Education is the only "business" in which the consumers (students) rather than the workers (teachers and administrators) do most of the work. For educational technology to fulfill its potential, we must change our views about work in schools. Technology must be used for the workers to improve connections and by the workers to enhance and extend…

Points made in favor of year-round education include: improved attendance; better coordination of students, vacations, and facilities; fewer discipline problems; less stressful teaching conditions; and continuity benefits for special needs students. (CB)

The emergence of reflectivity in teacher education is discussed. Four forms of action (describing, informing, confronting, and reconstructing) are suggested to uncover the forces that inhibit and constrain teachers and teacher educators in their efforts to implement critical reflection in their curricula. (IAH)

Improving teachers' professional status involves identifying salient professional characteristics. The paper compares teaching with other professions. Teachers belong to a group of craft professions different from elite expert professions. Teacher education must produce skilled practitioners with a consciousness of craft to guide their work. (SM)

A teacher educator's experience as a first-grade teacher helped her understand the desperation that is driving good teachers into other professions. She experienced autocratic scheduling requirements, humiliating permission and attendance verification procedures for inservice training, constant daily interruptions, inflexible custodial rules, and…

Explores the reasons why it appears that there is no one best method for teaching language, focusing on different teaching contexts, the validity of various methods, and the notion of good and bad methods and teachers' sense of plausibility. (Author/CB)

A former National Teacher of the Year discusses leadership's joys and difficulties. Teacher leaders must speak up about conditions limiting their effectiveness and policies restraining their positive momentum. This means engaging in continuous professional development and comporting themselves as professional educators who know what is best for…

According to Joe A. Stone of the University of Oregon, average students do better in classrooms with unionized teachers, but less able and more able students do not. While this particular assumption lacks empirical clarity, many administrators and school board members feel that it would be much easier to reform public education if teacher unions…

During the last two decades teachers in many countries have found themselves facing new demands and changes. In his "intensification thesis" Apple made a powerful attempt to conceptualize and explain these changes: the growing economic and management oriented perspective on education leads to intensification of teachers' work, implying deskilling…

This paper discusses competing norms for justifying teacher decisions, their effects on productivity and legitimacy in teaching, and the teaching profession as a moral and learning community. Drawing on philosophical analyses and studies of elementary and secondary schools, teacher preparation, staff development, and the adoption of innovations,…

The author's experiences in education courses and in teaching are used to discuss the issue of relevance of teacher training. The real-life concerns of teachers and the need for teacher educators to deal with such concerns are discussed. (MT)

Explains how a student volunteer can improve teachers' productivity, efficiency, and teaching skills. Presents a description of job responsibilities.(EL)

Argues against the notion that teachers lack vision, asserting instead that the educational power structure and the realities of teaching every day prevent teachers from being heard or from realizing their visions. Suggests that those urging more outspoken involvement in educational improvement from teachers are overly optimistic. (PGD)

Classifies teachers who leave teaching as the "honest departers," the "overworked group," and the "confused and unhappy." Cites principal reasons for teacher attrition as insufficient social and economic rewards, isolation in the classroom, unrealistic training, society's unrealistic expectations, and teacher vulnerability to criticism. (CJM)

This booklet describes the work of teacher leaders. Section 1, "The Teacher Leaders," describes today's teacher leadership. Section 2, "What Is Teacher Leadership?" explains that all teachers have leadership potential, and when teachers lead, principals extend their own capacity, students live in a democratic community of…