This paper examines an important component of the developing field of education in emergencies: curriculum decision-making processes. The paper argues that in order to fully meet the commitment articulated by the INEE Minimum Standards to provide quality education for all, curricula decisions cannot be ignored or postponed until after a crisis has…

Within the group therapy literature scapegoating is understood as an unconscious process that plays an important function in preventing groups from being split asunder as a result of unexpressed frustration towards the leader. When a group successfully challenges its leader to share power, the need for a scapegoat passes. In the search for theory…

The past two decades have seen remarkable advances in the manner in which youth are transitioned out of the foster care system. The most significant progress is in the way that the child welfare system relates to the youth it serves. This article provides a contextual framework for the advances in child welfare's preparation of youth for…

Distributed leadership (DL) is an emerging form of power distribution in schools which extends authority and influence to groups or individuals in a way which is at least partly contrary to hierarchical arrangements. In this article, the author presents the findings of his study that aimed to answer two questions: (1) What do headteachers do to…

The principle of "pupil voice" has attained a high profile over the past decade and its key principles of encouraging pupil consultation and participation are evident in official policy and guidance in many countries around the world. While there has been official endorsement of the notions that pupils have a right to voice their…

When a child is identified as a student with a disability, families are called upon to become more involved than ever before. Primarily, they are to act as team members in making crucial decisions about their child's future education. Sadly, many parents are not recognized as having valuable information regarding their child. In order to act as…

This paper focuses on a case study pilot project working with a small group of children aged 6- to 10-years-old in a village in the northeast of England. The study was established to examine children's attitudes to environmental issues, particularly their involvement in environmental decisions and their feelings about planning, design and…

This article examines global governance reforms as a site of contestation between three different "truths"/epistemes (the market, human rights principles, and cultural identity) in terms of the competing principles of efficiency, capability, and recognition. Nancy Fraser's conceptions of participation parity and a dialogical approach of…

We consider group decision-making on an optimal stopping problem, for which large and stable individual differences have previously been established. In the problem, people are presented with a sequence of five random numbers between 0 and 100, one at a time, and are required to choose the maximum of the sequence, without being allowed to return…

This report is a summary of discussions that took place at the Young Leaders' Forum held in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (PEI), on March 9-10, 2007. The event was part of the Rural Dialogue, an on-going, two-way discussion between the Government of Canada and Canadians from rural, remote and northern regions. Launched in 1998, the Rural…

The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) was commissioned by Kent County Council (KCC) to conduct an independent survey of children and young people in Kent. The council and its partner agencies wanted to find out what children and young people thought about a range of issues related to the five Every Child Matters (ECM) outcomes.…

"Hopes, Fears, & Reality" was conceived as an annual exercise in providing objective evidence about what was going on in charter schools, how well they were doing, where they needed to improve, and what could be learned from the research on these new kinds of public schools. This is the third of these reports. Essays in the 2005 volume pointed to…

This paper considers the implications of current notions of the learning city. It argues that popular neoliberal ideologies create an environment in which lifelong learners strive for the learning city as an end product, both in production and for consumption, rather than embrace it as a living, social context. The rhetoric of the knowledge…

This article is a response to a number of articles that use a culturally relevant prevention (CRP) approach for ethnic and racial minorities. The reaction is from a research practitioner's viewpoint. The authors argue in favor of determining an operational definition of cultural relevance by implementing prevention services with fidelity in the…

National policy increasingly stresses the importance of parents' engagement in education. However, tensions and struggle for control between parents and teachers is a common research finding. This article identifies a number of reasons why parents' views on curriculum, pedagogy and the purpose of schooling are commonly seen as of less relevance or…