A survey was conducted to investigate special education teaching conditions. A total of 246 special education teachers, 158 special education administrators, 110 principles, and 72 regular education teachers responded to survey questions that addressed the availability of appropriate materials, the provision of suitable physical facilities, the…

A study addressed the impact of household composition--preschool, school-age, or no children--and nature of the home workspace--dedicated room or area--on IBM employees' satisfaction, stress, and work effectiveness. The IBM program allowed 300 employees who spent about 70 percent of their time with clients to work in home offices. Surveys,…

Inclusive child care programs are built upon planning and implementation that includes all educators. Currently, there is a gap between early childhood educators and early childhood special educators. This gap can be bridged by concentrating on commonalities in educational practices, instructional strategies, and interventions. (JW)

A university president emeritus offers lessons on effective leadership, focusing on five areas presidents often neglect: personal exhaustion; muddled or lack of priorities; relationships with family members and friends; personal isolation; and intellectual starvation. Suggested antidotes include serious reading, continued teaching, participation…

This paper examines the status of postgraduate family medicine training in rural settings in Canada and identifies problems and how they are addressed. Specifically, a survey of 18 university programs examined the portion of family medicine block training that is done in a rural practice setting within the 2-year postgraduate family medicine…

Teachers are the "lone rangers" of education. They are sequestered in their classrooms, unable to see what their colleagues are doing. All too often, good teachers have few, if any, opportunities to share their teaching techniques with others in their profession. Based on the development of the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and…

At the British Open University (a distance education institution), rural tutors working in remote areas of Scotland felt that professional isolation interfered with self-assessment and professional development. Describes action research into student and tutor perceptions of teaching and learning that provides a basis for reflective teaching and…

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)

This article explores the needs, methods, and benefits of reconceptualizing art education teacher preparation from the enterprise of the university alone to a more collaborative model involving the university, primary and secondary public schools, and local and global communities. The goal of such a shift is to develop opportunities for preservice…

This paper reports on a longitudinal study of four urban schools that sought to develop professional community as part of a restructuring process. The study focuses on how restructuring affected teachers' work over a 3-year period. It reports that the absence of structural conditions can impede the growth of professional community; however, their…

It is not uncommon for beginning teachers in Queensland (Australia) to be assigned their first teaching placement in a rural area. Many of these teachers stay there for the minimum time that they must, then seek to relocate to a coastal city. The literature and interviews with beginning rural teachers suggest that those who view the experience…

Steve Fisher, an Appalachian scholar who is also political scientist, activist, and professor, discusses the professional isolation of those in academia who advocate political activism, the importance of building interdisciplinary support systems that integrate communities with academia, and why pedagogy and politics should be merged. Explores…

Argues that radical left-wing academics faced little opposition in their attempts to dominate intellectual theory in political science. Maintains that this occurred because quantitative research so displaced intellectual theory as to render it irrelevant. Describes the predominant emphasis on statistical methodology and paints a bleak picture of…

This paper presents a model of collaborative graduate distance education that has been facilitated by the Center for Continuing Education and Summer Programs at the University of Montana and designed to provide graduate training for professionally isolated classroom teachers and administrators. Thirty practicing elementary, middle, and secondary…

A 1987 meeting in Fuji that examined the supply, training, and professional support of educational personnel in multi-island situations led to development of a directory of innovative practices relevant to any situation of isolation. Questionnaires were sent to a sample of countries in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, and South Pacific. Findings are…