Education & Pedagogy

This volume consists of a total of 138 abstracts of documents dealing with youth and educational programs for youth. Included in the volume are 55 abstracts of documents dealing with social and educational developments and 83 abstracts of program reports, reviews, and evaluations. Abstracts are grouped according to the following subject areas: apprenticeship; assessment, credentials, and reporting; career education and counseling; community and postcompulsory colleges; disabled and handicapped students; education (access and opportunity, funding and resources, participation and retention, policy, recurrent education, and vocational training); employment; evaluations; families and parents; females; higher education; migrants; programs (benefits and allowances, community programs, educational programs, and labor market); schools and schooling; school students; and technical and further education (TAFE). Each citation includes complete bibliographic data for the given document and an abstract. Subject and author indexes are provided. (MN)

The United State Army has an education/training strategy that provides the conceptual framework for planning, programming, budgeting, and conducting and/or overseeing all education and training necessary to accomplish its military needs and to care for the human needs of soldiers and their family members. This strategy includes education and training for deployed, contingency, and reenforcing forces; training and education support programs to sustain individual and collective job performance; voluntary self-development for soldiers and adult family members; and schools for Army dependents. This paper reviews the entire spectrum of education and training in the Army and then concentrates on the general education element as adult and continuing education within the U.S. Army. The paper also contains a discussion of challenges and issues facing the broad spectrum of Army education and concludes with some expected trends and developments in education and training as the Army approaches the next century. Statistics on how many and what types of personnel are enrolled in various types of educational programs are included in this report. A 48-item bibliography is also included. (KC)

The early emergence of nontraditional graduate education programs is traced with particular emphasis on Nova University's Center for Higher Education. Characteristics of the independent learner that are essential in providing transformational leadership are also addressed. Nova University's innovative approaches provide nontraditional choices for a broad range of students. The Center for Higher Education provides a field-based Doctor of Education program for practitioners working in three specialized areas: higher education; leadership in adult education; and vocational, technical, and occupational education. The Center uses a field-based delivery format in combining instruction, independent study, and applied research. Students are required to complete seven seminars, five practicums, and a major applied research project. Five of the seven seminars are core seminars that are required for all students regardless of specialization. The core seminars are: curriculum and program planning, governance and management, applied educational research and evaluation, learning theory and applications, and societal factors affecting education. Specialization seminars are also offered, and two are required of each student choosing that specialization. (SW)

This paper, presented at the International Conference on Education for the Gifted, examines the Republic of South Africa's historical provision of education for the highly gifted as well as the present status of such service. A brief review is provided of the educational planning process and recommendations are outlined for a national system of differentiated education in accordance with students' capacities. Other aspects of gifted education discussed include identification of highly gifted pupils and provision of education at elementary and secondary levels. A summary of some of the recommendations formulated by the Human Sciences Research Council during its investigation into the Republic's educational system are presented. Specific recommendations focus on educational structure, education for the highly gifted, and a research program on education of the highly gifted. The present status of education provision for the highly gifted is then described, discussing the definition of giftedness, identification of gifted pupils, education for highly gifted handicapped pupils and highly gifted underachievers, guidance for highly gifted pupils and their parents, teacher training, and special program development. (JDD)

The paper reports findings of a California committee on the need for differential graduation standards for students with learning disabilities and/or other educational handicaps. The committee proposes minimum levels of proficiency in career education, vocational education, work experience, and independent living skills to help students gain usable skills in the labor market. Skills should be infused through the total curriculum. The broad concept of career education is examined and its principles recommended for insertion in special education, Similarly, the scope of vocational education is examined and its contributions considered. The committee asserts that differential standards should be based on applied learning in career education, vocational education, work experience and independent living skills. Recommendations are offered for such actions as establishing a task force to study policies for differential graduation standards; developing proficiency examinations based on vocational and independent living competencies; and developing inservices for parents, teachers, and community members on career/vocational and independent living skills. (CL)

This report contains information on the activities undertaken by the Parenting Education Committee. Background information is first provided together with the history of this committee whose purpose was to study parenting education statewide and to identify suitable areas for a curriculum as well as available resources. Results follow of a study of 39 states that collected copies of their parenting education curricula. What Illinois is currently doing in the area of parenting education is then discussed. These products of the Parenting Education Committee are next presented: a parenting education definition, the concepts that the basic component group of the committee selected for inclusion in the curriculum, and the eight recommendations of the implementation group. These recommendations suggest ways to incorporate a parenting education curriculum within the school system as well as other institutions. The qualifications of the teacher are considered. An appendix contains a chart with the following information on parenting education in other states: state, title of curriculum, grade levels, how began, and how implemented. The bill that mandates parenting education in Illinois is also appended. (YLB)

The seven papers in this volume address three topics: the economic effects of vocational education, occupational projections, and coordination among institutions providing training. The first paper analyzes high school vocational education from an economic viewpoint, while the second examines the effects of vocational training coupled with the size of firms on the employment experience of noncollege youth. The last paper in the outcomes of vocational education section assesses the effectiveness of vocational education and Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) programs through the use of routinely available administrative data. In the second section on occupational projections and vocational education, technical information on occupational coding is provided, and vocational education for coal mining in West Virginia is profiled. The final section examines educational coordination, first between CETA and vocational education as seen by vocational educators and then through an examination of the role of federal vocational education funding in promoting reemployment of disabled workers. (KC)

This guide was developed in New Hampshire to assist schools in upgrading their industrial arts programs to technology education programs reflecting the state of the art in the technology education curriculum. It was developed through visits to many New Hampshire schools, as well as schools and colleges in 10 other states, and attendance at several regional and national conferences. The guide is organized in six sections. Section 1 introduces and defines technology education and states its philosophy. Section 2 provides a rationale for making the change from industrial arts to technology education. In section 3, suggestions for implementing technology education programs are made, with unit plans and models for various size schools, as well as an inservice model to assist teachers in implementing technology education. Section 4 provides the New Hampshire technology education program guide and standards; section 5 contains 56 references used for the transition to technology education project. The final section documents the research project that provided the basis for the guide. (KC)

During the National Project for State Community Education Planning and Development, the following main activities were accomplished: (1) each state received (or was eligible for) a State Community Education Planning Assistance Award for developing or updating a 5-year state plan for community education (1988-1993); (2) a planning and training workshop and other training sessions were conducted for state planning facilitators from each state; (3) the status of each state's community education development was determined; and (4) a set of elements common to successful state planning and development efforts was defined and incorporated in a planning guide for state community education development directors. The elements identified were leadership, networking, legislation and funding, training and technical assistance, and community education identity and support. As a result of the project, needed reinforcement and revitalization of existing community education networks were provided, and the stimulus to expand to other groups with related concerns was generated. (Abstracts of state plans for community education are included in this report.) (KC)

The Missouri state plan for vocational education for 1989-1990 calls for increasing the rate and quality of the participation of targeted populations (handicapped, disadvantaged, adults, single parents/homemakers, persons seeking job training in occupations that are nontraditional for their gender, and incarcerated persons) at appropriate instructional levels. The plan also calls for continuing implementation of the state's vocational instructional management system. Other major goals stipulated in the state plan include implementing a system of vertical articulation, increasing the role of vocational education in the state's economic development activities, developing a systematized approach to developing equipment replacement plans appropriate to each vocational program area, improving and expanding career guidance and counseling programs, and improving and updating consumer and homemaking education programs in the state. (Appendixes include a summary of recommendations made at public hearings on the Missouri state plan for vocational education, state and/or federal reimbursement for vocational education programs, and local application for federal vocational education funding.) (MN)

One of six annexes to a report prepared by members of an economic commission that visited China in 1984, this document examines recent developments in Chinese primary and secondary education and issues related to a proposed introduction of a 9-year basic educational system. It outlines educational prospects to the year 2000 and explores technical and vocational education in relation to technical manpower, demand, and supply. Issues pertaining to specialization, duration and level of training, shortages of staff and facilities, administration, and the status of technical and vocational education are examined, along with the demand for and supply of staff in primary and secondary education and issues related to teacher training, curriculum, educational structures, and administration and teacher status. It concludes with a review of costs and financial issues in education and proposes specific educational prospects. Tables and charts are included, and appendices give data on China's educational structure and provide other selected statistics. (JHP)

This monograph contains five papers concerning political education in Canada. Chapter 1, "Political Education and the Teaching of Politics," considers the historical and philosophical connections between education and politics. Chapter 2, "Civics, Citizenship and Politics: Political Education in the Schools," explores definitions of political education and various approaches to achieving it. The socio-political impact of schools is discussed in chapter 3 in "Political Education or Political Socialization: The Role of the 'Hidden Curriculum'," while chapter 4 focuses on "Morals and Values in the Schools: Citizenship and Moral Education." Chapter 5, "Teaching Strategies and Political Education," outlines recent approaches to teaching about politics that lead to increased participation and competency. They include utilizing: (1) conceptual models; (2) issues or concepts; (3) case studies; (4) discovery and inquiry strategies; (5) a broadly defined concept of politics; (6) conflict studies; (7) experiential learning methods; (8) political action and participation; (9) politically relevant attitudes and values; and (1) life-long learning strategies. (JHP)

The educational system of Egypt is described, and guidelines are given for the placement of Egyptian students in U.S. colleges and universities. The following chapters are provided: (1) Introduction (history of education, administration, and finance); (2) Basic and Secondary Education (including standard and Al-Azhar schools, technical education and training of primary teachers); (3) University Education (history, administration, faculty, admissions, courses of study, grading, and graduate programs); (4) Other Postsecondary Education (intermediate and higher institutes and other institutions); and (5) Guidelines and Placement Recommendations (selectivity, catalogs, spelling, America & Mideast Education and Training Services Inc., Supreme Council of Universities, Cultural and Education Bureau, and placement recommendations). Appendices provide sample documents for basic and secondary education, undergraduate credentials, graduate credentials, nonuniversity postsecondary institutions, and a list of Egyptian National University Faculties and Institutes, 1984-85. A glossary and index are also provided. Contains 10 references. (KM)

The State of Arkansas, through legislation, has set new standards for schools of education. The new standards mandate changes affecting the following: (1) National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) approval for all teacher education programs in the state; (2) general education requirements for education students that are the same as in other baccalaureate degree programs; (3) the need for students to select a concentration, (K-3) or (4-6), within an elementary education program; (4) the need to establish equivalent degree requirements in an academic major for secondary students; (5) early evaluation of potential education students; (6) experiences sequenced for students; and (7) more careful monitoring of student teaching. In addition, the National Teacher Examination (NTE) Pre-Professional Skills Test will be required for admission to the teacher education program as well as other criteria. Programs will be held accountable for the pass rate on different sections of the NTE. Institutions failing to maintain an 80 percent pass rate will be placed on probationary status for 3 years. (Author/JD)

Abstracts and abstractors' critiques of six science education research studies and six responses to critiques are presented in this issue of "Investigations in Science Education" (ISE). Each of the studies addresses some aspects of teacher education. Areas investigated include: (1) effects of inservice training on student learning; (2) description of incentives that may retain inservice science teachers and recruit prospective teachers; (3) influence of science education as a discipline on the attitudes of preservice teachers; (4) comparison of the effects of lectures versus activity based instruction on teacher attitudes; (5) teacher attitudes toward environmental education; and (6) the effect of a sequence of science courses on preservice elementary teachers' attitude toward and anxiety about teaching science. Responses to critiques involve studies from earlier issues of ISE as well as the current issue's study on preservice elementary teachers attitudes and anxiety toward teaching science. (ML)