There is an alluring, daunting, and haunting desire for practical knowledge in the contemporary social and education sciences about school change. This desire is not new: it haunts the turn of 20th century social sciences to change urban conditions and populations, and appears today in international school assessments and professional education.…

After World War II, in Hungary the caretaker government formed as a result of the coalition of left-wing and bourgeois parties created the slogan 'Free state, free church'. The political power promised the churches unrestricted operation, not only in the field of religious life, but also in fulfilling various social functions. However, the…

The radically and rapidly changing societal context has placed education at the crossroads, necessitating a re-thinking of education. At the same time, urgent challenges confront humanity, such as the environmental crisis and the creation of social capital (to keep together an increasing diverse society)--to mention but two. In all these education…

Within recent years, there has been a trend of students (traditional and nontraditional) travelling abroad, more particularly to the United States, with the view of pursuing higher education at both the graduate and undergraduate level. Among the most popular influential factors to obtain higher education internationally are government and private…

The paper analyses situations, conditions of social discourse and necessary actions for the implementation of multicultural education in the education system of the countries in transition (Republic of Serbia), from the perspective of interpretative paradigms. In the first part of the paper, the authors explain a theoretical understanding of the…

In this keynote address, the author explains why it is important to advance the right to lifelong learning and extend education throughout life. The author stresses that the continuing development of knowledge and skills within the adult population is one of the most strategic investments that societies must make today. Furthermore, this is an…

Cosmopolitanism is a worthy educational goal, perhaps more important now than ever before. Its possibilities, however, cannot be adequately realised unless people develop a different way of thinking about issues of global interconnectivity and develop in students a set of epistemic virtues with which they can critically explore the ways in which…

Describes six pressures and trends shaping society today: transformation of knowledge; the communications revolution; economic turbulence; shifts in power structures; new concept of work, education, and leisure; and the search for meaning. The effects of these pressures on social transition are discussed and implications drawn for learning and…

In Asia, the family unit has long been the foundation of society. The family system, instead of the government, provides social, economic, and emotional support to the individual as well as the family itself. Self-reliance and personal responsibility are nurtured within the family, but with increased urbanization and industrialization of Asia, the…

Twenty-two issues of each of six magazines published between 1915 and 1925 were analyzed to determine whether those magazines served only as mirrors of social change or took a more active role, either as agents of social change or as agents of social conservatism. Specifically, the study examined the manner in which the following magazines covered…

The document examines the evolution of kibbutzim in Israel. The author suggests that a primary factor in the kibbutz development is the nature and structure of Israeli modernization efforts. The efforts encompass national ideology, industrialization, and legitimization of certain forms of social interaction. This mode of modernization stands in…

In a discussion of the attempts of the organized workers' photography movement in Weimar Germany to redirect the use of photographs in everyday life, this paper analyzes photographs published in the "Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung," (AIZ) a large and successful picture magazine that emphasized a left-wing, humanitarian approach. The paper…

This paper attempts to develop a theoretical framework to better understand the role of people's theater in bringing about social change. First, the paper provides a historical perspective on how people's theater evolved in Europe and the United States. The paper then investigates the rise of people's theater in such Latin American countries as…

This paper outlines current changes in American adoption practice and the controversies surrounding these changes. It includes a discussion of the role that neo-Kantian and utilitarian perspectives have played in American adoption policy and practice, and offers an alternative, the communitarian perspective, described by Sandel (1984). Adoption…

This presentation is based on two essays by the author (P. K. Jamison): (1) "Providing Alternative Views of Contexts, Instruction, and Learning in Graduate and Continuing Professional Education Courses in Instructional Development"; and (2) "How Is Instructional Development a Social Practice?". The first essay presents a critical inquiry,…