You can always fall back into teaching. This thesis explores the meaning of this statement as it pertains to teachers’ motivations related to their careers, the decisions they make in both their daily work and their professional goals, and the consequences of those decisions. I investigate why teachers choose to teach. What are the reasons that lead teachers to ‘fall back’ into teaching? Upon beginning their career, what do these teachers experience during their daily work in the classroom? How do they negotiate how they feel with what they do? Falling back into teaching is an arts-informed thesis. I am an artist and a researcher who communicates in text and images. I combine autobiographical writing and the language of art, the elements of design, to explain my academic and artistic journey. The thesis employs the metaphor of a triptych, a three-paneled painting that has been and continues to be used specifically by visual artists. The left panel encompasses the introduction; a definition of 'fallback', an explanation of arts-informed inquiry as a method for researching fallback, and a first meeting with my parents and me who inform the thesis. The middle panel follows my research process in understanding 'fallback' using the elements of design: line, shape, space, colour, value and texture. The final panel provides a reflection on the process and a response to those who have read and relate to 'fallback'.

You can always fall back into teaching. This thesis explores the meaning of this statement as it pertains to teachers’ motivations related to their careers, the decisions they make in both their daily work and their professional goals, and the consequences of those decisions. I investigate why teachers choose to teach. What are the reasons that lead teachers to ‘fall back’ into teaching? Upon beginning their career, what do these teachers experience during their daily work in the classroom? How do they negotiate how they feel with what they do? Falling back into teaching is an arts-informed thesis. I am an artist and a researcher who communicates in text and images. I combine autobiographical writing and the language of art, the elements of design, to explain my academic and artistic journey. The thesis employs the metaphor of a triptych, a three-paneled painting that has been and continues to be used specifically by visual artists. The left panel encompasses the introduction; a definition of 'fallback', an explanation of arts-informed inquiry as a method for researching fallback, and a first meeting with my parents and me who inform the thesis. The middle panel follows my research process in understanding 'fallback' using the elements of design: line, shape, space, colour, value and texture. The final panel provides a reflection on the process and a response to those who have read and relate to 'fallback'.

The purposes of the investigation were (1) to determine whether differences in attitudes, values, an dogmatisms exist between volunteers for an inner-city student teaching experience and other student teachers prior to a student teaching experience; (2) to determine whether differences in attitudes, values, and dogmatisms exist at the completion of student teaching between the experimental group and a control group composed of student teachers assigned to suburban schools.

This study sought to analyse critically the discourse of pupils’ disaffection captured in the views of a teacher, a Learning Mentor and a group of six pupils from key stage 4 at a secondary school in south London. The analysis examined how some pupils acquired the label ‘disaffected’ and considered the extent to which dominant curriculum ideologies and power relations between teachers and pupils contributed to pupils’ disconnection from learning. Additionally, the study examined the effectiveness of the Alternative Education project organised by the school in a bid to engage disaffected pupils in learning. The corpus of data was generated through a combination of semi-structured one to one interviews and a focus group interview. Drawing on Fairclough’s (1989, 2001, 2003) approach to Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), excerpts from the data were chosen on the basis of their salience to the key themes of the study to describe, interpret and explain the opaque and contradictory discourse of disaffection. The teachers’ narratives largely located explanations for pupils’ disconnection from learning in pupils’ cognitive, emotional and behavioural pathologies or the influence of a moral underclass culture in their communities. The pupils’ counter-narratives suggested that their disengagement was a rational response to a perception of de-motivating curricula and disrespectful teachers, resulting in a counter school culture, where resistance accorded status among peers and compliance with teachers’ demands for conformity earned the derisory label ‘Neek’. The teacher’s narrative also revealed that curriculum overload and the preoccupation with attainment targets posed significant challenges in his attempts to engage disaffected learners. However, the success of the Alternative Education Programme highlighted the importance of flexibility and positive educator-pupil relationships in capturing and sustaining the interest of learners. It is argued that an adequate analysis of the determinants of disaffection ought to consider the impact of instrumentality in education on relationships in the situational, institutional and societal contexts of schooling. Furthermore, the significance of class, ethnicity and gender on the academic under-achievement of black working class boys, can not be overstated.

In response to the continued pressure placed on American public schools to increase academic achievement, some schools have begun to reorganize instructional environments in an effort to improve student outcomes. The current study examined one such elementary school that implemented a departmentalized model of instruction in fourth and fifth-grade classrooms in an effort to improve student learning. This longitudinal, cross-sectional study followed a sample of students and teachers over a two-year period in an attempt to ascertain how departmentalizing in the elementary school affected student and teacher perceptions and academic achievement among students in third, fourth, fifth, and sixth-grade. Student perceptions of their school, teachers, peers, and academic performance were measured using surveys and standardized achievement test scores were collected. Teacher attitudes toward departmentalization were also measured using surveys. A factor analysis of student survey results with Varimax rotation resulted in ten factors that revealed a consistent pattern of change in student perceptions when correlated. A consistent relationship between students' academic achievement and perceptions at each grade level was not found. Results suggested that students who began switching classes in elementary school had positive perceptions of their teachers and of themselves as social beings in school. Perceptions of their academic abilities, however, separated from their perceptions of their teachers over time. In contrast, students with one teacher in self-contained classrooms had positive perceptions of their teachers. These students' perceptions of their academic abilities and perceptions of themselves as social beings in school were connected to their perceived teacher-student relationships. Elementary teachers expressed concern over meeting their students' emotional needs, but otherwise reported positive attitudes toward their abilities to teach and meet their students' academic needs in a departmentalized setting. Teachers at the elementary school and the middle school felt that students who switched classes in elementary school were more prepared when they got to middle school and adjusted more quickly than students who came from self-contained elementary classrooms.

Learning emotional responsibility, including emotionally letting go, is an important part of the development of every teacher. When letting go is difficult, it can be helpful to have examples of people who have already matured. This study focuses on the emotional stance, or awareness, of eight effective student-oriented teachers. Sixteen different teachers, from six different middle schools were recommended by their principals as excellent classroom managers. From these, eight were chosen who demonstrated clear authority and a student-centered approach. These eight teachers were interviewed according to the Hilda Taba method for the Interpretation of Data (Maker and Schiever 2005). The questions were structured to help teachers consider their feelings and attitudes as causes of events. When the interviews had been transcribed, they were examined for common emotional dispositions. The dispositions found included those that orient teachers toward perspective taking, considering students to be their own authority, desiring relationships with students, having a positive attitude and being emotionally present. Implications for education include allowing students to determine a portion of their final evaluation.

abstract: Educational Leadership is inherent of many qualities. Individuals who possess leadership stand apart from the mainstream population in general society and in any organization, thus they are change agents who influence others by their uniqueness and dynamism. The art of leadership is challenging, but meaningful, and purposeful as the focus is implementation of consistent affective and effective practices at all levels to assure achievable outcomes no matter the organization type. A leader's calling is rewarding and the journey is that of making and sustaining change through influence. The purpose of this study centered on the relationship factor of educational leadership especially the dynamics between the principal and the teacher and what constructs affect this relationship to affect principal effectiveness. The methodology employed a quantitative format and consisted of a 20 question survey sent to one school district's teachers (N=465) over a 3 month window. The summaries of results were presented in two formats: Raw (exactly how teachers answered) and a Cross-tabulation (Age & Licensure). The findings of the study yielded attitudes and perspectives of teachers regarding valuable information on leadership behaviors, styles, and practices that teachers believe were relevant to principal effectiveness. The most noteworthy aspect gleaned from this study was the people factor wherein relationships are a key factor to a leader's success in any realm that one leads. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Administration and Supervision 2012

The study is designed to capture teacher knowledge, beliefs and attitudes towards the teaching and learning of children with dyslexia/ learning difficulties within the Greek context. It provides insights into understanding about teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion, which can shape professional identity. The umbrella research question is: how can teachers’ experiences of, and beliefs and attitudes about, children with learning difficulties/dyslexia influence teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion, in the context of Greek mainstream primary school? The meaning of dyslexia is viewed from the point of view of mainstream and special primary school teachers’, which is in turn informed by the Greek government’s revised definitions. In practice in Greece ‘dyslexia’ is used as an umbrella term for learning difficulties. Despite the seeming contradiction, it is not uncommon for children with mild learning difficulties to be categorised as having dyslexia. The focus of this thesis is then on the teachers’ beliefs about teaching children with some kind of learning difficulty, who they would consider as dyslexic. Recent education policies encourage a search for pedagogical methods and teaching techniques, to respond to the diversity of the needs within mainstream classrooms. However, although the Greek government has introduced inclusion, many teachers believe that they do not have the skills or resources to manage the situation. Multiple case study methodology is used and the unit of analysis is the individual teacher. This allows engagement with teachers’ beliefs about inclusion of children with dyslexia within the Greek context. Analysis was within the set of data connected with the individual teacher in order to show the existence of their beliefs and later themes were identified across the cases. The sample consists of 20 Greek primary teachers: 17 mainstream teachers and 3 special school teachers. It is purposive, not representing the wider population, for it is deliberately selected to capture a diversity of beliefs informed by known factors, according to international literature (age, teaching experience, severity of case etc). This provides evidence for the existence of identified beliefs rather than the inference of the prevalence of certain beliefs amongst the population. A number of research instruments have been used: interviews with concept maps, observations, narratives and review of documentation. Progressive focusing on the research question during initial analysis led to the identification of two of these cases for more in-depth study, including sustained classroom observation. These are referred to as the “in-depth cases”.Thematic analysis reveals themes of beliefs and attitudes, encoding problems that participants are trying to resolve or to make sense of, and how certain beliefs about the inclusion of children with learning difficulties are mediated by deeply rooted cultural models of disability, compassion and learning. The diversity is illustrated amongst participants with a small number of examples. The study situates the individual accounts in the wider socio-cultural and political context. Prevalent teacher attitudes combine high performance- as historically established in Greece-transmission teaching and disability as limiting, a lack in some way. On the other hand, alternative inclusive practices come mainly from teachers who had received specific related professional development, which included opportunity for critical reflection on their teaching practices. These cases demonstrate the diversity of certain beliefs that influence attitudes, and give a pointer to how one might tackle change.

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