A survey of teachers and principals in North Cook County, Illinois, explored tenure issues related to teacher performance, professional image, job security, and teacher welfare. Although a majority of teachers and principals agreed that tenure inhibits dismissal of below-average teachers, 54 percent of teachers favored keeping tenure, and 69…

Argues that reform of teaching conditions will only come through teachers' initiatives and crusades. Offers ways English teachers can improve their working conditions, including (1) achieving consensus among their colleagues; (2) presenting a workload study to principals, personnel directors, and superintendents; (3) requesting additional…

Reconstructs the discussion of a high-school teacher research group. Notes that the intensity of the discussion was not unique to this group of teachers. Notes the common commitment of the teachers to reforming classroom practices and their schools as workplaces. (RS)

In several problematic college composition teaching scenarios, loss of faith in possibility is best described through the concept of disappointment. By articulating the nature of disappointments, instructors might develop an understanding of the collectivity of their experiences which would thus help to change such scenarios. The context of…

Provides excerpts from the six-part history of the United Federation of Teachers, New York City to show that most of the day-to-day rights and dignities teachers now take for granted once had to be wrested from a reluctant and uncooperative system. Suggests that the struggle to maintain these rights is continuing. (GR)

Teacher retention rates in New York from 1974 though 1984 were studied in 57 school districts that used alternative practices of internal salary distribution. These districts were categorized by relative attractiveness of salaries offered entry-level, midcareer, and senior teachers. Data revealed positive correlations between district retention…

We are now accumulating the knowledge base necessary for teaching to become a true profession, and we have the possibility within reach to work together to attain that stature. This editorial essay previews the articles that focus on this theme in this issue of "Educational Leadership." (TE)

A recent survey of the 50 states showed a wide variation in buy-back provisions for emigrating teachers who wish to apply prior service from another state toward their pension plan in the state to which they have moved. A chart shows the number of years of buy-back allowed and the specific requirements for claiming them in each of the states,…

This report focuses on social protections of teachers in Europe, synthesizes responses to a questionnaire by 18 European members of the World Confederation of Organizations of the Teaching Profession (WCOTP), and provides an overview of a variety of situations in European countries. The report includes a list of organizations/countries which…

Discusses problems new teachers have with the teaching profession, including the low salaries, the adversary relationship between teachers and administrators, overly large classes, and too few instructional materials. (EL)

Results of the authors' survey of Oklahoma Education Association members indicate that moonlighting is a common practice among teachers. Whether through additional work within or outside the school system, many teachers feel the need to supplement their salaries. The continuing need for moonlighting threatens teaching's professional status. (JBM)

The potential impacts of teacher work reform efforts on attracting and retaining the best teachers are summarized in this paper, which draws on research conducted in Utah, Colorado, and Missouri between 1985 and 1991. Bluedorn's (1982) model of turnover is used to evaluate the effects of teacher work reform on turnover, which is composed of…

Many of the social reasons that prompted certain people to choose teaching careers in the past, when the only options available to them were bleak in comparison, are no longer valid. Talented people who enter teaching must now do so out of a positive attraction to teaching. Unfortunately, teaching has few positive attractions and those few it does…

This 1977 replication of a 1972 survey sought to determine if recent improvements in teaching conditions and benefits had affected Nigerian high school graduates' attitudes toward primary teaching as a career. (SJL)

Uses narrative inquiry techniques to construct an Australian male's account of formative experiences as an early childhood educator and the difficulties encountered in a traditionally "female" profession. Notes that fear of unwarranted accusations of child sexual abuse and their impact highlight potential vulnerability of men in this…