This study is based on personal experiences. It adopts an auto ethnographic approach and action research perspective in an attempt to describe and reflect on my experience as a teacher in a University where I have worked for just over a year; the study also examines factors that have helped me in my role as a teacher to effect change in my praxis.…

Religion, like Superhero discourse, is a contested topic of question and debate in early childhood education. This article draws on data from a small ethnographic study that took place in a long day care centre in Sydney Australia. The study examined how children negotiated their "identity work" in the context of popular culture. In this…

Viewing education as a complex site for endorsing and contesting knowledges and practices we explore its critical roles in feminist language planning. Many types of language planning have relied heavily on education for the implementation and spread of the particular reform agenda largely reliant on discourses of compulsory obligation (e.g.…

"Skills for Action," a program to build positive character values and life and citizenship skills for students in grades 9-12, includes classroom lessons and service learning. The program, with more than 100 lessons focused around 26 personal, social, and thinking skills, ranges from one semester to four years in length. Students explore…

Like other women who work in professions dominated by white men, women school superintendents tell stories about rising to influential positions, developing confidence in their authority and ability, yet continuing to confront discriminatory treatment in an occupation structured by gender and racial inequalities. This book examines these…

This study includes the voices of elementary teachers, primarily women, in the historical narrative of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. Hopefully, this inclusion will encourage educators, and social studies educators in particular, to use personal accounts and narratives in the study of historical events. Also this study…

Three education professors returning to the classroom as students in a graduate course on research methods analyze the experience through a collaborative project in which they examined themselves as researchers. Recommendations are offered about the use of such collaborative reflection as a means of professional development. (MSE)

Examining the text and context of production of "The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood among Ghosts" (M.H. Kingston, 1976) shows how U.S. reception and rendition of this text by a Chinese-American writer reflects the goals of mainstream literary production in labeling this fictive text an autobiography. (SLD)

Ethnographic methods were integrated with survey procedures in an experimental daytime count of homeless persons in a major city. Ethnographic data proved valuable for choosing sites, designing questionnaires, developing new interview approaches, and interpreting test results. Recommends a wider use of ethnographic insights in developing surveys,…

Current research on students' experiences in encounters with their classmates in school is explored by using the narrative of a 25-year-old nursery school teacher in Sweden about her own experiences as a quiet and well-behaved student. Her story illustrates some of the built-in conflicts of the comprehensive school. (SLD)

This is an essay about research methodology, particularly the use of narrative method, in a project which depicts portraits of 10 influential educators of China. The essay begins with reflections on the dialogue of civilizations and the potential future influence of Chinese civilization in the global community. It then goes on to consider the…

A content analysis of interviews with an ethnically diverse group of 202 children aged 6 to 10 describes what children think racism is, and examines associations between age, ethnicity, and children's thinking about racism. Children's narratives capture many dimensions of racism, including stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination, and ethnic…

This article explores the contributions of qualitative research to the study of career development and the psychology of working. Epistemological perspectives (logical positivism, postpositivism, and social constructionism) are discussed as they relate to historical context, career theories, and the various methods used within qualitative…

Reports results of teacher interviews designed to explore the satisfaction and stress of teaching in areas of economic and social disadvantage and to compare the views of teachers in similar schools in Michigan and South Yorkshire (England). Includes verbatim responses to questions about communities, schools, the classroom experience, and…

In contrast to studies of "effective instruction," this study plumbed the human depths of classroom life and educational practice. It sought to uncover, from students' perspectives, what makes some teachers "inspirational." Analysis of over 100 preservice teachers' written narratives showed that inspirational teachers were…