After reading about the successful Finnish education system, a group of American educators traveled to Finland on an 8-day study tour of three cities to observe several schools and talk with educators there. In this reflective paper, the author describes and analyzes certain aspects of Finnish education as compared with public education in the…

Democratic education and the dignity it affords should create opportunities for students to achieve their most desired outcomes. Some of the current thought and rhetoric in the field of special education and disability studies impinges upon these opportunities by approaching the education of children with autism and other developmental…

This article explores encounters between formal, informal, and non-formal education and the role of mentor-educators in creating values education in which such encounters take place. Mixed-methods research was conducted in Israeli public schools participating in the Personal Education Model, which combines educational modes. Ethnographic and…

This ethnographic study examines the educational struggles of Russian-born Buriat Mongolian children studying in China at a Mongolian/Mandarin school, by emphasizing conflicting educational paradigms between the Russian and Chinese systems. Educational practices are compared. Standardized assessment, teacher-centered classrooms, and group-…

When it comes to pupils in need of special support and pupils with disabilities, Sweden's compulsory school system is sometimes considered a one-track system. This article analyses and critically discusses current policy and practices at various levels of Sweden's compulsory school system for these pupils. The analysis traces three themes at the…

During the last few years, East-Europeans, predominantly Romanians, have become the second largest cultural minority in Catalonia (Spain). Spanish educational institutions now have students from more than twenty different cultures. This paper focuses on the educational background and the factors which characterize the educational experience of…

This paper is a contribution to the debate in Germany and beyond in Europe on future directions for education. It builds on and extends earlier work by the authors, on democratic experimentalism (Moss, 2009; Fielding & Moss, forthcoming) and early childhood workforce professionalism (Urban, 2008, 2009, 2010; Dalli & Urban 2010). At a time…