Notes the lack of male staff in early childhood settings and discusses benefits to young children from having positive interactions with men in a variety of roles and settings. Suggests making the presence of men a formal part of program policy and philosophy, and recruiting male volunteers as a way to bring men into a program. (TJQ)

Immigrant English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students in secondary schools can benefit from contact with ESL college students. Their older peers can become mentors and role models, providing access to information on postsecondary education. The article explains how a pen pal project can bring these two groups together and describes how to create…

Reviews patterns from literature on teachers of color and teacher preparation, including: recruitment and retention; role models; assessment; alternative programs for particular populations; and perceptions of programs and teaching. Analyzes 90 records that appeared when combining the descriptors multicultural education and teachers of color.…

Compares the effectiveness of three classes teaching ethical reasoning to high school students. The three classes were an introductory ethics class, a blended economics-ethics class, and a role-model ethics class taught by graduate students. Tests measured the ways students reason, feel, and act with regard to ethical-normative issues. (MJP)

Finds that the life and writings of Thomas Merton can be quite appealing to high school and college students because he embodies and articulates the dynamic activity of God's call in his life. Merton gives voice to students' struggles to find meaning and to their difficulties in expressing their experiences of grace in their lives. (VWC)

This manuscript explores the concept of balance for master's students enrolled in student affairs preparation programs in the Southeast and Midwest. It provides research on the ways balance is restricted for master's students who are employed in a student affairs setting while also enrolled in preparation programs, and it investigates themes which…

Parents of children in a large primary school in New South Wales were asked questions related to their attitudes towards and beliefs about composite (multigrade) classes. Parental concerns about composite classes are commonly reported as negative and this study confirmed this concern. Issues identified as causing concern for parents were a belief…

Romanticism's valuing of love and the life of the imagination, combined with its belief in human potential taken heroically to and beyond its limits, provides a way of addressing differently and fruitfully certain issues to do with pedagogy in schools, making in particular better sense of what it means to be an effective teacher and a productive…

Professionalising the early childhood workforce in terms of improving pay and conditions of work and employing male workers can be seen as independent trends: there is no necessary relationship between the two. However, when the definition of professionalism is extended to include the scope and quality of practice, the experiences and views of…

Religion, like Superhero discourse, is a contested topic of question and debate in early childhood education. This article draws on data from a small ethnographic study that took place in a long day care centre in Sydney Australia. The study examined how children negotiated their "identity work" in the context of popular culture. In this…

This article describes the results of a workshop that was held in Valencia during the annual conference of SEFI in 2004. The authors give remarks on the results supported by relevant and recent research. In the workshop, where about 35 participants were present, the following questions were discussed and answered: Which factors indicate that an…

In this article, the author discusses African American researchers' perspectives on the experiences, impact and success of Black teachers with Black students in public schools. This study builds on an earlier study that focused specifically on these researchers' insights about the impact of the "Brown versus the Topeka Board of Education" decision…

This paper focuses on youth voices about sex and AIDS and reveals significant discrepancies between the "ideal adult worldview" and the "practical youth worldview" on sexual matters. In discussing the 'youth worldview', it draws on Piaget's theories of childhood development and Perry's theory of student development, both…

Brogden Middle School (BMS) is located approximately 15 miles south of Goldsboro, North Carolina, a city of approximately 40,000 citizens and the home of a military base. To decrease the number of discipline referrals of African American males, 10 students who had the most frequent discipline referrals during their seventh-grade year were…

In this article, the author focuses on the Washington, D.C. school system and Antonio, a child victim of violence, to discuss the background problems that affect the school performance of children from troubled neighborhoods. People who work in schools know that children--even kindergarten and preschool children--don't come to them as blank slates…