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Recent research indicates that teachers would prefer to allow for more student voice in classroom discipline decision-making than is currently the case. This paper identifies factors that teachers suggest inhibit them from implementing their ideas of best disciplinary practice. It also examines which classroom discipline issues teachers are willing to submit to student voice. Among the most important inhibitors of best disciplinary practice identified by almost 300 Australian secondary teachers were: too many things to do; classroom size and layout; and a lack of support from the school administration. When presented with 30 varying management issues, an independent group of approximately 250 primary and secondary teachers nominated classroom conventions (e.g. tidiness of the classroom) and issues related to teaching and learning (e.g. seating arrangements) as those that they were most prepared to negotiate with students. In contrast they would prefer to concentrate the power of decision-making in their own hands when managing issues pertaining to safety of students and moral issues such as racial and sexual discrimination. (Contains 6 tables.)

In this article, the implications of international students undertaking teacher education in Australian universities are discussed as an example of global teacher education and its consequences for teacher educators and students. Increasing numbers of international students come to Australia to qualify as teachers and this has consequences for the practices of teacher educators and also for the behaviors of the international teacher education students. We contend that the practice of undertaking teacher education in another country produces future teachers who are cosmopolitans who value diversity and embrace change and uncertainty, rather than producing fundamentalists who adhere rigidly to tradition and ritual truths. Drucker's (1993) concept of living simultaneously in global and local worlds forms a central element in the theoretical framework. Studying teacher education in global settings is seen as having positive outcomes and practical consequences at a number of levels.

The reliability of interpretations of findings from dip-slide devices for culturing urine was investigated in a national Swedish external quality assessment (EQA) programme. Also investigated was the extent of improvement in the examination procedure achieved through personnel training programmes and information. According to Swedish national recommendations, dip-slide should only be used in primary health care (PHC) in cases of uncomplicated urinary tract infection (UTI) in females of childbearing age. The recommendations also define six possible outcomes of a dip-slide examination, outcomes that have formed the basis for the EQA programme since 2001. No improvement in ability to classify readings correctly into the six categories was noted for the period 2001 to 2006. Preparations containing 'mixed flora' presented participants with the greatest difficulty, with only 28 % correct reports. The EQA programme, with educational components and voluntary participation, has not improved quality. The disappointing results might be a reflection of the limited effort and resources allocated by clinical microbiology laboratories for training and for sustaining proficiency in the evaluation of dip-slides. For these reasons, we cannot at present recommend the dip-slide technique for use in PHC settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the authors report on an investigation of the types of professional development university academics perceive to be of most value in the current context of universities. In the current context academics are required to undertake a range of tasks that hitherto may not have been seen as the role of academics. These include marketing and generating enterprise income, as well as teaching, undertaking research and performing administrative duties. The conduct of professional development for academics may then relate to roles broader than the traditional ones that focused on research and teaching [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]