Multicultural And International Education: Never The Twain Shall Meet?

The paper commences with an attempt to define multicultural education (also referred to as intercultural education) with reference to its historical development and current uses of the term. The rise of international schools is then addressed as a necessary preamble to a definition of international education from an historical perspective; a comparison with multicultural education sharpens the definition. The author goes on to propose that intercultural understanding is a principal, common objective of multicultural and international education and should serve to bring together scholars and practitioners in both fields whereas the literature and practice shows them, by and large, operating independently with little reference, one to the other. Greater collaboration can only be of mutual benefit in achieving common objectives and improving practice. The paper concludes with some suggestions for collaborative research across both fields.     

ETHNICITY,AGING, AND HEALTH: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY EXPERIENCE

Recent trends in geriatric care have focused on the importance of teamwork through interdisciplinary interaction as a means of improving and maintaining the quality of life for clients and their families, while at the same time fostering professional growth of the health care providers. However, the literature is sparse on how university students are prepared through interdisciplinary team approaches to work effectively with geriatric clients in a diverse cultural environment. This article discusses how one undergraduate course was developed and implemented using an interdisciplinary focus to help students learn about ethnicity, health, and older adults. To begin the interdisciplinary focus, an interdisciplinary advisory team was assembled. This team was instrumental in guiding the process of planning, implementing, and evaluating this course. Recommendations from both the students and the advisory team demonstrate that a combination of team learning and multicultural education is essential to empower students to acquire skills for cross‐cultural work.     

The status of women in the administration of health science libraries.

Results of a survey of large health science libraries in the United States demonstrate that the relative position of men and women in administration is comparable to that prevalent in other types of libraries. Medical school and the largest libraries are the most likely to be administered by men. The percentage of women who are directors of large biomedical libraries has declined radically since 1950. The statistics presented here will serve as a base for assessing future change.     

The development of reading skills in young partially sighted readers

Young learners with severe visual impairments are restricted in many ways, and psychologists and special needs teachers require information about the nature and extent of the possible educationally handicapping effects. This article, written by Michael Tobin, Emeritus Professor of Special Education within the School of Education at the University of Birmingham, and Eileen Hill, a teacher at Queen Alexandra College, Birmingham, reports the use of a longitudinal approach to measure how reading development is affected in these children and to uncover the relationships with and among other cognitive factors. The 60 participants were part of a larger cohort of children registered as blind or partially sighted, their reading progress being monitored from seven to 12 years of age. While improving in all three skill areas as measured by the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability, there were significant deficits/lags in development as compared with the norms for their fully‐sighted age peers, especially in speed of reading. Even more disturbing was the finding that the deficits increased with age. Significant correlates of reading, changing in importance over time, were intelligence, visual efficiency, phonological awareness, vocabulary knowledge and short‐term memory. It is proposed that, if the educationally handicapping effects of the impairment are to be overcome, a formal, regular cycle of testing to monitor progress be instituted by specialist teachers and educational psychologists. together with the design, development and standardisation of a new reading assessment procedure; and that the professionals collaborate in the construction of programmes of continuing structured teaching to improve speed of reading throughout primary and early secondary schooling.