From an Invitational Education perspective, e-learning will only succeed as an educative environment if educators are able to provide an e-learning environment that preserves dignity and encourages communication. The converse: using an online environment to "throw information" at students has the opposite effect; it is experienced as deeply…

In this article, the author reports an action research project she conducted on the influence of technology on parent involvement and communication with their child's school. The author collected data using parent surveys, student interviews, e-mails, and checklists and observations. An analysis of the data collected revealed parents' appreciation…

Educational authorities in many developed countries are funding the development of online environments that aim to facilitate teacher professional learning through collegial, reflective sharing of practice. But is this a case of "if we build it they will come"? Are teachers ready to share ideas and experiences in online communities of…

This paper begins with the observation that in education today, partnership is ubiquitous, in that partnership is mentioned in virtually all policy documents emanating from the Department of Education and Science, Ireland. However the lack of a clear understanding of partnership may mean that its usage in educational debate may obscure more than…

This article reports on a study of teachers in New South Wales (Australia) and their practices surrounding outcomes assessment and reporting, which took place in 2003 and 2004 as a follow-up to a major study in 1995. The study explored whether the main focus of a teacher's work involves planning, teaching, assessing, rewarding and sharing in their…

Religious communities have an obvious interest in passing on their beliefs and practices to future generations. Many traditional churches, however, report major difficulties in retaining the interest and involvement of adolescents. This paper seeks to explore some of the beliefs and values of Australian core Catholic youth (14- to 15-years-old).…

Online discourse environments are increasingly popular both in distance education contexts and as adjuncts to face-to-face learning. For many participants such contexts are experienced as positive, community-supported learning opportunities, but this is not the case for everyone. Understanding more about the online and off-line factors that…

Political participation is critical for the legitimacy of democracy, yet we know surprisingly little about how political competencies develop and can be promoted in young adults. Many studies show low levels of political activity among young Americans, including college students and recent graduates. Although this is widely recognized as a…

In this article, the author presents findings from a national project coordinated by the University of Queensland. The project was designed to explore the links between home, school, and community that supported children's numeracy development. Two of the aims of this project were to: (a) critically review recent Australian and international…

The idea of learning through projects has a long history in the field of education in general, and in early childhood education in particular. Many educators provide guidelines on how to approach project work with children and assert its benefits in various areas of children's learning and development. Yet few empirical studies investigate what…

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the relationship between participation in contrasting school music programs and standardized test scores. Relationships between elementary (third- or fourth-grade) students' academic achievement at comparable schools, but with contrasting music programs as to instructional quality, were…

This article focuses on a teaching method developed by Maria Montessori, starting with activities in the primary classroom, which are continued through the elementary years. The author discusses a few child-centered techniques in preparing children for their work within a larger community--the whole human family. In the Montessori environment, the…

Studies conducted in the US consistently demonstrate that parenting self-efficacy and construction of the parent role are critical elements associated with parents' involvement in their children's elementary school education. Less is known about the dynamics of parent involvement during the preschool period, or in nations outside the US. This…

This paper draws on data from a year-long ethnographic study of a group of 12- to 13-year-old girls that explored the processes through which they negotiated gendered physicality within the context of physical education. Bourdieu's concepts of habitus and social fields and McNay's extension of his work underpin a discussion of three contexts where…

Purpose: To scale language milestones in a group of 527 children to provide an instrument for screening language development. Procedure: The questionnaire regarding these milestones was completed by parental report. It was evaluated whether the scaled milestones satisfied the assumptions of the Mokken item response model. Results: The scalability…