GRANDPARENTS RAISING GRANDCHILDREN: GOALS AND SUPPORT GROUPS

More grandparents are raising grandchildren than ever before. Success in overcoming their unique problems requires that grandparents be optimistic and adjust to their new role; learn about child and adolescent development in today's society; cooperate with the parent who shares responsibility for providing care; monitor social and academic development; become aware of available services, obligations, and rights; and obtain periodic relief from the demands of the role. Full‐time grandparents often rely on support groups for advice and comfort. The merits of this approach are identified, along with ways to improve group interaction by encouraging hopeful attitudes and constructive behavior, setting guidelines for discussion, emphasizing communication with family members, and making education the basis for grandparent development.     

Written versus oral administration of a social-emotional self-report test for children: Does method of execution make a difference?

This study examined administration method (standard written administration vs. oral administration by an examiner) as a variable in influencing children's self-report test scores. Subjects included 139 students in grades 3–6, randomly assigned to one or the other administration condition. Subjects completed the Internalizing Disorders Evaluation Scale for Children (IDESC) according to the assigned administration method. Internal consistency estimates of each group were essentially similar. Mean IDESC scores of the two groups did not differ significantly from either a statistical or practical standpoint, based on t-test and effect size calculations. Results suggest that method of administration did not affect test performance. Implications for child assessment and future research are discussed.     

Critical human rights,citizenship, and democracy education: Entanglements and regenerations

International Review of Education -     

Lifelong Learning Within Higher Education in South Africa: Emancipatory Potential?

In South Africa under apartheid higher education was inaccessible to the majority. This article argues that in the new South Africa there is an opportunity to redress this situation and promote equity though lifelong learning. This would involve greatly widening access and providing programmes to develop broadly applicable abilities such as computer literacy and problem-solving skills, which would increase the economic competitiveness and personal empowerment of learners. At the same time, the author argues, new educational approaches are needed to promote active citizenship.     

Institutional change in a transitional economy: the reform of economics higher education in Mongolia

This paper discusses the problems of implementing a European Union Technical Assistance to the Commonwealth of Independent States (of the former Soviet Union) (EU/TACIS) project to reform Mongolian Economics Higher Education with the ultimate objective of improving the process of economic policy making. It emphasises the importance of historical, economic and administrative context for the design and implementation of project activities. Project activities are reviewed and the problems of implementation discussed in terms of the aid relationship and the particular circumstances of transition economies. The paper concludes that, while the project's immediate objectives in terms of curriculum reform have been achieved, the sustainable change necessary to deliver the central, long-term objective remains elusive.     

Transforming Teacher Education in South Africa: a space‐time perspective

South Africa's most urgent and difficult project is to reconstruct all spheres of public life so as to establish enabling conditions for a flourishing and peaceful democracy. A viable education system with committed, competent and confident teachers is a primary condition for accomplishing these ends. This article offers a critical account of current attempts to transform teacher education and development. Against a sketch of inherited ways of using time and space in teacher education in South Africa, the article assesses change in three ‘spaces‘‐‐public space, evaluative space and pedagogical space‐‐and related changes in time. A fourth space of change‐‐institutional space‐‐is mentioned in so far as it affects the other three. I argue that the main direction of change is from insulated space and interrupted time to porous space and continuous time. While this direction has promising possibilities, it is not without pitfalls.