The Indian Children's Parliament (Rajastan, India) emerged from the Social Work and Research Centre (later known as the Barefoot College), which provides academic and vocational classes at night for rural working children. These children contribute to family incomes, but previously their opinions were not acknowledged. Students elect 17 Parliament…

Theoretical rationale and rural examples illustrate that local government, directly or through participatory community-based intermediaries, can promote development of community social capital. Important program features are participant autonomy, linkage, and returns on investment. Examples with varying social capital impacts include…

Children are unique. They need different things at different times. Parents and educators should listen thoughtfully to children to determine how best to support them. Describes how a New Hampshire Quaker boarding school implements a thoughtful mix of direction and freedom based on participatory decision making and listening. "Clearness…

Group interviews of Scottish students in grades 6 and 9 discussed citizenship education, learning beyond school, the learner as decision maker, and politics. Students sought to widen their opportunities to be involved in decisions about learning and school life. They adopted a moral and social interpretation of citizenship, however, and tended to…

Examines the impact of innovations associated with the Education Reform Act (England) on the management of school change in primary schools. Documents growing tensions between collegial and top-down managerial styles based on quantitative data. Discusses ways to reconcile the emphasis on cooperative working within the context of increased…

The current state of education in Russia strongly correlates with the socioeconomic crisis, which negatively impacts education. Responsibility for education falls to the state and other social institutions, which form a system of education. The many laws, decrees, and rules about education have had little impact on practice. School democratization…

Describes how a democratic classroom and flexible grouping benefit students who arrive "at risk." Illustrates how acting on these ideas has put an end to labeling in the author's first-grade classroom. Describes how many current classroom practices are pervasively autocratic rather than democratic. Discusses district and community support, and…

Teachers and students must become empowered to be active participants in educational improvement and school decision making. They need opportunities to develop professionally. Empowered schools and their principals are very different from schools with little empowerment. Their principals understand how to foster empowering environments. Empowered…

Presents findings of a case study investigating participation of faculty, student, and support staff representatives on college boards in Alberta from an organizational politics perspective. Analyzes data collected at three colleges via interviews, document review, and meeting observations. Constrained by power exercised outside formal…

A long-standing challenge for special education personnel is how to appropriately involve Spanish-dominant migrant parents in the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) process, especially in rural agriculturally based school districts. Twelve recommendations for the IEP process are presented related to parent rights, parent orientation to school…

Addresses moral and ethical dilemmas related to parent involvement in schools. Suggests that school administrators can build effective partnerships by fostering trust and mutual respect between teachers and parents; reeducating parents, teachers, and administrators about their roles in educating children; and ensuring that partnerships are based…

The Okanagan spirit is expressed through the enow'kin, a democratic process where everyone listens, engages, and gives strength to each other, and derives enjoyment from communing with each other. The Okanagan educational process teaches ways to engage in those processes, whereas mass public education dictates a type of education that is…

Strategies to implement partnership teaching in the classroom include considering unsuccessful attempts at negotiating social situations as mistakes rather than misbehavior, introducing Gandhi's concept of truthful love, and using nonviolent communication in conflict resolution. A partnership school council involves all students in school…

A high school teacher describes how her classroom methods changed from traditional teacher-centered pedagogy to the active and democratic involvement of students in developing their own learning communities. Sidebars describe class projects: an oral history project that blossomed into a "Forties Festival" with 1940s alumni and the…

The development of child and youth advocacy has been informed by varying theoretical perspectives and in the last decade has been increasingly incorporated into policy and legislation for young people in receipt of welfare services. Through examining the varying perspectives of young people, advocates and commissioners of advocacy services it can…