For the past 10 years, there has been ongoing research at the University of Ghent on professionalism in childcare (the 0-3 age group) in the Flemish Community of Belgium. This research has been inspired by the "Contesting Early Childhood" movement, which is based on the premise that pedagogic research can lead to social change. The first…

This study explores how female teachers construct their occupational identities as teachers within early childhood education (ECE) settings. The combination of feminist scholarship and the use of teacher life history method allow these women to describe themselves as professionally trained and educated teachers who love teaching and children even…

Mathematics autobiographies have the potential to help teachers reflect on their identities as mathematics learners and to understand their role in the development of their students' mathematics identities. This paper reports on a professional development project for K-2 teachers (n = 41), in which participants were asked to write mathematics…

This article explicates the intragroup social dynamics and work of a nursing and education research team as a community of research practice interested in organizational cultures and occupational subcultures. Dynamics were characterized by processes of socialization through reeducation and group social identity formation that enabled members to…

China's economic and social development requires professional social work. To achieve the professionalization of social work in China, we must focus on its indigenization, change the function of mass organizations, and improve the professional quality of existing social work personnel. We must also pay attention to promoting social work theory and…

There are multiple organizations striving to professionalize child and youth care (CYC) across North America. Two voices that appear to have been excluded from this dialogue are the young people CYCs work with and those who come to work in the field outside of formal training. This article asks who defines CYC practice, what the implications are…

This paper examines the evolution of the professional identities of student teachers (STs) in a paired-placement teaching practicum in Vietnam. The study draws on activity theory, its notion of contradiction, and Vygotsky's concepts of ZPD and "perezhivanie", to identify the factors driving the intricate learning process. Opportunities…

So much has changed in the last 30 years. Diversity is on the verge of extinction--diversity of curriculum, instructional practices, and assessment. The nation is moving into an era that will link Common Core standards with a Common Core curriculum taught by teachers who will assess student learning through a slate of Common Core exams and be…

This article presents a review of 29 empirical studies to identify the main foci of research on student teachers' identity, the methodologies used and their major findings. The reviewed studies were found to investigate four broad factors: the contribution of: (1) reflective activities, (2) learning communities, (3) context and (4) (prior)…

This article argues that lecture discourse has the capacity to support students in their transition into modes of social critique and that the lecturer, through an enactment of an academic identity in lecture discourse, plays a crucial role as both model and guide. Certain crucial phases and sub-phases of lectures are used to model an engagement…

The roles of the person who works in a school library, as well as their title--librarian, teacher-librarian, library teacher, library media specialist, school librarian, library media teacher--have undergone countless revisions since the first official school libraries opened their doors in the early 1900s. Although school library media…

Women in academia navigate multiple professional and personal roles, and may face unique challenges to integrate their intellectual, emotional, physical, and spiritual selves. The narrative of constraint underscores the disadvantages, challenges, and inequities that women who are mothers and academics face in their lives. This lack of privilege…

This qualitative, action research study examines how teacher-writers' identities are constructed through the practice of revision in an extra-curriculum writing group. The writing group was designed to support the teacher-writers as they revised classroom research projects for submission for a scholarly journal. Using discourse analysis, the…

Design-based educational research can aid in providing a lens into understanding the complexities around imaginative methods, while also creating an avenue to share personal insights to support the solving of teaching and learning problems to direct future efforts. In this study, the "I" narrative was extensively utilised in the form of…

The paper examines trends and issues in digital education programmes globally, drawing examples of developmental growth of Library Information Science (LIS), schools and digital education courses in North America, Britain, and Southern Asia, the slow growth of LIS schools and digital education in Nigeria and some countries in Africa and India. The…