Principals play a critical role in how a school performs and what type of culture it will have. However, most principal evaluation relies heavily on practices and beliefs grounded in 20th century educational paradigms or adheres to outdated behavioral checklists. This mixed methods study explores the current realities of principal evaluation in…

This concluding paper examines the contributions in this Guest Issue by locating them within the ongoing debates about the role and contribution of social science research, particularly through the production of journals. Set in the context of on-going attacks on the relevance of social science research and the failure to respond to major crises…

When making decisions that impact student learning, college educators often consider previous experiences, precedent, common sense, and advice from colleagues. But how often do they consider theory? At a recent state-level educators' meeting, the authors of this article asked 50 student affairs educators about the use of theory in their practice.…

The authors write here that they fundamentally believe that developmental education is about social justice. Professionals in this field are not only responsible to implement evidence-based best practices but also to ensure access to higher education. To meet this need, it is imperative that practitioners turn, as a supportive team, to…

Teacher educators need linguistic tools to help preservice teachers develop a deeper understanding of the academic language demands of the literacy practices required by the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Systemic functional linguistics (SFL) serves as a tool for developing teachers' knowledge of content-area language. Teachers' increased…

This article reports on English teachers' attitudes towards a professional development program run by "Coursera" ("coursera.org"). These teachers were participants of "Foundation of Teaching for Learning 1: Introduction" online course. Using a survey case study, the findings reveal that most of the participants…

The article describes the experience of forming a set in a higher education institution and offers some observations and insights gained from the perspectives of the role of the set adviser, cultural differences and the challenges of attempting to align theory, practice and experience.

In this paper, the researcher looked into his own theoretical and practical knowledge of teaching English to young learners through an autoethnographical research design. In order to understand to what extent these theory-driven conclusions "actually work" in primary school English language classrooms, the researcher recorded…

Many colleges and universities have expanded their mission to include adult learners. Programs range from scheduling traditional courses in the evening to designing new programs tailored to meet the needs of working adults. Program designers have relied on theorists such, as Mezirow (1991), Houle (1996), and Knowles, Holton, and Swanson (1998), to…

Increasing pressure to transform teaching and learning of engineering is supported by mounting research evidence for the value of learner-centered pedagogies. Despite this evidence, engineering faculty are often unsuccessful in applying such teaching approaches often because they lack the necessary knowledge to customize these pedagogies for their…

The intent of this study was to examine how a theoretically-designed subject in an undergraduate teacher education course impacted on the learning and confidence of pre-service teachers in catering for the needs of students with diverse needs. The subject design utilised theoretical principles of self-organisation that were incorporated with the…

The purposes of professional experience within initial teacher education programs are varied (Russell, 2005). However, there is limited literature explaining (a) university-based teacher educators' beliefs about its purposes and (b) how these purposes are reflected in practice. This study investigated these themes. A pragmatic mixed-method…

We explore the need for empathy in diverse groups, conceptualize the epistemology of empathy in relationship to "whole-person dialogue," and examine strategies for creating empathic space that take into consideration the "paradox of diversity." Two examples from our practice illustrate the role of empathic connection in…

This paper analyses two pedagogical case studies (PCS) from a multidisciplinary perspective to highlight the problems of theoretical knowledge in tertiary physical education teacher education (PETE) programmes, school-based physical education (PE) practice and continuous professional learning (CPL) in PE. We argue that a critical view of tertiary…

To engage in a comparison of school psychology research and practice in eastern and western countries, the current study sought to identify key themes that have influenced the field of school psychology in East Asian countries. Forty-six leading school psychology professionals in Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan provided their…