Early career academics are crucial to the long-term vitality of teaching and research, and to the future of universities. They are the next generation of teaching staff, of cuttingedge innovation and research leadership, and are a valuable resource to be nurtured and developed. There is a pressing challenge for universities to create an…

Working toward promotion and tenure (P&T) is a large part of working as a faculty member at an institution of higher education. Through this process one provides evidence of contribution to the overall scholarly body of knowledge. However, this is affected by changes to cultural norms, administrative processes, and institutional expectations.…

This study investigated the ways novice social studies teachers navigated classroom exchanges connected to broader societal and political discourses that are potentially controversial. The difficulty of such conversations often leads teachers to avoid discussions vital to the fabric of democratic life. In this paper, we explore the teaching…

Australian schools are increasingly multicultural, with student diversity reflecting processes of migration and globalisation. This has led to an imagining of possibilities, and resultant educational interest in the concept of global citizenship, which offers a conceptual response to the transnationalising orientations and aspirations of students…

Play is an essential part of young children's lives. This symposium highlights the integral role of play in young children's mathematics learning and examines the teacher's role in facilitating and extending this. Papers examine key tenets of play, contributing to theoretical understandings and presenting data on teacher's perceptions of play and…

Considers current research into television viewing and its possible influence on student behavior; analyzes international developments in mass media and the cultural influences they may impose in the future; and suggests ways English teachers might face and oppose this new culture through language. (FL)

The purpose of this study was to investigate why some Hawaiian language and culture-based (HLCB) educators perceived the Montessori approach to be congruent with their goals and values and to determine the salient features of the Montessori approach used by HLCB teachers who received Montessori training. The sociocultural perspective on learning…

Although there has been much interest in the United States about Japanese education, few studies have examined the Japanese school system from the teachers' perspective. This study investigated 143 Japanese and 386 U.S. high school teachers' attitudes concerning their work conditions, roles and responsibilities, and work experiences. An…

Today's students are presented with a confusing perspective on writing that, on the one hand, defines the production of a written text as an act that simply transcribes thoughts and, on the other hand, defines writing as in and of itself an act of knowing. Teachers confound the student writer's schizophrenia by reinforcing the "product"…

In its 80 years in Iceland, preschool has evolved from caregiving to the first level of schooling in the nation with a national curriculum organized by the Ministry of Education. This study used a cultural psychological perspective to examine whether Icelandic core cultural beliefs such as freedom and independence are evident in the daily…

To prepare students for the Information Age, many developing nations provide courses in computer literacy. While computers can teach more efficiently and effectively than traditional methodologies, developing nations need to be aware of the effect of computer literacy on cultural awareness and cultural literacy. Computers, as language-based…

An analysis of the relationship between teachers' work culture and the school's social context is the purpose of this study, with a focus on teachers' shared psychological work orientations as components of a teacher culture. The methodology relates high school teachers' attitudes in two high schools to different social contexts with the cultural…

An analysis of the interaction between self and other in the one-to-one writing conference, informed by theories of Louis Althusser, Jurgen Habermas, Mikhail Bakhtin, and others, can help tutors view one-to-one conferences as a dynamic meaning-making process occurring within an integral social context. Bakhtin/Medvedev's discussion of discourse…

A discussion is presented on the education of Japanese teachers, their roles in the schools, and proposed reforms in their education. In describing the pre-World War II background of teacher education in Japan, three ideological forces are discussed: Western thought that impacted upon early Meiji reforms, Confucianism, and nationalism. Western…

The paper explores reasons for the failure of contemporary approaches to moral education and suggests an alternative based on theories of prosocial behavior. Prosocial behavior comprises actions intended to aid another person or group of people without the actors' anticipation of external rewards. Cultural and social factors appear to be most…