The idea that participation in sport builds character is a long-standing one. Advocates of sport participation believe that sport provides an appropriate context for the learning of social skills such as cooperation and the development of prosocial behavior (Weiss, Smith, & Stuntz, 2008). Research in sport regarding character development has…

The organized camp experience has been an important part of the lives of children, youth, and adults for over 150 years and is a social institution that touches more lives than any other except for schools. Camp is more than a location or a program; it encompasses the affective, cognitive, behavioral, physical, social, and spiritual benefits that…

Discouraged youth need caring adults who employ both traditional and creative strategies to help them develop character and positive life goals. Caring adults can help youth realize that they are worthy of love and possess great potential. There is great promise and hope for troubled youth if they connect with adults who are convinced that every…

This paper challenges us to consider the meaning of schooling for youth in the global south. We explore the ways in which young people living and learning on the outskirts of Kathmandu balance the visions and passions of modern schooling with social realities that are often quite incompatible. We depart from conventional analyses of modernity,…

Emotional maltreatment is a less visible form of abuse that frequently occurs in schools, but is often ignored or dismissed as an acceptable form of discipline or sanctioned classroom-management practice. The impact of emotional maltreatment on children is significant and impacts personality development, relationships, and learning. Principals, as…

The aim of the article is to contribute to the conceptualization of creativity in education. The article makes use of the self-Bildung perspective, which is an up-to-date version of the Neo-humanistic notion of the formation of the personality in order to interpret the original notion of the "four stages" of the creative process. The conclusion is…

It is generally accepted (for example, Stein and Wade) that those young people who are able to establish positive relationships with their family in care and/or when transitioning from care are more likely to have a positive self-identity and self-confidence, and overall better outcomes. Conversely, poor or non-existent family links may contribute…

One of the challenges we face in higher education is knowing who we are as individuals and as communities. Poetic inquiry (Prendergast, Leggo, & Sameshima, 2009) is a way into that knowing, a way of exploring our own identities and our relationships with each other. Poetic inquiry creates a space for evocative knowing. This research project,…

The anecdotes of Nasreddin Hodja, who lived in Anatolia in the 13th century, have always attracted people due to the humour they contain, but this discussion also focuses on exploring the educational value of the anecdotes. According to teachers who contributed to this study, the anecdotes stimulate students' interest in language work, create a…

Who am I? What am I about? What is my place in my social group? What is important to me? What do I value? What do I want to do with my life? These are all questions related to what psychologists call identity. Many theorists have argued that we are driven to answer these questions, particularly during adolescence. In this article, I summarize an…

Dabrowski's theory of positive disintegration describes patterns and explains mechanisms of human development and has been successfully applied to understanding of gifted individuals. This article shows how the concepts of chaos theory and self-organization such as the sensitivity to initial conditions, positive and negative feedback, bifurcation…

This article uses story as a process to highlight the work in a South Texas community that focuses on the education of youth and the development of community. The work is guided by a new consciousness of place, community engagement, and identity formation. The work is local, but breaking the isolation of youth, families, and ideas has been part of…

During the last 20 years, faculty have faced rising workloads, increasing amounts of top-down accountability and oversight, mounting publication demands, decreasing numbers of tenure-track positions, and an increasingly dismal job market. The current recession has exacerbated the pressure by requiring departmental budget cuts, faculty layoffs,…

Teenagers, and many preteens, can't get away from their hormone-filled bodies; therefore, they spend lots of time during school contending with issues of sexuality--from profound questions about sexual orientation and gender identity to more mundane issues such as whom a particularly cute classmate will choose to sit next to in English. Like it or…

The authors present the constructivist resume, an original approach developed to promote professional identity development and career adaptability (i.e., concern, curiosity, confidence, and control) in students completing graduate-level counselor training programs. The authors discuss underlying theories, including Super's (1990; Super, Savickas,…