This study focuses on schoolteacher job satisfaction, dissatisfaction, morale, and facets of professional experience likely to lead to retention or exit from the profession within five years. It was undertaken in an English local education authority which has experienced difficulty in recruiting and retaining teachers. Forty facets of professional…

This two-phase study, conducted in religious and secular high schools, investigated the attitudes of teachers and students to disruptive behaviour. The first phase examined a religious school, then applied the same research tools to a secular school. It was assumed that differences of attitude would be found, with teachers viewing disruptive…

A teaching programme based on relational pedagogy (Baxter Magolda, 1993a) was implemented to foster the development of epistemological beliefs in twenty-nine pre-service teacher education students at a large metropolitan university in Australia. Epistemological beliefs are those personally held beliefs about the nature and structure of knowing.…

The Self-esteem Inventory developed by Coopersmith (1967) was used to measure the self-esteem of 387 Chinese children. The sample included newly arrived mainland Chinese children and Hong Kong children. The results showed significant statistical differences when measuring the self-esteem level associated with the length of their stay in Hong Kong…

This article summarises the findings of a small-scale study of the perceptions and progress of minority ethnic trainees on a one-year Postgraduate Certificate in Education primary initial teacher training course between 2001 and 2003. It also accounts for the reasons behind the trainees' experiences and their erratic and sometimes surprisingly low…

The aim of the study was to examine the influences and motivations on which students base their choice of career. 348 young people aged 14-18 years completed a questionnaire and took part in an interview concerning their choice of career. It was found the greatest influence on their choice of career was their parents, followed by their teachers.…

This study is the first of its kind to focus upon primary head teachers and teachers' attitudes to attendance issues in two distinct but similar-size authorities in England. As part of the fieldwork 192 head teachers were interviewed and a similar number of primary teachers from the same schools. All Heads of special schools within the authorities…

This article reports a study of initial teacher education students' attitudes to inclusion. The cohort investigated was the entire secondary Postgraduate Certificate of Education intake at a university that attracts many of its students from the local region. The study locates these findings among UK policy initiatives for inclusion, and makes…

Ulrich Beck's model of the "individualised individual" in a second modernity has generated interest from social scientists in education, particularly in terms of what he has to say about the demise of social class. What has attracted less attention from educationalists is his argument regarding transformations in the nature of work. This article…

This article discusses the changes in statutes that were necessary to ensure that the duties and responsibilities of the ancient post of proctor at Oxford University were brought into line with the Human Rights Act 1998. As there is no other university with a similarly powerful proctorial system, the changes in legislation may seem to be of only…

Passed by the U.S. Congress in the spring of 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was one of the most significant and expansive education policy initiatives ever undertaken by the federal government. The main component of the act, Title I, allocated significant resources to…

In this chapter, the author discusses immigrant newcomer populations and their experiences with K-12 schooling in preparation for and access to postsecondary education. Much attention has been paid to the concept of immigrant optimism, namely, that immigrant parents are optimistic about their children's futures, including their educational…

Education in the United States is a decentralized system composed of highly variable practices, programs, and school contexts. The primary technology of education, teaching, is highly complex and is typically designed and implemented by teachers who have traditionally enjoyed a great deal of autonomy and independence from regular inspection. The…

In January 2002, Republican President George W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, the reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. The most conservative congressional Republicans, who opposed the bill's extensive new testing mandates and absence of school voucher provisions, were largely left out in…

Instructional aides were formally introduced to classrooms more than 40 years ago, but their jobs have changed over time. Instructional aides do more than prepare materials for teachers and monitor the lunchroom; they provide direct services to students. Most instructional aides care about their jobs and the students they work with, and sometimes…