Paints a discouraging picture of the teaching conditions in higher education in the Ukraine. Salaries are about one-quarter of their previous levels, and often are not paid for months at a time, workers in science and education rank forty-fifth out of forty-eight pay categories, and publishing opportunities have declined. (MJP)

Parents' nostalgia and waning confidence in teachers' competence are primary obstacles to improving schools. Teaching and public education are at a crossroads. One road involves teachers and parent partners in a broad social movement that ultimately protects and redefines teacher professionalism. The other leads to deprofessionalization of…

This article reports perceptions of a first-year teacher of students with learning disabilities. First-year challenges are described, as well as views on assessment, accountability, and inclusion. Recommendations are made for new teachers and steps that teacher educators, school administrators, and experienced teachers can take to ensure the…

When teachers become involved in induction programs like California's Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment program, the principal's role becomes crucial. To support new teachers, principals can adjust working conditions, provide more release time for lesson planning, connect formative and evaluative assessment goals, and support collaborative…

Outlines 10 areas requiring teacher leadership in schools; discusses benefits for students, teachers, the school, and the principal; and lists impediments (workload, time, testing constraints, colleagues' disapprobation, and unsupportive principals). Determined, goal-driven teachers have the power to unlock one another's leadership potential and…

A teacher of adjudicated students wonders: why teach? The money is not good. The call for accountability is based on the misperception that teachers perform poorly. The work is stressful and complicated by imposition of standards that don't address all aspects of a good education. He reasons that he can't find anything more rewarding than working…

Managers in 281 schools of all types in 20 LEAs in England completed a survey about teacher absence and its causes. This paper reports reasons for teachers' long-term absences in those schools, examining the link between age and ability to report for work. Head teachers' views on the impact of school stress on teacher attendance are also explored.…

Southern California serves as the location for the incidents described in this article. An up-and-coming midsize "Christian" university, noted for its yearly rise in the "U.S. News: America's Best Colleges" to the top twenty-five universities of its size, locates and contextualizes these experiences along the author's journey.…

In this article, the author suggests that teachers of history have not only professionally "challenging" and socially "important" jobs, but immensely "pleasurable" ones as well. He emphasizes not the pleasures that "all" teachers, whatever their subject, enjoy from time to time, but those particular to teachers of "history". Here, the author…

This paper considers the case of the Michigan Migrant Head Start program to describe and analyze the labor market conditions and teaching staff characteristics to identify the challenges faced by Migrant Head Start grantees in attracting, hiring, retaining, and training degreed teachers. The emphasis is on describing and analyzing the child care…

It is important to realize that students who are diagnosed with E/BD often have or should have dual diagnoses. Regular classroom teachers may perceive a sense of ineffectiveness and consequently develop resistance in working with students with E/BD. Mainstreaming students with E/BD allows them to interact and learn more effective interaction…

Promotes the career choice of university chemistry teaching by new doctoral recipients in analytical chemistry. Cites the benefits of university teaching and compares industry and academia. Discusses the disadvantages of academia. Provides tips for choosing a university and succeeding in the academic world. (TW)

Situational factors affecting the first-year teaching of 97 new college geography teachers in a study of teacher preparation are examined, including the type of appointment, status of the dissertation, teaching load, class size, perceived institutional characteristics and identification, institutional support, colleague companionship and support,…

Reflects on the findings of a survey (reported in an earlier article in this issue) of 93 teachers who left their special education teaching positions. How the data was collected is discussed as well as the factors for leaving, including lack of administrative support, significant student discipline problems, high case load, excessive paperwork,…

Presents an overview of uncertainties and challenges facing academics in the late 1990s. Discusses postmodern attacks on conventional assumptions about knowledge, decline of academic disciplines, increasing demand for vocational relevance, new modes of virtual pedagogies, diversification of education and training, transition to mass higher…