Although it is common to hear people espouse the importance of education to ensuring a strong and vibrant democracy, the assumptions underlying such statements are rarely unpacked. Two of the most widespread, though not necessarily complimentary, assumptions include: (1) to truly participate in a democracy, citizens must be well educated; and (2)…

The "Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation" has assembled a series of thought-provoking responses to the National Association of School Psychologists' document "School Psychology: A Blueprint for Training and Practice III" (Ysseldyke et al., 2006) or "Blueprint III." Each of the responses addresses the limited effect of preservice…

This commentary reviews recent literature on a number of problematic issues arising from the use of English proficiency tests by registration bodies as the sole assessment of the professional communication skills of overseas qualified health professionals from non-English-speaking backgrounds. It discusses differences between the assessment…

Thanks to China's reform and opening to the world over the last three decades, the conventional normal education system, which is characterized by independent orientation, is now being challenged by a comprehensive and multi-faceted modern teacher education system that has taken shape. It is high time that we attached great significance to the…

Cultural immersion experiences have been used in multicultural counselor training courses to address racism. Cultural immersion experiences include activities designed to provide concentrated, direct, substantial, and meaningful interactions with multiple elements of a target culture for the purpose of promoting crosscultural competency. In this…

In this article, the author reflects on her continual journal in regard to improving her teaching skills. She opines that this journey is a story that could resonate with other colleagues to whom teaching is also critically important but to whom it does not come naturally. She describes lessons she learned in her early years of teaching, and she…

As superintendents, most of them have experienced meetings in which they were able to hear the angry crowd, listen deeply to it, and bring people together. In this article, the author shares how she copes with difficult meetings. Through the years, the author has learned that it takes hard work, the kind of ongoing lifetime work that involves…

CNN commentator Bill Bennett's invocation of "professorial" was the latest among a string of comments about Barack Obama, who used to teach constitutional law at the University of Chicago. On September 13, the "New York Times" columnist Thomas L. Friedman wrote, "Obama may be a bit professorial, but at least he is trying to unite the country to…

Disability support personnel within Australia include those who provide direct and daily care to people with intellectual disability (ID), largely in residential and day service contexts. Their roles and responsibilities are many, calling on far ranging skills. Yet, they come to these roles with levels of education that range from incomplete high…

The circumstances of tenure have changed and will likely continue to change, perhaps even dramatically. The proportion of university and college faculty members with full academic qualifications--which usually means those with earned doctorates--who either have tenure or are serving a probationary period for tenure has been declining steadily over…

This article features the University Forum for Human Resource Development (UFHRD), a voluntary network or an informal association stemming from two separate initiatives in the UK in the late 1980s. The first of these was at national government level and was the introduction of national competence based vocational qualifications (NVQs) following…

This article presents the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators' (NAECTE) position statement on early childhood certification for teachers of children 8 years old and younger in public school settings. The association requires public schools to employ and assign teachers with early childhood certification/endorsement to early…

In this article, the author is questioning the system(s) that professors continue to follow in the practice and process not only of promotion and tenure but also of their general academic lives. That, at least, was the course of her meditations as she ransacked her office and home for copies of reprints and sample syllabi--all already available…

Occasionally, the search committee for a tenure-track position will decide on a candidate who is A.B.D., all but dissertation, and decide to hire him or her with the understanding that the Ph.D. will be completed by a given deadline. In the the form of an anecdote, the author discusses the potential pitfalls--for both the university, the…

Hospital porters often feel so little valued in their jobs that they are uninterested even in training that could get them out of their rut. In an attempt to change what he considered an underlying negative perception regarding portering, in 1999, the author founded the Porters 2000 forum. As the chair, and with the support of members, he wrote to…