Coaches have always needed to respond to differences in sport and have always been concerned with finding hard-working kids who mesh well as a team. While coaches still try to build team cohesiveness, today's coaches must respond to complex issues related to diversity and are expected to be politically correct. The purpose of this article is to…

Given the importance of material goods consumption to young people and the perception that to be "cool" is fundamental to identity construction, this study investigates consumption in relation to social, economic and cultural inequalities. Qualitative individual interviews took place in November 2005, in Rio de Janeiro, with 14 high…

This interpretive study explores the relationship between spatial qualities and school-parent engagement in three primary schools which serve low income periurban Indigenous families in north Australia. Drawing from interviews with educators and parents, school-based observations and community fieldwork conducted over the course of two years in…

In the fall of 2008, the Provincial Government of Saskatchewan announced mandatory treaty education for all students in K-12 schooling. Given the foundational importance of treaties and the treaty relationship to Canada, and ongoing reconciliation efforts with First Nations people, this initiative is to be celebrated. However, a central concern…

There is a paucity of research about the schooling experiences of preschool Chinese emergent bilinguals. This is especially evident when compared to other minoritized groups and warrants attention because of the rapid increase in Chinese immigrants in the US recently. This study investigates the sociocultural misalignments a group of preschool…

In this paper we argue that the cliched phrases, "dealing with difference" and "dealing with diversity", despite their commitment to accepting and appreciating difference and diversity, may be used in counterproductive ways to camouflage resistance to change and transformation. In a small sample of interviews conducted at a…

Through the "Tuning-Latin America" competencies project, Latin American universities have been incorporated into the Bologna Process. In 2003 the European Commission approved an initiative of this project for Latin America and began to promote it among ministries, university presidents' organisations and other institutions in Latin…

The purpose of this project was to initiate a program of research to explore how instructional designers around the world use design to make a social difference locally and globally. The central research question was, "Are there social and political purposes for design that are culturally based?" A growing body of research is concerned…

The goal of this article is to examine different conceptions of identity and different processes of identity negotiation to make visible the implicit and explicit links between social practices and perceived risk, equity, and opportunities to learn for linguistically and culturally diverse students. The authors discuss analytic frameworks for the…

Prejudice and systematic discrimination have often been mentioned as major causes for the chronic underachievement of Roma students. In this paper we present a case study of a Romanian teacher involved in Second Chance, an educational program implemented in Romania in 2004 for the benefit of disadvantaged groups such as the Roma population. Since…

This article explores preservice teachers' emotional responses to simulated parent-teacher conferences. The authors examine the transfer of a medical education pedagogy as it is diffused to teacher education, scrutinizing the types of emotional responses teachers exhibited as they engaged with standardized parents in six clinical parent…

For more than three decades now, sociologists, politicians and economists have used a wide range of statistical and econometric techniques to analyse and measure the quality of life of individuals with the aim of obtaining useful instruments for social, political and economic decision making. The aim of this paper is to analyse the advantages and…

Korean American adolescents may find themselves caught between traditional Korean culture and demands for Americanization. Subsequently this population of students and parents may have very distinct needs in our schools as they are a growing population of students. This commentary discusses important considerations for teachers and administrators…

International students who mainstream into American colleges and universities face complex and varied linguistic, cultural and sociolinguistic challenges. Although the number of Turkish students enrolling in American institutions continues to increase, little research has focused on their academic experience from the perspective of the cultural…

Can art be powerful enough as medium to connect two economically and culturally diverse groups of students totally unfamiliar with each other? The author put this question to the test by introducing a lesson on Madhubani, a traditional folk art from a remote region in India. The author describes how this activity gives students an opportunity to…