An important aspect of the urban story of many cities in the developed world is their "regeneration" after many years of long-term social, economic and environmental decline. This is especially so in cities that have sought to reverse a long-standing, negative reputation and pejorative image. Based on the context of post-industrial…

The paper presents the social capital as the essential element of success of the Reggio Emilia preschools known for their unique approach to the early childhood education. The collaborative effort is introduced through examples of the currently ongoing "Reggio Narrates" project of Reggio preschools, the "Dialogue with the…

Learning in Motion (LIM) was a European project involving seven partners in five countries: Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Germany and Greece. The project focused on inclusion and access to outdoor education and was financed by the European Commission within the framework of the Socrates-Grundtvig Programme. The aim of the project was to explore if and…

Many belonging to large post-war age cohorts in the western countries moved from rural areas to larger industrializing cities. They retire soon and can consider moving back to the childhood places. This article studies these baby boomers and the issues about their return to peripheral rural areas. The case regards one rural municipality,…

Opportunity NYC-Family Rewards, an experimental, privately funded, conditional cash transfer (CCT) program to help families break the cycle of poverty, was the first comprehensive CCT program in a developed country. Launched in 2007 by New York City's Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO), Family Rewards offered cash assistance to low-income…

Despite Kenya Government's commitment to enhancement of girl-child education, their participation rate at secondary school level is still notably low. Many studies on the girl-child education have concentrated in the rural populations with the assumption that the situation in the urban setting is nearly ideal. This was not the case as was…

The population of rural America has faced changes as the manufacturing industries that once assured jobs for those living in rural areas have moved or closed. Small towns have become smaller as younger residents move away for employment or educational opportunities. As these changes take place rural citizens face increased challenges in the wake…

Using data from a nationwide, large-scale experimental study of the effects of a connected classroom technology on student learning in algebra (Owens et al., 2004), this dissertation focuses on challenges that can arise in estimating treatment effects in educational field experiments when samples are highly heterogeneous in terms of various…

In cities and towns across America, millions of children and youth get out of school by mid-afternoon but have neither a safe, supervised place to go nor a structured or engaging activity in which to participate. Because the hours between 3:00 and 6:00 p.m. are when young people are most likely to be affected by crime or to engage in risky…

In this essay, Jannell Robles explores and discusses some common themes found in her experiences as a Latina undergraduate student. During the summer of 2008, she conducted fieldwork in a rural town in Mexico. Her experiences as the only Latina student on this trip were similar to her experiences at her university and those discussed by Latina…

This article reveals how educational policies and policy contexts in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Australia establish the circumstances which enable and constrain individual and collective teacher professional development as praxis. We provide insights into existing partnerships between universities and schools, and, municipalities and the state as…

South African universities are required by the Language Policy for Higher Education adopted by the government on 6 November 2002 to implement multilingualism in their learning and teaching programmes. Multilingualism is recommended in this policy as a means to ensure equity of access and success in higher education, in contrast to past colonial…

This article provides insight into the nature and scope of home-school cooperation in Finland. Situating the study is a brief overview of the Finnish education system and a discussion of the Programme for International Student Assessment reports that place Finnish student outcomes at the top of rankings among industrialized nations for the past…

Catholics remained outside the Scottish educational system until 1918. The Church preferred mixed-sex infant schools and either single-sex schools or separate departments. In small towns and rural areas the schools were mixed-sex. Women were considered naturally best suited to teach infants and girls, but even in boys' schools, female assistants…

Local government in Portugal had a good opportunity to modernise through the Programa de Formacao para as Autarquias Locais (Foral) [Training programme for local authorities], implemented between 2000 and 2005. Substantial financial resources were made available through the programme to retrain local government human resources in order to improve…