Potential Attrition In Education

The decision to change one's job is usually preceded by a process of job evaluation and determining alternative employment opportunities. Dissatisfaction with the workplace can be a strong incentive to seek alternative opportunities. This study focuses on the role played by job satisfaction, morale and HIV/AIDS in educator attrition. The responses of educators who considered leaving their jobs were compared to the responses of those preferring to stay. Findings reveal that job dissatisfaction linked to poor salaries and limited possibilities for career development, as well as the lack of status and respect attached to the profession, may push educators out of the classroom. The low morale amongst potential leavers reflects this dissatisfaction, as well as the stress caused by curriculum transformation and the emotional impact of HIV/AIDS. Factors encouraging educators to stay in their profession included their passion for developing young people and strong collegial relationships. However, many also feel trapped by limited job alternatives, and may embark on withdrawal options such as increased absenteeism or lower outputs. It is crucially important to deal with the sources of educator frustration, lest the result becomes deteriorating service provision and quality in South African education.

With mindfulness initiatives currently highly topical in a range of academic, therapeutic and other domains, new applications of mindfulness have begun to appear in educational settings. This accumulation of twelve research-focused papers contributes to the nascent field of mindfulness in education by exploring practical implementations, as well as theoretical concerns within a range of educational contexts. The contributions in this volume reflect and capture the diversity of approaches to research-linked mindfulness programmes being implemented in contemporary education at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. Ranging across a number of disciplines, the chapters contribute to work on mindfulness in psychology, education theory, and Buddhist studies. From the evidence provided here, it is shown that the implementation of mindfulness in educational settings is certainly worthwhile, while appropriately rigorous research methods are still being developed.

This report is an integration of the seven reports which emerged from the research, and pulls together the findings arising from it. What emerges is that the resignation, death and ageing of the present educator force is likely to have a significant effect on replacement demand for educators over the next four years.

Serves as an index to Eric reports [microform].

This handbook presents and critiques predominant and emergent traditions of Educational Action Research internationally. Now a prominent methodology, Educational Action Research is well suited to exploring, developing and sustaining change processes both in classrooms and whole organisations such as schools, Departments of Education, and many segments of universities. The handbook contains theoretical and practical based chapters by highly respected scholars whose work has been seminal in building knowledge and expertise in the field. It also contains chapters exemplifying the work of prominent practitioner and community groups working outside universities. The Editors provide an introduction and conclusion, as well as an opening chapter which charts the historical development of action research and provides an analysis of its underlying theories. The handbook is organized into four sections, each beginning with a short introduction: - Action research methodology: diversity of rationales and practices - Professional: Knowledge production, staff development, and the status of educators - Personal: Self-awareness, development and identity - Political: Popular knowledge, difference, and frameworks for change This is a key resource for scholars and graduate students at doctors and masters levels, as well as school leaders and administrators. Susan Noffke is Associate Professor of Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Illinois - Urbana/Champaign and co-editor with R.B. Stevenson of Educational Action Research (Teachers College Press, 1995). She taught at the primary school level for a decade, and has led masters and doctoral level courses in action research for the past 20 years. She continues to work with many collaborative projects with schools and school districts. Bridget Somekh is Professor of Educational Research at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. She is a founder editor of the Educational Action Research journal and has been a co-ordinator of the Collaborative Action Research Network (CARN) for many years. She is co-editor of Research Methods in the Social Sciences (SAGE: 2005) and author of Action Research: a Methodology for Change and Development (Open University Press: 2006).

The integration of technology has become so deeply rooted into modern society that the upcoming generation of students has never known a world without such innovations. This defining trait calls for an examination of effective methods in which to support and motivate these learners. The Handbook of Research on Engaging Digital Natives in Higher Education Settings focuses on the importance of educational institutions implementing technology into the learning and teaching process in order to prepare for students born into a digital world. Highlighting relevant issues on teaching strategies and virtual education, this book is a pivotal reference source for academicians, upper-level students, practitioners, and researchers actively involved in higher education.

This book addresses a perennial challenge to the success of the South African education system, namely, discipline. This volume steers the interrogation of discipline in a new direction, reflecting on ways in which recent research can benefit South African schools. This includes the need for alternative discipline that will enhance education. The scholarly contribution lies in its in-depth exploration of the relevance of research findings to South African schools and to the twenty-first-century socio-political environment. For the first time, scholarly interrogation of the issue of learner discipline in South African schools draws on indigenous knowledge systems. Its post-colonial and decolonial perspectives offer an ethical and moral compass for behaviour that could contribute to the well-being of South African society (and other societies similarly afflicted by anti-social behaviour). The book offers a range of perspectives on the debates on discipline and associated issues, and should stimulate future discussions on discipline and indiscipline at a time when South Africa and many other societies engage with the effects of social and political transformation. This scholarly book is aimed at academics and researchers. The contributors include philosophers, moralists, corporativists, education law specialists, curriculum specialists, specialists in education and culture, advocates of ubuntu, and people using meta-syntheses of approaches and practices and religious practices such as a Christian ethical/moral approach to parental and school discipline. They draw on their insights into postcolonialism, the impact of indigenous knowledge, theories of agency, dysfunctionality and school underperformance. The book offers an intriguing depiction of opposing views on discipline.