The article will consider the challenges that pastoral care in education faces to ensure that it continues to make a positive contribution to the learning experience of children and young people living in the 21st century. It will discuss how in recent years the purpose of education has been questioned by writers and the implications this may have…

The article examines the relationship between the development of the subculture of childhood and the evolution of out-of-school education. It identifies the historical stages of the influence of the subculture of childhood on the nature of extracurricular learning and development. We analyze the concepts of the "subculture of childhood"…

Niche construction is the modification of components of the environment through an organism's activities. Humans modify their environments mainly through ontogenetic and cultural processes, and it is this reliance on learning, plasticity and culture that lends human niche construction a special potency. In this paper we aim to facilitate…

This paper presents empirical findings from a 10-year longitudinal study of the educational and occupational socialization of 445 participants who were about 7 years old when first tested, and about 17 years old at the fourth time of measurement. In addition to collecting psychological measurements from the participants, behavioral reports were…

Based on studies of girls' loss of voice and self-confidence in early adolescence, the author introduces a poetics of research grounded in feminist epistemology to explore why this happens and how women can recover their "courage"--to speak one's mind by telling all one's heart. (SK)

Comments on the monograph reported in this issue. Stresses that the monograph illustrates the difficulty of measuring gender stereotypes; provides insight on activity preferences in middle childhood; considers the role of affect in sex typing by distinguishing affective from cognitive influences; encourages broad-based theories to account for sex…

Proposes that current research on language socialization be expanded beyond childhood, or even adolescence, to consider communicative development as a process that extends across the life span. Perhaps more than ever before, adults find themselves called on to master new communications skills as they adapt to new workplace or social situations and…

Posits that an evolutionary perspective can unite the study of the typical development for and individual variation within a species and that environments within the normal range for a species are required for species-normal development. Individual differences in children reared in normal environments arise primarily from genetic variation and…

Explored developmental patterns of gender traditionality and flexibility in 479 children and adolescents. Found that age was positively associated with self-flexibility (a composite of gender-related preferences and self-ratings) and tolerance for others engaged in gender-atraditional behavior. Most variables assessed contributed significantly and…

Current efforts to enhance children's self-esteem are critiqued, and an alternative direction is proposed that is based on the notion of self-esteem as a crucial aspect of human dignity. This approach connects self-esteem to both cultural and social conditions and works toward the reconstruction of school and society. (LB)

This book describes a study of childhood experiences with creating personal space in the outdoors, the role these spaces play in children's evolving sense of self, and implications of place-making for education. Chapter 1 describes the author's personal interests that led to the study, the study population, and the way in which each study site was…

The literature on competitive behavior in children is examined. Sections of the review concern the socializing process of competitiveness, evolutionary foundations, early developmental processes, the relationship between competition and aggression, gender differences, competition and cooperation, anthropological perspectives, effects of…

Believes that special attention should be paid to the problems of ecological upbringing of Russian children. Views ecological upbringing as a continuing and systematic process throughout the school years in which children interact with the natural environment. Focuses on the need to shape elementary children's awareness of ecological concerns.…

Updating a 1977 review, this review of the research concerning parents' effects on their children's development asks what progress has been made in understanding such effects during the last decade. After presenting findings of the earlier review, discussion focuses on five areas of research: temperament, attachment, cognitive development,…

This book examines socialization science, which is the empirical effort to understand how children acquire traits from their families and cultures. This work proposes that one part of the family influence process--broad differences in family environments, except for those that are neglectful, abusive, or without opportunity--may exert little…