The Isolated Schools' Project offers final-year preservice teachers the opportunity to experience teaching in a nonevaluated situation in a rural or remote part of Queensland (Australia). Two student teachers describe their three-week experiences in isolated one-room schools. (SV)

Accomplished teachers are leaving the profession by the thousands (7% yearly). A 1997 National Center for Education Statistics survey found that dissatisfied teachers leave because of student discipline and motivation problems, inadequate administrative support, poor salary, and insufficient influence over school policies and practices. The…

A school board member-turned-English teacher shares several insights: teaching is exhausting work; class size matters; teachers are isolated; teachers often misunderstand board actions; administrative filters distort what boards and teachers are really saying; adopting one-sided, radical change is foolhardy; and teachers are professionals…

Examined teachers' experiences in charter and public schools to investigate how deregulation policies affected teaching conditions. Results indicated that the most autonomous schools (charter schools) were not necessarily favored by teachers. Greater autonomy for teachers was accomplished by expanded roles and responsibilities in deregulated…

Examines World War II experiences of 75 New Zealand teachers who were then students, teacher trainees, or teachers, many in rural schools. Discusses the rise of progressive thinking and child-centered learning, children's attitudes toward war, rationing and war work in schools, impact of the men's departure, treatment of married and single women…

A survey of 558 teachers in rural schools and districts in British Columbia explored influences on teachers' decisions to enter, remain in, or leave their districts. Important factors in career decisions were the job itself, lifestyle, school district recruiters, financial compensation, social and recreational opportunities, and partner's job. (KS)

Examined social-contextual conditions that led teachers to be more autonomy supportive versus controlling with students. Using structural equation modeling the authors observed that the more pressure teachers perceive from above and from below, the less they are self-determined toward teaching. In turn, the less they are self-determined, the more…

Australian education has experienced three reform cycles: the 1970s federal intervention weakening states' centralized dominance; mid-1980s state-government "corporate managerial" reforms; and the 1990s "Tripartite Alliance" (of government, business, and unions). Current issues include national curriculum, ministerial controls,…

Used data from the New Brunswick Elementary School Study to examine how teacher professional satisfaction related to background characteristics and workplace conditions. Female teachers had more job satisfaction than males. Teachers who stayed in the profession longer were less satisfied with their professional role. Workplace conditions…

This article discusses the results of a survey conducted by the author asking music teachers why they leave their jobs. The author compiled an e-mail survey and sent it to instrumental music teachers who were making plans to leave their jobs for new positions or to leave the music education profession entirely. In order to widen the pool of…

There has been increasing interest in the role of teacher and other staff behaviour in the development and maintenance of problem behaviours in individuals with special needs. Research and theoretical developments have tended to focus on one of three domains: staff as assessment and behavioural change agents, staff wellbeing as determined by…

The purpose of this study is to describe the level of administrator support perceived by special education teachers in South Texas. The literature on teacher retention indicates that "lack of administrative support" as an important reason for leaving the profession. This study examined the factors related to administrator support…

The attrition rate of 1st-year special education teachers is a mounting concern. Researchers have identified several factors that contribute to the stress that many novice teachers experience and their subsequent attrition. If necessary support from mentors, colleagues, and administrators is not in place, many 1st-year teachers opt to leave the…

Pre-service teachers who had completed their practicum or student teaching and in-service teachers in their first 3 years of teaching (n = 218) completed open-ended surveys about their beliefs and fears of school violence and rated their fears for such acts as use of weapons and the likelihood of those acts about their fears about schools and…

Being a first-year teacher in New York City is not easy. The author received much of the same preparation and advice that he and his colleagues give their students. But even the best education courses and a positive student teaching experience do not seem to be enough to take the edge off of a year he remembers barely surviving. The author…