How students' cultural backgrounds and the variation of these backgrounds in different educational units affect the phenomenon of dropout and change of career plans was studied with 39,831 Finnish college students from 1985-90. Students' tendency to drop out is connected to some degree to sociocultural background. (SLD)

Concludes the findings from a survey that investigated how deaf and hearing-impaired Russian students in the upper grades deal with their hearing impairment in both their school and out-of-school worlds. Examines the value orientations and the emotional assessment of life plans through the prism of the students' attitudes toward their disability.…

Surveyed junior and senior high students. Found that adolescents' identity exploration and commitment reflect institutional transitions: those facing transition to senior high exhibited more exploration and commitment related to future education and occupation than younger students. Concerns with a future family increased with age and were…

The Delphi technique was used with 408 undergraduate international students and 121 faculty at an Australian university to identify problems. Difficulty understanding colloquial language, tuition cost, and feelings of isolation ranked highest among the problems cited by the students. Staff were critical of their own lecturing speed and of…

Investigates how adolescent's self-evaluation in junior high school (global self-esteem and self-evaluation related to school) influences the way he/she copes when experiencing a first difficulty in high school. Reveals the low predictive power of contextual self-evaluation on functional and dysfunctional factors and the importance of global…

A massive expansion in student numbers in higher education, coupled with an overall reduction in funding, has led to higher staff-student ratios and a reduction in the amount of staff time available to support students. This has been linked to rising demands being placed on student support services. This article draws on case studies of five…

This essay focuses on how people respond to cultural difference, and, specifically, two tendencies. One tendency is to romanticize the cultural differences encountered. Another tendency is to rush to a negative judgment about the specific people involved, and about their culture more generally. In this essay, the author illustrates these…

Adjustment in university students admitted based on their high school counselors' or advisors' recommendation is an issue for revealing the appropriateness and fairness of the nontraditional admissions procedure. The newly-issued admissions procedure in Hong Kong has not been subject to empirical investigation. To evaluate the procedure, the…

This paper reports an empirical study of the psychological and sociocultural adjustments of two cohorts of Chinese students taking a foundation course in English language at a British university. Using Zung's (1965) Self-Rating Depression Scale and a modification of Ward and Kennedy's (1999) Sociocultural Adaptation Scale, quantitative data were…

Child care in New Zealand and Australia has become a crucial part of the child-rearing system, and most preschool children spend a prolonged period in at least one away-from-home environment for a substantial part of the day. Because so many preschool children are exposed to a child care environment before entering school, the transition from…

With over 35,000 asylum-seeking and refugee children in British schools, British policy has become increasingly restrictive toward refugees. Some of the successful initiatives for the proper integration of these children, along with effective provisions, are detailed in this collection of articles. This book, which is intended for teachers,…

This volume reports on a seminar structured around three themes: institutional policies toward the flow of foreign students in member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); specific measures and programs for foreign students; and social and cultural adjustment by foreign students. The volume contains seminar…

Suggestions for students preparing for foreign study in Asia and Africa are presented. It is noted that cooperation and peace may be linked to developing successful programs in the non-Western world. The brief time that students spend in the host country enables the student to describe what the foreign values seem to be, but probably without…

This paper reports on a study to investigate the psychometric properties of the Japanese version of the academic self-concept scale of the Dimensions of Self Concept (DOSC). The original version was designed to assess the six dimensions of academic self-concept levels of aspiration; anxiety; academic interest and satisfaction; leadership and…

Noting that becoming familiar with the work system of the kindergarten classroom (a functional system with its own rules and procedures for activities and transition) is important for students' development and well-being, this study examined the work systems in two kindergarten classrooms and children's associated context-specific social…