Survey responses from 42 teachers in 24 Scottish elementary schools and 8 structured interviews suggest that study of the Holocaust is generally considered appropriate for elementary students, parents have few objections, and Holocaust history is set firmly within the context of World War II. Significant barriers to its teaching exist, yet most…

Reviews some educational issues arising during the first year of the new Scottish Parliament. Discusses facility problems and funding needs of small rural schools, debate over what constitutes standards and which performance indicators should be included in legislation, proposed accountability structures for local education authorities, and the…

Comparison of standardized test scores and degree of teacher unionization in states found a statistically significant and positive relationship between the presence of teacher unions and stronger state performance on tests. Taking into account the percentage of students taking the tests, states with greater percentages of teachers in unions…

Asserts that critical pedagogy fails to consider indigenous perspectives and calls for critical theorists to reexamine epistemological foundations. Urges American Indian scholars to bring their perspectives into this dialogue in order to redefine identity, democracy, and social justice. (Contains 65 references.) (SK)

Reflecting on her study of working-class women's life stories, the author shows how several realizations influenced and changed these steps of the research process: collecting stories, developing coding methods, designing a comparative study, considering labels, attending to variations, addressing self-other relationships, and listening to life…

Contends that teachers are routinely given a mandate to train that requires following administrative dictates without question, constraining independent thought and action. Proposes that teachers be given instead a charter to educate, in which they are encouraged and expected to challenge normative practices and policies. (Author/SK)

Unlearning racism involves examining racist assumptions that are embedded in courses and curricula, acknowledging complicity in maintaining existing systems of privilege and oppression, and addressing failure to produce change. Narrative is an effective way to examine experience; it provides an alternative to traditional academic discourse. (SK)

Describes the theory of complementarity, which recognizes the interdependence of individuals, groups, and institutions. Applies it to community education in the Controlled Choice method of assigning students to schools. Compares school districts in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Charleston, South Carolina. (SK)

Explores the sensory and emotional aspects of attention and their implications for teaching, learning, and research. Uses poetry and autobiographical information to explore ways to teach attention and the relationship between attention and art. (SK)

British government policy requires schools to teach environmental education in the National Curriculum and encourages schools to develop their own policy and practice. It is unlikely to be effective without better advice and support. (SK)

Analysis of dialogs between eight mentors and 15 preservice teachers showed that the importance of particular roles varies among mentors. This is likely to cause a mismatch between mentor roles and student needs. (SK)

Approaches to teaching Shakespeare (desk work, dramatization, videos, Direct Activities Related to Texts) were examined. Results showed that desk-based approaches did not necessary preclude imaginative and physical activities. (SK)

Measures of immediate and delayed recall of stories by 8- and 11-year-old children revealed that boys recalled more than girls from stories about violent males. Girls outperformed boys on stories with female protagonists. Most variability in recall related to story-type differences, not individual differences. (SK)

For Paulo Freire, "word" has spoken, written, and active dimensions that underlie literacy education programs. Literacy is a political phenomenon, and critical literacy is the development of a reflective, dialogical, praxical mode of being. (SK)

Although research findings endorse abandonment of traditional skills-based views of literacy, governments are instituting models of literacy learning with psychometric measures and benchmarking. Literacy, learning, and teaching are being taken out of the hands of teachers. (SK)