The lengthening span of retirement, combined with projections of a growing aging population, has made the retirement population an increasingly important consumer group in education (Van der Kamp & Scheeren, 1997). In the 1960s, educational programming efforts for seniors were grounded in assumptions of decline. These assumptions, and a life…

Alumni self-ratings of their personal growth were linked to their intellectual development during college four to seven years earlier. Graduates that were satisfied with their personal growth in the arts, creative thinking, making logical inferences, learning independently, exercising initiative, and tolerating other points of view had higher…

Formal mentoring programs focus on the probationary period of new teachers. Providing teachers with mentoring support during the initial years of teaching requires significant commitment and investment from school districts, mentors, and new teachers. Numerous studies argue the merits of mentoring programs, yet the research has been less clear…

In this study, I provide a discourse analytical and narrative-theoretical examination of four American undergraduate students' interview accounts of study abroad in France. The key finding is that all of these students accounted for the significance of their experiences studying abroad in terms that transcended the institutionally sanctioned…

This study compares the life events perceived as "rites of passage" from adolescence to adulthood by respondents between the ages of 14 and 23 in 3 countries and discusses the possible influences of culture and globalization on these perceptions. Participants include: (1) 250 adolescents from the US (125 males and 125 females); (2) 191…

This study was conducted in order to understand the factors that contribute to the identity development of Punjabi American women in college. The identified factors are useful for enhancing the educational and psychological development of Punjabi American women in college. A qualitative phenomenological design was implemented to collect data from…

The chapter first introduces the concept of emerging adulthood as a period of life that is characterized by instabilities and fluctuations. Then, the role of goal setting and aspirations in individual development during this stage of life is discussed. Following this, seven chapters of the present special issue are introduced, and the ways in…

The Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities (ABLA) is a tabletop-based protocol employing manipulables that is used to gauge whether individuals with severe developmental disabilities can learn to perform a series of discrimination tasks of varying levels of difficulty. Empirical research suggests that the ABLA is useful in terms of predicting…

This article explores notions of learning in the niche market sector of educational tourism, with a focus on organised recreational tours that promote a structured learning experience as a key feature. It analyses the qualitative findings of surveys and interviews with a cross-section of educational tourism providers in Australia, their…

Regardless of disability status, adolescents benefit from planning and instruction as they prepare to move forward into adulthood. For those with disabilities, however, transition education--that is, the planning, direct instruction, and experiential learning that helps adolescents make decisions and gain requisite attitudes, knowledge, and…

Ontario's new Character Development Initiative is analyzed to determine whether it can be characterized as political spectacle. Examination of official policy texts, media reports, speeches, web pages, webcasts, and events at the Character Development Symposium suggests that the Initiative contains many elements of political spectacle; however,…

This study compared the romantic involvements of Canadian and Chinese adolescents as well as linkages with friend and parental relationships. Participants were 496 Chinese adolescents and 395 Canadian adolescents, aged 16-17 years. Chinese adolescents were less likely to have any form of romantic involvement, including a romantic relationship,…

"The Way ahead" report proposed that Church of England schools should be distinctively Christian and Anglican and recommended a number of practices that schools could adopt to exemplify their distinctiveness. However, the notion of distinctiveness is not well developed and has not been widely researched. An empirical investigation…

In this article we examine a teacher-authored narrative in which Steve Mann (2002), an English as a second language teacher, critically reflects on how his teaching beliefs were transformed as a result of participating in "cooperative development" (Edge, 1992, 2002). Cooperative development is an inquiry-based approach to professional development…

In Experiment 1, Japanese children (4-, 5-, 7-, and 10-year-olds (n = 78)) and adults (n = 36), answered questions about the possibility of psychogenic bodily reactions, i.e., bodily outcomes with origins in the mind. The 4- and 5-year-old preschoolers typically denied that bodily conditions could originate in mental states. Developmentally,…