Recent concerns in the UK about youth disaffection, anti-social behaviour and gang culture have led to an increase in pre-emptive intervention strategies focused on the policing of groups of young people. This article explores the literature on youth/police relationships and the evidence that suggests that preventive police strategies may have…

The author first recognised the transformational power of education when he arrived at university. His career has included over 10 years as a mainstream principal, 7 as executive director of an agency that included being principal of a Special Assistance School, and a 5 year period in between in a leadership role in a community welfare…

Midway High School is a school that would like to be able to claim itself "a restorative school", though its journey is just beginning. It is a mid-decile, urban, co-educational New Zealand secondary school of approximately 970 students. The school draws a wide range of students with approximately 40 per cent NZ European, 27 per cent Pasifika, 26…

New Zealand is going through a major educational shift. It has just brought in a new curriculum that focuses on students, rather than content, as the centre of learning. New Zealand has an increasingly multi-cultural and diverse population and this is reflected in some of the complexities confronting education. Suspensions and exclusions of young…

Clearly, low performing, and especially failing schools, are a high priority concern for policy makers. And it is evident that fundamental systemic changes are necessary. The authors contend that it is essential that policy makers move to a three-component framework for turning around, transforming, and continuously improving schools. The third…

For over two years the National Dropout Prevention Center (NDPC) at Clemson University has been supporting the Lower Kuskokwim School District (LKSD) in NW Alaska with their efforts to reduce high school dropout in 23 remote Yup'ik Eskimo villages. The Rural Alaska Mentoring Project (RAMP) provides school-based E-mentoring services to 164…

Chinese parenting emphasises parents' responsibility in training and governing children's appropriate and expected behaviors, including good academic performance. As reflected by the Attendance Ordinance and the strong involvement of parents in children's study, there is continuous emphasis on parental responsibility in children's education in…

This paper discusses dropout prevention initiatives by the Malaysian government for the disadvantaged indigenous Orang Asli people in the rural villages of Peninsular Malaysia. The roles of the Ministry of Education (MOE) as well as the Institutes of Teacher Education (ITEs) are highlighted pertaining to efforts at improving the quality of…

This article reports a research that is based on a European Safer Schools Partnership that included ten countries and specifically the UK case study which was located in London. The initiators of this partnership had been involved in early SSPs in the UK and the educationalists were very much focussed on work that would address problematic…

This article reports on a study on school disaffection captured in the views of a teacher, a Learning Mentor and a group of six young people at a school in south London. The study critically examined how the discourse of disaffection was produced, consumed, simultaneously resisted and reproduced, and analysed the complex set of negotiations that…

This paper examines what students can tell us about their strategic decision to engage or disengage from learning. A means of accessing student knowledge and experience about teaching and learning is explicated, along with a discussion of student reasoning for making an investment in learning. It is argued that disengagement is a reasoned decision…

Many journal articles provide success stories of initiatives or programs. However, few outline the lessons learned in the building of those programs that may be beneficial to any reader who is interested in duplicating a similar initiative. Thus, the purpose of this article is threefold. The first section will provide the reader with history of…

Students with emotional behavioral disorders (EBD) require pervasive supports that are typically addressed through behavior intervention plans. This article illustrates one student's ("Mark") journey from the general education high school campus, to an alternative discipline campus, and subsequent placement at a juvenile corrections setting. Also,…

Benarty Primary School is situated in Lochore, Fife, Scotland. The school is proactive in developing self regulation; restorative and nurturing approaches. It aims to build resilience in all of its children, staff and families. Playground Pals have been established at Benarty Primary School since 2009 and as part of that programme, there have been…

Teachers for the Future is a regional report that draws together and analyses research findings from a study commissioned by the European Training Foundation (ETF) in seven countries in the Western Balkans region, namely, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia. The overall…