This article describes the basic elements of an intensive action research process. The process started from an educational programme offered to professional groups interested in the problems in developing the public sector as a forum that would transcend the boundaries separating different work organisations. The introduction of the programme…

Over the last 24 months--with support from the National Education Association and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards--over 2,000 National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) from North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Washington examined teacher recruitment and retention research and participated in structured…

The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) was commissioned by the Royal Society to complete a study exploring the potential of a Fellowship programme for early- to mid-career education researchers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). The study was set within the broader context of increasing capacity in STEM …

In 1993, The Charles F. Kettering Foundation published "College Students Talk Politics," a national study conducted by the Harwood Group and based on focus groups on ten American campuses. The study found, among other things, that students considered politics "irrelevant" to their lives and saw little purpose in ever actively participating in the…

This document is a summary of the "First Experts' Meeting: Defining Areas of Action to Enhance Learning--From Access to Success," which took place at UNESCO Headquarters from March 26 to 28, 2007. The meeting brought together some 30 experts from around the world including researchers, educators, educational planners, representatives of United …

Communities are critical arenas for adolescent development. This study uses mixed methods to assess contextual correlates to community connectedness in 8th, 10th, and 12th grade youth. The survey examined the relationship between community connectedness and four developmental supports: safety, community monitoring, creative outlets, and meaningful…

The purpose of this study was to investigate young athletes' imagery use from a developmental perspective. The participants were 110 male and female athletes competing in both team and individual sports. They represented four different age cohorts (i.e., 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, and 13-14 years). Sixteen focus groups, two for each age category and…

Purpose: The paper comprises an evaluation of the inclusion of art-related education within a health promotion course for student nurses, which ran for four cohorts from 2001 to 2005, and a description of a project to introduce art into a clinical skills laboratory as part of the course. Design/methodology/approach: The art-related aspects of the…

This article describes the preferences expressed by 16-year-old and 17-year-old boys when they were asked what they want to learn from sex and relationship education classes and how they want to be taught. Research was carried out in eight secondary schools with boys in year 12. Qualitative responses from questionnaires issued to 307 boys were…

What are the realities of Latina adult learners? This question guided the design of this research project. Utilizing a focus group approach, six Latinas in Kansas City, Kansas, had the opportunity to speak freely about themselves and to share their stories with each other. In this article, the author focuses on the voices of these women without…

As the number of schools implementing systemic, schoolwide positive behavior support (PBS) processes expands (nationally, at least 5,000 schools are participating), increasing attention is being paid to the efficacy of implementation. This article describes a case study of the experiences of Florida's Positive Behavior Support Project, which used…

A research and intervention project to enhance cultural competence (CC) within nursing home staff is described, with particular emphasis on the qualitative findings generated during baseline assessments of 10 participating facilities. These findings, developed from an analysis of transcripts of 56 focus groups, suggest the importance of five CC…

The federal No Child Left Behind Act and previous performance-based accountability policies are based on a theoretical assumption that sanctions will motivate school staff to perform at higher levels and focus attention on student outcomes. Using data from Chicago, this article draws on expectancy and incentive theories to examine whether…

The Regional Curriculum Support Service (RCSS) was established to provide locally based advice and support to principals and teachers in relation to the implementation of the Primary School Curriculum (1999). Drawing on data from a large-scale national evaluation, this article traces the purpose, structure and operation of the RCSS and provides…

Germany's national (or ethnic) identity has become thoroughly European and there are even signs of Eurocentrism. This is particularly problematic for the Turkish Muslims who, arguably, are not European. This article explores how fifteen-year-old German and Turkish youth in two Stuttgart secondary schools, one in a predominantly working-class area…