Building the research capacity of the vocational education and training (VET) sector is a key concern for the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). To assist with this objective, NCVER supports an academic scholarship program, whereby VET practitioners are sponsored to undertake university study at honours', master's or…

This paper lists and tentatively assesses three experiments in preschool education in rural areas in France, and outlines the Massif Central development program which draws extensively on these experiments. In Experiment I, a peripatetic teacher worked with young children, concentrating on speech activities in four different single-class schools.…

Describes West Virginia's Community Work Experience Program, a work requirement program for public assistance recipients. Examines issues workfare raised in a rural context, explains why West Virginia avoided the controversy usually associated with such programs, and notes benefits including improved images for welfare workers, recipients, and…

Discusses common themes in five papers on rural community psychology: myth that rural life is naturally supportive, importance of community needs in designing prevention programs, risks of labeling diseases, rural psychologists as developers/advocates, using advice/direct suggestion, thinking in systems/ecological terms, role/boundary conflicts,…

Case studies of local development projects in Scotland, Norway, Australia, and the United States (Minnesota) indicate that federal education programs of a "generative" nature (those linking educational improvement to other improvement efforts, emphasizing process, and stimulating grass-roots participation) are most likely to promote…

Rural school districts in five Arkansas towns set up school-based development corporations (SBDCs) to provide vocational and career training relevant to the needs of rural high school students and the community and to improve the economic and social welfare of the community as a whole. Each SBDC owned and operated businesses using student labor…

"Rural Sociology: A Field of Basic and Applied Research" was the theme of the 1977 annual meeting. Participants at the convention heard 50 reports in 14 sessions, as well as five special panels and two special sessions. Most of the papers, research reports and essays presented in the sessions are included in this document and serve as…