This article draws upon, but also critiques, activity theory by combining analysis of how an activity theory derived research intervention attempted to address both everyday work practices and organisational power relationships among children's services professionals. It offers two case studies of developmental work research (DWR) interventions in…

To expect an "easy life" as a professor of special education is to expect what never was nor never will be. But when the playing field is uneven for minorities, or even worse, when it is not even recognized that the playing field is uneven, there is cause for action. For example, Bonner (2004) stated that minority faculty face tremendous…

This paper presents findings from interviews conducted with 33 women educators working at varying levels of education and in diverse fields, and who varied in terms of age, ethnicity, race, family structure, geographic location, and sexual orientation. Semi-structured interviews, building on variants of this question, "Does who you are as…

This article explores the restructuring of education in England and Spain. Against a presumably homogeneous global streamlining of educational systems according to competition-driven goals, the comparison of teachers' work-lives and professional knowledge evidences a variety of experiences under-represented in discourses on global restructuring.…

This research synthesis aims to more fully understand the current teacher retention crisis in the United States through a re-conceptualization of what is meant by a teaching career. Currently, research is divided into two broad categories: traditional research on teacher retention and traditional research on teachers' professional lives. This…

When it came to benefits for employees, higher education used to be at the head of the class. Back in the 1950s, academe was one of the first fields to embrace health-insurance coverage for illnesses that do not require hospitalization, and it later led the way toward long-term disability insurance. Universities and colleges approved…

Individuals actively and continually construct the knowledge required for their working lives. Two outcomes arise from this constructive process: (i) individual change (i.e. learning) and (ii) the remaking of culturally-derived practices comprising work. These arise through a relational interdependence between the contributions and agency of the…

This guide examines the evolution of human services systems toward the recognition that individuals with handicaps can make consumer choices and should be included in decision-making sessions. Consumers with disabilities are seeking empowerment through their presence and participation in political processes and community events. Choices regarding…

Twenty mentally retarded individuals placed in competitive employment were compared to a matched group in sheltered workshop settings concerning their quality of life. The competitively employed individuals experienced greater advancement; improved hand strength and weight control; and increased community participation, social vocational skills,…

There is a long tradition of academic interest in the worlds of work and family. However, there was scant attention paid to the linkages between these two worlds until the mid 1970s. In the United States, the 1977 publication of Kanter's monograph, "Work and family in the United States: A critical review and agenda for research and…

As part of a study on faculty career development, analyses focused on the degree to which experiences and/or feelings associated with work directly colored or "spilled over" to life outside of work and vice versa. Differences by gender and rank were also examined. (Author/MLW)

In this paper, we review a range of rigorous research studies that estimate the average statistical relationships between children growing up in poverty and their earnings, propensity to commit crime, and quality of health later in life. We also review estimates of the costs that crime and poor health per person impose on the economy. Then we…

The purpose of this study is to see if older adults who experience problems with thought suppression tend to encounter greater difficulty deriving a sense of meaning in life. Data from a longitudinal nationwide survey of older people (N = 988) indicate that greater difficulty with thought suppression is associated with a decline in meaning over…

The study investigated the impact of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme on the phenomenon of female trafficking in South-South Nigeria. To this end, six research questions were raised. These revolved around: (i) resource situation and adequacy of training provided for repatriated trafficked victims in the service provider centre; (ii)…

In Germany, processes can be observed that have long been out of keeping with the principle of equality of opportunity. Unemployment is concentrated in the structurally weak peripheral areas, in Eastern Germany in particular; emigration of young and better-educated people to the West is not diminishing, but contrary to expectation is again on the…