Explores why Thinking Skills/Cognitive Acceleration programs have struggled to make an impact, noting that classrooms are resistant to the kind of change these programs demand. Considers five constructs of teacher development (socialization, craft knowledge and expert-novice, "pedagogical" content knowledge, images of teaching, and teaching and…

Questions the narrow definition of learning used in lifelong learning discourses. Uses evidence from a study of patterns of participation in adult learning in South Wales from 1900 to argue that if informal learning continues to be ignored, the result may be an exclusiveness in defining a learning society. (CMK)

Addresses the effects of school inspection on teachers and schools in Northern Ireland. Presents findings from a study of the perceptions and experiences of some 70 Northern Ireland primary and secondary level schools. Reveals that although inspections are considered professional and supportive, clear reservations about them persist. (CMK)

Provides results from surveys with secondary school teachers conducted in 1982 and 1998 at the same Local Education Authority. Reports on the teachers' attitudes to poetry, specifically the reading, writing, and discussion of poetry. States that the second survey follows considerable change in the teaching of English and poetry. (CMK)

The educational provision for young children in Italy today displays quite unique features; in some regions it attains some of the highest child access percentages in the world, is attended by families from all social classes and many services are denoted by qualitative excellence. It thus provides an interesting observatory for discussing the…

The world has made great strides in providing primary education to the poor, and the donor community has financed much of the effort. However, the standardized achievement tests developed in many countries show unbelievably low outcomes. One of the reasons why such is happening to many countries is that their schools' have lower time on task.…

In this article, the authors propose to examine the question of the French early childhood schooling in terms of the socialization processes. The authors start by presenting briefly the main characteristics of the French nursery school. They then discuss socialization processes through sociological perspectives on historical and anthropological…

This article examines the participation of women in decision-making processes in the field of education, from a global perspective, through their roles and positions in International Conferences on Education (ICEs). This analysis is based on a sample of sixteen of the forty-six ICEs held from 1934 to this day. All of the ICEs that took place over…

This article intends to show that contemporary proposals for early child-care and education (ECCE), typical of the modern process of neo-liberal policies, have been familiar to developing countries since the 1960s. Their heralds continue to announce the same news; they have just changed their clothes. These heralds are the international…

This article presents a synthesis of an unfinished dialogue on Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) scenarios for education in the twenty-first century and on the position of education that these scenarios question. The first part of this article brings together some of the core considerations put forward by the members…

Educational theorists and researchers have long considered time a key component of individual learning. Caroll, in his classic model of school-based learning, conceptualized achievement as an outcome of two time variables: first, the amount of time a learner is engaged in learning; and second, an individual's learning rate. Caroll's ideas…

This document, derived from the works of the 47th session of the UNESCO International Conference on Education (ICE) (Geneva, 8-11 September 2004) with a theme "Quality Education for all Young People: Challenges, Trends and Priorities", will be taken into consideration in order to enrich the reflection and to reinforce, in the short, medium and…

This paper has two purposes: (1) to explain briefly in terms of Piaget's theory why relationships are fundamental for constructivist teachers; and (2) to show how constructivist teachers can think about relationships in classroom activities. In a nutshell, the message is that the process by which children are constructing their intelligence,…

Data presented in this paper point to the fact that in spite of a widely supported thesis of "male disadvantage or underachievement" in education, nonetheless, beyond school males have the competitive advantage in terms of wider social, economic and political outcomes. Any analysis which seeks to understand the educational realities of males and…

As people embark on a new globalized world, the old formal system of education in the Arab world is facing challenges and dilemmas. How can the new system preserve their Islamic and Arabic culture, while incorporating strategies for a new globalized world? This article tries to answer some of these questions by focusing on Morocco as a case study.…