What makes a headmaster successful? And what does a successful headmaster do? This article presents some results from a research project--Successful school leadership in different school cultures--that aims to provide answers to these questions. The results derive from interviews, questionnaires, observations and pupils' essays, and comprise the…

Parents are increasingly drawn into school improvement as a key strategy to enhancing student achievement, but parents' understanding of their role is not well documented. This case study illuminates three Alberta (Canada) mothers' perspectives on the meaning of school improvement and their experiences within the provincially funded Alberta…

Recent concern over the standard of social work practice, as evidenced by inquiries into child abuse cases, have led to something of a crisis in trust in the profession. As a result, there is now an emphasis on increasing practitioners' competency to practice in complex situations. Critical reflection is seen as key to achieving this increase in…

The purpose of this study was to investigate participants' perceptions of an organized solo within a wilderness experience program and the influence that the instructors have on their perception of the solo. More specifically, this research project focused on the role of the instructor in the solo as perceived by the participants while still on…

Developments in technology inevitably influence social, cultural, and communicative practices. Dominant language-based practices are giving way to a "new communications landscape" (Kress, 1997, 2003b) which is inherently multimodal. The forms and functions of text are in the process of a radical change which dislodges conventional notions of what…

We examined relations among stress, children's recall, and psychological functioning following Hurricane Andrew. Thirty-five children from mixed socioeconomic backgrounds were divided into low-, moderate-, and high-stress groups and were interviewed about the hurricane immediately after the storm and 6 years later. Our primary interest, stemming…

"School refuser" is an always-already negative child identity. The term is used to categorize children or adolescents who appear to dislike and fear school (or aspects of school) and persistently refuse to attend or attend very unwillingly. Given that school attendance is generally considered a necessary social good, regular and anxious…

This article reports on selected findings from an action research study that looked at the lessons learnt from setting up a new in-patient stroke service in a London teaching hospital. Key participants in the design and evaluation of this 2-year study included members of the multi-professional stroke team and support staff within the unit, the…

Recent advice on improving schools has centred on the distribution of responsibilities within schools. Whilst the focus of leadership in schools has traditionally been upon the Headteacher, there are now strong arguments to support a greater participation in leadership from teachers (Gold "et al", 2003). This article reports on…

This article presents a conversation with Dr. Paul Hart, a professor of science education at the University of Regina and an award-winning leader in environmental education. He is an active researcher and serves as one of the executive editors of "The Journal of Environmental Education". Here, he talks about the type of research agenda…

Can use of technology make a difference in student learning? Although a considerable literature describes its advantages in conceptual terms, research documenting its effective use in this context is limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a graduate-level Web design activity on student attitudes toward learning. Students…

Physicists and physics students have been studied with respect to the variation in the ways they expound on their topic of research and a physics problem, respectively. A phenomenographic approach has been employed; six fourth-year physics students and 10 teacher-researcher physicists at various stages of their careers have been interviewed. Four…

An exploratory analysis of the meanings families attach to schooling, this article is based upon interviews conducted with three white, middle-class families--one from rural West Virginia, another from a small West Virginia city, and a third from rural Pennsylvania. I hoped that this preliminary effort would help me think about how families view…

This case study details the events surrounding a gay student's "coming out" in a small, rural high school. Through the eyes and experiences of the student, his teachers, classmates, and community, we hear the story of how the school and community dealt with an issue they had never before actively considered. Through qualitative interviews, the…

Challenges to become what you want to be permeate higher education recruitment literature, inviting students to realize their dreams. Students do not interpret this invitation only in vocational terms. Other aspects of meaning for being and becoming are important for them: self-realization, and becoming who as well as what they want to be. A…