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The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of early childhood education and care (ECEC) as an essential service for families and the economy. However, it also exacerbated persisting challenges for the sector which impact educator well-being. This paper reports findings from a qualitative study that investigated Australian early childhood educators' perspectives about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and challenges and supports for educator well-being. A sample of 214 ECEC professionals responded to an online survey and 15 educators participated in subsequent focus groups. Five themes were identified in the data from open-ended survey questions and the focus groups: (1) threats to physical, emotional and financial health; (2) self-care and access to well-being resources; (3) connection with children and families; (4) a supportive professional community; and (5) acknowledging the value of early childhood education. These themes are elucidated using the 'voices' of educators, providing insights into how educator well-being can be supported during and beyond the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My qualitative research in South-Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo suggests that teachers link experienced violence to their role as state representatives. Three elements evoke the militia's distrust: literacy, cell phones, and mobility. Reportedly, militias assume that teachers use these elements to cooperate with the military. This article therefore understands these elements as symbols of stateness, and it demonstrates how a state with overall weak capacities can have significant meaning for teachers' everyday lives in the form of the state-image. Thereby, the article sheds a critical light on approaches that frame teacher (re)deployment in conflict-affected contexts around normalcy and resilience. As teachers cannot escape their affiliation to the state, they live in an unsettling proximity to people who turned against them and who might again do so. Since reasons of the conflict remain unaddressed, teachers become reluctant representatives of a state system in which they themselves are structurally neglected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the gendered nature of teachers' views on schools and security. Current research on security emphasizes masculinity and the absence of femininity in relation to the security field – traditionally dominated by the military and emergency rescue services. However, there is a lack of knowledge on the areas of society that are new to the security field. Schools, pupils and teachers are gendered in many ways. What happens when security is added to this nexus? Existing, limited research suggests that this relationship may be both complicated and gendered. A qualitative content analysis is conducted based on interviews with teachers and principals from two municipalities in Sweden. It shows that teachers hold gendered views of their roles as security actors; of pupils in relation to security, as subjects of risks and sources of threats; and of external security threats. Men are embodied as positive or negative actors, whereas women are embodied mostly as powerless actors. Teachers give voice to a discourse focused on everyday insecurities. This is important, as the role of teachers (in particular women) as promoters of democratic citizens risks becoming undermined, and individual perspectives of security risk becoming replaced by national perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The New Horizon ("Ofek Hadash" in Hebrew) educational reform agreement was signed between the Israeli government and the Teachers' Union in 2008. The purposes of the educational reform document were (a) to improve students' achievements, (b) to provide fair recompense to teachers, and (c) to strengthen teachers' status in society. Research goals were to clarify the ways in which New Horizon was implemented among physical education (PE) teachers, and to examine their attitudes toward the reform and to the changes entailed in implementing it. A survey questionnaire was completed by 381 PE teachers. The study participants reported that changes were positive following the implementation of the reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the plight of faculty emeriti in 23 schools of library and information studies with doctoral programs in the United States. Percentage of respondents that do not serve on dissertation committees after retirement; Percentage of respondents still enjoying academic privileges; Relationship between level of research after retirement and level of professional activity.

The paper interrogates the genesis of the wide spread learner-bullying against their teachers, as experienced and witnessed in South African schooling. The paper is both conceptual and empirical in nature. This is the qualitative case study design. Interviewing technique, document analysis and the observation method, were used to collect data from three selected secondary schools that have very recently faced an unabated learnerbullying. Research findings reveal that firstly, learner-bullying against teachers could result from pupils who are ill-bred. Secondly, that the spirit of un-governability inculcated in previous years learners during the freedom fighting years, is still lingering around. Thirdly, that the hostile schooling environments engulfing current learners, trigger their strange behaviour against their teachers. Fourthly, adolescence stage engulfing myriad secondary school learners, contributes to their immoral and unethical conduct against their teachers. Fifthly, the wishy-washy manner in which an enterprise of teaching and learning occurs in schools, promotes learner monotony and thus learner-bullying. Lastly, celebration of learner defiance and misbehaviour by fellow pupils aggravates bullying by culprits against teachers. The researcher recommends that the society's national morality bar ought not be lowered any further through condoning and approving of any form of learner bullying. Furthermore, it is strongly suggested that the current secondary school learners be guided and supported to regain their moral compass, for them to salvage their own schooling future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a theoretical framework to understand the structure and determinants for rural teacher well-being (TWB), with a focus on key factors that can mediate low pay and poor work conditions, specifically teachers’ professional learning (PL) and community engagement (CE). This framework was tested using structural equation model in a sample of 3155 rural teachers in China. The quantitative results confirmed a second-order factor structure for TWB, evidencing the significant impact of pay satisfaction and the mediating effects of PL and CE of rural teachers. Implications encourage policymakers to strengthen rural TWB by enhancing PL and community connections, while continuing to seek ways to improve pay and work conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In modern historical science, interest in studying the problems of regional history has increased. In our opinion, the most relevant of them are the study of the creation, development and functioning of different types of educational institutions, the history of socio-economic development of the regions, the study of professional employment of the population, etc. Our research interests include studying the professional status of zemstvo (country council) teachers in the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. In this article, within the framework of the professional status of teachers, we will consider their social status, including the material situation (income and level of well-being), working conditions, as well as the opportunities that were provided to teachers by law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the work culture of a group of English as a Foreign Language lecturers in Thailand. The data revealed a unique pattern of work culture, subsequently named “workplace-kinship.” This subgrouping behavior stemmed from similar social ties (e.g., native language and contractual status) rather than competition and protection of interests. The concept of workplace-kinship moves the theoretical understanding of the workplace division beyond a focus on the imbalance of power to what binds teachers together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores teachers’ perceptions of why their administrators bullied them. Data sources included surveys collected from 250 teachers and interviews with 26 teachers. Survey data indicated the main reasons teachers felt bullied were: their age, their association with a teacher union, and their behaviors. Qualitative results showed teachers felt their administrators bullied them out of jealousy, power, because a previous administrator hired them, teacher traits, and differences in teaching styles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supervision groups are often used in professional settings and are introduced to address and provide support in relation to the challenges that arise in everyday practice. Although group supervision is common amongst a range of helping professions, its use in schools is rare. Little research exists as to the merits and challenges of providing school staff with a confidential space in which to discuss and reflect upon their practice alongside colleagues. This research took place in a social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) special school, a highly pressured context, where staff work with pupils with SEMH special needs, and the challenging behaviours they display. This study involved 12 school staff and examined the perceived benefits and difficulties of introducing and maintaining effective group supervision. Data were gathered through semi-structured, one-to-one interviews. Transcripts were subsequently analysed thematically using qualitative data analysis software. Findings indicated that attending group supervision provided participants with the opportunity to foster a greater sense of camaraderie with their colleagues, and address the issue of stress through the offloading, sharing and validating of emotions and experiences. Although few difficulties were reported, important factors to consider are the need to ensure sessions are chaired by an effective, independent supervisor. Ensuring all supervisees are given a voice within a group appears to be an essential part of the supervisor's role. Establishing a method of evaluating group supervision as a means of maintaining its effectiveness is also explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to analyze the stressors and working conditions which affect elementary teachers according to the TP-M theory. For this purpose, a research study was performed with nine focus groups composed of 75 teachers, each working in a different elementary school in Guayaquil (Ecuador). The results showed that occupational risks could be classified in two categories: (1) risks stemming from the social environment in which the teachers carry out their work; (2) risks derived from the new organizational demands that affect the physical and psychological health of teachers as well as their social and family relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this study was to examine the teacher gender preferences of students in all-boys and all-girls schools in Addis Ababa. It also assessed preferences along school types (single-sex and mixed-sex) and gender (boys and girls) lines. Quantitative data was collected from a total of 751 randomly selected students (312 all-girls school, 250 all-boys school, and 189 mixed-gender school students). Documents were reviewed and informal discussions were held. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics in the form of frequency counts and percentage distributions. Some quantitative analyses were also supported by qualitative descriptions. The findings revealed that allboys and all-girls schools students did not have teacher gender preferences, except for mathematics and physical science subjects - fields that are stereotyped as masculine territories. Preferences were not school type or gender dependent. The 'like is good for like' teacher recruitment approach was rejected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within current educational discourse, dialogic pedagogy is diametrically opposed to teaching to the test, especially the high-stakes standardised test. While dialogic pedagogy is about critical thinking, authenticity and freedom, test preparation evokes all that is narrow, instrumental and cynical in education. In this paper, we argue that such positioning of dialogic pedagogy as antithetical to testing is detrimental to attempts both to foster dialogue in classrooms and to constructively manage the high-stakes standardised tests that are compulsory in so many schools. Drawing on an extended case study of dialogic teaching in one London primary school, we argue that while standardised testing is indeed an impediment to dialogic pedagogy, it does not follow that dialogue is impossible or undesirable within the testing context. By adopting an ironic stance towards the test, teachers can fulfil test preparation mandates while maintaining dialogic ideals and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workplace conditions for male and female teaching professionals in primary schools, secondary schools and colleges in Kerala, India were analyzed to assess whether the profession favors men over women, whether male and female teachers differ in their affective orientation toward work and whether they differ in their valuation of workplace conditions. The results showed that moderate levels of discrimination in recruitment characterize the teaching profession. Group mean comparisons utilizing t-Test revealed that, although both male and female teachers reported moderate levels of discrimination, female teachers were significantly higher in reporting discrimination during hiring but equal to men in discrimination in the workplace. Results for gender differences in workplace conditions revealed that female teachers substantially differ from men only in eight of nineteen workplace conditions analyzed. Female teachers were significantly lower in upward communication and task significance (the intrinsic rewards) and in grievance procedures (social support condition) but substantially higher in the stresses of work overload role ambiguity, role conflict, sexual harassment and participation in decision-making. Concerning affective orientations toward work, female teachers were substantially lower in job satisfaction but higher in organizational commitment and intent to stay in the teaching profession. Overall, both male and female teachers were shown to value workplace conditions highly. It is concluded that, although female teachers do not encounter high levels of disadvantages in their jobs, they are not yet equal partners with their male counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is devoted to the status of the Hungarian minority's teachers in Slovakia after the establishment of the Czechoslovakian Republic (CSR) at the end of 1918. The CSR was a state including several ethnic minorities. Hungarians were the most numerous ethnic minority in the Slovak parts. After the foundation of the CSR, the economic, political, social and ideological situation in the country changed radically. Some of the changes affected inhabitants of Slovakia only indirectly, others interfered with their way of life to a significant degree. One of the areas which underwent a substantial change was education in all types of schools. Practically all aspects of life for inhabitants of Slovakia differed from Czechs; this was a result of their cultural and historic development within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This to a great extent was true in the sphere of education. Whereas the Czech language as a teaching medium was already being used actively in schools before 1918 in the Czech lands and Moravia, in Slovakia, with the exception of some elementary schools run by the Church where education was carried out in the Slovak language, the Hungarian language was exclusively used in all schools. After 1918 education in Slovakia underwent a profound change. In regions with a Slovak majority and also in ethnically mixed areas, schools were "Slovakized"; that is, the Slovak language as a teaching medium was gradually implemented. This measure inevitably impacted negatively on the Hungarian teachers. To operate as a teacher in the CSR required the teachers to adapt to the new situation. It was not only a requirement to be proficient in the Slovak language, but also radically change their ideological attitude. Instead of Hungarian patriotism, which was a necessary condition for being accepted as a teacher in Hungary, teachers, regardless of their nationality, were required to exhibit a positive attitude to the Czechoslovak Republic. Suddenly, Hungarian patriotism was classified by the Czechoslovak state authorities as a hostile ideology and was punished by loss of job. Hungarian pedagogues, who constituted a significant part of the Hungarian intelligentsia, were deeply traumatized by this change. As a professional community whose living was based on the Hungarian language, their very professional existence was threatened. The new school administration, represented by the Ministry of Schools and National Enlightenment in Prague and by the Department of Schools in Bratislava, were fully aware of the ideological influence of teachers upon forming the attitudes of their pupils and students; and in that sense their relationship towards the CSR. Therefore, a hostile attitude to the Republic was not tolerated. The Minister Plenipotentiary for Slovakia repeatedly declared that the forming of the political and civic attitude of the young generation was in the hands of teachers and consequently also the future of the country, and therefore the process of hiring pedagogues had to be paid great attention to. According to the Law no. 64/1918 Zb. z. a n. adopted on December 10th 1918, teachers of state schools of the Hungarian Kingdom, as with other government employees, were retained in their positions on condition of performing a "promise of loyalty" to the Czechoslovak Republic. The teachers and professors were informed that if they were fluent in the Slovak language and performed the required Loyalty Promise to the CSR, they would be allowed to continue to teach. It was classified by the state authorities as a proof of allegiance to the Republic. The requirement of the Loyalty Promise to the CSR was, however, judged by many Hungarian teachers as illegal because the territory of Slovakia was according to international law still a part of Hungary. They were not willing to accept the existing situation and the inclusion of Slovakia into the CSR was considered as temporary; with the hope that the geopolitical situation would reverse back to a status quo ante. As a result many Hungarian teachers remained passive or refused outright to perform the Loyalty Promise to the CSR. The leading exponents of the Ministry of Schools and National Enlightenment in Prague and the Department of Schools in Bratislava were convinced that the functioning of Slovak schools would be possible only in the ideological framework of Czechoslovak patriotism and this could not be realized with the Hungarian teachers. Hungarian pedagogues were judged by government authorities as a priori untrustworthy. This resulted in mass dismissals of Hungarian pedagogues from schools in Slovakia, especially during the first months after the establishment of the CSR. According to records made by the Department of Schools and National Enlightenment in Bratislava, which was authorized to carry out the dismissals, in April 1919, 1,100 Hungarian teachers were dismissed. As well as this, before March 1919 approximately 300 teachers had already been dismissed with no warning. The total numbers of Hungarian teachers dismissed during the period from the end of 1918 till September 21st 1921 reached 2, 397 persons. 129 (5.38 %) teachers were subsequently re-hired. The reasons for the dismissal of Hungarian pedagogues according to the Czechoslovak authorities were: the absence of knowledge of the Slovak language, a reluctance to perform the promise of loyalty and a hostile attitude towards the Czechoslovak Republic. Many Hungarian teachers did not wait to be dismissed and left their posts at schools "voluntarily". At the beginning of the 1920s, at all schools levels pedagogues were teaching who, regardless of their ethnic extraction, had received or were receiving their education in Hungarian educational institutions. Some of them were able to communicate in Slovak language, but few were proficient in Slovak to such an extent as to be able teach in this language. In that regard Hungarian teachers were at a great disadvantage. At the time of the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic there was a huge lack of teachers able to teach in the Slovak language. The authorities tried to solve the then situation through inviting Czech pedagogues to Slovakia. However, the arrival of Czech teachers was not always welcomed by the Slovak population and largely, and more especially, the Hungarian minority. The Czech teachers were perceived as intruders who had come to Slovakia to rob Hungarian teachers of their jobs, whereas Hungarian teachers were deemed by state authorities as essentially foreigners from the previous empire. Those pedagogues who were members of Hungarian opposition political parties were especially viewed suspiciously by the authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study the focus will be on the existing literature about teacher collaboration. Firstly, the notion of collaboration in education and forms of collaborative culture will be outlined. Then the benefits and drawbacks of teacher collaboration will be discussed. The next step will outline the factors which restrict collaboration. Finally, factors which help to improve effective collaboration will be examined, which are divided into two main areas as structural conditions and interpersonal dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While social media use has become nearly ubiquitous, there have been few efforts to study how teacher educators prepare their students to responsibly use and teach about social media. This study analyzes 71 students' survey data, reflections, and class activities from education courses across three universities to better understand the successes and shortcomings of social media experiences. Shortcomings included defects in course organization and facilitation, mismatches between instructors and students' expectations or preferred uses, and pre-service teachers' generally narrow visions of how social media might be leveraged educationally in their future classrooms. Successes of social media uses included positive effects on relationships, benefits from affordances of social media, and intriguing visions for future social media use by several students. We conclude by drawing on John Dewey's theory of experience to propose a model by which educators might glean insights into ways to foster educative social media experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this column, the author raises and explores questions about new teacher diversity initiatives and the call for more teachers of color. Such questions include, why is there now a heightened awareness and focus on the need for more teachers of color? How are these new initiatives different than those that came before? How has the context-politically, socially, and economically-shifted and evolved to warrant successful teacher diversity reform? Or has it? The author examines the historical conditions that influence the presence and lack thereof of teachers of color and the policy reforms that both support and undercut teacher diversity initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School-based social and emotional learning (SEL) programs are presented to educators with little understanding of the program components that have the greatest leverage for improving targeted outcomes. Conducted in the context of a randomized controlled trial, the present study used variation in treatment teachers' (N = 143) implementation of four core components of the Responsive Classroom approach to examine relations between each component and the quality of teachers' emotional, organizational, and instructional interactions in third, fourth, and fifth grade classrooms (controlling for pre-intervention interaction quality and other covariates). We also examined the extent to which these relations varied as a function of teachers' baseline levels of interaction quality. Indices of teachers' implementation of Morning Meeting, Rule Creation, Interactive Modeling, and Academic Choice were derived from a combination of teacher-reported surveys and classroom observations. Ratings of teacher-student classroom interactions were aggregated across five observations conducted throughout the school year. Structural path models indicated that teachers' use of Morning Meeting and Academic Choice related to higher levels of emotionally supportive interactions; Academic Choice also related to higher levels of instructional interactions. In addition, teachers' baseline interaction quality moderated several associations such that the strongest relations between RC component use and interaction quality emerged for teachers with the lowest baseline interaction quality. Results highlight the value of examining individual program components toward the identification of program active ingredients that can inform intervention optimization and teacher professional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teacher communities play a central role in teachers' professional development. This study provides a systematic review of empirical research on teacher communities (TCs). Based upon predefined selection criteria, 40 studies were analysed using a narrative method. Three different types of TCs were identified: formal, member-oriented with a pre-set agenda, and formative TCs. Results showed that different stakeholders (governments, school principals, teachers) are involved and their different perspectives and degrees of involvement (distinguishing between TCs realised bottom-up or top-down) impact TCs. Finally, several conditions for success were reported: supportive leadership, group dynamics and composition, and trust and respect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is based on a comparative analysis, juxtaposing archival and oral historical sources, to identify changes that took place in the teaching profession in the annexed Baltic States. Attention is paid to the generation of Estonian and Latvian teachers, born in the 1920s–1930s and trained as Soviet teachers in the 1940s–1950s. Their transformation into ‘Soviet people’ included acceptance of Soviet values and rejecting the inherent ones. Therefore, the research focuses on the course and outcomes of reeducation of teachers pursued by the Soviet authorities up to the early 1960’s. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers the author's insights on topics related to challenges in teaching in the U.S. Topics mentioned include the Multicultural Education, the social aspects of teaching, and the Black Lives Matter movement. Also mentioned are the college professor identity, the importance of transparency in classroom, and the social conditions of teachers in the country.

Drawn from two larger ethnographic studies, this article showcases performances of grief as public interventions from teachers in social movements in Mexico and Argentina. Through Judith Butler's conceptual apparatus of public grieving, we present findings on activists' music of repression amplified before the edifices of the state agencies that repressed them, and a multivocal spoken word performance commemorating a teacher on the anniversary of his murder. Performances like these, that position public grieving in the political and pedagogical, are imperative units of inquiry given the surge of teachers, students, and parents organizing worldwide against racism, educational reform, and austerity, all while confronting violent responses from state- and private-sector authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite current demographic imperatives, little is known about how teachers understand, construct, and enact their professional identities in relation to teaching English learners (ELs). This article, an empirical review of the literature on teacher identity and ELs, examines how teacher identity has been investigated among educators working in English-dominant teaching contexts. Findings suggest that the literature has largely focused on three main facets of teacher identity: characteristics of teacher identity, factors contributing to teacher identity development, and contextual influences on teacher identity. Implications for promoting the development of a linguistically responsive teacher identity in education include the diversification of the teacher workforce, the incorporation of reflective practice among education practitioners, and fostering professional identity development for teachers of ELs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While teaching is largely a White, middle-class profession, some teachers, including White teachers, come from low socio-economic backgrounds. This paper examines how one working-class pre-service teacher in Australia experiences studying in a predominantly middle-class teacher-education program. Drawing on the work of Bourdieu, this paper seeks to explore what we can learn from the reflections of a female pre-service teacher who is a member of this much smaller group of working-class teachers and who brings to her teaching the habitus and life history that aligns with many of her students and the low socio-economic communities in which she teaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Electronic Journal of Educational Research, Assessment & Evaluation / Revista Electrónica de Investigación y Evaluación Educativa is the property of RELIEVE - Revista Electonica de Investigacion y Evaluacion Educativa and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Classrooms tend to be absolute spaces, places where fluidity is rejected and nearly everything—from people, to ideas, to practices and policies—is viewed and organized through binary logic. Because binary logic is implicitly accepted as the natural order in schools and the structures resulting from it are highly unmalleable, individuals who differ from the norm are expected to assimilate and adapt so as not to disrupt the structure. Those who are too different from the norm to fit in or who refuse to accept the binary structure are viewed as problems and are often ostracized or blamed for disturbing the system. Even when evidence to dispute the binary logic emerges, such evidence is often ignored or rejected in favor of maintaining the status quo. As such, the need for educators with a social justice orientation is needed. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the process one teacher used to create inclusive spaces for students who identify with differences in order to develop a more critical understanding of the work of social justice teachers. The findings suggest the teacher enacted behaviors and maintained beliefs that contradicted her espoused social justice orientation and her classroom was at once both inclusive and exclusive. The findings illustrate the complexities inherent within the work of equity-oriented educators. Implications for educator preparation is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the social pedagogues' subjective experience in the context of reconstruction of stress factors. The main aim is to reveal subjective experiences of social pedagogues from the aspect of stress factors they experience and how they express them in various social, cultural, and educational contexts. The respondents were chosen by target convenience sampling, i.e., social pedagogues (N=14), working at education and training institutions for at least two years of work experience; all having higher university education. To analyse the specialists' experience a qualitative method of data collection have been chosen. Reconstructing a multi-layered context of social, cultural and educational diversity, a complex character of professional stress experienced by these specialists has been revealed. Evaluating the semantics of the chosen social pedagogues' reactions to stress, overall stress harm to people, covering all layers of the personality structure manifests itself, and it can cause somatic and psychic complaints, social and professional maladaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The education sector has virtually disappeared from the Congolese state budget since the mid-1980s. Yet schools have both managed to survive on school fees and to reproduce the public education sector, even though complete privatization would have been a realistic option. In this article, the authors understand this engagement with the state whilst simultaneously bending its rules as a negotiation strategy for better terms of inclusion in the state system. Different state actors cultivate their 'own' practical versions of official rules. In this way, they create space to respond to parents' demand for education, to increase the number of teachers and their salaries far beyond what would otherwise have been possible, and to reproduce the system over time. One may wonder, however, whether the resilience of the sector in the face of the implosion of the state budget does not come at the price of building a more inclusive and higher quality education system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this qualitative study we look at knowledge brokering from an intergenerational teacher perspective. This study aims at describing how teachers perceive colleagues from other generations in terms of knowledge demands and knowledge supplies, and how processes of knowledge-sharing across teachers of different generations take place. Our findings suggest that teachers' perceptions about skills and knowledge of colleagues from other generations can be understood as knowledge demands and supplies and that knowledge flow between knowledge demands and supplies can be affected by perceptions about teachers' attitudes. Furthermore, our findings exemplify the occurrence of intergenerational knowledge brokerage processes within school teams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the themes that emerge from this Special Issue on language teacher associations (LTAs). I discuss various conceptualizations of LTAs, as well as the different theoretical frameworks which the contributors to the Special Issue use in their analyses. I then focus on some of the ways in which LTAs achieve their mission of providing continuing professional development (CPD) to language teachers. I discuss the importance of conferences for LTAs as a crucial space for CPD, as a valuable membership benefit, and as a space for initiating change. Throughout, I point out the implications of the various contributions to this Special Issue for LTAs themselves, for researchers, and for ELT practitioners who are members of LTAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For several teacher associations, webinars and online conferences are an increasingly important mode of communication in a wide range of educational contexts. Yet, despite this growing popularity, relatively little is currently known about their inherent usefulness, what counts as successful participation, or how webinar sessions might best be shaped to support teacher development. Our study aims to address this gap in existing knowledge by examining data gathered from a web conference hosted by the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language over two days in October 2014. We ask what constitutes webinar discourse, what counts as successful and unsuccessful participation, and how the format might be refined in order to maximize successful participation in future online events. Furthermore, it evaluates participants' general satisfaction with the online event. Our study combines discourse analysis of participant contributions with the analysis of questionnaire data gathered from participants. In this way, the study focuses on the turn-by-turn management of webinar discourse, while also taking into account participants' own evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article takes a case study approach to exploring membership, belonging, and identity amongst English language teachers in the twenty-first century. It explores findings from two membership surveys conducted for the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL), and considers the impact of recommendations emerging from the first survey which were implemented to enable members to engage more fully in the organization. The article shows that a combination of reaching out to the broader community of teachers (using increasingly widespread digital technologies), combined with supporting targeted local actions, not only better enables teacher associations to achieve their mission to serve all their members, but also takes into account the changing nature of belonging and identity of ELT teachers, enabling them to become more engaged and have a stronger voice in the ELT community as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teacher associations (TAs) are communities located in complex cultural spaces that may affect their functioning, vision, priorities, and policies. This case study of the English Language Teachers' Association of India (ELTAI) attempts to examine the relationship between the Association and the cultural space it inhabits, with specific reference to the national culture and traditions of charity in India. It explores how the tradition and history of charity in India and the characteristic features of the 'national culture' seem to affect various aspects of ELTAI's nature and functioning. It also attempts to identify some challenges emerging from this relationship that ELTAI seems to face. The present study offers ideas and insights relevant to other TAs, and contributes to the better understanding of, and communication among, TAs across cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses recent policy and discourse in the UK lifelong learning sector to identify a tension in discourse which positions teacher educators as essential to the knowledge economy while simultaneously insisting on the deficits they represent. Drawing on critical analyses from Friedrich Nietzsche, Maurizio Lazzarato and Gilles Deleuze, I challenge altruistic views of professional motivation and situate individual professionalism under a construction of an indebted subject. Examining recent attempts to redefine professional standards in the sector, I argue that teachers are positioned as subject to homogenisation and ethically indebted to a higher ideal. Ethical commitments to adult learning, I suggest, are a cost-effective instrument of social control because of their imbrication in this discourse of irredeemable moral debt to the sector. Responses to this situation, I argue, are likely to include forms of professional mobility which undermine it. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Teachers’ unions and community organizing emerged out of shared collective struggles for social justice in the United States in the twentieth century. Beyond broad general aspirations for a better society, however, their interests and tactics have not always been compatible. This interpretive essay revisits three recent case studies of interaction between teachers and community organizing groups to investigate the conditions that can lead to episodic tactical relationships, entrenched polarization, or solidarity. The cases indicate that while there are many potential causes of mistrust between teachers and community activists, concrete and practical strategies can be forged that can improve student learning, benefit teachers collectively, and increase community engagement in public schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examined the effectiveness of a program to train North Korean teachers to adjust to South Korean society. It used a biographical approach and aimed to examine the characteristics of the adaptation of North Korean teachers who escaped from their country to South Korea. The training program endeavored to assist their adaptation by perpetuating their specialized professional work experience from North Korea. Interviews with 28 North Korean teachers were analyzed, and the effects on and experiences of the participants in the adaptation program of the Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI) involving the North Korean Teachers Academy were presented thematically. In line with major points that arose during the interviews, recommendations were made about policies to support North Korean teachers and the other North Korean escapees adapt effectively to their new society through training based on their past occupational experiences in North Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This ethnographic case study examines how Black educators at an urban middle school enacted critical place pedagogies in order to create a sense of community – that is, a sense of belonging to the place of school – and mutual nurturing between people and space in an attempt to transform how their Black males experienced school. Educators at Starks Middle School did this in order to subvert the failure narrative that describes negative schooling experiences and the ultimate failure of Black boys across this nation. Place pedagogies of Starks Middle School – the signs, symbols, text, pictures, and affirmations used to educate, encourage, and inspire students – were enacted in order to reimagine school space for their Black male students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Comparative & International Education is the property of Canadian & International Education and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses the threat and intimidation being faced by academics in Turkey. Topics covered include the dismissal of academics from their jobs and the cancellation or confiscation of their passports to prevent them from leaving the country, move of the government to put academics on trial for terrorist propaganda, and actions taken by the International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP) and the European Association of Social Psychology (EASP) to support academics at risk.