Teacher job satisfaction is an essential factor for teachers’ and school effectiveness and students’ academic and educational achievement. The present research aims to identify variables that contribute to job satisfaction in a Portuguese sample of lower secondary education teachers, using data from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2013. Two questionnaires were used to collect data: a school principal’s questionnaire, and a teacher questionnaire. Hierarchical linear modelling was used to study the relation of school-level and teacher-level variables to job satisfaction. The results show that teacher-level variables are better predictors of teacher job satisfaction than school-level variables, except for the variable public/private school. In addition, variables related to interpersonal relations emerge as the most significant predictors of job satisfaction. The results suggest that, in order to improve, schools must take care of interpersonal relations, mainly at the classroom level, where most of the perceived job satisfaction seems to rest.

Dyslexia is a term widely used to describe reading characterised by problems with the fluent and accurate letter or word recognition. Nevertheless, there is no consensus about the definition, origin, and diagnosis of dyslexia and the term is often used very differently by researchers and practitioners. In many cases, research findings are employed by clinicians in ways that are misleading and potentially counterproductive. The present study takes the form of an examination of participant samples included in studies of dyslexia (n = 800) over 20 years (2000–2019). The findings show that (1) researchers use a wide range of inclusion and exclusion criteria; that (2) IQ-reading achievement discrepancy is the most common inclusion criterion for dyslexia samples; (3) studies typically compare dyslexic samples to normal controls but not to other poor readers; (4) dyslexia seems to be employed as a catch-all term for poor readers in general, not as a term to define a specific type of poor reader. Finally, (5) dyslexia studies are very rarely published in educational journals.

People with disabilities have often been discriminated against in higher education; however, many institutions of higher education find ways of providing access to higher education for those with most forms of disabilities. Progress has been made in providing such access but undoubtedly there is still a need for more disability awareness, anti-stigma, and anti-discrimination training. At the same time higher education requirements, by default, involve higher cognitive capabilities. Some disabilities, those involving severe limitations of cognitive functioning, face insurmountable difficulties in meeting these higher intellectual demands, even with the most reasonable accommodations. Teacher education, for example, requires special attention to the cognitive tasks for which students are being prepared. We, therefore, discuss the role of teacher education in higher education and its special relationship to the matter of disability and inclusion. We also consider perspectives on the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in various other aspects of higher education.

Literacy instruction is a powerful determinant of children’s academic and school outcomes. Teachers’ training for literacy instruction is therefore critical for children’s reading learning. The present study examined the contents of 130 courses related to literacy instruction from a representative national sample of primary teachers’ undergraduate programs (N = 81), to address the following issues: which courses, related to literacy instruction, are included in the curriculum of undergraduate training programs? Which is the weight of the courses in undergraduate programs? What are the contents of the courses? The results show that most critical features of literacy instruction are included in the course contents of most programs (e.g. phonics, theory of literature). Still, some other critical features are underrepresented (reading/writing comprehension skills) or apparently missing (assessment and intervention in reading/writing problems). Moreover, the time allocated to literacy instruction seems to be scarce. Still, wide differences across university programs and courses were found.

“Reimagination” is required to create a new vision of education that better serves individuals with disabilities. Imagination is a way of conceiving possibilities and probabilities. The future of special education is imagined within the limits of possibility and probability of “appropriate” education for children with special educational needs and disabilities. Education is reimagined for full inclusion without special education and an alternative reimagination of inclusive special education. Particular attention is given to the administrative structure of public education and to the training of teachers for the imagined approaches to special education. The importance of imagining special and inclusive education being based on science and rationality and the limitations of proposed approaches to including students with disabilities in education are explained.