To optimize the effectiveness of youth mentoring it is important to begin to identify specific preexisting characteristics of mentors that lead to positive experiences for adolescent mentees. College women mentors, aged 18 to 22 years, were paired with middle school girls, aged 11 to 14 years, for weekly one-on-one and group mentoring in an…

The Pen Green Tracer Study questions the difference we may or may not have made to children's lives. An initial cohort of young people, now aged between 11-20, revisited their nursery in 2010. Their stories prompted discussion on parental involvement and advocacy within the education system, key worker attachment, and children's sense of self. Our…

The number of books published by authors using fee-based publication services, such as Lulu and AuthorHouse, is overtaking the number of books published by mainstream publishers, according to Bowker's 2009 annual data. Little empirical research exists on self-published books. This article presents the results of an investigation of a random sample…

This article compares actual help-seeking frequencies across online and face-to-face learning environments. It also examines strategies enacted by nursing students when they faced academic difficulties, reasons for help-seeking avoidance, and the relationship between the frequency of asking questions and achievement. Participants were nursing…

The purpose of this study is to report on the nature of student learning resulting from an open facilitation approach to solo activities. Three key moments of facilitator intervention were identified at which the facilitator was encouraged to take a step back from directing the experience. They are the pre-activity brief, the mid-activity visit…

This article presents the findings of an action research study on developing learner autonomy through project work in an English for Specific Purposes class. The study was conducted at a Colombian regional and public university with environmental engineering undergraduates. The instruments for data collection were field notes, semi-structured…

This article examines two Canadian high school work experience programs that focus on rural youth. The first encourages students to consider work in skilled trades, while the second encourages them to become qualified as healthcare aides. Both programs were designed to encourage high school students to explore careers in fields where labor market…

Background: This paper re-conceptualizes issues related to teacher authority by integrating the constructivist (including social constructivist) and critical perspectives. The traditional perspectives perceive that teacher authority inhibits children's autonomy of learning. This perspective has been largely challenged by two groups of studies--the…

This study examined the effects of instructor support and students' global academic motivation on students' course-specific intrinsic motivation. The authors hypothesized, based on self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), that instructor support for students' psychological needs would enhance intrinsic motivation. Students reported their…

Guided by self-determination theory and research on teacher beliefs, we examined student teachers' (STs) use of instructional choices in teaching physical education classes. Participants included 131 STs (52 men and 79 women) from a major university in the United States. STs completed questionnaires assessing three types of instructional choices…

By means of a longitudinal design the authors sought to determine the role of students' self-determined motivation in reducing the intention to drop out of high school over time, while taking into account the impact of academic performance and of socioeconomic status. The effects of students' self-efficacy and perceived support from parents and…

A popular justification of education for autonomy is that autonomy possession has intrinsic prudential value. Communitarians have argued, however, that although autonomy may be a core element of a well-lived life in liberal societies, it cannot claim such a prudential pedigree in traditional societies in which the conception of a good life is…

Increased parental involvement in higher education has led to a rise in the number of parent interactions with university faculty and staff. The purpose of this study was to explore how parental involvement influences the process of college student autonomy development and to examine the implications of this process for college administrators.…

The purpose of this research was to examine the mediating roles of job autonomy and the quality of the leader-member relationship to explain the impact of organizational support on team performance. A total of 228 cases collected from Korean business organizations were used for data analysis. Hierarchical multiple regression, Type 1 SS-based…

The purpose of this study was to explore the quality of the parent-adult child attachment relationship by examining students' perceptions of how their parents support them and facilitate their independence while they are in college. A total of 58 third-year students participated in an online interview via synchronous chat technology. Our findings…