This case study of the transformation of teacher education in post-apartheid South Africa is a reflection on the pressures and priorities that characterise curriculum design and development in a society undergoing rapid change. It focusses on the varied sources behind the process of curriculum transformation, indicating how an historically…

Purpose: The paper argues that virtual situated learning environments (VSLE), designed as authentic learning experiences, can provide managers with broader learning opportunities while also cater for the learning needs of the increasing number of peripatetic managers. Design/methodology/approach: An action learning methodology, using first person…

In 2001, North Carolina Dance Theatre, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School system joined forces to create a multidimensional, professional development program for dance professionals (teachers and artists) in the public schools called, The Dance Educator Enrichment Program (DEEP). DEEP was designed…

In this completed qualitative dissertation research, the nature of the relationship between professional development programs (in-service training programs) and English language instructors was studied with a critical postmodern lens focusing on the narratives of nine English language instructors on their experiences in their professional…

This article describes The Hilton/Early Head Start Training Program, a public-private partnership between the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and the Head Start Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. The purpose of the training program was to develop skills and strategies for including infants…

Recent policy developments are requiring local education authorities (LEAs) in Wales to undertake a more significant role in improving the Welsh education service. This article reports some of the outcomes of a Welsh Assembly government-funded initiative that addressed aspects of the development of the capacity of LEAs in Wales to fulfil this…

The Learner-Centered Leadership program is a new initiative that provides professional development opportunities to school administrators through a mentoring model. The focus on learner-centered leadership reflects renewed attention to the primary role of teaching and learning in the development of school leadership expertise. With a focus on…

Teachers involved with professional-development opportunities inevitably differ in their content knowledge, access to resources, and instructional practices. The purpose of this study was to investigate how a standardized assessment observation tool, selected to gather summative information for grant-evaluation purposes about preschool teachers'…

This article offers information about a district's school improvement efforts to reculture as a professional learning community, which we believe exemplifies the school and district levels of Fullan's (2004b, 2005) tri-level model. We use Fullan's eight elements of sustainability to organize the data gathered in interviews with school and district…

This paper reports on findings from an evaluation of a pilot accreditation scheme for teachers of sex and relationships education (SRE) in England. The scheme was introduced as part of national measures to reduce rates of teenage conception. Illuminative and participatory methods were used to elicit stakeholder accounts from primary, secondary and…

The design and use of multi-faceted feedback as a developmental tool for organisational heads is the focus of this paper. A customised feedback instrument was designed for school principals to enable assessment by self and various stakeholders. The instrument was designed to assess principals' administrative, managerial and leadership competencies…

This paper summarizes the phenomenon of offshore outsourcing and relates it to the history and current state of engineering education and the engineering profession in Europe and the USA. In order to assess the climate affecting employment decisions by and about engineers we have used as sources mostly the serious press, with an emphasis on…

Public schools in the United States are facing a growing literacy crisis. Approximately a quarter of the population of 12th-grade students are still reading below basic levels, which means that they are barely able to comprehend at a literal level, make interpretations, identify relevant information, make simple inferences, and recognize and…

A Number of good ideas can help improve the achievement of low-performing students and close the achievement gap, including determining the placement of veteran teachers, purchasing new curricula, and providing after-school tutoring. However, it is the teacher--and what the teacher does in the classroom--that makes the most difference for…

The Principals Excellence Program (PEP), a cohort-based professional development project for administrator-certified practitioners, is one of 24 projects across the United States supported by federal funds from the No Child Left Behind legislation. The three-year program is conducted through a partnership between Pike County School District, a…