Much attention has been placed on the need to develop and evaluate complex interventions targeting public health issues, such as reproductive health. However, and as has been the case in the recent past, even well-designed trials will be flawed unless meticulous attention is paid to ensuring the most appropriate intervention is designed and…

Experience in Australia has demonstrated that problems arise when sustainability requirements appear to conflict with individual development rights or local lifestyles. Community partnering between government and the public is therefore of fundamental importance in working towards sustainable development. Unfortunately genuine partnering is only…

Reports are given on activities of the Scottish Council for Research in Education. Included are the Chairman's Report and those of the Finance and General Purpose Committee, Communications Committee, and the Research Committee. Summaries are presented of research projects involving: (1) primary school teaching strategies; (2) students' awareness…

This study of the feasibility of using existing videocassettes for interactive video included field tests with Open University summer school students. The aims of the study were to discover whether video material originally made for broadcast could be used in an interactive program which involves breaking up the intended flow of the program;…

This study of the need for and feasibility of creating an Australian newspaper index comprises a brief historical background; an outline of the current position regarding access to newspapers, including the international scene; an assessment of the need for an Australian newspaper index; recommendations on the breadth and depth of subject coverage…

A collection of nine commissioned papers, one each from Scotland and South Africa and eight from Australia, address provisions for and problems with distance education for librarianship. Components and applications of directed private study in Scotland and the development, educational philosophy, methods, problems, and standards of correspondence…

Children in the kindergarten and first grade classes at 14 London (Ontario) schools were selected to participate in a pilot project that compared procedures for the early identification and remediation of children likely to experience difficulty acquiring reading skills. Analysis of the results indicated that the six screening systems tested did…

The reasons that the current tutorial system (CTS) does not produce significant effects include the budgets and policies of schools, the greater independence of students, and the infrequent interaction of tutors with students. To reduce the deficiencies of the current tutorial system, this paper proposes a network tutorial system (NTS) and…

In Great Britain, interest in the measurement of value added was stimulated initially by the requirement that schools and further education (FE) colleges publish league tables of examination results. Value-added data can be aggregated to compare different institutions' performance. Within colleges, value-added data provide a basis for setting…

The potential usefulness of an intermittent ladder curriculum for educating health professionals in the Middle East and Africa was evaluated. Intermittent education would allow students to complete a lower educational qualification abroad and then enter the job market at home for some years before continuing with additional, higher education…

This paper begins by contrasting theories of teaching (which are predictive) to theories of learning (which are descriptive). It justifies the feasibility theory of distance teaching by asserting that methods of distance teaching can affect the pace and direction of learning; therefore, it should be feasible to develop a theory of distance…

A feasibility study has been conducted in Australia to investigate school and teacher objectives and practices in the development of oracy, to determine oracy skills agreed to be important, and to assess the feasibility and desirability of testing competence in oracy. The need for oracy assessment arises from a need for schools to account for…

Discusses the Intercultural Learning Network, an international computer network designed to enable students from different cultures to work with one another. Questions addressed include whether it is technically possible, economically feasible, and useful for instructional purposes; what organizational structures are required; and whether it can…

Small rural schools have always had an important place in the educational life of New Zealand, but they have faced a number of challenges in the past decade. These challenges include difficulty in attracting and retaining high quality teachers, changing expectations of parents, decreasing rural population, and the impact of national educational…

The BC Council on Admissions and Transfer (BCCAT) has had a long-standing interest in measures of student mobility and the potential of the Provincial Education Number (PEN) being applied in post-secondary institutions at the applicant stage. The Admissions Committee of BCCAT included a project in its 2004/05 Work Plan to conduct a thorough…