This book offers deep insights into the agencies of teaching--pedagogies, professional identities, and knowledge--in the English further education (FE) sector. The sector's porous, inclusive, diverse, and prominent features of vocational offers have led to it being overlooked and misunderstood by policymakers. To rectify this misconception and…

In order to promote effective learning, individuals must feel fully appreciated within their own unique identities (i.e., ethnicities, language differences, socioeconomic status, gender, religions). Culturally competent educators employ practices that acknowledge and build on cultural diversity and that identify students themselves as resources…

This paper is the National Council on Teacher Quality's (NCTQ) fourth annual review of state laws, rules and regulations that govern the teaching profession. This year's "Yearbook" takes a different approach than the past editions, as it is designed as a companion to the 2009 "State Teacher Policy Yearbook", NCTQ's most recent…

We are now accumulating the knowledge base necessary for teaching to become a true profession, and we have the possibility within reach to work together to attain that stature. This editorial essay previews the articles that focus on this theme in this issue of "Educational Leadership." (TE)

Idea man par excellence, Lee Shulman has long set directions for research on teaching. After founding and directing the Institute for Research on Teaching at Michigan State University, Shulman, now at Stanford, continues his far-reaching investigations into the interplay of content and pedagogy and into assessments of teaching that faithfully…

Two aspects of optometric preceptorships (off-campus field experience supervision programs) are discussed: the process of defining goals (long-term, specific learning, and general attitudinal and value); and the process of developing the program (initiation, site selection, preceptor selection and recruitment, participant selection, program…

Lists 10 premises affecting the future of teaching, including trends toward teacher shortages, declining entry standards, unattractive salaries and working conditions, and standardized curricula. Presents three scenarios: business-as-usual, two-tiered (permanent senior teacher cadres instructing temporary teachers), and a professional scenario…

Presidential candidate Walter Mondale outlines his strategy for improving education. He proposes closing the skill gaps through the development of better curricula, upgrading teachers' skills, reduction of paperwork, and bolstering the teaching profession. (MD)

Teachers' perceptions about the nature of their discipline are important factors in their curricular decisions, behavior in the classroom, and interpretations and reactions to classroom events. It is not an easy task to access one's beliefs nor stimulate genuine dialogue about them. Errors can provide both the motivations and the means for…

Examines the concrete problems, issues, and paradoxes encountered while establishing and implementing a teacher preparation program based on critical reflection. Contrasts the standardized, controlled atmosphere of most classrooms with a transformative vision of teaching as an artistic, political, and human act. Cites 13 references. (MLH)

Intended for administrators and policy makers as well as teachers, this digest presents a selection of reactions to "A Nation at Risk," the report by the National Commission on Excellence in Education. The five parts of the digest discuss the five major recommendations of the ccmmission's report concerning curriculum, standards and…

Foremost policy watcher at the Center for the Study of Teaching, Linda Darling-Hammond analyzes the effects of state and district policies on teachers in classrooms, favors full partnership for teachers in decision-making, and points out the importance of the knowledge base for the professionalization of teaching. (TE)

The 2009 edition of the "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" is the National Council on Teacher Quality's (NCTQ's) third annual review of state laws, rules and regulations that govern the teaching profession. This year's report is a comprehensive analysis of the full range of each state's teacher policies, measured against a realistic…

Improvement in the quality of education is a concern shared by all the Member States of the European Community. The in-service training of teachers is a critical factor in the pursuit of this objective. Increasingly rapid changes in society (economic, technological, social, and cultural) mean that teachers are constantly faced with new syllabuses…

A 1985 mail survey of 97 rural schools and 53 coastal (urban/suburban) schools in Queensland, Australia, investigated teacher characteristics, problems, and needs. Respondents included 504 rural teachers, 215 rural parents, 405 coastal teachers, and 179 coastal parents. The results confirm many previous findings about teaching in rural Australia.…