Purpose: This research aimed to obtain insights into how farmers on small and medium-sized farms perceived the benefits of the information they receive from their interpersonal networks and other sources. Design/methodology/approach: Farmers' information environments were explored using socio-spatial knowledge networks, diaries and in-depth…

This paper examines and compares the recent emphases in school education and school leadership training in Australia and the state of Tasmania as they relate to the democratic purposes of schools. It finds a strong emphasis on the democratic purposes of schools and congruence between these purposes and the means of achieving them, in respect of…

Democratic leadership processes are desirable for schools not only because they reflect socially mandated ethical commitments to collective process. They can be professionally justified as a necessary approach to leading schools effectively in the increasingly culturally diverse communities and a world transformed by the effects of technology and…

Purpose: The aim of this article is to compare images of ideal leadership between independent elementary and secondary schools and research universities using a standardized set of values, and to compare these ratings with an empirically-derived model of effective group leadership. Design/methodology/approach: Ratings by individuals within…

This paper examines the contributions of Deborah Partridge Wolfe, a previously overlooked female African-American educator, to social education. Throughout her career, Wolfe consistently drew attention to issues of democracy, diversity, and equity through her teaching, curriculum development, scholarly writings, speeches, government service, and…

Purpose: This study reported a qualitative analysis of health-seeking behaviors of community-dwelling elderly Chinese Americans on the influences of family network, cultural values, and immigrant experience in their use of health resources. Barriers to health care, pathway of health care, and adaptation of health care by use of self-treatment and…

Positioned in relationship to reform literature calling for small schools "by design" and interpreting data from a case study of a high performing but low-SES district in a Midwestern state, this paper provides a basis for making sense of the apparent divergence in policies governing schooling structures in rural and urban places. Its…

Reforms in the functioning and purpose of higher education during the past 2 decades have created profound changes in the expectations and values of university students worldwide. Indeed, the values of entrepreneurship, vocational relevance, and commercial success have considerably displaced the traditional expectations of knowledge acquisition…

The experiential exercise presented here, using a dialectic process similar to that found within Strategic Assumption Surfacing and Testing (SAST), developed by Mason and Mitroff, offers graduate and undergraduate management students the opportunity to study a contemporary ethical problem in a new way. The ethical issues of a plant closedown…

The development of an engineering curriculum assumes a body of knowledge that students, as future engineers, will need to know. Students acquire this body of knowledge through lectures, laboratories, projects and assignments and other means. The question then arises, how does one select the content and processes that are appropriate for the…

Judging by the press coverage, it would seem that Europeans are the only ones concerned about conditions in Africa, but perhaps the media is not telling the whole story. According to Mark P. Fancher, chair of the National Conference of Black Lawyers' Section on International Affairs & World Peace and the author of "The Splintering of…

The Agenda Setting Model is a program component that can be used in courses to contribute to students' development as responsible, effective, and informed citizens. This model involves students in finding a unified voice to assert an agenda of issues that they find especially pressing. This is often the only time students experience such a…

The British "Index for Inclusion" was selected to be used in three primary schools in the Western Cape Province in South Africa in order to develop a South African model to assist in the development of inclusive schools. The "Index for Inclusion" process entails progression through a series of five developmental phases and this…

Using 3 psychological scales, this study examined the level of emotional intelligence, moral judgment, and leadership of more than 200 gifted high school students who participated in an accelerative academic program or an enrichment leadership program through a university-based gifted institute. Major findings include that on emotional…

This study examines the social and pedagogical factors of success in the teaching and upbringing of younger students and how they perceived the meaning of success. Teachers in the primary grades were asked to answer two questions: "What do you consider to be the most important in the teaching and upbringing process?" and "What do…