According to the annual United Nations declarations based on the Human Development Index (HDI), Canada remains one of the best places in the world in which to live. Ironically, this declaration of socio-economic superiority does not extend to the young people in the society. Although post-industrial societies like Canada and the United States may…

Most young people leave elementary school and move into some form of secondary school during early adolescence. At precisely the time that young people are navigating multiple developmental challenges (social, intellectual, academic, physical), they are expected to move between these intuitions of public education. The transition is commonly…

The struggles and often compelling social dramas of middle school may be either long-forgotten or intentionally blocked by adulthood, but many middle schoolers could benefit from guidance during this difficult period of their lives. This article presents the rationale, along with the basic contours, of a six-session program that has been developed…

The purpose of this paper is to discuss, utilising Miller's theoretical framework for social justice, findings of a research study examining the dramatic musical and educational results of an alternative music education programme in Toronto, Canada. What is particularly striking about the findings are the ways in which the participants (youth…

This article outlines the ways in which clothing is one important medium for the presentation of self, on the basis of interviews and group discussions with young people in a qualitative study. In the process of leaving their childhood behind, young people have to present themselves as individuals; the self has to be indicated in an individualized…

Serious Games are digital games with an educational, informative, or persuasive goal beyond mere entertainment (Abt, 2002). They are promising because they often contain features that appear to be useful for learning (Squire, 2004), eliciting behavioral or attitudinal change (Yee, 2007) or encouraging new perspective taking, empathy, and new ways…

This book attempts to get to the heart of debates about religious upbringing and autonomy and the place of faith schools within a liberal society. Contributions are drawn from scholars with research interests in philosophy of education and a range of faith traditions, working in the UK and internationally. They pose key questions such as: (1) What…

Commentary on gender equality in education as a global issue often assesses what makes policy work or why certain emphases in policy are selected. The article recasts this division by looking not so much at the separation between policy and its enactment, but at the forms of mobility entailed in the movement between these different poles. It…

In this article, the author acknowledges the usefulness of pursuing the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia (PESA) "narrative" by way of a more personal account of her own philosophical and professional development. In having the opportunity to read others' contributions prior to writing her own, the author has been able to…

The purpose of this article is to describe young adolescents' perceptions of romantic relationships, ratings of important romantic partner characteristics, and acceptability of sexual activity with romantic relationships. Fifty-seven eighth-grade participants (average age = 13.8 years) from one urban US public middle school completed an anonymous…

Little work has been done to examine emerging adulthood in Eastern European countries such as Romania that are making the transition out of communism into the broader free-market economy of Western Europe. The purpose of this study was to (a) examine the criteria that college students in Romania have for adulthood, and (b) explore whether…

This article traces the evolution of the English language curriculum for senior secondary school in China from 1949 against the background of national developments in China. The latest English language curriculum (2003) is then introduced and discussed in comparison with the 1993 syllabus. The comparison suggests that the 2003 curriculum…

Gottlieb's (1991/2007) study on social malleability of ducking response to maternal calls is perhaps a paradigmatic example of research within the transactional approach to behavioral development--an approach which has fundamental links with the ecological approach to perception-action (Gibson, 1979). This commentary fleshes out these links…

The relationship between hardiness and both grief symptoms and personal growth were investigated in a sample of bereaved college students. Hardiness was inversely associated with grief symptoms and offered prediction of grief misery above and beyond that provided by more commonly investigated individual and death-related variables. Hardiness was…

The dynamic systems perspective has been touted as an integrative metatheoretical framework for the study of stability and change in development. However, two dynamic systems camps exist with respect to the role higher-order form, once emergent, plays in the process of development. This paper evaluates these two camps in terms of the overarching…