Aiming to elucidate the relationship between social capital and intergenerational practice within mentoring, this article presents data from a case study of the School Volunteer Program in Western Australia. Drawing on situated learning theory and the concept of community of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998; Wenger, McDermott, &…

Without support for the development of leadership talents and the chance to climb the career ladder, many teachers will leave the teaching sector in search of other career opportunities that will provide an outlet for their interests and talents. Coaching is potentially a way to help teachers fulfill, support and encourage their leadership…

In Australia, mentoring has been incorporated into the induction process for principals, aspirant leaders and beginning teachers. However, internationally three significant impediments to mentoring success have been identified in the literature: insufficient time; mentors' lack of professional expertise; and personality mismatches. To address…

For some time, special education has been plagued by shortages of qualified teaching staff and by high turnover rates for these staff. While several factors--external, employment and personal--are largely responsible for this situation, the research demonstrates that the initial professional experiences of early career teachers are closely…

Courses preparing early childhood professionals through institutes of technical and further education utilise competency standards to guide the assessment of students during professional experience. Some universities offering early childhood teacher education courses use the term "competencies" in practicum assessment forms and draw on…

We are thesis examiners within the Australian academic system who formed a community of practice to try to resolve some of the issues we were facing. Stories of examiners reflecting on and examining their own practice are a notable silence in the higher degree research literature. In this study we have adopted a storytelling inquiry method that…

This paper describes the development of an instrument--The Reflective Supervisor Questionnaire (RSQ). The RSQ maps the domain of research supervisory practice as a facilitative process involving educational tasks and activities. It is designed to assist research supervisors explore, by means of self-reflection and reflection on feedback from…