Interviews with parent, students, and teachers in rural Swaziland found that, as in colonial times, parents felt alienated from the school as an institution. Although national policymakers were pushing for stronger technical education, parents strongly desired academic education to prepare their children for professional employment and felt that…

Examines how six Hong Kong secondary school students of English as a Second Language viewed the roles of teacher and student in evaluating student compositions, and explores the extent to which broader educational context and its belief system shaped these perceptions. Questions viability of notions of collaborative construction of knowledge in…

It is suggested that the weakened demand for Master's in Business Administration (MBA) programs represents an overdue adjustment in expectations. Pressure to reduce student experience requirements and fees is anticipated. A brief history of the degree in the United States and the United Kingdom is provided. (Author/MSE)

Overviews the recent history of special education, including common educational practices and the advantages and disadvantages of full inclusion. A survey of 336 educators in one urban and two rural New Mexico communities found agreement with only 2 of 27 statements regarding potential benefits of inclusion, but with all 26 statements representing…

During the 1930s, middle-class Scottish children almost always attended college preparatory secondary schools, whether by academic ability, payment of fees, or parent assertiveness. This class-biased system of selection had few critics because it favored the more articulate members of society. Opposition to the selection system was due more to…

Analysis of interview data from approximately 800 middle-class and working-class Egyptian girls, aged 12-18, and their mothers supports a model in which mother's educational attainment is related to her age at marriage, husband's occupational status, her own employment status, her daughters' self-confidence, and her daughters' educational goals.…

New constructivist approaches to teaching and learning are at odds with much of what teachers believe. Four questionable sets of beliefs that may be obstacles to adopting a constructivist approach to teaching and learning are reviewed. Real educational reforms will require changes in many teacher ideas. (SLD)

Investigates why African-American parents with children attending urban and suburban Catholic and other private schools prefer private to public schools, focusing on 409 respondents' views toward public schools. Their responses on a 50-item self-report questionnaire show that African-American parents think lack of discipline is a major public…

An OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) project aims to produce a set of international educational indicators to parallel existing economic indicators. Broad categories of indicators are demographic and economic background; educational outcomes; educational programs and processes; and expectations of, and attitudes toward,…

A survey of home-schooling parents and staff associated with the Longreach School of Distance Education in a remote area of Queensland (Australia) examined attitudes about the importance of drama and visual arts education. The majority of parents valued their children's participation in the arts and would like to see more arts education included…

Survey results from cohorts of 511 and 222 gifted and accelerated students surveyed at ages 13, 18, and 23 years and a subset of 73 students indicate that students generally express positive feelings about acceleration. Nonintellectual personal attributes commonly used to select students for acceleration may be inappropriately used. (SLD)

Uses autobiographical analysis to understand the implicit beliefs of preservice teachers about teaching and learning. Finds five themes: instruction should be authentic, relevant, meaningful, purposeful, and interesting; students should be actively involved in their learning; reading and writing to learn are important; teachers can influence…

Describes the Hutterites, a communal German-speaking Christian sect in the northwestern United States and western Canada, who typically school their children only through eighth grade and allow further education only for teacher training. Discusses how well Hutterite children do in public schools, Hutterite teacher education programs at…

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…

Improving schooling and teacher education will be successful to the extent that educators make the public and budget-controlling authorities aware of the relationship between investment in education and productive citizenship. Until educators become more proactive and willing to serve as "American Reconstructioneers of Culture," our…