Teacher action research seeks to bring together action, reflection, theory, and practice; and it is acknowledged as a way to value and honour teachers' practical knowledge. The purpose of this article is to conceptualize teacher action research as "Bildung," applying Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics as a theoretical…

This paper reports a 3-year (1999-2001) Australian study of teacher judgement of student writing. It analyses teachers' talk to discover how they arrive at such judgements. It focuses on the processes teachers use as they read and appraise student writing, as distinct from judgements recorded as numerical or letter grades. It identifies and…

I offer a close reconstruction of John Dewey's account of vocation in "Democracy and Education", bringing out the existential and aesthetic dimensions of Dewey's idea that vocations constitute perceptual environments for their practitioners. Although Dewey offers this idea to teachers only as an insight about student development, I contend that…

These comments address three issues central to the exploration of "Fostering a Community of Learners" in subject-matter domains: discipline, understanding, and community.

In a series of three papers, I examined the identity-development of three Chinese women teachers as they moved back and forth between Eastern and Western cultures and languages amid the rapidly changing events of the last four decades. I use a river metaphor to explore three phases in the cross-cultural lives of these women: in the first paper,…

Advocating individualized instruction, this article provides a model for conducting research on individual student differences which teachers actually recognize and use to modify their instruction. Provides examples of how teachers accommodate individual differences in middle and junior high school classrooms. (JDH)

Explains the difference between everyday thinking and academic thinking. Maintains that children who experience academic learning problems may rely too much on everyday thinking skills. Relates examples of this problem in reading, mathematics, and science. (JDH)

Describes the cognitive characteristics and procedural "forms" associated with common school learning tasks. Illustrates how variations in these can affect student motivation and learning. Concludes that simple task content and unvaried procedures tend to result in limited thinkers and alienated workers. (JDH)

Provides a review of research on the use of computers in education. Concludes that the computer's ability to provide active learning with sustained attention and consistent feedback make it a useful teaching tool for a wide variety of subjects. Urges more research into the physical, social, and instructional contexts in which computerized…

Reports on the work roles of women in Australian primary schools. Notes that the decision-making body for schools is controlled by men and operated largely on their terms. States that equal opportunity policies were developed as a result of male dominance and the increasing level of local control. (JDH)

Outlines the program "Language Arts in the Primary School" which was developed by the National Institute for Curriculum Development in the Netherlands. Focuses on three areas of that project: (1) the school and its language education; (2) the projects research activities; and (3) the school's curriculum. (BR)

Describes a British government study of self-evaluation procedures used by local educational authorities. A survey of self-evaluation policies in 104 school districts revealed a variety of approaches. Findings indicate a need to further define the evaluations' objectives, increase teacher participation, and increase staff development training. (AM)

Outlines the design and implementation of an elementary school curriculum development project in Lesotho, Africa, which stressed the central role of the teacher. Curriculum design took into account extreme educational conditions including inadequately trained teachers, high student-teacher ratios and attrition rates, and insufficient supplies. (AM)