This study explores the experiences and support needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people living in Sussex (UK), and the training needs of practitioners working with LGBTQ young people. The aims were to explore the experiences of young people including bullying, "coming out," social service and…

The National Research Council's (NRC) Report (1988), Understanding Agriculture: New Directions for Education, called on secondary agricultural education to shift its scope and purpose, including students' supervised agricultural experiences (SAEs). The NRC asserted that this shift should create opportunities for students to acquire supervised…

This article integrates the research about professional learning communities (PLCs) with research about second-order change for the purposes of reviewing the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that administrators need to transform their schools into learning communities. As such, this article describes the components of PLCs and addresses the…

Much attention has been given to the idea that librarians working in K-12 schools who graduate from school library programs are not simply book-shelvers, quietkeepers, and break-givers to other teachers. Rather, they are important members of the school community's instructional team and are certified educators qualified to deliver instruction…

State coordinators of early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) programs completed a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, or SWOT, analysis that consisted of 12 evaluative areas of EHDI programs. For the professional development area, 47 coordinators responded with a total of 223 items, and themes were identified in each SWOT…

This research examines the role of teaching assistants (TAs) working with children with special educational needs (SEN) in an increasingly complex and diverse context. The role of the TA has been given more attention recently, partly due to the increased focus on their effectiveness within an inclusive education system in a time of workforce…

This paper describes the development of education of students with special needs in vocational education. The paper is based on a case study research conducted in 2001-2005 in Jyvaskyla Municipal Federation of Vocational Education in Central Finland. The study consisted of two parts: firstly of the historical analysis of special educational…

Since its creation in 1958, the European Social Fund (ESF) has played a major role in supporting the development of vocational training in the Member States. However, compared to other, more recently launched, EU programmes and initiatives in the area of education and training, the ESF has not made a significant contribution to the debate about…

In teacher education, the key concern must be inequitable civic education, which includes economic education and opportunities available for underserved students. Inequitable civic education opportunities reinforce already-widening disparities between groups of citizens. This bodes ill for democracy and the ability to wrestle with the complex…

Although teachers often report that they subscribe to cooperative learning (CL) to help students attain social and academic goals, research indicates that they often have difficulties implementing and sustaining their commitment. The purpose of this study is to report on the reflections of seven middle-year teachers who had embedded CL in their…

Those people involved in the professional development school (PDS) effort have arrived at a time in their brief history when PDS partnerships can break the status quo and become contemporary laboratories of innovation for ushering in change and a new era of PK-12 education integrated with teacher education. In this chapter, the author appreciates…

Despite the centrality of conversations in the practice of educational psychologists, there are very few published accounts that utilise "live" data captured during professional consultations. This paper employs mixed research methods, combining a quantitative Content Analysis with the qualitative approaches of Conversation Analysis and…

In England, the governing body of each school has duties in relations to special educational needs (SEN), and these have recently been extended. It is common practice for responsibility for this area to be delegated to an individual governor or subgroup of governors. Clearly, such arrangements are dependent upon an effective relationship between…

English language learners represent the fastest growing segment of the U.S. school-age population, raising the question of how best to teach this new and challenging group of students. The research and scholarly literature has identified a number of instructional strategies and classroom practices that have been shown to be effective in teaching…

Nowadays few young people are prepared to consider setting up and managing their own business as a realistic and attractive career option. It is therefore necessary to expose children to the concept of entrepreneurship from a very early age, which means that the school has a fundamental role to play in this task. This research seeks to understand…