Historically, lesbian and gay teachers working in schools have experienced silencing, invisibility, and discrimination. This paper reports on research that examined the experiences of self-identified lesbian and gay teachers working in a variety of school types and school systems across Australia. Specifically, it explores these teachers'…

This article reports on the findings of original field research carried out in the small island developing state of Fiji, in the South Pacific. A North-South research partnership was built upon previous collaboration between team members and, in so doing, pioneered the blending of Pacific and Western research approaches sensitive to a postcolonial…

Most undergraduate teaching in Australia's universities is now performed by hourly paid staff, and these casual academics form the majority of the academic teaching workforce in our universities. This recent development has significant implications for the careers and working lives of those staff, for other academic staff, and for students,…

How can countries prepare teachers to face the diverse challenges in today's schools? The OECD "Teaching and Learning International Survey" (TALIS) helps answer this question by asking teachers and school leaders about their working conditions and the learning environments at their schools. TALIS aims to provide valid, timely and…

Effective teaching and learning in higher education is an important focal point of literature around the globe. Various models are presented as desirable and fostering optimal conditions for teaching and learning. However, each model must be examined within the context of its institutional culture, mission and strategic plan to ascertain if it…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to estimate the prevalence of staff bullying in Australian schools, to identify bullies and targets and to examine some implications for school leaders in dealing with staff bullying. Design/methodology/approach: The quantitative research design survey instrument contained 11 demographic items, 44 questions of…

This survey was undertaken to build upon and validate understanding of teacher satisfaction and dissatisfaction, orientation to teaching, teachers' values, and teacher health. The purpose of this endeavor was also to develop an instrument suitable for identifying and quantifying the sources and relative strength of factors contributing to teacher…

This paper presents the Australian perspective on a study conducted by the Consortium for Cross-Cultural Research in Education. Only 23 percent of the Australian teachers in the sample perceived the main objective of significant change as relating directly to their own work context. While most respondents saw themselves as "adapters" (63…

This paper describes the first phase of a study of teachers and school administrators in Western Sydney, Australia. A survey to measure teacher satisfaction, motivation, and health was designed based on findings from earlier research. Participants were 529 teachers and school administrators at 47 primary, secondary, and special purpose schools.…