This article describes an action research project in which the members of a basic English class for adults over 50 at a Colombian public university undertook the mission of discovering their potentialities as autonomous learners. By means of the reflective use of the language portfolio, the members of this course guided the planning and execution…

In 2009 AONTAS commissioned a piece of research to examine the outcomes and impact of community education in relation to the three aims that the Government has defined for it: enhancing learning; fostering empowerment, and contributing to civic society. In part, the research also responds to a need to measure the wider benefits of learning (such…

As Coos County youth age, their attachment to their communities may deteriorate. This brief presents new data from the Coos Youth Study. This research indicates efforts to keep young people in Coos may benefit from efforts to show students that their views matter to adults in their communities. (Contains 8 figures and 10 endnotes.) [This work was…

This Toolkit forms part of the project entitled "Time for a New Paradigm in Education: Student-Centred Learning" (T4SCL), jointly led by the European Students' Union (ESU) and Education International (EI). This is an EU-funded project under the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) administered by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture…

Delane Bender-Slack takes on the important subject of teaching for social justice. Her article's strength is in its uncompromising look at complex, often misinterpreted teaching challenges. This article focuses on actual teachers working for social justice in their classrooms. Working from a strong theoretical framework, she pushes us in new…

Stigma is a powerful force in preventing university students with mental health difficulties from gaining access to appropriate support. This paper reports on an exploratory study of university students with mental health difficulties that found most students did not disclose their mental health problems to staff at university. This was primarily…

Teachers' learning and occupational well-being is crucial in attaining educational goals both in the classroom and at the school community level. In this article teachers' occupational well-being that is constructed in teaching-learning processes within the school community is referred to as pedagogical well-being. The article focuses on exploring…

A Latina college professor describes the family history-writing project she uses in her reading/language arts teacher preparation course. The project provides opportunities for Spanish bilingual teacher candidates to gain greater understanding of their cultural selves and to consider ways to successfully deploy that new insight as teachers in…

This research is an interpretive study of individual and institutional language practices based on an analysis of quantitative and qualitative data from a large higher education institute of teacher training in Britain. The study explores teacher professionalism in relation to language, examining the "invisible" linguistic and cultural…

Self-empowerment techniques are personal growth activities that are used over time to create a sense of self-worth, personal accountability, and power in an individual. Generally, the goal of these techniques is to recognize, accept, and act upon individual hidden reserves of talent, ability, and courage. The techniques are learned experientially…

Describes the Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking (RWCT) Project. Provides an illustration of the RWCT framework of evocation, realization of meaning, and reflection, focusing on how literacy activities can develop fundamental ideas about democracy. Considers the implication of "democratic pedagogy" and includes a lesson plan on democratic…

Describes community planning as an empowering professional practice. Compares the empowerment practices of process-focused and product-focused planning. Uses stages of rational comprehensive planning and stages of community empowerment as the context. (SK)

Offers a theoretical inquiry into changes in the ontology of labor in contemporary industry, and the enabling role played by telecommunications technology in these changes. Asserts that while labor is fundamentally cooperative and communicative, the temporal instability in the workplace caused by neo-liberal forces is undermining the sense of…

Describes growth in interest in education for parenthood. Provides a brief history of this emerging area and considers the range of interests involved, reflecting on their possible motivations. Argues that the question of "who benefits?" is important, and concludes that despite widespread claims of success, a greater degree of rigor is…

Examines the theoretical foundations of the belief that stakeholder involvement empowers the stakeholders and increases evaluation utilization and the validity of the evaluation. Discusses conditions under which these benefits are realized and situations in which they are not. (SLD)