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In this chapter, we develop the “hall of mirrors” metaphor for practicum learning, introduced in Schön (1987) and expanded upon in MacKinnon (1989), as a heuristic for considering the ways in which we might claim that our practice has transformed through engaging with self-study methodology. First, we reconsider Schön's (1987) ideas about professional learning and their implications for our understanding of self-study, specifically, his claim that professional learning is unique in that a hall of mirrors is created “on the basis of parallelisms between practice and practicum” (p. 297). This parallelism is particularly relevant for teacher educators as we often aim to engage our students in the very practices we hope they will enact in schools. In so doing, we consider MacKinnon's cautions about over-simplifying any model of teacher education. Second, we use these ideas to each select excerpts from self-study work we have conducted in our careers to identify moments of transformed thinking about teacher education. Finally, we arrived at a new metaphor of a concave mirror for a retrospective look at the results of our self-study investigations. A concave mirror, unlike its planar counterpart, creates different orientations of images (right-side up vs. up-side down), depending on how far an object is away. We develop this final metaphor as a way of thinking about the differences inherent in treating self-study work at a distance, after some time has passed from the original moments when we were embedded in a hall-of-mirrors relationship with our students.

This chapter highlights the underlying complexities of the concept of “curriculum” in recent decades and the different definitions given to the concept in curriculum studies by scholars of education in general and ISATT members in particular. After describing the fuzziness of the curriculum concept and seeking to resolve fragmentation through returning to its value and avoiding misunderstandings, this work briefly addresses the “curriculum design” concept and presents some recent developments in ISATT research – “curriculum making” and “vertical curriculum” – that reevaluate the role of teachers. The outcomes of the such investigations converge around teachers' roles as “curriculum makers” and not as mere “implementers”; specifically, they allow explorations of teacher's “best-loved self,” through narratives and metaphors to reaffirm principles – such as decision-making and collegiality – which are necessary for teachers' practices and teaching and teacher education research.

The main purpose of the study is to identify the differences and similarities in the communication between B2B participants in cross-cultural environments.

The research methods used in the study are two-fold: the literature analysis is complemented by primary qualitative research conducted in small- and medium-sized enterprises operating in Poland and doing business internationally. The research was focused on two culturally different markets: China and the United States. In the empirical research, the authors used one of the qualitative methods – Individual Depth Interview (IDI).

General findings showed that the strongest influence of culture was identified among older (+50 years old) business partners. The younger ones are eager to adapt and try to understand others' viewpoints. The research results may be used in creating business communication models in the countries researched for companies that plan to enter both American and Chinese markets.

The results of the study may have useful applied managerial value and be used in cooperation between SMEs' B2B business partners, not only from Poland but also from the whole region of Central and Eastern Europe and the United States and China.

The findings may help to understand and communicate with culturally different social groups such as co-workers, students, teachers, etc.

The research presented in the paper covers the gap in the literature because it relates to some new factors (like cultural heritage, age and type of industry) which determine the effectiveness of personal business communication between partners in the international marketplace.

This chapter will discuss some of the issues involved in navigating learning delivery involving sensitive topics to students from diverse and ‘non-traditional’ backgrounds. It will examine the ways in which biographical narratives can be employed to promote openness, negate stigma, create ‘safe spaces’ and help develop an atmosphere of trust. For students who may have previously encountered some of the issues being taught, they can be encouraged to draw on their personal lived experience to aid learning for their peers and add an often raw and sometimes deeply moving authenticity to the classroom. Of course, there must be care taken to avoid emotional harm and the ethical issues of such an approach will also feature in this reflection.

Tourism and health outbreaks share a symbiotic history (Hall, Scott, & Gössling, 2020; Ozbay, Sariisik, Ceylan, & Çakmak, 2021). Pandemics, epidemics, and endemics have transformed the perception of tourists. Previous outbreaks were geographically limited, resulting in the substitution effect (Prideaux, 2005; van der Veen, 2014). However, the COVID-19 pandemic urged the authorities to cease mobility worldwide. Evidently, mobility-oriented businesses like tourism have received immediate impacts from the pandemic. From shutdown to the minimum clearances, under strict restrictions, the tourism industry suffered atypical outcomes. Heat check-meters, contactless check-ins and check-outs, automotive service trays and counters, and reduced carrying capacity have been introduced to curb the impact of the pandemic on tourism. Tourism requires, throughout its cycle—before, during, and after the trip—the use of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, the internet of things, and geotargeting (Buhalis & Amaranggana, 2015). The usage of technology has been assured to be compatible with the prerequisites of restrictive and compliance measures (Lau, 2020). Moreover, in the supply sector, a competitive environment has also been created to market these new modified products and services. This chapter pursues the investigation of new offerings in a different normal, concerned with health issues, ethical behaviors, and trips with a social purpose to contribute to local development. Secondary data analysis has been performed to achieve this goal. This study implicates the new offerings duly implemented during the new normal.

This paper points to five features that CEO language should have to help enable a robust safety culture.

The paper draws empirical support mainly from the CEO-speak of the CEO of Norfolk Southern Railway in the year prior to the major derailment of a company train and subsequent toxic chemical spill in East Palestine Ohio in February 2023.

CEOs should incorporate the following five features into their CEO-speak. They should actually use the word safety but “in doing so” avoid platitudes about safety. They should exude genuine commitment to safety “cite meaningful safety performance measures” and not ignore operating risks.

Safety is a critically important aspect of corporate endeavor. Yet discussion of it is grossly under-represented in the professional and academic literature. This paper offers sound suggestions that reinforce the need for CEOs to write and speak in a way that ensures their company’s commitments to a strong safety culture are not merely platitudinous buzzwords but are genuinely key strategic elements of their company’s business model.

This paper illustrates the socio-political nature of accountings, referring to the partial privatisation of the monopoly telecommunications organisation in a lower-middle-income country.

Actor-network theory and an ANTi-history approach are used to trace circumstances and occurrences. Empirical materials include official documents, print media and retrospective interviews with organisation employees ten years on from the privatisation.

Proponents of privatisation used retrospectively constructed historical accounts to problematise the natural monopoly of telecommunications and the government organisation administering it. A restructuring programme followed. Proponents addressed controversies pertaining to the programme thus garnering widespread support for complex and controversial changes. Proponents produced and reproduced accounting artefacts as evidence in these processes of history reconstruction, consequent changes and restoring stability to telecommunications in its reconfigured commercial domain. The proponents used selective, controversial accounting evidence to problematise the government organisation's existence, then to mobilise various actors to reduce and close the controversies previously aroused and reinstate stability in a partially privatised telecommunications company. Although no longer having a monopoly this company still dominates. Dissenters did the same but with little success.

The findings demonstrate the importance of tracing the socio-political process of arriving at the dominant outcome about the past. This assists in making sense of present circumstances and re-imagining the future.

The study demonstrates that, during controversial circumstances, taken-for-granted history, as well as what is thought to have not existed in the past, support the dominant network in gaining advantage over their opponents and black-boxing their perspectives of how things should be.