Whether in health, in education, or in material well-being, some children will always fall behind the average. The critical question is -- how far behind? Is there a point beyond which falling behind is not inevitable but policy susceptible, not unavoidable but unacceptable, not inequality but inequity? There are no widely agreed theoretical…

Diminishing marginal returns (DMR) to school inputs could explain a wide variety of findings in the research literature. One important example is the influential finding by Heyneman and Loxley that school inputs are the 'predominant influence' on achievement in developing nations, where input levels are low, even though the same school inputs have…

Discussions of world hunger have focused on economic growth and international food aid, assuming that food supply is the critical issue. The authors show that food access rooted in social stratification and military power is the central problem. Synthesizing the entitlement and military famine approaches to hunger, the authors examine the effects…

The structures of support services for disabled students in the South African higher education system find themselves in a contradictory conjuncture of rights, benevolence and the social model of disability. To elucidate this argument, this paper (a) outlines the status of support provisions for disabled students in South Africa; (b) compares the…

Like other developed nations, Israel has rapidly aged. This demographic revolution has created new challenges for Israeli society. We describe the societal background, including the emerging societal needs, solutions, and problems, as well as the professional principles, which guided us in developing the first two Israeli academic programs in…

World leaders joined forces in Mozambique last week to exhort wealthy nations, including the United States, to step up their contributions toward educating all children in the next decade. The United Kingdom last week pledged $15 billion--annually--to give a major boost to the Education for All Fast Track Initiative that builds on a promise made…

This note shows that the dynamics of the dispersion of educational attainment across OECD countries in the period 1960-1990 differ enormously depending on the dataset used, as do the results of the test of significance in the change of the cross-country standard deviation of schooling years between subperiods. The three datasets studied (the…

In the context of aging populations, governments in Australia and in other Western nations fear that slower growth in the numbers of people of working age (15-64 years) will have a dampening effect on economic growth. They are thus considering how to encourage older workers to remain in the workforce beyond the point at which many currently…

Provides brief descriptions of programs in Western Europe to furnish fresh perspectives from which to view American education. (Author/IRT)

A discussion of how a teacher's role in a non-traditional setting must be that of a counselor, guide, philosopher and friend of the learner, and other new skills not now taught in teacher education courses in France. (HB)

A brief discussion of the comparative studeis on the administration of audiovisual services in advanced and developing countries conducted by ICEM. (Author/HB)

A brief statement on the philosophy and goals of Janan's NHK. (HB)

A brief history of the development of Japan's NHK. (HB)

This directory provides a listing of non-government organizations (NGOs) providing various kinds of development assistance. Entries are listed alphabetically by these countries: Australia; Austria; Belgium; Canada; Denmark; Federal Republic of Germany; Finland; France; Ireland; Italy; Japan; Netherlands; New Zealand; Norway; Spain; Sweden;…

A discussion of Japan's NHK from the perspective of WETA's (Washington) director of production. (HB)