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Although governments and universities worldwide recognise the value of study abroad as a means to prepare graduates to live and work in a globalising world, there is a wide gap between the rhetoric and reality. The reasons for this are complex, but one factor, not often discussed, is the role academics play in study abroad. This paper explores academics' perceptions of study abroad in universities within two higher education systems: Australian and Czech. Findings from both countries are considered across four themes: academics' perceived value of study abroad; 'internationalising' academic staff; academics' concerns about student equity; and integrating study abroad into the curriculum at home. The implications for practice and further research are discussed.

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Responding to the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Early Years Workforce Strategy 2012-2016 and significant early childhood education and care sector reforms in the last decade, TAFE SA created a new model of long-term support and engagement with the early childhood and schooling sectors across the state. Existing vocational education and training (VET) expertise was utilized to build new relationships and strengthen existing ones. One example of a long-term professional learning engagement with an early childhood service became the focus of an action research project, enabling systematic analysis of evaluative data to determine the impact of professional learning activities on educator practice. The endeavour with this particular service has delivered positive results, such as boosting educator confidence in service delivery reflecting current research and national standards, supported by creation of learning environments with increased stimulation and child focus. Greater emphasis on relationship skills has enabled service provider staff to build more positive relationships with each other, the children and families, facilitating positive behaviour guidance and resulting in a significant increase in job satisfaction and staff stability. The action research project and its outcomes are presented in this paper.

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In recent years, there has been considerable discussion of the challenges facing the future of information education in Australia. This paper reports a study that explored the characteristics and experiences of Australia's information educators. The study was undertaken as part of a larger project, which was designed to establish a consolidated and holistic picture of the Australian information profession and identify how its future education could be mediated in a cohesive and sustainable manner. Sixty-nine of Australia's information educators completed an online questionnaire that gathered data on aspects such as age, gender, rank, qualifications, work activities and job satisfaction. The key findings from this study confirm that a number of pressing issues are confronting information educators in Australia. For example, Australia's information educators are considerably older than that of the total Australian academic workforce; over half the information educators who participated in the study are looking to retire in the next 10 years; and Australia's information educators spend more time on service activities than members of other disciplines within Australia's education system and place a stronger importance on teaching over research. Left unaddressed, these issues will have significant implications for the future of information education as well as the broader information profession. Many of the key observations drawn from this study may also have relevance to other disciplines in the Australian educational context.

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Practice-based research and supervising students' research has become an important task for higher vocational institutes, including the teacher education departments. However, conducting practice-based research is not always common practice for a great number of teacher educators. Therefore, professional development activities are undertaken to support teacher educators in their new role as a researcher. This paper reports on one of those activities: a community of inquiry in which teacher educators conducted a collaborative research on a shared topic derived from their practices, in order to examine teacher educators' professional development and to identify key characteristics for setting up such a community. All participants reported developments in practice-based research skills and knowledge, and developments regarding supervising students' research. In addition, they reported on developments in their beliefs regarding research and on the topic under research. They also reported the impact of the community on other parts of their profession. Commitment, time, teacher educators as experienced researchers and completing the research stages are identified as key characteristics.

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This study examined new faculty members’ perceptions and approaches to student supervision and mentoring as related to their own experiences as doctoral students. Previous research has examined the graduate student-supervisor/mentor relationship but has yet to examine its impact on subsequent graduate student practices when they enter academic positions. Fourteen Canadian faculty members participated in a study on the experiences and expectations of doctoral candidates and early career academics. As a group, these new faculty members perceived that ideally a supervisor would also be a mentor. They perceived that a mentor shares professional and personal experience, functions as a ‘sounding board’, provides guidance and advice, and helps prepare students for the work they are currently doing and for their career responsibilities in the future. A majority of these new faculty members reported that their graduate supervisors were not their only mentor or did not function as a mentor. Furthermore, all participants reported that they consciously made an effort to include mentorship as part of their supervisory role. These findings indicated that graduate students’ own experiences of being supervised and/or mentored informed approaches with their own students. This research shows the apparent value in studying the influences of these important graduate school relationships and demonstrates the way in which our perspectives on supervisory relationships may influence subsequent practice.

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The [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 pandemic poses a new challenge in the adoption of ICT in education. The need for educational institutions to develop standards and implement quality assurance in digital education has suddenly gained new significance. The aim of this study is to evaluate the learning experiences of nurse educators in Slovenia acquired during a nine-week modular online course on the design, delivery and evaluation of online study units, based on a quality standard for digital education developed for this purpose.

A mixed methods approach was used. The evaluation of the nurse educators' learning experiences was examined quantitatively (cross-sectional study) and qualitatively (focus group). The Cronbach's alpha for the entire questionnaire was 0.921, indicating that the internal consistency of the questionnaire developed for evaluation was excellent. The thematic analysis identified three main themes. At the end of the course, the nursing teachers expressed their desire for additional courses in which they could gain and deepen their knowledge of the preparation, implementation, and evaluation of the educational unit with the help of digital technology.

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This chapter describes how California Community College and California State University faculty developed a system for implementing associate degrees for transfer that has the potential to simplify transfer and decrease unit accumulation. This intersegmental, faculty-led system provides a mechanism for maintaining local control of curriculum, while identifying curricular commonalities that can ultimately facilitate student movement within and between higher education segments in California.

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Beginning graduate students who are working in higher education can benefit from establishing a professional development plan designed to enhance leadership capacity. The challenge is to align personal goals with those of the graduate program, yet ensure that collegial socialization and professional competency development occurs. Professional socialization refers to the acquisition of values, attitudes, skills, and competencies pertaining to a professional subculture. In this paper, [the author] describe[s] an activity [the author] designed and the process [the author] used that address equity, diversity, and inclusion as one professional competency area in [the author's] socialization process as a strategy to become a more effective leader.

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Throughout agricultural education's 100+ year history, teacher effectiveness/confidence has remained a consistent factor in student achievement. Furthermore, targeted professional development has commonly been used to improve teacher effectiveness/confidence. With 50 per cent of educators exiting the profession within five years, finding ways to improve teacher effectiveness/confidence will be critical to education's future success. This study aimed to assess the perceptions of agricultural educators in multiple states on various [Future Farmers of America / Supervised Agricultural Experience] /FFA/SAE, Teaching Methods/Financial, and Instructional professional development topics and the impact those topics would have on their confidence. Each participant rated the impact of the professional development topics on a Likert scale ranging from 1 = Does Not Impact to 5 = Strongly Impacts. Overall, all teachers, regardless of career level, collectively chose Career Development Events (CDEs), Leadership Development Events (LDEs), teaching in a greenhouse/wood laboratory/classroom, managing facilities, classroom management, and instructional/curricular development in animal science, agricultural mechanics, plant systems, and natural resources as the most impactful professional development areas. In addition, a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) also reduced the thirty original professional development topics to seven principal components named: (a) Curriculum PD, (b) SAE Progression and SAE Record-Keeping PD, (c) Classroom Instruction Progression PD, (d) FFA Management PD, (e) Agricultural Mechanics Instruction PD, (f) Animal Science Instruction PD, and (h) Plant Science Instruction PD. The correlation of individual professional development topics was assessed within each principal component. As future professional development activities are planned, these topics should be considered due to their impact on the effectiveness/confidence of agricultural educators.

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This chapter frames the transition to adulthood in the context of the moving from formal educational settings to the often less-structured learning that occurs in workplace settings. Although schooling may end, learning continues. In the workplace new graduates encounter new modes of learning, new ways of being, and new settings for working - referred to as 'a blurry space' - and they often feel unprepared. Key aspects of the transition from school to work are highlighted and the author suggests ways that adult educators can help young adults develop the skills they need as they leave the formal classroom and enter a rapidly changing workplace.

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