Compulsory attendance is desirable, according to the author, for the good of society and the individual, not for the good of the educational establishment. He lists five "wrong" reasons for compulsory student attendance. (Author/DS)

Highlights certain similarities that prevailed in central educational administration in Britain in the decades of the 1890s and the 1980s and uses them to provide a historical context for the current debate on prevocational education and TVEI (Technical and Vocational Education Initiative). (Author/CT)

Based around case studies of current leaders in post-compulsory education, this book explores a number of leadership models and styles in order to provide inspiration and guidance for the next wave of potential leaders. After an introduction, the book is divided into four parts and 18 chapters. Part One contains: (1) Leadership in Post-Compulsory…

According to a recent estimate, out of more than four million children between 4 and 6 years of age, less than half a million are enrolled in kindergartens. This condition may be attributed in general to a lack of knowledge of the practical, ethical, and social value of kindergarten education; to the expense of installing a system whose advantages…

The article focuses on Public Law 94-142 (Education for All Handicapped Children Act) its historical antecedents, governmental inter-office cooperation in the law's implementation, and implications and problems for pediatricians. Available from American Medical Association, 535 N. Dearborn Street, Chicago, Illinois 60610. (PHR)

Making K-12 public school attendance voluntary will improve school climate and eliminate the need for school choice. A better system of financial allocations based on enrollment is critical. (SK)

Compulsory continuing professional education (CPE) is inappropriate because (1) it reproduces conformity and dependency-producing practices; (2) a professional is essentially self-directed and autonomous; and (3) CPE will not reform "unprofessional" professionals who lack lifelong learning attitudes. (SK)

Mandatory attendance laws have been justified on the basis of their necessity for effective citizen participation in a democracy and protection of children from permanent and substantial harm. Critics argue that mandatory schooling should be replaced with mandatory education laws. (SK)

The authors evaluate Angrist and Krueger (1991) and Bound, Jaeger, and Baker (1995) by constructing reliable confidence regions around the 2SLS and LIML estimators for returns-to-schooling regardless of the quality of the instruments. The results indicate that the returns-to-schooling were between 8 and 25 percent in 1970 and between 4 and 14…

The modern special education theater in the United States has hosted many plays, none with a larger or more diverse cast than the learning disabilities (LD) play. During the prologue, the children with LD were waiting in the wings, not yet identified as LD but there, nonetheless. With the advent of compulsory education in this country, awareness…

This research explores the attitudes of parents and teenagers towards the proposals in the "Raising expectations" Green Paper. It is based on a public opinion poll of 920 parents and 380 teenagers in the United Kingdom, which ran between 30 March and 10 April 2007. The results were analysed by Learning and Skills Network statisticians.…

The English Learning and Skills Sector (LSS) contains a highly diverse range of learners and covers all aspects of post-16 learning with the exception of higher education. In the research on which this paper is based we are concerned with the effects of policy on three types of learners--unemployed adults attempting to improve their basic skills…

The article argues that the local authority attendance officers responsible for the enforcement of compulsory attendance changed their approach to truancy under the influence of child welfare legislation and changing views of the child in the first decade of the twentieth century. Some of the changes in their work emerged as a direct response to…

Background: Early school leaving and dropout are widely recognized as problems, leading to further marginalization and exclusion of young people from society at large. The Finnish government has set a target that, by the year 2008, 96% of those who complete compulsory education will continue without interruption in secondary education or in the…

In Russia, preschool education, like higher education, is not compulsory, and access to it is not guaranteed by the state. At the same time, "the provision of state guarantees of access to and equal opportunities for acquiring a full-fledged education and achievement of new, up-to-date, high-quality preschool education" has been…