Organisations devise training programmers to ensure that employees make an effective contribution to enterprise success. Not all organisations are likely to provide training, however, because there are significant trade-offs involved in terms of both costs and benefits. This article discusses the organisational determinants of training: larger…

The innovative CLASS professional development school initiative seeks to redesign teacher education through effective collaboration to better meet the needs of a changing pre-service student population. Non-traditional, often part-time students are entering undergraduate pre-service education programs across North America and in other parts of the…

In the past few years many states in the U.S. have moved toward full implementation of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act. In doing so, schools have adopted "research-based" early reading models to implement Reading First, a salient component of NCLB. Through structured observations and interviews, the study team examined the…

The use of clinical supervision is central to mental health work. In this article, the authors propose using practice cases drawn from characters found in literature, popular fiction, biographies, television, and movies as one method for clinical supervision and professional development in the mental health skill areas of client assessment, case…

This article reports on a study of the preparation of teacher trainees for field experience, and the conduct of the actual practicum in Trinidad and Tobago. Its purpose was to gain insights into the kinds of messages sent to trainees about teaching, and the ways in which these messages impacted on how and what trainees learned about good teaching.…

This paper provides a discussion of the role of school leaders in establishing democratic principles in a post-conflict society. Drawn primarily from the author's experiences in Kosovo, the paper briefly introduces the historical and contemporary socio-political context of the region, and then examines the role of school administrators in a…

The lessons learned from a decade long, site based school reform project are used to examine the relationship between technology integration and school reform. The nature of the reforms will be described along with implications and conclusions for technology planning. Six key school reform takeaways will be shared that are necessary to build a…

Can teacher-educators and teachers work together in community, to make a difference in society? The aim of this article is to describe a set of strategies the implementation of which will contribute towards the elaboration of a new "culture of teaching". By promoting practices that lead to the development, in students and educators…

In this study, the researchers examined the effectiveness of a reflective model of peer mentoring in the professional growth of early-career science teachers. The study was carried out over one academic year with three beginning secondary science teachers. The public school teachers in this study reported that participation in peer mentoring…

The authors draw on data from weekly e-mail responses to a questionnaire completed by beginning teachers placed in one-year, paid, internships. Interns were assigned mentors who responded every several weeks, also via e-mail, to a questionnaire about the interns and their development. Data from 23 interns were analyzed. Seven themes were…

Medical students will influence future health care considerably. Their professional orientation while at medical school will be related to their future professional development. Therefore, it is important to study this group's view of the role of medical doctors, especially because Swedish health care is currently undergoing major changes and…

This paper addresses the issue of educational leadership through a critique of the Misneach programme for first-time principals. This programme entails preparation for the leadership of professional staff, namely of teachers as professional educators. The demands that this places on the leadership curriculum are onerous. The Misneach programme, as…

Every child deserves a quality education. Providing competent, caring, qualified teachers in schools organized for success is the way to get there, but the devil is in the details. By tinkering on the edges, adopting piecemeal approaches to attracting, supporting, and retaining highly qualified teachers for the students who need them most, the…

This paper summarizes lessons learned from studies of preservice education and inservice programs of family and community involvement. The research and interventions suggest that a chain of professional development events is needed to prepare educators to conduct and sustain effective programs of school, family, and community partnerships. This…

This paper explores how academic staff are supported in attempts to develop their use of educational technologies. It identifies the work undertaken by academic staff in the development of an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) application and relates this to the direct support (helping staff to teach using ICT) and professional…