Examines assumptions that policy for secondary school teachers' continuing professional development should be dominated by such activities as courses and workshops. Research into learning, communities of practice, and complexity establishes a contrary view that subject departments are prime sites of non- predictable professional learning. The…

Article focuses on the devastating consequences of poverty on the educational outcomes of school children and micro-, exo-, and mesosystems as their home, school, and community. An ecological systems perspective is offered to identify interventions and change the quality of interactions and processes among these systems in ways that improve…

Suggests that our combined public, private, corporate, and proprietary system of postsecondary education can be best understood as a complex interaction of various types of markets, governmental policies, disciplinary associations, and institutional actors. Proposes a model for explaining how these factors interact to form the "system" of American…

Illustrates a "systems approach," based on the quality deployment function, for examining the direct and interaction effects of multiple solutions aimed at improving access to college and student persistence. The high leverage solutions emerging from this study call for the improvement of academic achievement and schools for grades K-12. (SLD)

A South African university's community development program attempted to integrate Checkland's soft-systems method into Kolb's learning-cycle theory. Evaluation revealed shortcomings in the curriculum design, including the assumption of learner autonomy, necessity of assessing students individually, and difficulty of allowing learners to construct…

Introduces series by rehabilitation counseling scholars concerning research on employment interventions and the implications of the findings. Concludes that consumers with severe disabilities need more employment services than can be accomplished from a linear case management model. Argues that productive employment outcomes are better achieved…

Four conceptions of and approaches to systemic change are statewide, districtwide, schoolwide, and ecological. State and district approaches value expert opinion and narrow groups of stakeholders. School-level approaches value school autonomy. An ecological systems approach values broad, meaningful participation and the change process itself. (SK)

Examines the essential features of prevention activities and relates them to modernity and social systems. Draws on systems theory to argue that prevention activities help to maintain, and yet weaken, boundaries by which social-system functioning is sustained. For this reason, preventive policy making can be described as recursive. (Author/KB)

A hypermedia method for teaching management theory is presented as a tool that develops conceptual learning needed for systems thinking. Hypermedia enable links to supporting materials that illustrate the multidimensional nature of management in organizations. (SK)

Presents a schema for expert decisionmaking that can be used as a performance support tool. The ringshaped schema can be used in two ways: (1) beginning at the center with problemsetting and working outward to other supporting factors, or (2) skimming over the factors located in the outer ring to find a topic related to information about the…

Presents a brief overview of dynamical systems. Gives examples from dynamical systems and where they fit into the current curriculum. Points out that these examples are accessible to undergraduate freshmen and sophomore students, add continuity to the standard curriculum, and are worth including in classes. (MM)

Introduces the Outcome-Asset Impact Model, a tool that combines elements of client-centered outcomes and asset orientations with a systems approach. The application of this model to the evaluation of program interventions is illustrated through three case studies: (1) a multiple objective urban revitalization initiative; (2) an early intervention…

Quite a few papers in the two journals, The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension and The Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, deal with ideas for future education towards sustainability and extension and advisory service as facilitation. Both subjects include participatory learning and/or farming systems approaches based on systems…

Purpose: This paper aims to provide a literature synthesis of the learning organization and discuss several pertinent theoretical concepts on the subject. Design/methodology/approach: A range of works mainly from 1990-2004, which aim at providing a variety of perspectives on the learning organization, have been analyzed and discussed based on its…

Sustainability is a contested concept. Whilst the "triple bottom line" is sometimes used to describe the economic, social and ecological dimensions of sustainability, there are differing conceptions of what this notion implies. There are nevertheless some recurring themes that are outlined in this paper. There has also been some…