Amid increasing global and national interest in the built educational environment, this editorial considers developments within the Nordic countries that are investigated and discussed within the articles in this special issue. We discuss commonalities and divergences in the experiences of transition and change in the schools, located in a range…

The systematic review by Sommer, Leuschner, and Scheithauer ("International Journal of Developmental Science" v8, n1-2, p3-24, 2014) includes 126 school shooting cases from 13 countries. This comprehensive review provides a valuable synthesis of a topic largely discussed in school shooting research: The role of bullying and peer…

In this article, the author responds to Kathy Rentz. She happily joins forces for pedagogically defensible teaching conditions and gives a brief "activist" account from the European perspective. However, rather than "European," she emphasizes that for the most part, this response looks at business communication teachers'…

As large as Finland is small, as rich in natural resources as Finland is not, bordered by smaller, peaceable nations to the north and south and large oceans to the east and west, nobody has ever come to America and forced its people to rename and reorganize their colleges and universities--or, for that matter, to do anything else. Americans are…

The significance of a school's physical environment is explored through a discussion of a metaphor used by some students in a study in Finland and England in which students characterized their schools. The "ant's nest" metaphor communicates the lack of spatial and embodied autonomy that students experience in school. (SLD)

The "folkehojskoler," innovative Scandinavian secondary schools based on radical humanistic ideas, are examined from both empirical and philosophical perspectives, focusing on three elements: ideology; the student experience; and the teaching culture. Implications for goals, objectives, assumptions, forms, and practices in American…

Discusses the concept of democracy as a social contract between equal individuals. Argues that women's individuality is relative rather than absolute despite the formal equality of Western societies. Questions the neutral definition of pupils when students are socially, politically, or economically unequal. Explores child-centered education and…

Claims elderly suicides are more frequent, and more likely to be multifactorial, including loneliness, isolation, depression, somatic illnesses, having suffered numerous losses, and injuries to the self-esteem (concerns regarding emptiness, uselessness, and body image). Aggressive impulses previously neutralized by work and social life now break…

Discusses the development of self-concept as an educational aim, the effect of the school's evaluation system on self-concept, the purpose of evaluation relative to elementary school aims and the pupil's self-concept, and computer-aided evaluation. Describes in detail the attributes of children with healthy self-concepts. (GEA)

Includes "Creating Conducive Environments for Learning and Entrepreneurship" (Gibb); "Understanding Notions of Enterprise in the Higher Education Sector" (Hartshorn); "Towards HEI (Higher Education Institution)-based New Venture Generation" (Virtanen, Laukkanen); "Entrepreneurial Universities" (Formica);…

Bruce Jilk, conference chairman for the American Institute of Architects' Committee on Architecture for Education Fall Meeting (Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 7-10, 2000) provides his views on the future of schools, school/community integration, and shared spaces with surrounding businesses. Mr. Jilk comments on Finland's Heinavaara Elementary…

In order to give a draft picture of the church- and school-based literacy campaigns in Sweden, some of the historical sources, problems, methods, and preliminary results from a broad research project on the two campaigns are discussed. (IAH)

Uses personal narratives and a literature review to examine the status of creativity in Finland's schools. Describes the Finnish school system and how creativity is nurtured at various grade levels, and examines how teachers can arrange a creative learning environment. Maintains that teacher-education departments need students willing to use their…

Western preschools and schools find it important to nurture democracy. However, in order to succeed in nurturing democracy, democratic ideas must be implemented in all situations. Education alone, therefore, is not enough. All children must experience real influence over their situations, and experience the opportunity for self-determination in…

Contained in this collection of presentations from the third Afro-Nordic Library Conference are a foreword describing the objectives of the meeting and 14 papers: "From Oral Tradition to Literary Writing: The Awakening of National Awareness," by Heikki Kirkinen; "African Library Systems," by L. E. Samarasinghe; "Planning…