It has been suggested that students' belief of whether intelligence is malleable and flexible would affect their purpose of achievement (achievement goals). This might, in turn, influence their learning strategies. The present study examined the above relationships among 194 Grade 7 Chinese students in Hong Kong. Structural equation modeling…

Recent legislation on adult basic education (ABE) in the Netherlands has two important aims: to offer one uniform organizational financial structure and to improve educational quality. ABE institutes have concentrated on restructuring the organization and merging the precursors. The change in structure is supported by a change in organizational…

Findings and recommendations of a University of Alberta task force study on the mature student are presented. Study objectives were as follows: to identify the characteristics of the mature student population at the university, to identify major concerns and needs of this population, to determine to what extent the university meets the needs of…

A major goal of the School for Independent Study at North East London Polytechnic, which was founded in 1974, has been to provide the opportunity for higher education among students in an underprivileged area of London where typically few students have access to further schooling. The desire to increase access led to "non-standard entry"…

Young urban teachers assigned to rural schools in Queensland, Australia, experience difficulties in adjustment related to isolation from family, friends, and other professionals. Twelve teachers in a small remote settlement and 12 teachers in a rural school close to a suburban area completed a questionnaire exploring their relationships with their…

One important line of inquiry in educational psychology involves the study of change of individuals' cognitive-motivational processes. The conjunctive use of longitudinal data with latent growth curve modeling procedures has, for example, allowed researchers to identify initial levels and to trace trajectories of theoretical variables such as…

A recently begun longitudinal study of a trend toward credentialism or qualifications-orientation among adult students in six countries (India, Japan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, and England) is described. The development of measures of student learning orientations for different cultures is discussed. (MSE)

Small communities require the services of professionals such as doctors and teachers, but most professionals are trained in metropolitan areas. Urban-trained professionals are seldom prepared for the social and cultural differences that confront them when they move to rural communities. Such newcomers frequently experience culture shock--the…

Offers a classification system for strategies used in task analysis (the identification of all the things that must be done to satisfactorily complete an activity) and applies these strategies to special education. Presents guidelines for selecting an appropriate form of task analysis. (MJP)

A case study of an Australian gay teacher in a rural community explores issues related to being in "the closet," which is seen as a patriarchal construction designed to maintain itself. Despite legal protection to equal rights, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered teachers experience significant discrimination, fueled largely by…

The Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS) was administered to 219 Czech adolescents, 132 of whom were mathematically gifted. Two distinct orthogonal constructs of perfectionism were identified, indicating that healthy and unhealthy perfectionism are not opposite poles on a single continuum but are independent constructs. Perfectionism was…

We present our recent research on children's learning goals and personal agency in the domain of learning in order to show the complexity of selves in Chinese culture. Our research poses challenges to the widely claimed collectivist self-concept in Chinese children and calls for reexamination of selves in specific domains across cultures.…

This article addresses themes of development among young teenagers. Children aged 12 and 13 were followed up on a regular basis. The girls' vivid accounts on negotiations and reorganisations in their joint, field of peers aroused interest in their developmental efforts. Consequently, the practices and discourses connected with the personal and…

Placed in the current political context of growing liberalization within China, this essay describes the Shanghai Hotline for Sexual Minorities. Funded by agencies outside the government, these services target LGBTs toward self-acceptance and AIDS/STD education while seeking to reduce social prejudice.

Disruptive students are often perceived to be unmotivated, low in self-concept, and lacking in creative characteristics such as originality in thinking and imagination. A total of 99 students from 6th Grade classes of a primary school in Hong Kong completed a survey asking about their effort goal orientation in school motivation, academic…