By making visible certain entities, phenomena, changes and continuities as being relevant to vocational education, researchers are joint definers of work and education at their sub-national, national and supranational levels. Which stories and mappings are going to have currency in transnational discourses on VET? Studies about transformation of…

The present work explores aspects of political thinking of Greek adolescents in relation to civic education. The chapter aims to investigate the relationship of social and political education, as taught in high-school, to students' concepts and attitudes centering on the way students (a) formulate attitudes towards anticipated political…

In this article, the author describes the summer institute which she planned through her involvement with the Institute for Freedom Studies at Northern Kentucky University, whose purpose is to promote interdisciplinary research, teaching and community outreach grounded in the study of the Underground Railroad. The purpose of the institute was to…

Organisational constructs (e.g. job satisfaction) are at least partially perceptual or latent and the constructs and theories are themselves cultural inventions. People's perceptions, beliefs and attitudes are undoubtedly embedded in the "mental programming" of culture (Hofstede, 1980). Hofstede (1993: 81) notes that much of the academic field of…

The focus of the study is the comparison between the musical abilities of 11-year-old children on the island of Martinique and in Slovenia, and finding out to what extent their development of musical abilities is influenced by musical and cultural family background, music school attendance, choral singing and playing orchestral instruments. Our…

It has been argued that "leadership" is seen as being centrally synonymous with school effectiveness and yet there is comparatively little evidence of the effects of leadership on school outcomes. More specifically, studies of principalship in Hong Kong have tended to be conducted in the quantitative tradition. The study described in…

Recent developments in contrastive rhetoric have looked at a variety of cultural, linguistic, historical, and social factors that influence the complex acts of acquiring and demonstrating second language (L2) writing competencies. These developments, however, focus almost exclusively on writing. The present paper suggests that other communication…

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the ways in which creating and sustaining authentic inclusion requires significant alterations to more than the programmatic regularities that characterize schools (Sarason, 1996). Data from ethnographic case studies of inclusive schools in the United States, United Kingdom and Portugal are drawn upon to…

Changing educational priorities are reflected both in the literature and the models that seek to describe initial teachers' professional formation and learning. However, do new teachers' experiences conform to these models? A sampling of Hong Kong secondary school teachers over their first year as full-time teachers provides data from…

As the demand for education rises, and with the increasing availability and sophistication of the means of delivery, open education and e-learning is being seen as a way to rapidly increase student numbers. This paper explores some realities of providing traditional open education and e-learning in an international environment and examines the…

In this article, we address the topic of death from historic and contemporary perspectives. In the first section, we describe the changes in life expectancy, personal experience, and public awareness of death that have occurred over the past century. In the next section, we examine the impact these changes have had on the mastery of the two…

Theodore Roosevelt was an important figure in the development of the presidency as a primary and authoritative source for definitions of national identity. Through an analysis of three specific rhetorical moves Roosevelt made in arguments over the "proper" interpretation of the Brownsville Raid, this essay examines how Roosevelt both justified his…

Aboriginal people have been described as the most educationally disadvantaged group of people within Australia. Their participation rates at all levels of education are lower than those of non-Indigenous Australians. In an effort to enhance the learning and teaching of Aboriginal students, education systems are seeking appropriate strategies and…

There are four types of capital: economic, human, cultural, and social. The distribution of capital in home and school settings affects the types of educational outcomes and the quality of lifelong opportunities that individuals are able to enjoy. Resource availability and accessibility influence the success levels at which teaching and learning…

Papers on the situation of linguistic minorities in Western Europe and Canada include: "Linguistic Minorities: West European and Canadian Perspectives" (Colin H. Williams); "Geographical Aspects of Minority Language Situations in Italy" (Paul White); "Defining the Gaeltacht: Dilemmas in Irish Language Planning" (Reg…