We present a conceptual impact model illustrating how digital tools can facilitate the fulfillment of basic psychological needs, autonomy, competence and relatedness, which in turn may foster improvements in self-regulation and emotion regulation. The model incorporates features of digital tools such as personalized learning paths, real-time…

The traditional linear skill and drill approach prominent in secondary physical education programs may be leaving some students behind. Critics have argued that this approach fails to meet students' basic psychological needs, while separating the requisite skills from the game itself. Nonlinear pedagogy is an alternative model to teaching motor…

While parental involvement is often seen as a cornerstone in high school students' success, too much involvement can be problematic. Often teachers feel caught between supporting students' personal growth and parental expectations of students' academic achievement. Certain practices can be developed and implemented at a classroom and school level…

While navigating numerous pressures as they work with vulnerable clients and communities, social workers are expected to use their emotional responses intentionally rather than to be ruled by them. Social work accreditation competencies require that students demonstrate regulation of their own affective processes, but their ability to do so will…

This conversation explores unschooling through theory and personal experience of Astra Taylor, who examines deschooling alongside the continua of Freedom/Oppression, Personal Control/Personal Autonomy, Solitude/Boredom, Privilege/Social Reproduction, Socialisation/Democracy. Taylor reveals complex relationships between the main strands of her…

This article explores the theoretical foundation of the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements, developed by the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages (NCSSFL) and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), describes why and how to use these progress indicators in language education and reveals the value and impact on…

School disengagement is linked to a lack of opportunities for students to fulfill their needs for independence and self-determination. Young people have little say about what, when, where, and how they will learn, the criteria used to assess their success, and the content of school and classroom rules. Traditional behavior management discourages…

Historically, most educators have recognized two primary aims of school discipline: (a) managing student behavior, relying primarily on the use of teacher-centered techniques for preventing and correcting misbehavior; and (b) developing self-discipline, combining teacher-centered techniques with more student-centered techniques that focus on…

Understanding the nature of brain development in adolescence helps explain why adolescents can vacillate so often between mature and immature behavior. Early and middle adolescence, in particular, are times of heightened vulnerability to risky and reckless behavior because the brain's reward center is easily aroused, but the systems that control…

Practitioners of education in South Africa (SA) struggle painfully between the extremes of its authoritarian and deeply religious roots that prescribe blind obedience to people in authority and their elders, and the demands of open-mindedness, critical thinking and also solidarity required for democratic citizenship. A particular pedagogy was used…

Controls from within, more commonly referred to as self-control, are fundamental skills that children and youth need to display every day in innumerable interactions in order to function well in society. The children and youth who get referred to child and youth care (CYC) programs usually lack adequate self-control skills, creating difficulty for…

Many troubled youth show developmental problems in attachments to family, school, and community. Past experience causes them to be reluctant to trust adults as reliable mentors and life teachers. Attachments are repaired and strengthened by establishing healthy relationships. Secure belonging is the foundation to the development of autonomy and…

The maturation of the adolescent brain is focused on two tasks: developing autonomy and understanding self in context of the community. Therefore, parents and other adults must assure that young people have multiple opportunities to interact in supportive environments where they can develop the capacity to self-regulate and achieve autonomy.…

This article offers a way to salvage the ideal of the autonomous person from the predicament besetting it and to reclaim it as a worthy and respectable ideal. Carefully maneuvering around this ideal, jettisoning its obsolete qualities while reaffirming its sound ones, the authors offer outlines for a conception of personal autonomy suitable for…

A ninth-grade student with cerebral palsy began to exhibit behavior problems in the classroom, and his parents disagreed in their problem-solving approach. Family counseling helped the boy improve his behavior, and helped the parents to realize that their adolescent son was struggling with the issue of independence. (JDD)