In this article we present findings from research in 12 UK universities that sought to capture a range of perspectives on "distributed leadership" and reveal common and competing experiences within and between institutions. From analysis of findings we identified two principle approaches to the distribution of leadership:…

Agnes Tellings rightly observes that adolescents, if compared with pre-pubescent children, are much more capable of making their own choices and therefore should be granted much more freedom to arrange their own lives. However, the capacity of adolescents to make prudent choices still seems to be below the threshold of competence. Therefore,…

The author explores how students can become partners in innovation and inquiry, more engaged in the classroom, and better positioned to succeed when educators listen to their students talk about learning. Bueschel concludes that students who have not been successful in school present many challenges, but they can also be an asset in overcoming…

Adolescent risk-taking can be illuminated through an understanding of the development of the brain, of dual-processing theories, and of social norms and meanings. When adolescents take unjustified risks, it is often because of the weakness of their analytic systems, which provide an inadequate check on impulsive or ill-considered decisions. Social…

Principles of scientific data accumulation and evidence-based practices are vehicles of professional enhancement. In this article, the author argues that a scientific knowledge base exists descriptive of the relationship between teachers' activities and student learning. This database appears barely recognised however, for reasons including (a)…

Practitioners and teachers should be able to justify their chosen techniques by taking into account research results: This is evidence-based practice (EBP). We argue that, specifically, statistical practice and statistics education should be guided by evidence, and we propose statistical cognition (SC) as an integration of theory, research, and…

There is an increasing emphasis on seeking and using the views of children and young people in research, evaluation and consultation. This question was at the centre of a day-long event of presentations and workshops organized by the National Foundation for Education Research in November 2007. Key objectives for the workshop included. (1) Review…

In this article, we argue that many adults lack the "numeracy" needed to function in a maximally effective manner in their vocational, civic, and personal lives. We believe schools need to foster skills in quantitative literacy (QL), an inclination and ability to make reasoned decisions using general world knowledge and fundamental…

It is no surprise that the issue of leadership is a compelling topic for students of management and the American public at large. According to the second annual National Leadership Index taken by the Center for Public Leadership at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, more than 7 in 10 Americans (70.8%) agree or agree strongly that…

Participatory decision making seems to be the new development paradigm in international cooperation. It is still a long way, however, to achieve the objectives that are formulated by the international development actors. Non-state actors are only limitedly involved in the policy decision-making. In this paper, we argue that when these actors take…

This article presents the authors' response to Harman and Sanderson (2008) who address the important question of how person-centred active support is. The authors' intention is not to disagree with Harman and Sanderson's general point that combining active support (AS) with person-centred planning (PCP) is better than either approach being…

This paper identifies and addresses some dilemmas to be faced in promoting educational projects concerned with human rights. Part of the difficulty that human rights education initiatives must cope with is the way in which value has been historically conferred upon particular notions such as freedom and justice. I argue here that a just education…

In this article, the author comments on the article by Dutta and Basnyat (see EJ802883) that provides an insightful and comprehensive critique of a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) entertainment-education program, The Radio Communication Program (RCP) in Nepal, which has been reported to be highly participatory. Despite…

Based on their experience of direct work with 16 principals in a midwest state in the USA, collaborative work with the state department of education and the major state-level professional associations and universities in the same state, and other state-level initiatives across the USA, the authors discuss eight critical issues concerning…

This concluding commentary highlights common themes that emerged across the chapters in this volume. We identify strengths and limitations of the core competencies framework and discuss the importance of context, culture, and development for understanding the role of the core competencies in preventing risk behavior in adolescence. We also outline…