This article examines the notion of "culturally responsive leadership" through a historical case study of the life of Gertrude Elise MacDougald Ayer, the first African American woman principal in New York City. I begin by situating Ayer's leadership practice in light of the social and political context of Harlem in the 1930s and early…

In the Netherlands, as in many European countries, classrooms display a growing cultural diversity. There are only very limited empirically supported data on the interpersonal competence teachers need in Dutch classrooms and studies from other countries cannot be generalized because of differences in the composition of the student population. This…

This research seeks to identify generic factors that have contributed to the successful integration of information and communication technology (ICT) across the curriculum in the secondary section of an international school in Brazil. The research took a case-study approach, focusing on one "successful" department to identify…

There is increasing interest in the use of animated agents in e-learning environments. However, empirical investigations of their use in online education are limited. Our aim is to provide an empirically based framework for the development and evaluation of animated agents in e-learning environments. Findings suggest a number of challenges,…

For more than ten years, academics of public universities in Mexico have endured modernization programs that promote individual productivity and operate as a mechanism of selection and assessment. The implementation of the programs has exposed a tension between the values implicit in the programs and the values of the academic teachers. There is a…

This paper reports a study of two beginning teacher educators making the transition from classroom teacher to university-based teacher educator. A hybrid qualitative methodology, combining case study and self-study of teacher education practices, was used to investigate features of the institutional context they encountered, the knowledge bases…

This case study has two storylines. We describe the implementation of the Bachelor-Master's (BaMa) structure at the K.U.Leuven with an emphasis on opportunities for faculty development. We also focus on the meaning of this operation for the Educational Support Office. While the introduction of the BaMa structure at the K.U.Leuven resulted in an…

The focus of this research was on the nature and characteristics of effective leadership and management practices in centre-based child care. This paper is part of a larger doctoral study with a focus on management within child care centres. Eight directors were interviewed in south east Queensland, Australia using a case study methodology. There…

This ESRC-funded study explores how 3-year-old children use a range of "voices" during their first year in pre-school, investigating how they make and express meaning "multimodally" through combinations of talk, body movement, facial expression and gaze in the two different settings of home and playgroup. Using longitudinal…

From a case study looking at continuing professional development (CPD) within a rural primary school cluster, teachers' views of the way their needs were met, what controlled their CPD, and the impact of school and system needs on their CPD experiences were analysed. This confirmed the existence of tensions between these levels of need in relation…

Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) integrates inquiry, problem- and project-based learning, cooperative learning, and authentic assessment. Case studies were carried out on 21 teachers who used CTL to teach science in elementary schools to diverse groups of children. The findings indicated that the conditions that fostered the implementation…

This article reports the results of a survey on K-8 teachers' inquiry beliefs and practices. The survey in this study was part of the National Science Foundation-supported, five-year, in-depth longitudinal case studies aimed at elucidating K-8 classroom teachers' motivations, goals, and purposes for carrying out inquiry in diverse, low SES…

This paper reports on a sociocultural study conducted in a Catholic primary school in the Australian outback and provides insights into how policy related to Languages Other Than English (LOTE) programmes is implemented in a specific location and interwoven within the literacy practices of children, parents and teachers. A case study that tracked…

In many Southern countries, there are multiple and conflicting perspectives regarding the central role of language, particularly in relation to educational and developmental issues. A great number of multilingual, multicultural and multi-ethnic Southern countries are using "English" or some other dominant tongue as their only…

In this article, the author presents findings from a national project coordinated by the University of Queensland. The project was designed to explore the links between home, school, and community that supported children's numeracy development. Two of the aims of this project were to: (a) critically review recent Australian and international…