Utilizing a multi-method, in-depth, qualitative approach, this study investigates the impact of structured reflective practice on the teaching decisions of five in-service classroom teachers. Over a twelve week period, participants engaged in daily reflective practice about their teaching. Through the use of daily journals, a structured format for reflection, and regular sessions with a content-expert observer/facilitator, participants became specifically aware of their teaching decisions and engaged in a comprehensive analysis of them. Most participants developed their reflection to the stage of actively generating alternative decisions to those made during instruction. The findings of the study confirm that reflective practice is a developmental competence that can be nurtured in all teachers. Further, the model described in the study can be used to effectively support the acquisition of reflective practice capabilities by experienced teachers. The participants in the study stated that the reflective practice they engaged in as a result of this training was personally and professionally validating,that it positively impacted their self image, that it gave them greater control over the teaching/learning environment, and that it increased the impact they perceived they had on learners. The study concludes that the process of engaging in structured reflective practice on a regular basis can be personally and professionally enhancing to teachers in a variety of ways. Recommendations for improving subsequent training efforts are offered and several fertile areas for additional study are suggested.

Urban school teacher preparation and retention have been a major concern of teacher educators, school administrators and policy makers. The purpose of this case study is to explore urban school teachers' understanding of the ways in which their experiences in an urban immersion teacher preparation (UITP) program and in urban school workplace influence their perceived self-efficacy, persistence and institutional commitment as urban school teachers. Literature review is conducted on alternative teacher certification, the Professional Development School movement, the nature of urban school teaching and learning, and the context of teaching theories. A case study approach is employed to investigate the research problem, with the social cognitive theory of self-efficacy used as the conceptual framework for data analysis. The major source of data is semi-structured interviews of UITP program graduates in addition to their personal statements as part of the UITP program application requirement. The case study findings indicate that urban school teacher perceived self-efficacy is a belief that teachers have in their capabilities to meet the task demand of teaching at urban schools with the requisite competence of urban school teachers. The findings suggest that those participants who are staying as urban school teachers have a strong sense of integrated self-efficacy of three dimensions including classroom management, classroom instruction and contextual congruence, and they are motivated to persist and learn new competence despite setbacks and obstacles. The findings suggest that self-efficacy is a necessary but not a sufficient factor influencing the participants' persistence and institutional commitment. Non-efficacy factors, such as salary pay and education managerial bureaucracy, are the most serious barriers to the stayers' persistence in and commitment to teaching at the urban schools. The results have both practice and policy implications for teacher preparation and retention. Given that teachers' self-efficacy beliefs, persistence and institutional commitment interact with school contextual variables, urban school teacher education needs a better defined context sensitive knowledge base of the task demand of teaching and the requisite competence required of urban school teachers; urban school districts need to implement policies addressing teachers' financial concerns and professional development needs to alleviate teacher turnover.

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This study involved the creation and implementation of an acting course for educators, entitled Teaching as a Performing Art. The primary objective of this course was to aid the course participants in their role development by providing them the space and technical support (through arts training) to experiment with different ways of being in the classroom. The nine participants in this experiential learning course performed the work of the actor/performing artist and developed the articulate voices and bodies critical for communication and presentation in the classroom arena. Simultaneously the participants practiced using the new skills to consciously shape and rehearse their emerging teacher selves, the roles they would play when they enter the practicum classroom as a teacher. Additional data was collected on two of the participants as they completed their student teaching practica the following semester. Results indicate that new teachers have several performance obstacles to overcome in the creation of efficient and effective teacher roles including: indecision, terror, assumption, embarrassment, denial, extremism and ennui. The findings catalog a number of arts-based activities that enable new teachers to move toward improved ways of being in the classroom by embodying strategy, courage, awareness, presence, honesty, poise and excellence.

When one considers the expected shortage of qualified secondary science teachers in the next twenty years, identifying indicators, processes, catalyst and obstacles to change is crucial. Specifically, as school systems attempt to address this shortage, many will have to employ teachers who have not gone through a traditional teacher preparation program. A population of such teachers already exists on the post-secondary level since many college instructors have not had any formal training in pedagogy. Nonetheless, some of them have developed pedagogies that might be considered neoteric. This study investigated seven college instructors in science who were identified as exemplars in the instructional style. The study sought to understand how these teachers might have developed their pedagogical philosophies without formal training in pedagogy. It should be emphasized that the teachers' philosophies, not their practices, were investigated.

Current research findings indicate (1) that the impact of innovations on educational settings is minimal, if any, and (2) that few innovations are being institutionalized. This study examined issues surrounding the institutionalization of innovations, particularly within teacher education programs in developing countries. The study first examined literature on the types of innovations within teacher training institutions in developing countries and on representative innovation research models and theories. Subsequently, based on this literature, a Wholistic Innovation Model was proposed in which four aspects of innovation were identified as "sensitizing concepts." These aspects were (1) innovation characteristics, (2) adopter characteristics, (3) innovation process strategies, and (4) social system constraints and resources. As sensitizing concepts, these four aspects guided the researcher in developing a case-study research design which both quantitatively and qualitatively evaluated the innovation of self-instructional materials (SIMs) at the National Teacher Training College (N.T.T.C.) of Lesotho. Personnel involved currently and historically with SIMs as well as documents were used as sources in evaluating (1) the institutionalization level of the innovation, and (2) the factors influencing that level. The data analysis revealed that SIMs were not institutionalized at N.T.T.C. Factors influencing this status were categorized according to the four sensitizing concepts or innovation aspects in which the most frequently cited factors inhibiting institutionalization were found included (1) the innovation process strategies, and (2) the social system constraints and resources. The aspect that contained factors most frequently cited as supporting SIMs was the innovation characteristic. The aspect of adopter characteristics included an equal number of factors inhibiting and supporting the innovation. A summary of findings and implications from the case-study analysis suggest that participatory decision-making, collaborative control and continuous sensitivity to the needs and perceptions of adopters are important for innovation survival. Evaluating innovations from a systemic or wholistic approach appears to be a powerful and particularly appropriate method for analysis in the area of education.

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