Interviews and observations in over 25 Greek and Turkish schools in rural Cyprus examined educational policy formation, teacher preparation and assignment, class size, teacher salaries and promotion, and student behavior and outcomes. Society's influences on educational conditions and outcomes are discussed with reference to American rural…

Special issue includes 20 articles in 3 categories: personal and individual perceptions of aging, varieties of images and perceptions (social, historical, cross-cultural), and institutional responses over time (ageism, federal responses, literature, mass media). (SK)

Discusses the development of the "World Culture Model," a visual aid illustrating the interconnection and universality of various components of civilization (political, social, economic, historical). Includes a lesson plan using the World Culture Model to identify various aspects of culture found in different interactions and to…

Examines biopsychosocial effects of acculturation on the high suicide rate among young Ojibwa males in relation to "pimadaziwin" (health, well-being, and longevity for self and family attained through cultural compliance) and "nissitise" (face-saving suicide following loss of "pimadaziwin"). Case study illustrates how…

This article reviews sociocultural, multicultural, and critical pedagogical theories and suggests that an adequate and sufficient theoretical framework for professional development in special education must explicitly and directly address issues of power, discrimination, and relative status that underlie dilemmas of practice. It offers vignettes…

Considers two issues in teaching summary-writing skills to students of English for academic purposes (EAP): how the skill is handled in EAP textbooks, and how summarization practices differ across cultural groups. A central concern is the role of attribution, a textual device that creates distance between author and summarizer. Argues that…

Examines the sociocultural context in Singapore to determine the existence of an examination culture there. Argues that an examination culture has important repercussions for the introduction and implementation of innovative practices into the education system. Examination focuses on the 1991 English-language syllabus and how the introduction of…

Describes the dialogue between an American researcher and others as she planned and carried out a study of women's literacy programs in rural Mali. Discusses the researcher's status in relation to the organization administering the programs, cultural differences in terms of researcher versus practitioner and Westerner versus African, and reasons…

Analysis of higher education enrollments in the United States and United Kingdom in 1970-87 found that the divorce rate is positively related to women's enrollment in the United States, and unemployment is positively related to enrollment for men, but not for women, in both the United States and the United Kingdom. These and related policy issues…

The history of Aboriginal production and use of alcohol prior to white contact reveals that alcohol use originated in Central America and rapidly diffused to northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. However, Aboriginal alcohol use was generally controlled and supervised during ceremonies, and only after white contact did alcohol use…

Educational psychology has a tradition of considering learning and motivation in terms of the individual and individual functioning. Short-term intervention studies have been common and quantitative measurement of the causes and effects of variables has been the aim of much research. When a sociocultural approach forms the basis of research into…

Minority responses to mainstream schooling have been characterized as ranging from assimilation to resistance. Based on a three-year ethnographic study, this article suggests that such a continuum is inadequate for interpreting the longevity and vibrancy of an Old Order Mennonite community. This durability can be attributed to a "third…

This article examines the sociocultural scaffolding practices of 24 Latino paraeducators and 8 former Latino paraeducators (who had recently become teachers) as they worked with Latino students in two large urban schools. Instances were observed in which participants used important funds of knowledge in their interactions with students during…

In 2001 Erica Burman offered a strong critique of the individually oriented developmental psychology which, she argued, underpinned much of early years' practice. She proposed that this should be replaced by an attempt to understand how culture informs development. In this paper I attempt to continue the discussion started by Burman by looking at…

This article discusses the social fabrication of risk and ill health in the United Kingdom and how it affect the physical education curriculum and physical education teachers. It is now well over 60 years since the publication in Britain of the Board of Education?s (1933) "Syllabus For Physical Training For Schools." It was a remarkable…