Evidence is presented that indicates that reliance on the current methods of assessing the implementation of classroom openness is inadequate. Investigating the relationships between the component dimensions of classroom structure and particular outcome variables is suggested as a potential strategy for yielding more meaningful results. (Author/GK)

In the 1960s and 1970s distance education was seen as a way of increasing access to education, and hence as something the state should fund. Libertarian thinking has weakened support for the nation-state as a provider of social welfare. This article argues that libertarian policies are "vicious" in their effects. By subscribing to such…

Continues the comments of author Neil Postman on the current state of education. Discusses the "back to basics" movement, standardized testing, and what went wrong with the "relevancy" revolution. (FL)

When parents and educators are dismayed by the younger generation's declining skills, future orientation, and interest in success, they should direct their concern to the interplay between "video Valhalla," narcissistic consumerism, and open education in today's enculturative processes. (Author/IRT)

Defines "nonformal education" as encompassing the educational influences of all of society's institutions. Suggests that nonformal education may be the best approach to aid for development in developing nations, as well as to lifelong learning in European and other developed nations. (SV)

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…

The staff in British Infant Schools creates a special learning environment. British parents have differing expectations of the schools and their own educational role. In creating the open classroom, a modification of the British Infant School, American educators seem to have missed these two crucial points. (SJL)

Described is the change in teaching style--from open and unstructured to rigid and traditional--undergone by a teacher who found his students did not like or understand freedom in the classroom. (KC)

Discusses the evolution of the education system in Africa from the 1970s to the present. Looks at the link between schools and local institutions, the value that communities place on education, and the role of the community school regarding adults and out-of-school youth. (JOW)

Improved learning opportunities allow increased access to education by prisoners, giving inmates more responsibility for their learning. A regional, coordinated approach, use of telecommunications for information dissemination, and a policy decision for a national framework support open learning. (Author/LAM)

In 1967, the paths of educational reform in the United States and in England unexpectedly crossed with the publication of the Plowden Report in England and articles by Joseph Featherstone and Edward Yeoman in the United States. The years 1967-1974 marked important period in the development of American education, important in the professional lives…

This booklet on progressive education contains the profiles of three extraordinary progressive experiments in three very different types of schools. The first is the Laboratory School at the University of Chicago between 1896 and 1904, which was established specifically to test out in practice certain philosophical and psychological principles of…

This booklet contains a speech on the value of discovery learning in building a sound knowledge base. The author contends that systematic concepts (such as spatial relations) should be fully explored by experimentation and discussion in the classroom. The cognitive processes involved in solving problems are examined and examples are given of…

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…

The mission of lifelong learning encompasses a holistic, universal, educative framework embedded in acts of self-directed, self-initiated learning. Key to these lifelong learning actions are both facilitative environments and resources for individual learning activities, as well as the development of individual structures and processes to create,…