This article reflects on findings from research involving case studies of four novice lecturers enrolled on a one-year university teaching development programme. The study sought to contribute to an understanding of the "process" of pedagogic change and the influences which affect it. Findings suggest that key aspects of the lecturers'…

Presents a brief, personal account of the author's experiences as a 12-year-old teacher in Cuba's literacy campaign of 1961. (AEA)

In this article, a parallel is drawn between Steven Hawking's use of common and novel metaphors in his evolving explanation of the theory of the universe and the similar use of common and novel metaphors by educators in four school contexts attempting to illuminate their experiences of school reform storied and restoried over time. The epistemic…

The success of any educational reform depends upon the quality of teachers and in turn the quality of teachers depends to a large extent on the quality of teacher education and quality of teacher education mainly depends upon the teacher training institutions. Education is a nation building activity and teachers are the pillars of the educational…

Teachers are facing an increasing number of changes in their job context, many of which significantly affect their work lives. This study offers a theoretical understanding of the changes in teachers' working conditions, starting from the intensification thesis. The case study of a Flemish (Belgian) elementary school shows the existence of various…

This paper reports on a case study of a "lead literacy teacher" initiative in one Canadian province. This initiative is related to a ''minority world'' trend in teacher in-service that seeks to develop "experts" in a field with the intent that such experts can help other teachers to raise student achievement for the betterment…

This paper outlines current theories of teacher practice that seek to promote equity from critical perspectives, and contributes to the empirical research on critical mathematics equity practice. Part of a larger study of equity and mathematics teacher practice in an urban public school, this paper reports specifically on the involvement and…

The author forthrightly declares in this book of essays on school reform that teachers are no more saintly than anyone else, that poor schools should be closed and lousy teachers should be fired, that philanthropy may sometimes do more harm than good, that teaching experience is not essential to being a school principal, that schools should be…

State and federal accountability systems are pressuring public schools to improve the performance of low-achieving students. To respond, schools must be able to recruit and retain high-quality teachers, strengthen curricula, and take other steps to provide struggling students with the help they need. But such efforts are expensive and, as the…

Evidence of a gap in student understanding has been well documented in chemistry: the typical student holds an abundance of misconceptions. The current expectation is that educational reform will foster greater student achievement via inquiry teaching within classrooms. Using assessments involving both conceptual and algorithmic knowledge of gas…

Since 1994 when the General Law of Education was issued, educational authorities have been claiming that Colombia has embarked on an "educational revolution" [""La revolucion educativa"" (n.d.). From the Colombian Ministry of Education website: http://www.mineducacion.gov.co. Retrieved 23 Nov 2004] where schools have…

Many excellent reading and writing teachers are facing important philosophical questions in their teaching. Many teachers lament that new guidelines have forced them to eliminate practices such as writing workshops, shared or guided reading, daily news, and read-alouds. The reasons why these teachers can no longer engage in these activities is…

This article describes the phases that teachers went through in their engagement with innovative teaching strategies as part of a school-based research consortium linked to a university department of education in England. The teachers recorded their experiences and responses in diaries which gave access to their dominant feelings and concerns…

This document contains reflections upon several decades of teaching and learning in the field of global education. Developments made in global education during the 1960s and 1970s are a main focus and a set of homilies--a distillation of what the author has learned about global education--are put forth. (DB)