This study investigated the validity of measures of teacher brinkmanship behaviors. These are behaviors which challenge the authority system of the school while avoiding its negative sanctions. These acts are generally satirical in nature. The subjects were teachers and principals representing schools located in a metropolitan school system in the…

The first part of this paper deals with teacher suspension and dismissal as tools for correcting teacher behavior. Three cases involving teacher discipline are examined, one leading to resignation, a second to improved teacher behavior, and a third to a tenure hearing and dismissal. Part 2 of this paper examines the need to reduce staff when…

Responsible and effective administrative leadership requires confronting those members of the teaching staff who are a negative influence on the institution. Importantly, the absence of expressed appreciation for good work can have a devastating impact on a principal's image if he or she suddenly begins to confront poor performances. Actually, the…

This paper presents an analysis of the "adjacent curriculum," a term defined as that knowledge that is organizational in origin and that is transmitted to the organization's members for the purpose of maintaining the organization as an abstract but functional entity. This "curriculum" consists of such material as conduct codes, evaluation forms,…

In 1976 the Edmonton (Alberta) Public School Board resolved to designate administrative positions on a three-year term. The Edmonton public school local of the Alberta Teachers' Association attempted to prevent the implementation of the new policy. After this attempt was unsuccessful, six employees of the school board who accepted term…

Because sexual harassment by faculty can deter college women from entering male-dominated fields, college administrators face the serious task of determining effective policies to deal with such harassment. This study was conducted to examine students' ratings of appropriate punishment for male professors who harass female students. The effects of…

This study focuses on the tension between community norms/values and teacher behavior in Canada. A series of instances where teachers in public or denominational schools are accused of misconduct are presented, and these instances are traced from their beginnings to their ends (that is, to the resolution or acceptance of the social conflict). Part…

Brinkmanship behaviors are challenges to authority expressed in such a mannner that expected negative sanctions are typically avoided. They are usually extemporaneous, involve satire or sarcasm, and take place in front of an audience. This study investigated 43 principals' and 137 teachers' perceptions of teacher brinkmanship behaviors and sought…

Public school collective bargaining will not work unless management approaches negotiations as a two-way street and demands from the union what it requires to protect its own interests. With today's surplus of available teachers, management has the opportunity to reclaim prerogatives it has abdicated through past negotiations. In particular,…

Brinkmanship behaviors challenge the authority of a social system while trying to avoid, usually through the use of humor, the sanctions that would normally be provoked. This study investigated the validity and use of short scenarios portraying various teachers challenging policy in different ways as a strategy for measuring perceptions of these…

Dismissing common metaphors for the school such as the "knowledge factory" or the "cure for the disease of ignorance," the author makes preliminary observations leading toward some sort of new metaphor that would better describe the school as a collection of autonomous and self-regulated individuals. He presents what he calls four "notions" that…

Recent court definitions of immoral conduct require that employers establish a nexus between the objectionable conduct and the individual's fitness to teach, while teacher plaintiffs have argued that dismissals for alleged immoral conduct violated various constitutional rights. This paper reviews a cross-section of recent court cases involving…

The most litigated issues involving teachers are the control of conduct of teachers and other employees. The disciplinary measures available are typically expressed or implied in state statutes. These normally include suspension, transfer, nonrenewal of contract, and discharge. The superintendent or board may be empowered to recommend the…

This paper highlights the findings of Gougeon's 1989 study of high school principals of schools with grade configurations 9 through 12 in the state of Washington, a study based on the Principal Leadership as Social Control (PLASC) theory. Accordingly, the first section describes the PLASC theory as social control of teachers through power- and…

This article defines psychological abuse of students in school settings and describes legal aspects of the problem, particularly with respect to possible action in negligence. The following four categories of psychological abuse are examined: verbal abuse, refusal to communicate, physical acts (and sexual abuse) that cause psychological damage,…