The authors believe that children need to feel safe--they need the illusion of safety--so that they can develop in a healthy way. But it is an "illusion" because in reality safety is never guaranteed for anyone. At times, traumatic events disrupt the safe environments that people have created. Janoff-Buhlman (1992) describes the "shattering of…

The impact of economic rationalism on teachers' working lives has been documented extensively, particularly in the UK. This article provides a case study of its impact in the early 1990s in a small Australian state, Tasmania, to illustrate that although the particular institutional forms through which it is expressed may differ its impact is…

Bettina Cass, with Deborah Brennan, Ilan Katz, Catherine Thomson and Deborah Mitchell, and 10 Partner Organisations in NSW and South Australia, are undertaking a three-year ARC Linkage Grant project on "Young Carers: Social Policy impacts of the caring responsibilities of children and young people". Located at the Social Policy Research…

The essays in this volume have been selected from papers presented at the 13th World Conference of the World Council for Curriculum and Instruction. The first WCCI Conference held in England in 1974, was followed by conferences in Turkey, the Philippines, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Egypt, India, Thailand, Spain, Australia, and again, the…

This paper aims to broaden the discussion about effective teacher preparation by exploring three hypotheses designed to expand the early care and education (ECE) research agenda: (1) Both the content and the method of delivery of an educational degree influence teacher practices; (2) Teachers' ability to apply knowledge and skills effectively…

In this second volume of "The Soul of Educational Leadership" series, editors Paul D. Houston, Alan M. Blankstein, and Robert W. Cole offer creative perspectives on the challenges of reframing leadership practice. Presenting key strategies from leadership experts such as Thomas Sergiovanni and Dennis Sparks, this compact resource combines…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the lived experiences of a primary teacher in order to illuminate the nature of primary teaching. Using qualitative methods, five university researchers spent nine months during the course of one school year with a second grade teacher and her students. This inquiry took a multiple lens…

This study examined the impact of the high-stakes testing on caring practices from the perspectives of teachers in Grades 3 and 5. These teachers, located in an East Texas school district with high percentages of low socioeconomic students, were identified as caring practitioners by their respective principals. Through the qualitative method of…

The article examines trainee lecturers' perceptions of teaching and learning in the sector, drawing upon a small-scale study of trainees on a full-time further education teacher-training programme at an English new university. The article explores how current changes may be affecting the development of lecturers' professional practice. It seeks to…

Throughout the modern era in the 20th century, there have been continual efforts to reform schools and make them more efficient, imitating the industrial model of standardization. However, many students were left behind in this process. Certain dimensions of teaching, like making connections with all students, were lost in standards-based…

This is an exploratory study concerned with understanding the role and experiences of teaching assistants (TAs) within primary schools. The analysis suggests that TAs are constructed within a policy discourse that tends to posit their role as peripheral to teaching and learning. I offer an alternative account, deploying a concept of liminality…

The notion of "ubuntu" and "communalism" is of great importance in an African educational discourse, as well as in African Philosophy of Education and in African philosophical discourse. "Ubuntu" is a philosophy that promotes the common good of society and includes humanness as an essential element of human growth. In…

In this study, the authors conducted a mixed analysis of student perceptions of their best high school teachers. The sample of 257 preservice teachers from a College of Education in California described their best high school teacher. From their descriptions, qualitative analysis through the method of constant comparison yielded eight themes:…

Smart school communities ask and answer hard questions about which teachers they attract and how they are developed and supported, as well as whether they reward and retain the teachers they most need to help all students achieve. Designed to provoke and inspire, the framework described in this paper offers a blueprint for how school communities…

Much has been written about teacher thinking and knowledge that underpin teacher behaviour in the classroom. Until the 1990s considerably fewer writers considered the moral and ethical dimension of teaching. This article reports on a study that analysed six Languages Other Than English (LOTE) teachers' reports about their teaching. Under the broad…