Nineteen professional (nurses and attendants with bachelor degrees) and 17 paraprofessionals (aides with less than a college education) from a residential institution for the mentally retarded participated in an overview course on mental retardation. (Author/CL)

Although teachers' professional development is crucial to any society, there is evidence of deprofessionalization in teaching. This paper asks why this is happening and who is to blame, using extensive inservice data from British schools. Government policies have contributed to this phenomenon. However, teachers and schools have been reluctant to…

Because race, class, and gender bias have become firmly institutionalized, achieving equity will require more than eliminating individual prejudices. Educators can use dyads, support groups, and personal experience panels to ensure that people stay focused on their personal stories; respect one another; avoid blaming, criticizing, and analyzing;…

Because child abusers can be found everywhere (even in schools) and children do not easily report abuse, board members are advised to know the law, stay informed about preventive programs, lobby for teacher education changes, foster inservice programs, develop firm policies, educate children, and check employment references. (MLH)

When used to achieve definite instructional goals, computers can benefit all secondary students, whether or not they are artistically talented and experienced. Laser disk applications and increased computer storage and visual imagery capabilities are available. The problem is timely and appropriate inservice training for teachers to realize…

During 1989-90, the teachers of a failing innercity Ohio elementary school embarked on a year-long inservice training workshop. They identified character traits associated with a positive outlook toward life, developed course guides in character education for each grade level, and designed activities and strategies to challenge and motivate…

Most inservice education programs support a technological approach to education that is indifferent to values of the mind and the democratic process. The technological mindset is evinced by these programs' passion for incoherent details, their emphasis on decontextualized techniques, and their stoic indifference to seminal ideas. A machine cannot…

Good inservices result from effective communication among administrators, educators, and presenters. Common problems (beyond speakers' control) include ill-defined topics, unexpected audience members, audience size and deportment, unavailable equipment, overly ambitious goals, and lack of continuity. Effective inservices often use conference-style…

Even though teacher education has been successful in preparing students for their future profession, the classroom reality can differ greatly from the inservice training. Many novice teachers therefore find the transition from student teacher to inservice teacher overwhelming To support beginning teachers, mentoring programs--where more…

Identifies and defines categories of barriers that inhibit Environmental Education's growth and development in schools: conceptual, educational, attitudinal, and logistical. Expands on the implications of the barriers and a role for libraries in resolving these problems. (MCO)

Over the last 2 decades, Irish schooling and society have gone through a period of significant structural and policy-driven change. To meet the emerging needs of the knowledge/learning society, schools and teachers are challenged to develop their capacities as "active learning communities". This places greater demands on teachers and…

This study focuses on student teachers' perceptions of their professional identity. The respondents are students enrolled in a three-year course in secondary education teaching at bachelor level. Questionnaires were filled out by first-year, second-year and third-year students from two colleges. The questionnaire included four scales: commitment…

This study compared the effectiveness of three teacher education programs in terms of their impact on teacher competencies. The programs include a traditional 4-year teacher certification program, an alternative certification-based master of arts in teaching program, and an alternative certification program without the master degree option. The…

This study assessed the dispositional gratitude and its relationships with orientations to happiness and burnout in a sample of 96 Chinese school teachers in Hong Kong and investigated the effectiveness of an eight-week gratitude intervention programme using a pre-test/post-test design with outcome measures of subjective well-being in the same…

The paper outlines a practical six-hour workshop and assessment activity for students enrolled in a Graduate TESOL/Applied Linguistics program at La Trobe University, Australia. The program attracts teachers from preschool to university contexts from many different countries. The workshop draws explicit connections between in-service teachers'…