This discussion of occupational education suggests that traditional programs, which award status on the basis of time spent, be replaced with programs that define worth in terms of competence. The paper first looks at some of the socioeconomic conditions underscoring the need for a change from traditional educational practices. Next, the…

Despite commission reports and journal articles advocating mastery learning and effective instruction, grassroots influence is conspicuously missing from the current reform movement. Creative teachers continue to leave the profession, and top students refuse to enter it. Teachers remain essentially powerless, while open education enthusiasts await…

To help in the exploration of developments in increasing learning flexibility in Great Britain's further education system, this paper suggests the development of learner flexibility profiles as devices for analyzing and recording the nature and extent of student choice or discretion. The introductory section reviews developments in open learning…

Defines the open classroom approach as a pedagogical strategy which emphasizes student interests, student responsibility, and informality without ignoring traditional curriculum content. Outlines the major features of the open classroom approach and suggests ways it might be applied to the elementary math, language arts, social studies, and…

Excerpts from students' writing illustrate the differences between Foxfire and other learning approaches and the dilemmas students face in Foxfire classes, including choices, decisions and responsibilities; developing new skills in a new process; participating in the democratic process; effectively working together; and nontraditional evaluations.…

Two teachers discuss their experiences implementing Foxfire practices in an alternative high school. One teacher was apprehensive about changing from the "traditional" approach to "student-initiated learning." The other teacher also experienced moments of doubt, but both teachers realized the benefits of the Foxfire approach…

A high school teacher describes the learning activities his students initiated to make math more meaningful. Students determined the height of objects without direct measurement, graphed statistical information from the presidential primaries, studied the evolution of architecture by building gingerbread models, and researched land-use problems at…

After 18 years of using a traditional approach to teaching, a middle-school teacher turned her classroom into a shared learning experience by giving students the responsibility to make choices about their education. To reassure parents who were skeptical of the Foxfire approach, she continued to interject traditional learning activities. (LP)

Relates the experience of students and a teacher in an alternative high school in designing a biology curriculum based on Foxfire practices. Describes student efforts to gain approval from school officials to study evolution and creationism and the conflicts in values and belief systems among the students. (LP)

Reasons for the increased interest in "self-access" learning in language classrooms are explored, particularly the shift from teacher-centered to learner-centered learning. Ways that a Malaysian teachers college set up a self-access learning center are described. (Contains seven references.) (LB)

Traditionally, educational administration is a technology of administrative control that systematically ignores both educational issues and those social and cultural issues that lie at the heart of people's commitment to, or alienation from, educational institutions. These social and cultural inequalities are investigated in a series of essays on…

A high school teacher and four students restructured the curriculum for a shop math class based on Foxfire practices. The students, former underachievers, gained support and raised monies for building a gyroplane by writing grants, meeting with school administrators, and taking part in community speaking engagements. (LP)

This book discusses the anachronistic nature of the graded school structure and the practices that accompany it and proposes the alternative of a nongraded structure. The incompatibility of the graded system with present insights into child development are the the emphasis of the first chapter. Chapter 2 examines the effectiveness of nonpromotion…

The seven papers that make up this report focus on the impact of new information technology on curriculum and resource management at the college level in England and Wales. A brief preface, an introduction, and a foreword provide background information on the report and introduce the following papers: (1) "Curriculum Developments in Further…

This paper discusses policy regarding learning in later life in the United Kingdom. The following are among the topics discussed in chapters 1-12: (1) the importance of lifelong learning; (2) the importance of learning to older people; (3) opportunities for lifelong learning in the United Kingdom; (4) the United Kingdom's aging population; (5)…