This dissertation is about teacher education and employment in Russia, with a particular focus on correspondence teacher education programs. Correspondence education is the focus of the study because it is typically excluded from research on teachers in Russia, and thus little empirical knowledge exists for the evaluation and comparison of correspondence program outcomes among teacher education graduates. The two major types of higher education programs in Russia are daytime (students acquire content by attending lectures) and correspondence (students acquire content through independent reading). The research questions in the dissertation are: (a) how does recruitment into teaching differ for daytime and correspondence educated teachers (including who applies to the two different types of study programs)?, and (b) how does the type of study program (daytime or correspondence) impact employment at school level? Primary data were gathered in Russia from school records (quantitative) and interviews (qualitative) with schoolteachers, directors, teacher education program students and faculty, and education policy makers. The qualitative analysis include the development of two typologies of students, the daytime and correspondence groups, with special attention to their decisions in choosing institutions of higher education, enrolling in programs of study, and career networking after graduation. The cycle of recruitment into teaching describes the real work and life circumstances for prospective and current teachers in Russia. The quantitative analysis includes ordinary least squares regression to test relationships between teacher variables, such as rate of pay and years of experience, across the daytime and correspondence program groups. The quantitative findings indicate some differences between daytime and correspondence educated teachers in employment at the school level, although the type of education program was not a very influential factor. The study contributes to research on teachers in Russia by substantiating and deepening knowledge about university enrollment, in particular into correspondence education, and about professional programs for current and future teachers in Russia.

Black men make up roughly 2% of the national teaching corps, and as Brockenbrough (2012) reminds us, there are recurring themes within Black Masculinity Studies that are central to bear in mind when looking at the lived and teaching experiences of these Black male teachers. The major one is to recognize and acknowledge the unique psychological, emotional, and spiritual toll of Black male marginality on Black men. “Oft-cited statistics on incarceration, homicide, unemployment, high school dropout, and HIV infection rates, among other chronic blights (Dyson, 1993; Noguera, 2003), illustrate not only the systemic marginality of Black men in American society, but also their distance from patriarchal definitions of manhood that rely on White supremacist and capitalist power to reinforce male domination” (p.5). The intention of this study was to engage with these Black male teachers’ narratives, stories, and commentaries and learn from their life and teaching experiences as Black men. The aim was to gain insight into how they were recruited, how they were supported, and also what their understandings and thoughts are around retaining Black male teachers in the classrooms. This is a small qualitative study is a sample of four Black Male teachers within the 2013 Teach for America Corps in NYC. As Lewis (2006) suggests, many of these Black male teachers consider their role bound to some form of social justice. This inquiry aimed to talk across the struggles and challenges of Black men in the NYC corps of the TFA program and to reach an understanding of their lived and teaching experience, and of the ways ideologies and narratives are negotiated and navigated in schools and classrooms. The questions of inquiry were aimed to provide insight into the recruitment, retention, and professional support of the Black male teacher, both in TFA and outside this program. Participation in this study was limited to Black male educators with one year of elementary or middle school teaching experience, in order to draw on and speak to the greater presence of male teachers at those levels to help teacher preparation programs navigate toward better recruitment processes, and supporting and sustaining more Black males in the classroom.

Thesis (M. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / Refer to document

The focus of the ethnographic diary study is introduced and contextualized in the opening chapter with a site description. The thesis examines the diaries written during a sojourn of over two years in Japan . and proposes to answer the question, "How did the sojourner's initial maladjustment subsequently develop into satisfactory adjustment?"

This thesis describes the casualisation of teachers' work (in Greater Durban) during the period of the democratic transition in South Africa. It provides evidence that contract teaching exists among men and women teachers employed in primary and secondary schools. These teachers are relegated to the secondary labour market with low income, poorer working conditions and lack of job security. It begins by adopting an electic theoretical approach, combining labour process and interactionist theories, to understand teachers' work. From this eclectic theoretical perspective, it is argued that contract teachers control and influence over their work is considerably eroded by the casualisation of the teaching labour process. However, unlike existing international studies, it is argued that casualisation of teaching in the Durban area serves not only as a deskilling process for most contract teachers but also as a re-skilling process for a few. Furthermore, this study shows that contract teaching has a gendered dimension. Not only because women teachers are mostly affected by casualisation of teaching but that it tends to relegate women to the primary school system where they teach young children. It is therefore argued that the casualisation of teaching extends women's mothering role into the classroom. The historical basis for casualisation of teaching, in South Africa, especially its gender dimension is a result of the 'Marriage Bar 'of 1912, the legacy of the Bantu Education system and the non-standardisation of teachers' qualifications until the 1980s, as well as the education policy flux during the period of political transition. Because contract teaching has existed over a long period, it has to be acknowledged as a sub-category of the national teaching corps. This means that the contribution of contract teachers towards the formation and transformation of the capacity to learn should not only be recognised and accordingly rewarded by education authorities but that casualisation of teaching should constitute an area for further academic research. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, 1998.

The Eastern Cape Department of Education has a constitutional and legislative mandate to provide quality public education in all public schools within the province. The commitment to improve also involves ensuring effective educator personnel provisioning in public secondary xii schools. However, despite various legislative and policy measures relating to educator personnel provisioning, serious concerns have been raised. There have been concerns over the shortage of educators. There are concerns over the lack of suitably qualified educators, especially in Mathematics and Science subjects. Disparities have been noted between legislative and policy directives with regard to educator personnel provisioning and the expectations of educators based on the realities in public secondary schools. The complications and challenges thereof have called upon for the appraisal of educator provisioning. The objective of the study is to describe and explain the nature and place of personnel provisioning in public secondary schools. Thereafter, evaluate its application at selected public secondary schools in the Eastern Cape Province. The basic intention is to prove that the educator personnel provision policy implementation in public schools needs to be examined and possibly changed for effective results. Basically, personnel provisioning is the first step in the personnel process. It is classified into: Human resources determination; and the Filling of posts The process of filling public personnel posts involves recruitment, selection, appointment, placement, transfer and promotion. In evaluating personnel provisioning policy in public secondary schools, a research study has to be conducted. As an integral part of scope of study, the survey area includes public secondary schools, provincial department offices and educator union/association offices. The questionnaire is used as the appropriate data collection instrument for this survey. The total population for the study are provincial department officials, public secondary school principals, school governing body chairpersons and educator unions/associations. xiii When data was analysed and interpreted, there were various significant findings. The respondents’ demographic details provided a significant insight into the study and its findings. They ensured divergence of opinions and understanding of the personnel provisioning. Regarding human resources determination and the filling of posts in public secondary schools, it was found that there are challenges in terms of the employment of suitably qualified educators. These include among other issues educator dissatisfaction and lack of effective procedures in the filling of posts. This also results in educator shortage in public secondary schools.