Purpose: The aim of this paper is to consider the role played by vocational education and training (VET) for young people in Australia. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on an analysis and synthesis of the existing research and literature, including the author's own body of research in the field, regarding VET delivered in schools…

This paper discusses how some of the music projects supported and developed by Community Music Wales have attracted the interest of disaffected young people. In addition, the paper describes how project participants are able to have their learning formally recognized under a national accreditation system, thus gaining access to employment or…

Cynthia Harnisch shares her unique perspective on the revered place that museums and community arts organizations occupy in the lives of the people they serve. She relates how, as vice president of the Autry National Center in 1994, she came to be introduced to Inner-City Arts and through that introduction discovered a new respect and recognition…

Socioeconomic status at the individual- and school-level are positively related to literacy achievement in all English-speaking countries. The components of socioeconomic status -- income, parent education and parent occupation -- are each statistically significant predictors of school literacy achievement but they are primarily a proxy for more…

Storybook features, such as linguistic richness and print salience, potentially influence how a teacher references print. This study addressed two research questions: (1) to what extent does the linguistic richness and print salience of children's storybooks relate to teachers' use of print referencing? and (2) to what extent is there an interplay…

Narrative skills that are important for preschoolers include retelling stories, telling personal stories, and answering questions about stories. Narrative abilities form the foundation of reading comprehension. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of an individually delivered language intervention on the narrative skills of…

Evidence suggests that children living in areas designated as socially disadvantaged may be at risk for literacy difficulties. The Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986; Hoover &Gough, 1986) is a theoretical model that sets out to describe the processes that children need to develop to become proficient readers, that is word…

Despite policy and theoretical support for mixed-age classrooms in early childhood, research examining associations between age-mixing and children's outcomes is inconclusive and warrants further investigation, particularly in preschools serving children who are at risk for poor adjustment to formal schooling. One recent study conducted in…

This case involves a high school principal dealing with increasing numbers of students with “invisible disabilities” in his school while faced with ever-present budgetary cuts, perennially substandard academic performance, and low teacher morale. This case seeks to investigate how a principal, faced with an unsupportive Board interested only in…

Background: Obesity is a major concern among American Indians and Hispanics. The Child Health Initiative for Lifelong Eating and Exercise (CHILE) is an evidence-based intervention to prevent obesity in children enrolled in 16 Head Start (HS) Centers in rural communities. The design and implementation of CHILE are described. Methods: CHILE uses a…

Despite significant investments over the past decade in the expansion and improvement of preschool programs, too many children, particularly poor children, enter kindergarten behind their peers. Because it is critical that voluntary pre-kindergarten (VPK) classrooms offer educational programs that both address the needs and developmental levels of…

Experts agree that computers and computing play an important role in education. Since the 1980s there has been a debate about gender as it relates to computers and education. However, results regarding gender differences concerning computer use in education are not consistent. In particular there is little work done in China on this issue.…

A variety of recent research has shown that the academic achievement gap has been growing between low- and middle-income students. Socioeconomic status has proven to have a large influence on academic attainment as well as the educational opportunities that a child is offered. This paper argues that, because poverty significantly affects children…

Studies have documented challenges in meeting No Child Left Behind (NCLB) expectations as well as gender differences that contribute to the achievement gaps between boys and girls. In response to increased NCLB accountability and achievement gaps between boys and girls, several experts have promoted single-sex education as a possible strategy to…

Corporatisation of universities has drawn parallels between contemporary universities and business corporations, and extended analysis of corporate social responsibility to universities. This article reports on a case study of university-community engagement with schools and school communities through youth engagement programmes to enhance…