In this article the concept of authenticity is explored within an educational context, using examples from the lives and work of teachers to illustrate the many qualities, dimensions and complexities involved in striving to be true to oneself. In educational settings authenticity has been aligned with personal commitment, meaningful contexts,…

This narrative inquiry aims to look at teacher-pupil relationships through teacher memories. When 49 university students of education were asked to write their memories of teachers, they told about their teachers in relation to pupils. The data were analysed thematically and, based on that, re-read through the concepts of body, caring and power in…

This article provides a cross-national perspective on successful school principalship in three countries derived from an analysis of case studies in the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP). The ISSPP aims to investigate the characteristics, processes and effects of successful school leadership across eight countries (i.e.…

The question of what role free schools should perform in the Swedish educational system has been a contested subject between three ideological, theoretical, political and policy tenets. The first, "contribution to pedagogical diversity in a controlled school market" reflects a traditional social democratic view. The second, "contribution to a…

Inclusive education places much value on implementing the conditions that foster good relationships between students. Research has shown that pupils with special needs can have difficulty in building relationships with peers without special needs. This study describes their social position in regular education. It applies different indexes for…

The intent of this article is to generate thought and discussion about Alberta Education's Daily Physical Activity (DPA) initiative. Compelling reasons as to why the implementation process may be considered problematic are presented as the role and influence of institutional discourse in the implementation of new programming is explored. Through a…

This article reports on a case study intended to improve understanding of the development and characteristics of prospective mathematics teachers' oral explanations. The teaching practices of Donna, who taught algebraic operations, were analyzed, after which she was interviewed. The presence of an important tension in how Donna explained…

This article provides a critical reflective analysis of my life growing up in Jamaica where I attended colonial school, to making the transition to high school in the Canadian context. I examine the elements that have influenced my cultural/racial identity as a person of African ancestry living in the diaspora. I ask questions such as how has…

This article explores two beginning Canadian teachers' experiences of professional development in literacy education. Differences and parallel tensions between the Canadian teachers' and my own experiences as a teacher and teacher educator in Pakistan were identified through narrative inquiry. The significance of this article is found in the…

This study is a qualitative autoethnographical narrative of my grades 1 through 12 experiences in a Catholic school system in Alberta. Autoethnographical research interprets a culture by producing highly personalized and revealing texts; it examines social phenomena holistically and underscores how social histories influence identity development.…

This study uses extant data to examine the roles of ethnicity, social class, and linguistic proficiency in predicting the participation and performance of students for whom English is not a first language (ENFL) from the class of 2002 in a provincially examinable grade 12 subject areas in a large urban British Columbia school district (n = 4,075).…

We examined how much agreement there was between scores from large-scale mandated assessments and report-card grades for 14,776 students in grades 3, 6, and 9 of a district in which conditions were conducive to alignment of assessments. We found significant mean differences between internal and external assessments: effect sizes were 0.29 to 0.63…

Educational theorists have shown increasing concern over the need to ensure that citizens exercise values that consider the relevance of contributing even contradictory perspectives. Nussbaum (2004) has concentrated specifically on the contribution that literature provides in developing the moral imagination, a concept that is linked to the idea…

This article evaluates the effects of two types of rewards (performance-contingent versus engagement-contingent) on self-regulation, intrinsic motivation and creativity. Forty-two undergraduate students were randomly assigned to three conditions; i.e. a performance-contingent reward group, an engagement-contingent reward group and a control group.…

Introducing information and communication technology (ICT) into education has had an impact on the teacher role perception. To learn about the perceptions of primary school teachers who regularly use computers in teaching, their role and the impact of ICT on the instructional process, a qualitative study was conducted in Estonia. Five teachers who…