Policy makers increasingly acknowledge that problems and challenges arising at the school level should be resolved on site. At the same time, the political expectation to delegate more responsibility to the individual school is rather heavily contrasted with the weak knowledge about how this new public management approach can be translated into…

Genuine worldwide movements for social change are rare in human history. Even more rare is the phenomenon of a worldwide movement for social change through art, with teaching artists at the forefront. This article presents the evolution of such a movement now, in the global blossoming of "El Sistema," a program that seeks to change the…

School psychologists have a new and stronger position in Sweden's educational system than earlier. For example, as of July 2011, all Swedish students ages 6 through 18 have guaranteed access to school psychology services. The school psychologists' roles are to be active participants and coworkers in the student health service team, working to…

In this article, the author, a Forest School Leader with Shropshire Wildlife Trust, shows how nature is the best teacher. She describes a new approach to out-of-classroom learning during which qualified leaders use simple challenges and achievable tasks to encourage child-initiated learning in the great outdoors. At Forest School, children are…

In this paper the authors analyse the design and implementation of a course about learning management systems (LMS). The course was first given in Cuba and then in Guatemala and Peru, within the project USo+I: "Universidad, Sociedad e Innovacion, Mejora de la pertinencia de la educacion en las ingenierias de Latinoamerica" financed by…

The evaluation of government-financed research has become increasingly important in the last few decades in terms of increasing the quality of, and payoff from, the research that is done, reducing the cost of doing it, and lending public credibility to the manner in which research is funded. But there are very large differences throughout the…

When students are taught to mastery, they become smarter, acquire information faster, and develop efficient strategies for learning. Teachers must have an understanding of what mastery is and how to achieve it in their students. However, teachers cannot teach to mastery without referencing the performance of their students. In addition, teachers…

Describes Cafe 84, a day program in Sweden for survivors of German concentration camps, which offers organized but informal activities so that members can socialize and discuss current feelings and memories. Claims large membership as well as reports of reduced symptoms and increased well-being are evidence of program's success. (Author/ABL)

This paper addresses student-teachers' ability to "read nature" in a woodland habitat before and after a 10-week ecology course. "Reading nature" is our definition of the ability to observe, describe and explain basic ecology in the field. Data consists of field-based pre-course and post-course interviews followed up by…

Examines the provisions made by the Swedish government for the education of immigrants or ethnic minorities. Discussing the program in the city of Skovde, the author outlines the guiding principles and organization for preschool, compulsory school, upper-secondary school, and programs outside the school system. Evaluates the program and its…

Discusses immigrants, ethnic minorities, and questions of citizenship in Europe, the role of the city in addressing local citizenship and participation, and the policies and institutions intended to foster participation. Describes the project entitled "Multicultural Policies and Modes of Citizenship in European Cities." (CMK)

This issue examines the following topics: comparative adult education (its scientific status and development), adult education research activity in system analysis, the inner structure of the system of adult education, adult education research and recently completed planning work, and the contents of adult education research in West Germany,…

Describes elements of Sweden's child support system, such as provisions relating to eligibility, benefits, absent parent liability, enforcement and financing. Analyzes the role of child support in the broader context of other kinds of aid to single-parent families. Considers prospects for child support reform in the United States. (Author)

When studying different types of returns to education, educational reforms are commonly used in the economics literature as a source of exogenous variation in education. The Swedish compulsory school reform is one example; the reform extended compulsory education throughout the country, in different municipalities at different points in time. Such…

Sweden's law giving all employees the right to study leave was introduced in 1974. This article is a report of qualitative interviews carried out with 19 manual workers from five trade unions in an industrial town. Respondents had attended a wide range of academic, vocational and trade union courses in recent years. Few had experienced any…