Education & Pedagogy

This volume of the BCES Conference Books arrives at a moment when the global education community faces both unprecedented challenges and remarkable opportunities. The 24th Annual International Conference of the Bulgarian Comparative Education Society (BCES), held in Sofia in July 2026, convened under the theme "Education as an Ecosystem: A Global Dialogue." This framing was chosen deliberately--to shift the collective imagination away from mechanistic, linear models of education toward a richer, more organic understanding of how learning truly happens. For too long, education has been viewed as a mechanical system: a linear process of inputs and outputs, governed by standardized policies and isolated disciplines. The contributions gathered in this volume invite a paradigm shift. They propose reimagining education as an ecosystem--a dynamic, interconnected, living network where every element, from policy to pedagogy, from preschool to university, exists in a relationship of mutual influence. An ecosystem thrives on diversity, resilience, and the ongoing exchange of energy and resources. It cannot be understood by examining a single species in isolation, but only by observing the complex web of life as a whole. Similarly, one can no longer understand education by looking solely at curriculum, technology, or assessment. One must see how they interact with teacher well-being, legal frameworks, international benchmarks, and early childhood experiences. The global dialogue serves as the approach to mapping this education ecosystem. By bringing together diverse voices and perspectives from across continents and scholarly traditions, this volume creates a space for the cross-pollination of ideas essential to the health and evolution of education worldwide. This volume is structured into five parts, and reflects the ecosystemic commitment to seeing connections across traditionally separate domains: (1) Comparative and International Education; (2) International Education Issues; (3) School Education and Well-being in Schools; (4) Higher Education and Teacher Education and Training; and (5) Law and Education. This collection is offered to educators, policymakers, researchers, and practitioners as both a record of scholarly exchange and an invitation to continue the dialogue on education as an ecosystem. [Individual papers are indexed in ERIC.]

Background/Context: This concluding article identifies the policy implications of education informatics and explores impacts of current copyright laws, legislative structures, publishing practices, and education organizations. Synthesizing the discussions in the preceding articles, this article highlights the importance of designing information systems to promote open access to information in order to support scholarly communications and provide for the application of scholarship to practice within the field of education. Specific steps are proposed to further advance education informatics and to anchor it within constantly changing technologies in order to address pedagogical, curricular, and policy issues within education. Purpose: This article is designed to propose future directions for the development of the field of education informatics and promote additional research. Research Design: Information in this article is based on a brief literature review and an analysis of the interrelated implications of the articles in this issue for policy development in education informatics. Conclusions: Although education informatics as a term has been used since at least 1980, there is limited literature about this term. This lack of discussion about the integration of education informatics principles and content in copyright and other legislation, in formal education, and in information dissemination practices indicates that education informatics has had little impact as a field of study within the discipline of education. Policy changes at the federal and state government levels and within educational organizations and associations will be needed to promote the development of education informatics as a core part of the discipline of education. Full development of the field of education informatics will require diverse policy changes by multiple audiences. One specific policy change that will be needed is strengthening collaborative copyright as part of the Copyright Commons. This and other changes should focus on improving access to current and historical education literature from both formal and informal channels for scholarly, practitioner, community, and policy audiences. Additionally, schools and colleges of education should create programs of study in education informatics. Consideration of user needs and mobile access to information should drive policy changes in the organization of classrooms, learning, and teacher educator programs. Most of all, policy changes need leadership that is guided by a commitment to the alignment of federal, state, regional, and local data distribution and to the creation of partnerships to align policy with practice and a vision of the role of education informatics in the discipline and practice of education.

Background/Context: Soon after the United States Department of Education began making changes to the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) system, education librarians concluded that there was a need for a fresh approach to addressing education information needs. Considering the importance of information systems in education, they agreed that a new subdiscipline of education should be promoted called education informatics. This subdiscipline would incorporate new technologies and learning strategies to enhance the capture, organization, and utilization of education information. Some of the information challenges facing the discipline of education are: gaps in existing information resources; lack of a centralized body of education information experts to influence the development of new education resources; scarce resources for the development of concepts, models, theories, and techniques related to the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for learning and teaching; minimal understanding of how people access and use education information and digital information resources, services, systems, environments, and media for learning; and lack of support for international and cross-cultural collaborations in education informatics. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: The creation of a subdiscipline within the field of education that examines issues that fall at the intersection of education information and information technology is critical. Once there is a broader recognition of the existence of this subdiscipline, it is likely that research funding will increase, specialized expertise will be expanded, and new programs and systems related to education information will be developed. Research Design: The research design for this article is an analytic essay. Conclusions/Recommendations: The process of becoming an established discipline of education informatics could be advanced through an invited symposium. Grounding it in schools of education would establish an academic identity. Such an interdisciplinary field needs attention from funding agencies and research leadership; acceptance by faculty and students; and systemic implementation in universities. The establishment of a "center" for education informatics would address problems that require many resources, incubate new programs, facilitate cross-disciplinary collaboration, and attract outside funding. There is a need for a journal of education informatics that has a broader scope than educational technology. A research agenda could include the development and evaluation of concepts, models, theories, and techniques related to the use of ICT for learning; ways in which people use digital information resources, services, systems, environments, and communications media for learning; whether information literacy educators give adequate attention to teaching all aspects of information literacy; and how international and cross-cultural collaborations in education informatics can be supported.

This book highlights some of Kenneth King's diverse contributions to international and comparative education, African studies and development studies over more than four decades. From his pioneering work on the first educational commissions to Africa, through his research on skills training in the informal sector, and on to his critical analysis of education analysis in development agencies, this book makes influential materials available in one place. Appropriately, it illustrates his career-long connections with Kenya, but also his more recent engagement with Japan, China and India. It is the first CERC [Comparative Education Research Centre] volume to pay significant attention to the policies and politics of skills development. Kenneth King is an Emeritus Professor of the University of Edinburgh. He was based in and directed its Centre of African Studies for many years, and lectured on international perspectives in education and training in its School of Education. His research interests have addressed the politics and planning of skills development, including in the informal sector of the economy, aid policies towards education of both Western and Asian donors, and higher education cooperation. He founded NORRAG, the network for international policies and cooperation in education and training, in 1986, and edited NORRAG News until 2016. He was President of the British Association for International and Comparative Education (BAICE) from 2014-2016, and was one of the founding members of the UK Forum on International Education and Training (UKFIET). King's works included in the book are: (1) The Phelps-Stokes Commissions and the Politics of Negro Education; (2) Skill Acquisition in the Informal Sector; (3) Aid, Research and Education; (4) Education and Training for Self-Employment in Kenya; (5) Exploring the Impact of Primary Education; (6) The Vocational School Fallacy Revisited; (7) Africa's Informal Economies: Thirty Years On; (8) Re-targeting Schools, Skills and Jobs in Kenya: Quality, Quantity and Outcomes; (9) Skills and Education for All from Jomtien (1990) to the GMR of 2012: A Policy History; (10) Experience, Experts and Knowledge in Japanese Aid Policy and Practice; (11) African Students in China: Changing Characteristics, Contexts and Challenges; (12) The Geopolitics and Meaning of India's Massive Skills Development Ambitions; and (13) Conclusions around Education, Skills, Knowledge and Work -- and the Role of Aid.

The Commissioner of Education reviews the work of the office, and provides discussion and data, with some diagrams on the following topics: six-year summary of institutions, instructors, and students; enrollment and attendance of the school-age population; public school teacher employment and salaries; per-capita expenditures on ungraded schools by states and territories; the teaching force; school inspection and examination; a summary of state and territorial education condition; education of the colored race; the Peabody fund; city schools; superintendence; primary grades; grammar grades in Southern cities; authors' days in schools and color blindness; normal schools; commercial and business colleges; kindergarten; secondary schools; preparatory schools; institutions for the superior instruction of women; women's admission to English universities; universities and colleges; schools of science; European agricultural education; schools of theology, law, and medicine; degrees conferred; public libraries; nurse-training schools; institutions for the deaf and dumb, and for the blind; schools for feeble-minded youth; reform schools; homes and asylums for orphan or dependent children; infant asylums and industrial schools; education benefactions; education publications; patentees for school furniture and equipment; foreign education; special schools; drawing and sewing in public schools; needlework in German elementary schools; public-school boys' manual training; French school manual training; industrial schools; army post schools; summer schools; education and forestry; organized charities; school committee and school board power; taxation for school purposes; territorial school supervision; and trespasses upon territorial public school lands. The Commissioner offers recommendations. Abstracted school officer reports and other information from states, territories, and cities are provided. Educational associations are listed. Detailed statistical tables are given for most topics above, as well as schools of dentistry and pharmacy, and entrance examinations for the U.S. Military and Naval Academies. [Part 2 is not available.]

The Czecho-Slovak Republic, proclaimed independent October 28, 1918, comprises an area of 54,000 square miles. It is inhabited by Czechs and Slovaks, two branches of the western Slavs, from whom the Republic derived its name. The new State reunites the Provinces of Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, and Slovakia, and the autonomous territory of Carpathian Russia. Barely four years have elapsed since its independence was proclaimed, yet the process of economic and political reconstruction has advanced perceptibly. The aim of the present Government in matters of education, like those of State, is to coordinate the two diverse arrangements that hitherto separated Bohemia from Slovakia. Education is compulsory for all the children in the State. In the Czech-speaking Provinces, education is widespread and illiteracy low, while, in Slovakia, it is much higher. In the former Provinces the compulsory age for children extends over 8 years (from the age of 6 to 14), with the exception of rural districts, where children may be excused from attendance after the age of 12. In Slovakia and Carpathian Russia, the compulsory age is from 6 to 12, i.e., 6 years only. Continuation classes are established in some places for those between 12 and 15, but as attendance in these schools is not enforced, their influence is negligible. In general, the school attendance in Slovakia and Subcarpathian Russia is unsatisfactory, especially in the mountains regions, where school work encounters many difficulties. These shortcomings are realized by the new authorities, and no effort is spared in opening new schools and thus raising the standard of education in this part of the country. The question of lengthening the period of attendance receives serious consideration, and it is quite likely that in the near future a uniform eight-year compulsory school period will be the minimum requirement throughout the Republic. Topics covered in this bulletin include: (1) Kindergarten and nursery schools; (2) Elementary education; (3) Recent changes in education; (4) The budget of the Ministry of Education for the year 1922; (5) Administration; (6) Minority schools; (7) Teacher training; (8) Teachers' organizations; (9) Secondary education; (10) Agricultural education; (11) Home economics schools; (12) Industrial education; (13) Commercial education; and (14) Higher education. (Contains 6 footnotes.) [Best copy available has been provided.]

These proceedings contain addresses and summaries of presentations made in concurrent sessions at the annual meeting. The addresses are: Association for Continuing Higher Education (ACHE)--Then and Now: What Our Past Has To Tell Us about Our Future" (Nelcamp and others); "A Conversation with Alex Haley" (Haley); "Luncheon Address of President-Elect" (Mills); "A Challenge for the 90's: Increased Educational Opportunities for Adults" (Mattfeld); and "Future Directions for Adult Continuing Education" (Knox). The concurrent sessions are: "The Past Persistent: Profiles of Nontraditional Women Students, 1900-1940" (Geyer); "From State to College to Classroom: A Multimedia Approach to Gender Equity and Multicultural Awareness" (Dumais); "A Developing Market for Continuing Education: The Reserve and On-Base Military Education" (Watt, Kelly); "Assessing the Impact of Adult Continuing Education on Economic Development" (Moore); "On the Edge: Should Continuing Education Remain Marginal?" (Marksbury, Foster); "The Conference Planner as Entrepreneur: Programming for Success" (Harris, Vonler); "Addressing the Career Change Needs of Adult Students" (Rowe and others); "Recruiting and Retaining...Faculty" (Huebner); "How to Exchange Information Electronically with Other Continuing Education Professionals" (Gadbow); "Noncredit Continuing Education: Today's Challenges Create Tomorrow's Traditions" (Long); "Professional Development Programs for Teachers: An Applied Model" (Infantino); "The Winning Formula" (Yoder); "Accommodating Older Persons to Higher Education" (Cortright);"Educating Internally: Strategies for Achieving a More Central Role for Continuing Education in College and University Affairs" (Fey); "Contract Programs: Focus on Indirect Costs, Overhead, and Profit" (Long); "The Role of Higher Education in Rural Economic Development" (Caskey and others); "National Continuing Education Programming: The Perils and the Rewards" (Nance, Cowan); "A Model Program for Rural Women: Now and the Future" (Barnes); "Writing for Publication" (Shields); "Inside Education: College in Prison" (Danglade); "How Americans in Transition Study for College Credit" (Brickell); "Building a Campus Consensus for Continuing Education" (Norris, Roughton); "Student Services in Continuing Education" (Perillo, Glines); "Applications of New Technology" (Bridwell, Lott); "What Marketing Psychology Means to Brochure Design" (Foster); "Continuing Education for Business: Issues, Threats, and Opportunities" (Falk); and "Demonstrations of New Technology: The Optel System and Satellite Delivery Systems" (Phillips and others). Highlights of business meetings are also presented. Appendixes include reports of the various committees. (YLB)

The following are among the 55 papers in this volume: "Implications of Person-Environment Congruence in Adult Learning Environments" (Agee); "Reliability and Validity of the Alternate Form of the Education Participation Scale" (Boshier); "Research and Developments in the Neurosciences" (Boucouvalas); "Professional Writing Activity among Professors of Adult Education" (Brockett); "Re-entry for Women" (Butterwick); "Self-directed Learning" (Caffarella, O'Donnell); "University Based Continuing Professional Education" (Chaytor, Chaytor, Poel); "From the Text to the Adult Learning Trajectory" (Chene); "A Profile of Selected Women Leaders" (Cheng); "Learning Styles and Method of Pre-service Education" (Coggins); "Self-directed Learning or an Emancipatory Practice of Adult Education" (Collins); "Teaching and Learning Styles and the Native American Learner" (Conti, Fellenz); "Using a Data Management System to Control Research Data Entry and Manipulation" (Conti, Fellenz); "Conceptions of the Usefulness of Participation in Adult Education Activities" (Costin); "Relationship between Learning Strategies/Meta-Strategies and Experiential Learning Styles of Self-Taught Adults" (Danis); "Adult Basic Skills" (Deane); "Situation Analysis Factors Affecting Program Decisions in the Cooperative Extension System" (Deshler, Wood); "Overcoming Barriers to Education for Rural Adults" (Easton); "Some Implications of Sternberg's Triarchic Theory for Adult Basic Education" (Farr, Moon); "Toward Redefining a Theory of Interdependence of Providers of Continuing Professional Education" (Ferro); "Effective Training for Management & Nonsupervisory Employees" (Foucar-Szocki); "The Process of Becoming an Adult Educator" (Finger); "What Is Education?" (Forrest); "Retirement Planning" (Foutz); "Mutual Enlightenment in Vancouver, 1886-1961" (Hunt); "Critical Thinking, Critical Teaching, Critical Theory" (Inkster); "Knowledge and Learning in Adult Education" (Jarvis); "As the Gavel Strikes" (Kiener); "The Further Development of an Adult Education Classroom Environment Scale" (Langenbach, Aagaard); "Adult Education, McCarthyism, and the Cold War" (Law); "Application of Stufflebeam's CIPP Model" (Lewis, Murphy); "Intentional Learning and Change by Adults with Type II Diabetes" (Lundgren); "Work Experience vs. Literacy" (Mason); "Effects of an Interactive Video Adult Literacy Instruction System" (McElhinney, Wood); "Doing Case Study Research in Adult Education" (Merriam); "Transformation Theory" (Mezirow); and "Insights on the Process of Innovation in Urban Extension Programs of the Cooperative Extension Service" (Milk). Eighteen other papers, a symposium session, two junto session reports, and eight poster session abstracts are also included. (MN)

This document contains 20 research papers on vocational education: "Multidimensional Evaluation of Long-Term Effects of Complex Teaching-Learning Arrangements--in the Context of Commercial Education" (Frank Achtenhagen); "Toward the New Vocationalism: Critical Perspectives on Education and Work" (Debra Bragg et al.); "Factors Influencing Learner Progress in Job-Training Programs" (Jill Sinclair Bell); "Student Outcomes Associated with the Integration of Academic and Vocational Education" (Curtis R. Finch, B. June Schmidt, and Susan L. Faulkner); "Attitudes toward Math and Science Courses and Problem-Solving Tasks among Socially-Oriented Secondary Vocational Students" (Robert L. Fritz); "Experiences of Average Students in Untracked High Schools: The Hidden Tech-Prep Population" (Kenneth C. Gray); "Vocationalism and the American High School: Past, Present, and Future" (Kenneth C. Gray); "What Are the Existing Articulation Procedures between Secondary and Postsecondary Agencies in North Carolina?" (Randy L. Joyner, Eugene V. Giovannini); "In Search of Vocational Teacher Education" (Richard L. Lynch); "Proprietary Vocational Schools' Role in Economic Development: Lessons from Indonesia" (Richard W. Moore); "Review of Youth Apprenticeship Legislation at the State Level" (Clifton L. Smith); "Basic Skills Important for Beginning Vocational Education Teachers: A Transportability Study" (Richard J. Tannenbaum, Michael Rosenfeld, and Charles J. Teryek); "Attitudes of Vocational Education Service Providers towards Disabled Persons with Implications for Developing Appropriate Learning Environments" (James W. Trott, Jr., Elwood F. Holton III, and Mark Holden); "Contributions of Vocational Education to Educational Reform as Perceived by Vocational Education Policy Influencers" (Larae Watkins); "Evaluation of Knowledge Structures by Procedures of Networking--in the Context of Commercial Education" (Susanne Weber); "The Impact of a Career Development Program on Middle School Students" (Carolyn R. Benz, Ron Kindell); "A Framework for the Subject Matter of Vocational Education: New Vision for Relating Education to Work and Family Life Responsibilities" (George H. Copa); "Mentoring: Is It a Factor in First-Year Teacher Adjustment" (Robert C. Harris); "Evaluation of California's Tech-Prep Education Program" (Michael Rubin); and "Preparing Tech Prep Teachers: A Needs Assessment" (Tim L. Wentling, Chris A. Roegge, and Debra D. Bragg). (KC)

This 1998 edition of the "Digest of Education Statistics" is the 34th in a series of publications initiated in 1962. Its primary purpose is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from kindergarten through graduate school. The digest includes data from many government and private sources, and draws especially on the results of surveys and activities carried out by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The publication contains information on a variety of topics, including the number of schools and colleges, teachers, enrollments and graduates, educational attainment, finances, federal funds for education, employment and income of graduates, libraries, and international education. Supplemental information is provided on population trends, attitudes on education comparisons, education characteristics of the labor force, government finances, and economic trends. The digest is divided into seven chapters: "All Levels of Education,""Elementary and Secondary Education,""Postsecondary Education,""Federal Programs for Education and Related Activities,""Outcomes of Education,""International Comparisons of Education," and "Learning Resources and Technology." The introduction includes a brief overview of current trends in American education. The data show that in fall 1998 about 75 million people were involved, directly or indirectly, in providing or receiving formal education. Assessment data indicate that there have been improvements in mathematics and science performance between 1986 and 1996. A high proportion of high school graduates are going on to college. Yet, wide variations in student proficiency from state to state and mediocre mathematics scores of American students in international assessments pose challenges. The appendix contains a guide to tabular presentation, a guide to sources, definitions, 11 tables, and an index. In addition to updating many of the statistics that have appeared in previous years, this edition contains a significant amount of new material, including parental involvement in education-related activities; number of hours young children spend in day-care programs; performance of eighth-grade students in music, theater, and visual arts; finances of nonprofit institutions of higher education; international comparisons of the performance of 12th-grade students in mathematics and science; and percent of home computer users using specific applications. Thirty-three figures and 428 tables comprise the bulk of the document. (MLF)

The conference recorded in this document covered a wide variety of themes and consisted of keynote addresses, research presentations, and workshops. The following keynote addresses are included: "Technician Training: A New Zealand Perspective" (Wood); and "The Provision of Information Services in Vocational Education: The Present and the Future" (Lee). The following research presentations are included: "Responding to Diversity: Learning Styles in Vocational Education" (Andrews); "The Future for Vocational and Technical Education" (Strong); "Alternative Approaches to Vocational Education--The Malaysian Experience" (Saleh); "Recent Initiatives in Staff Development in Vocational Education in Scotland" (Niven); and "Vocational Education: An International Perspective" (Hickey). The following workshop presentations are included: "Teaching Learning Skills as a Foundation for Technical Training" (Nelson); "Approaches to Instructional Strategies for an Information-Based Society" (Ross); "Socialization and Cognitive Process in the Appropriation of Technical-Scientific Knowledge and Practical Abilities in Vocational High School" (Hardy); "An Experimental Study of Incorporating Creative and Inventive Concepts into Vocational High School Curricula" (Wu); "Teaching and Learning in TAFE: Does TAFE Sell Its Students Short?" (Gove); "Vocational Qualification and Access to Higher Education" (Smithers); "Competency Tests: Their Role in Selection of Apprentice and Trainee Technical Officers in Australia" (Holdgate); "Development and Analysis of a Criterion-Referenced Test Item Bank" (Hinton); "Follow-up Studies of Vocational and Technical Education Graduates Using State Databases" (Strong); "Analysis of a Programme of Electromechanics of Automated Systems in Terms of Underlying Physical Concepts and Principles" (Gagnon); "Fast Track Apprenticeships and Multi-Skilling: Can We Have the Best of Both Worlds?" (Thomas); "Collecting Case Studies in TAFE Curriculum: Some Problems" (McBeath); "Teacher Motivation in Vocational Education: Causes and Consequences" (Nyberg); "Vocational Teacher Education: Research into Practice" (Prichard); "Evaluation of the In-Service Education Ordinance and Programs for Industrial Vocational Teachers in the Republic of China" (Shieh); "Apprentices Literacy Skills" (Sofo); "Regional Colleges: Resource Sharing between Vocational Education and Higher Education" (Atkinson); "Student Withdrawal from Part-Time Courses of Further Education" (Parkin); and "Improving the Quality of Vocational Education" (Jain). (CML)

This book contains 27 essays on the philosophical foundations of adult education: "Cultural Studies in Adult Education" (Sir Richard Livingstone); "The Conflict in Education" (Robert M. Hutchins); "The Student and the University" (Allan Bloom); "Experience and Education" (John Dewey); "For Those Who Need to Be Learners" (Eduard C. Lindeman); "The Adult, His Society, and Adult Education: An Overview" (Paul Bergevin); "The Design of Education" (Cyril O. Houle); "The Steep and Thorny Way to a Science of Behaviour" (B. F. Skinner); "Employee Training" (Leonard and Zeace Nadler); "The Interpersonal Relationship in the Facilitation of Learning" (Carl R. Rogers); "Adult Education and Worldview Construction" (Leon McKenzie); "Learning and Change" (Peter Jarvis); "Conclusion: Toward Transformative Learning and Emancipatory Education" (Jack Mezirow); "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" (Paulo Freire); "The Common Concern: Controlling the Professionalization of Adult Education" (Arthur L. Wilson); "The Contribution of Critical Theory to Our Understanding of Adult Learning" (Michael R. Welton); "The Political Economy of Literacy in the Third World" (Frank Youngman); "toward a revolutionary feminist pedagogy" (bell hooks); "Feminism and Adult Learning: Power Pedagogy, and Praxis" (Elizabeth J. Tisdell); "Gender and the Curriculum of Adult Education" (Sue Blundell); "Subsistence Knowing" (Mechthild U. Hart); "Putting Ourselves into the Place of Others: Toward a Phenomenology of Imaginary Self-Transposal" (Herbert Spiegelberg); "Phenomenological Perspectives: Some Implications for Adult Education" (Michael Collins); "Lifelong Learning: A Phenomenology of Meaning and Value Transformation in Postmodern Adult Education" (Sherman M. Stanage); "Adulthood and Education" (R. W. K. Paterson); "The Concept of Educational Need: An Analysis of Selected Literature" (Maurice L. Monette); and "Equal Rights, Equal Opportunity, and Equal Chance" (Kenneth Lawson). Each selection is prefaced by a brief biographical sketch of its author and introductory comments. Some essays include substantial bibliographies. (MN)

This book contains 15 chapters, some of which are based on papers presented at an international workshop in Africa that brought together a diverse group of participants who shared a commitment to adult education for social transformation. The papers are organized in six sections. Following the first section, "A Transformative Political Economy of Adult Education: An Introduction" (Frank Youngman), the second section, "Theoretical Perspectives," contains two papers: "Towards a Transformative Methodology of Political Economy in Adult Education: A Critical Third World Feminist Perspective" (Marjorie Mbilinyi) and "State and Civil Society in the Perspective of Adult Education in Latin America" (Cesar Picon). "The International Context" is the topic of the third section, which contains three chapters: "The Nature of Imperialism in the 1990s and the Implications for Adult Education" (Hussein Mukasa); "Adult Education and the Political Economy of Global Economic Change" (Budd Hall); and "Adult Education for Export" (Ettore Gelpi). The fourth section, "Class, Gender, Race, and Ethnicity," contains the following two chapters: "Race, Gender, Class, and the Practice of Adult Education in the United States" (Phyllis Cunningham); and "Class, Race, and Ethnicity in Adult Education in Africa" (Dani Wadada Nabudere). Three "National Case Studies" are contained in the fifth section: "Towards a Political Economy of Adult Education and Development in Botswana" (Frank Youngman); "The Political Economy of Adult Education in Zimbabwe: A Case Study" (Taka Mudariki); and "A Political Economy of Adult Education in Comparative Perspectives: Canada, Mexico, and Tanzania" (Carlos Torres, Daniel Schugurensky). The final section, "Adult Education for Social Change," includes four chapters: "Adult Education for Global Social Change: Feminism and Women's Movement" (Angela Miles); "Gender and Adult Education: Training Gender-Sensitive and Feminist Adult Educators in South Africa--An Emerging Curriculum" (Shirley Walters); "Alternative Forms of Organization and Social Action: Implications for Adult and Community Education" (Paul Wangoola); and "Conclusion" (Paul Wangoola). The book includes information on contributors and is indexed by author and subject. (KC)

As part of her Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education course, Verushka Taylor was asked to imagine how issues the Social Contexts of Secondary Education class was reading about and discussing impact upon the work of teachers. To that end, students were asked to think deeply about one of the topics addressed in the semester, and to frame a professional development day for colleagues that teaches about the topic, attends to the pedagogy of the session, and creates opportunities for reflection and learning. What follows is Verushka Taylor's engagement with the topic of indigenous education.

Developing nations including Bangladesh are significantly lagging behind the millennium development target due to the lack of science, technology and engineering education. Bangladesh as a least developing country has only 44 engineers per million people. Its technological education and gross domestic product growth are not collinear. Although limited progress was made in humanities, basic sciences, agriculture and medical sciences, a vast gap is left in technical and engineering education. This paper describes the present condition of engineering education in the country and explores ways to improve engineering education in order to meet the national as well as global skills demand. (Contains 3 tables and 7 figures.)