their marginalization as a kind of…

This chapter explores factors of concern for, and overall experiences of, African American female faculty and administrators, including salary issues, affirmative action, racism, sexism, homophobia, campus climate, isolation, tenure and promotion processes, and salary. The data reported here were gathered during a study of African American women…

Advocates development of a campus culture in which faculty can be colleagues to each other in teaching by sharing what they know, critiquing each other's work, assisting each other to improve, and creating conditions for recognition and reward of teaching. Covers the role of peer review and briefly describes some institutions' efforts. (JB)