Youth voice is a fairly common neologism to refers to the distinct ideas, opinions, attitudes, knowledge, and actions of young people as a collective body.

Background

The term youth voice is often intended to group together a diversity of perspectives and experiences, regardless of backgrounds, identities, and cultural differences. Alternately, the plural forms of either word are usually intended to recognize plurality and diversity of experience, as in youths voice or youth voices. The concept is traditionally acknowledged by community and classroom educators and youth workers; it is increasingly employed by politicians, researchers, and mainstream media.

Student voice is an increasingly common neologism that encapsulates the spirit of youth voice in the context of schools. Whether expressed in the course of learning, the process of decision-making, or the passion of self-advocacy, student voice acknowledges the unique position of the learner as an informed contributor in teaching, learning, and leadership throughout education.

The history of youth voice extends at least to the Middle Ages, when as a youth of 14 Joan of Arc led armies into battle. Other sources cite^{[citation needed]} the historic examples of young lamas in Buddism, such as the current Dalai Lama who was only 6 when he was identified as the next spiritual and political leader of Tibet; or Jesus Christ, who according to Christian tradition was just 12 when he began his effort to educate his community about his spiritual beliefs.

In modern times, youth activism, which is reliant upon youth voice, began in the United States in the late 1800s. The US has seen continuous interest (although not sustained) in youth voice since that time, with particular upsurges in the 1930s (American Youth Congress), the 1960s (SDS, SNCC, Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor) through to the early 1970s (National Commission on Resources for Youth). In the 1950s and 60s sociologist Margaret Mead actively promoted deepened understanding and engagement of youth voice.

Recently, a growing number of nonprofit, educational, and governmental programs around the world claim to advocate and/or engage youth voice in a variety of ways. They include YouthBuild USA, National Youth Rights Association, and youth councils around the world. The United Nations has heavily proponented youth voice through its Youth Unit, as well as the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Articles 5 and 12. A number of academics, authors, and advocates also proponent youth voice, including cultural critic Henry Giroux, activist/author William Upski Wimsatt, critical pedagogue Peter McLaren, and anti-racist/feminist/anti-imperialist theorist bell hooks.

Applications

Youth voice has many applications, as mentioned above. In communities, youth voice is acknowledged through youth service community youth development, Youth activism, and Youth councils; in schools, youth voice is heard in service learning, democratic schooling methods, and student activism. Other methods for acknowledging youth voice include engaging young people in city planning, program evaluation, community organizing, government advisory boards, nonprofit leadership, news reporting, and paticipatory action research.

Criticism

There are numerous detractors to both the concept of youth voice and the practice of gathering, invoking, extolling, or otherwise hearing youth voice. Perspectives range from what some call the inherent noblesse oblige involved: that is, listening to youth voice involves adults feeling “humble” enough to “stoop” to the level of youth. There are also a number of concerns regarding the diversity of the youth who speak, as well as the reception of those who listen.

See also

• community youth development
• critical pedagogy
• collaborative learning
• Democratic Schools
• youth participation
• The Freechild Project
• Take Children Seriously
• National Youth Rights Association

External links

• TakingITGlobal Voice - Youth involved in decision-making processes
• Youth Activism Project
• Collegiate Forum, the first international student-run policy center
• What Kids Can Do
• The International Voice, a youth-run human rights newsmagazine
• At The Table
• Online Teen Magazine, helping youth voice their opinion
• SoundOut - Promoting youth voice in schools
• The Roosevelt Institution, a student think tank
• The Youth Innovation Fund
• Uth TV

Web-based training (WBT) is a type of training that is similar to computer-based training (CBT); however, it is delivered over the Internet using a web browser. Web-based training frequently includes interactive methods, such as bulletin boards, chat rooms, instant messaging, videoconferencing, and discussion threads. WBT is usually a self-paced learning medium, however some systems allow for online testing and evaluation at specific times.

See also

• videobooks
• online training
• computer based training
• e-learning
• distance learning

This article relating to education is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This World Wide Web-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Youth mentoring is the process of matching caring, concerned adults with young people who may be at risk. The adult is usually unrelated and works as a volunteer through a community, school or church based social service program.

A more formal definition of youth mentoring is provided by the website InFed:

“The classic definition of mentoring is of an older experienced guide who is acceptable to the young person and who can help ease the transition to adulthood by a mix of support and challenge. In this sense it is a developmental relationship in which the young person is inducted into the world of adulthood (Hamilton, 1991; Freedman, 1995).”

History

Many people have “natural mentors” as they grow up and transition into adulthood. These people might be aunts or uncles, grandparents, neighbors, teachers, pastors, coaches or family friends. These relationships are valuable to young people in many ways.

However, many young people do not have these natural mentors (for a variety of reasons).

So, social service programs have developed to fill this gap. These social service programs are of many varieties. Some developed from faith communities. Others are funded by government programs. Still others are community based without any formal affiliations. But they all share the common goal of strengthening our communities by providing mentors for young people.

Benefits of Youth Mentoring

Intuitively we know youth mentoring is good for young people. However, many studies have provided evidence that youth mentoring has many positive outcomes for young people, adults and their communities.

According to the National Mentoring Partnership, youth mentoring helps produce benefits such as:

• young people tend to stay in school
• young people tend to get better grades
• young people improve their self-esteem
• young people are less likely to start using drugs or alcohol
• young people learn to get along better with others

Most youth mentoring programs have many success stories and feedback from their participants.

Here are some examples:

“I have the great luxury of knowing my son is having a good time and in good hands when he is with (his mentor). My son’s mentor played a major part in turning his life around. His experiences with his mentor have been completely positive ones. I could never thank them enough for the time they’ve spent and the influence they have had on my son’s life.”

-Cheryl (parent)

“A happy healthy daughter makes me a happier, healthier mom. I continue to inform people about this great program.”

-Susan (parent)

“She’s nice, she’s funny, we cook together…I wish (my mentor) could be in my life forever.”

-Amber (child)

“I have learned how to have fun with adults.”

-Leiha (child)

(The above examples are from the Kinship mentoring program)

Youth Mentoring Supporters

Volunteers from many backgrounds have long been the backbone on youth mentoring programs. In recent years however, many high level elected officials have gotten involved to help promote youth mentoring.

President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush have been two important supporters of youth mentoring.

“…If you want to serve America, become a mentor.”

-President George W. Bush

Click here for article.

Other notable elected officials include Florida Governor Jeb Bush who mentored a child on a weekly basis for over six years.

“Governor’s Mentoring Initiative Bringing Results for Florida’s Students”

Click here for article.

Also, the governors of California, Arizona, North Carolina and Texas have all established initiatives to help support and promote youth mentoring.

Arizona

California

North Carolina

Texas

National Youth Mentoring Organizations

These are some larger organizations actively involved in youth mentoring in the USA:

Kinship, Inc.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America

Youth Mentoring Resources

These organizations provide information, training, awareness and advocacy for youth mentoring:

MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership

Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota

The Washington Homeschool Organization (WHO) is a homeschool group located in the state of Washington, USA. WHO is a non-profit organization with a bimonthly newsletter detailing local homeschooling news for it’s approximately 500 members. There is also an annual homeschool convention put on by WHO, featuring the largest curriculum exhibit in the Pacific Northwest and a homeschool graduation.

External links

• Washington Homeschool Organization

This article relating to education is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Waldorf education, sometimes called Steiner education, is a world-wide movement based on an educational philosophy first formulated by Austrian Rudolf Steiner and which grew out of his spiritual science, anthroposophy. With a goal of educating the “whole child”, Waldorf educators place a strong emphasis on balancing the child’s natural stages of development with creativity and academic excellence. There is a strong emphasis on the arts, social skills, and spiritual values.

Waldorf education is practiced in Waldorf schools, homeschools, and special education environments. There are now over 900 Waldorf schools throughout the world including Europe, North & South America, Africa, Australia, and Japan.

Description

Waldorf education is principally based on the work of Rudolf Steiner and was later developed by Hermann von Baravalle and Caroline von Heydebrand among others. Waldorf schools employ a curriculum that focuses on the developmental stages of childhood. In general, there are three larger phases: early childhood, when learning is experiential and sensory; the middle, elementary school years, when learning is imaginative and aided by creative, and especially by artistic activity; and adolescence, when learning can be supported by abstractions and intellectual rigor. Inside these three larger phases, many smaller stages of development can be defined.

The education addresses subjects on three levels:

• the head or the Intellect. The education claims to teach the student to think for themselves.
• the Heart. The education’s stated aim is to instill a sense of feeling and spirit.
• the Hands. Waldorf schools work to involve arts and crafts, everything from painting to coppersmithing.

Though the emphasis in the early years is clearly on learning through doing (hands), in the middle phase on learning through feeling (heart) and in the middle and high school years on learning through understanding (head), all of these aspects are included in appropriate ways throughout the school years. This has social consequences as well; because of all the diverse subjects offered in a Waldorf school (two foreign languages, crafts, painting, drawing, singing and instrumental music, mathematics, language and literature, nature studies and natural science), each student must exercise a wide variety of intellectual and artistic skills. The broad curriculum thus encourages a social environment of cooperation and mutual appreciation.

Often there is an attempt to integrate these three elements into the teaching of all subjects. A conscious effort to build a sense of community and environmental responsibility is fostered at every level, including parents, teachers/staff, students, and alumni. Movement, sport and drama are employed throughout; in fact, a type of body movement called eurythmy is taught to every age group.

Further, Waldorf education makes no sharp division between theoretical and practical subjects, the arts and logic subjects like math. Steiner repeatedly emphasized the unification of the three subjects of art, spirituality, and science, since he believed these had a common root in the human expression of culture, as stated in his The Arts and Their Mission lecture from 1923.

Waldorf Schools are co-educational, and predominantly comprehensive. Most are run co-operatively and are self-administered. Some public schools incorporate Waldorf education principles into their curriculum. In the United States this has been difficult because: “Steiner’s concept is very spiritual in nature which public education cannot totally embrace because of current law. Nevertheless, after making some modifications, a public school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is using the concept with good results.” (Weary, 2000, p. 4) Similarly in both Australia and New Zealand some schools have successfully integrated with the state-funded school system, with some adaptation for state-prescribed curricula. Most have no school uniform.

The schooling is divided into 3 stages (see Pedagogy below) of Kindergarten (early years to 7), Middle (Elementary) school (7 to 14 ) and Upper (High) school (14 to 19).

Pedagogy

Steiner developed a 3-stage pedagogical model of child development that is utilised in Waldorf education. His description preceded but in some respects is analogous to the three stages of conceptual development observed and described by psychologist Jean Piaget in the 1960s. Steiner’s approach, however, views a child’s physical, emotional, and cognitive development as expressions of the process of incarnation of an immortal soul in its gradual embodiment in the human body which will be its temporary earthly vehicle. Childhood thus includes but three of the seven-year cycles of development that define human biography.

Stage 1: birth to age 7

The child at this early stage learns through imitation and example, so it is best to surround him with the goodness of the world and caring adults to emulate. Waldorf teachers work to support the amazing physical and spiritual growth the child experiences at this time.

Emphasis is placed on traditional household activities such as cooking, fingerknitting, helping with household duties, storytelling, rhyming, and movement games. Children are not taught specific academic subjects at this time, including reading and writing, and are sheltered from the media and even stories which include violence.

At approximately age seven, it is believed that the initial physical growth stage of the child is completed. Two signals that this stage is complete are the ability to reach over his head to touch the opposite ear, and the change of the teeth. As reprinted from the Foundations of Human Experience, Lecture 9: “…when their change of teeth is complete, it reflects the conclusion of the development of the head”.

Stage 2: age 7 to puberty

Academic instruction is integrated with arts, spirituality, craft, and physical activity. As Steiner stated in The Education of the Child in the Light of Anthroposophy, “…the child should be laying up in his memory the treasures of thought on which mankind has pondered…”.

The curriculum is highly challenging, structured, and creative. In Waldorf schools, one teacher often aims to stay with a class as it advances from its first year all the way through to year eight, teaching the main subject lessons. Specialist teachers are utilized for subjects such as foreign languages, handwork and crafts, eurythmy, games and gymnastics, and so on.

In the middle school years of seven and eight, some schools employ specialist teachers for mathematics, science, and/or literature as well. These are seen as transitional years when the pupils still need the support of a central teacher, but also the in-depth education possible only through more specialized support teachers. The approach to teaching these years is changing rapidly in Waldorf schools, and the combination of teachers employed in different schools for the academic subjects in the middle school runs the gamut from a central teacher teaching all of these to only using specialist teachers.

Stage 3: after puberty

The child is helped to begin a guided, but independent search for truth in himself and the world around him. As stated in Education for Adolescents (1922), “The capacity for forming judgments is blossoming at this time and should be directed toward world-interrelationships in every field.” Idealism is central to these years, and the education constantly directs pupils to motivating impulses that can stimulate their enthusiasm. It is claimed a combination of highly analytic thinking with idealism is cultivated.

Instead of having one main teacher who teaches most subjects, the students in high school have many specialist teachers. They begin to grasp concepts and analyze the facts and knowledge they learned in the earlier stages. All students continue to take courses in art, music, and crafts on top of the full range of sciences, mathematics, language and literature, and history normal to most academically-oriented schools.

Teacher education

Specialist Waldorf education teaching colleges are in operation throughout the world. The course of study normally includes methodologies of teaching, academic training in specialized disciplines, artistic development, and familiarity with child development (especially as researched by Steiner and later Waldorf educators). It also generally aims to develop an understanding of the inner, or spiritual, basis of teaching; of the human being as composed of spirit, soul and body; and that an individual human being reincarnates in a series of lives. The latter implies that children bring certain gifts and challenges with them from previous Earth experiences, and have chosen a future destiny to develop in this life — a destiny which can be supported through the environment of family and school. This spiritual background is intended to enhance teachers’ professional, personal and inner development. It is not intended to flow into the actual content taught to children.

Rudolf Steiner’s philosophy and developmental psychology are normally central courses at any Waldorf teaching college. Further specialized courses may draw on the huge body of research since Steiner’s day, possibly including work by (in alphabetical order, and without any pretense at comprehensiveness): George Adams, Hermann von Baravalle, Lawrence Edwards, Erich Gabert, Michaela Glöckler, Freya Jaffke, Dennis Klocek, Henning Köhler, Ernst Kranich, Georg Kuhlewind, Audrey McAllen, Martin Rawson, Wolfgang Schad, Ernst Schubert, Jörgen Smit and Olive Whicher. For elementary educators, artistic work will include painting, blackboard drawing, sculpture, singing, recorder playing, speech and drama work and movement (eurythmy and/or gymnastics). Practica in schools vary in length and will include opportunities for observation and for trial teaching.

Much of the education of any Waldorf teacher happens after graduation from teaching college, however, including through further seminars (such as those run by the national associations of Waldorf teachers) as well as the extensive publications on the subject (see the list of publishers below). The monthly magazine Erziehungskunst publishes the latest Waldorf research from Germany; to give an idea of the extensiveness of the source material now available — at least in German —, a collection of the best articles on elementary education from this magazine’s 66-year history (Zum Unterricht des Klassenlehrers an der Waldorfschule) included more than one hundred authors and ran to more than a thousand pages. The English language source material is also extensive, and there are English language research magazines in several countries.

Wider social purpose

Besides seeking to foster creative development of the “whole child,” Steiner also started the Waldorf movement in order to help fulfill a social purpose: that education, while remaining fully accessible and available to all regardless of economic background, should eventually cease to be controlled by the State, and should instead come to depend on the free choices of families and teachers freely developing a highly pluralistic and diverse range of schools and educational options.

Steiner held that where the State administered education, culture was crippled in its ability to impartially distinguish good from bad in state action and in economic life. Without the capacity to make impartial, independently-based critiques, i.e., critiques not controlled by the state and economic interests, society would proceed relatively blindly. He also held that educators whose methods and work were determined by the State often had their competencies and creativity greatly weakened through the lack of full self-responsibility and independence.

Social health, he believed, required education to be a matter of freedom and pluralism, such that teachers and parents should be permitted to make a thousand different educational flowers bloom, and then all families should be enabled to choose freely from the highly diverse and spontaneously evolving range of options. At the same time Steiner was flexible and pragmatic, and understood that compromises with the State would have to be made, and that even in an ideal system a few legal restrictions (such as health and safety laws), provided they were kept to a minimum, would be necessary and justified.

History

Waldorf education was developed by Rudolf Steiner as an attempt to establish a school system that would facilitate the inclusive, broadly based, balanced development of children. Though he had written a book on education, The Education of the Child in the Light of Anthroposophy, twelve years before, his first opportunity to open such a school came in 1919 in response to a request by Emil Molt, the owner and managing director of the Waldorf-Astoria Cigarette Company in Stuttgart, Germany. The name Waldorf thus comes from the factory which hosted the first school.

Steiner insisted upon four conditions before opening:

1. that the school be open to all children;
2. that it be coeducational;
3. that it be a unified twelve-year school;
4. that the teachers, those individuals actually in contact with the children, have primary control over the pedagogy of the school, with a minimum of interference from the state or from economic sources.

The first year the school was a company school and all teachers were listed as workers at Waldorf Astoria, but starting the second year the school became separate and independent.

Within a few years, many other Waldorf schools modeled on the Stuttgart school opened in other cities. Most of the European schools were closed down by the Nazis but after World War II were reopened. Today (2005) there are over 900 independent Waldorf schools worldwide, including over 150 in the United States, and 31 in the UK and Ireland. There is also a large homeschooling movement utilizing Waldorf pedagogy and methods.

There is a growing Waldorf charter school movement. Many public school teachers have brought aspects of Waldorf education into their classrooms, as well. In Europe, especially in Switzerland, there is much more integration of the Waldorf approach and public education than in the USA.

Steiner’s educational philosophy is continually being developed further. Journals of note publishing such material include the Erziehungskunst, the organ of the German Association of Waldorf Schools, the Research Bulletin of the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America and Paideia, the journal of the Steiner-Waldorf Schools Fellowship in Britain.

Critical debate surrounding the Waldorf teaching method

Waldorf education does not begin teaching reading and academics until approximately age 6-7. Critics claim that a “window” of intellectual opportunity is lost.

Studies in England have shown that, in fact, Waldorf pupils’ reading skills tend to lag behind state-educated pupils in the first few grades, but they also show that by 5th grade (11 years of age) the Waldorf pupils have caught up and thereafter are ahead of children of the same age who are educated in state schools. Research by Piaget and others also supports the view that early academic learning actually interferes with the development in early childhood of faculties that will enhance later learning capacity. ^[1] They maintain that the literacy-building techniques Waldorf schools use during early childhood—storytelling, music and singing, games, speech, and movement exercises—help to nourish imagination and a love of language which will be carried long after the child learns to read. It is worth noting that Finland, which sends its children to school at a comparable or later age, is one of the most literate societies in the world.

While the spiritual foundation of Waldorf education may not be intended to explicitly flow into the actual material taught in the classroom, this may be difficult to avoid and occurs implicitly. In a survey of 234 Waldorf schools in 31 countries, 59% of teachers were Anthroposophists, 57% felt that the goal of Waldorf education is to “change society”, and 70% of respondents thought that “…Waldorf education influenced students to be open to the spiritual world and Anthroposophy” (Ogletree, 1998, pp.1-2). This does not imply that Waldorf schools teach Anthroposophy to students, but that students are exposed to particular Anthroposophical values and spirituality.

A debate on the religious nature of Waldorf education was settled in a case brought to the Federal District Court of California. The Court decided in favour of the Waldorf schools, ruling that the plaintiffs had not brought a single piece of admissible evidence to support the contentions that either Anthroposophy or Waldorf Education is religious in character. For an expert witness’ testimony in the case, see here.

Waldorf schools appreciate the spiritual origin of the human being, which many interpret to be religious. Virtually all world religions are included in the curriculum as mythologies or in the study of historical cultures. No particular religion is universally emphasized, but the schools often attempt to bring the local religious beliefs and practices alive inside of the school, as well; in Israel, this occurs through Jewish festivals, in Europe generally through Christian festivals, in Egypt, through Muslim festivals, and so on. The increasingly multi-cultural nature of many societies is transforming the ways these festivals can take place; this is perhaps especially true of the schools in the United States. In a genuine Waldorf school, though teachers will have studied Anthroposophy, Steiner’s spiritual philosophy and world-view, this philosophy is not explicitly taught to pupils; the schools are becoming increasingly professional in this regard.

In 2005, a UK government-funded study praised the schools’ ability to develop students through closer human relationships rather than relying purely on tests, but reported that the state sector could provide guidance to Steiner schools in teacher training and management skills.

1. ↑ (David Elkind: Early Childhood Education: Developmental or Academic)

External links

Waldorf Resources

• Association of Waldorf Schools of North America
• Steiner-Waldorf Schools Fellowship
• Bob and Nancy’s Services with a link to various Waldorf resources
• Americans for Waldorf Education
• Waldorf Answers Waldorf teachers present Waldorf education
• Association of Waldorf Schools of North America
• Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship of the UK and Ireland
• Waldorf World website

Further Discussion and Reviews of Waldorf Schools

• British governmental Department for Education and Skills review of Waldorf schools
• OpenWaldorf.com - topics, tools, and community for curious Waldorf parents
• A British governmental study reports that Waldorf education is a highly structured, disciplined educational model. The emphasis on arts and creativity complements a challenging curricula.
• The Skeptics Dictionary
• “Schooling the Imagination” by Todd Oppenheimer (a winner of the National Magazine Award for public interest reporting), from a September 1999 Atlantic Monthly article — a picture of Waldorf education in practice, showing how some minority children do in Waldorf
• BBC News story on 2005 UK study
• Positive Views of Waldorf: Comments on Waldorf and Steiner from Nobel Prize Winners, Scientists, Artists, Actors, Politicians & Professors of Education
• Waldorf Education - A list of notable alumni and Waldorf parents maintained by “theWaldorfs”. Including, amongst others, the names of Jennifer Aniston, Kenneth Chennault, Michael Ende, Albert Watson and Veronica Webb.

Homeschooling

• Waldorf Resources reviews of Waldorf materials & resources
• Wonder Homeschool A parent-to-parent resource on Waldorf homeschooling and guide to available curriculum resources (formerly Wonder Ranch Homeschool)
• Therapeutic Homeschooling Resources for homeschooling children with bipolar disorder using Waldorf Education.
• Waldorf Homeschooling for Special Needs Children Discussion List

Special Education

• Camphill Communities Intentional communities of people with disabilities that recognize the potential, dignity, spiritual integrity, and contributions of each individual.

Teacher training programs

• Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks, California
• Sunbridge College in Chestnut Ridge, New York
• Antioch New England Graduate School
• Center for Anthroposophy in Wilton, New Hampshire
• Emerson College in Forest Row, Sussex, England
• The University of Plymouth, England

Finding a Waldorf School

List of Waldorf Schools

• A list of Waldorf Schools Worldwide
• A list of Waldorf Schools in the Germany
• A list of Waldorf Schools in the US
• Starting a Waldorf School
• eSchoolSearch Directory

Sources

Primary sources

Note: all of Steiner’s lectures on Waldorf education are available in PDF form at this research site

• Steiner, Rudolf: The Foundations of Human Experience, ISBN 0880103922 - these lectures were given to the teachers just before the opening of the first Waldorf school in Stuttgart in 1919.
• Steiner, Rudolf: Practical Advice to Teachers , ISBN 0880104678 - also held in Stuttgart in 1919.
• Steiner, Rudolf: Discussions with Teachers, ISBN 0880104082
• Steiner, Rudolf: Education As a Force for Social Change, ISBN 0880104112
• Steiner, Rudolf: The Spirit of the Waldorf School, ISBN 0880103949
• Steiner, Rudolf: Rudolf Steiner in the Waldorf School: Lectures and Addresses to Children, Parents, and Teachers, 1919–1924, ISBN 0880104333
• Steiner, Rudolf: The Genius of Language: Observations for Teachers, ISBN 0880103868
• Steiner, Rudolf: Faculty Meetings with Rudolf Steiner: 1919–1924, ISBN 0880104589
• Steiner, Rudolf: The renewal of education through the science of the spirit - these lectures were held in Basel in 1920, ISBN 0880104554
• Steiner, Rudolf: Education for Adolescents, ISBN 0880104058
• Steiner, Rudolf: Soul Economy: Body, Soul, and Spirit in Waldorf Education, ISBN 0880105178
• Steiner, Rudolf: Waldorf Education and Anthroposophy 1, ISBN 0880103876
• Steiner, Rudolf: Waldorf Education and Anthroposophy 2, ISBN 0880103884
• Steiner, Rudolf: The Spiritual Ground of Education, ISBN 0880105135
• Steiner, Rudolf: The Child’s Changing Consciousness: As the Basis of Pedagogical Practice, ISBN 0880104104
• Steiner, Rudolf: A Modern Art of Education, ISBN 0880105119

Secondary sources

• Astley, K. and P. Jackson (2000): “Doubts on Spirituality: interpreting Waldorf ritual” in International Journal of Childrens Spirituality, Vol.5 Iss.2 pp.221 -227

• Bärtges, C. and Lyons, N.: Educating as an Art, NY 2003

• Blunt, Richard: Waldorf Education. Theory and Practice, Novalis Press, Cape Town 1995.

• Edwards, Carolyn Pope (2002): “Three Approaches from Europe: Waldorf, Montessori, and Reggio Emilia” in Early Childhood Research & Practice, Volume 4, No. 1

• Gilbert, Harlan: At the Source: the Incarnation of the Child and the Development of a Modern Pedagogy, Association of Waldorf Schools of North America, Fair Oaks 2005.

• Gloeckler, Michaela: A Healing Education, Rudolf Steiner College Press, Fair Oaks, 1989.

• Harwood, A. C.: The Recovery of Man in Childhood

• ____________ . : The Way of A Child

• Koepke, Hermann: Encountering the Self, Anthroposophic Press, Hudson, NY 1989

• McDermott, R., Henry, M.E. and Dillard, C.B. (1996): “Waldorf education in an inner-city public school.” in The Urban Review, Vol. 28, pp. 119-40

• Nicholson, D.W. (2000)”Layers of Experience: forms of representation in a Waldorf school classroom” in Journal of Curriculum Studies, Vol. 32, Iss. 4

• Oberman, Ida, Ph.D (1999) Fidelity and flexibility in Waldorf education, 1919-1998 (Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation) Stanford University

• Ogletree, E.J. (1998): International Survey of the Status of Waldorf Schools. Education Resources Information Center (Link:[1]

• Ogletree, E.J. (1997): Waldorf Education: Theory of Child Development and Teaching Methods. Education Resources Information Center (Link:[2])

• Ogletree, E.J. (1996): The Comparative Status of the Creative Thinking Ability of Waldorf Education Students: A Survey Education Resources Information Center (Link[3]

• Okumoto, Yoko, M.A. (1999): An alternative possibility of identity development: A discussion of Rudolf Steiner and Waldorf Education (Master of Arts Thesis) McGill University (Canada)

• Ruenzel, David (2001): “The spirit of Waldorf education” in Education Week, Vol.20 Iss. 41 pp. 38 -45

• Uhrmacher, P. B. (1995): “Uncommon schooling: a historical look at Rudolf Steiner, anthroposophy, and Waldorf education.” in Curriculum Inquiry, Vol. 25, pp. 381-406

• Weary, B.F. (2000): Perceptions of looping addressing the academic and social needs of children: Waldorf education and public schools (Doctor of Education Dissertation) Temple University

• Wilkinson, R. (1996): The Spiritual Basis of Steiner Education. London: Sophia Books

(Note: this is only a partial listing of the secondary sources available)

A blacksmith is a traditional trade.

Vocational education (or Vocational Education and Training (VET)) prepares learners for careers or professions that are traditionally non-academic and directly related to a specific trade, occupation or vocation, hence the term, in which the learner participates. It is sometimes referred to as technical education, as the learner directly specialises in a particular narrow technique of using technology.

Vocational education might be contrasted with education in a usually broader scientific field, which might concentrate on theory and abstract conceptual knowledge, characteristic of tertiary education.Vocational education is in most cases a form of secondary or post-secondary education. In some cases, vocational education can contribute towards a tertiary education at a university as academic credit however, it is rarely considered in its own form to fall under the traditional definition of a higher education.

Up until the end of the twentieth century, vocational education focused on specific trades such as for example, an automobile mechanic or welder, and was therefore associated with the activities of lower social classes. As a consequence, it attracted a level of stigma. Vocational education is related to the age-old apprenticeship system of learning.

However, as the labour market becomes more specialised and economies are demanding more skills, governments and businesses are increasingly investing in the future of vocational education through publicly funded training organisations and subsidised apprenticeship or traineeship initiatives for businesses. At the post-secondary level vocational education is typically provided by an institute of technology, or by a local community college.

Vocational education has diversified over the 20th century and now exists in industries such as retail, tourism, information technology, funeral services and cosmetics, as well as in the traditional crafts and cottage industries.

VET internationally

Australia

In Australia vocational education and training is post-secondary and provided through the Technical and Further Education system and by Registered Training Organisations. This system encompasses both Government and private providers in a nationally accredited system based on agreed and consistent assessment standards.

Commonwealth of Independent States

The largest and the most unified system of vocational education was created in the Soviet Union with the Professional`no-tehnicheskoye uchilische and, Tehnikum. But it became less effective with the transition of the economies of post-Soviet countries to a market economy.

German language areas

Vocational education is an important part of the education systems in Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland (including the French speaking part of the country).

For example, in Germany a law (the Berufsausbildungsgesetz) was passed in 1969 which regulated and unified the vocational training system and codified the shared responsibility of the state, the unions, associations and chambers of trade and industry. The system is very popular in modern Germany: in 2001, two thirds of young people aged under 22 began an apprenticeship, and 78% of them completed it, meaning that approximately 51% of all young people under 22 have completed an apprenticeship. One in three companies offered apprenticeships in 2003; in 2004 the government signed a pledge with industrial unions that all companies except very small ones must take on apprentices.

The vocational education systems in the other German speaking countries are very similar to the German system and a vocational qualification from one country is generally also recognized in the other states within this area.

Additionally there is the Fachhochschule since the 1970’s in West Germany and since the 1990’s in Austria, former East Germany, Liechtenstein and in Switzerland. This type of institution offers degrees (Diplom(FH), Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees), which are one of the worldwide rare examples of a higher education that is considered in its own form to fall also under the (local) definition of a vocational education.

Singapore

In Singapore, the Institute of Technical Education provides vocational education after secondary education.

United States

In the United States, the approach is varied from state to state.

Readings

• Achilles, C. M.; Lintz, M.N.; and Wayson, W.W. “Observations on Building Public Confidence in Education.” EDUCATIONAL EVALUATION AND POLICY ANALYSIS 11 no. 3 (1989): 275-284.
• Banach, Banach, and Cassidy. THE ABC COMPLETE BOOK OF SCHOOL MARKETING. Ray Township, MI: Author, 1996.
• Brodhead, C. W. “Image 2000: A Vision for Vocational Education.” VOCATIONAL EDUCATION JOURNAL 66, no. 1 (January 1991): 22-25.
• Buzzell, C.H. “Let Our Image Reflect Our Pride.” VOCATIONAL EDUCATION JOURNAL 62, no. 8 (November-December 1987): 10.
• O’Connor, P.J., and Trussell, S.T. “The Marketing of Vocational Education.” VOCATIONAL EDUCATION JOURNAL 62, no. 8 (November-December 1987): 31-32.
• Ries, E. “To ‘V’ or Not to ‘V’: for Many the Word ‘Vocational’ Doesn’t Work.” TECHNIQUES 72, no. 8 (November-December 1997): 32-36.
• Ries, A., and Trout, J. THE 22 IMMUTABLE LAWS OF MARKETING. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993.
• Sharpe, D. “Image Control: Teachers and Staff Have the Power to Shape Positive Thinking.” VOCATIONAL EDUCATION JOURNAL 68, no. 1 (January 1993): 26-27.
• Shields, C.J. “How to Market Vocational Education.” CURRICULUM REVIEW (November 1989): 3-5
• Silberman, H.F. “Improving the Status of High School Vocational Education.” EDUCATIONAL HORIZONS 65, no. 1 (Fall 1986): 5-9.
• Tuttle, F.T. “Let’s Get Serious about Image-Building.” VOCATIONAL EDUCATION JOURNAL 62, no. 8 (November-December 1987): 11.
• “What Do People Think of Us?” TECHNIQUES 72, no. 6 (September 1997): 14-15.

See also

 Education by subject   (Portal)  

Agricultural · Art · Bilingual · Chemistry · Hospitality management · Language · Legal · Mathematics · Medical · Military · Moulage · Music · Peace · Physics · Reading · Religious · Sail · Science · Sex · STEM · Technology · Vocational · More…

 Stages of formal Education   (Portal)  

Preschool —>	Kindergarten —>	Primary—>	Secondary—>	<————— Post-secondary —————>
				Vocational education	<— Higher education —>
					Undergraduate—>	Postgraduate
Also: Early childhood education, Alternative education (Homeschooling), Adult education

• Family and consumer science
• Finishing school
• Institute of technology
• Technical and Further Education (Australia)
• Training
• IEK: Vocational education schools in Greece.

External links

Vocational guidance

• Vocational Schools
• Choosing a Career or Vocational School

ERIC Articles

• Constructivism, Workplace Learning, and Vocational Education
• The Business of Vocational Education
• Employers’ Expectations of Vocational Education
• Reducing the Dropout Rate through Career and Vocational Education
• Vocational Education’s Image for the 21st Century
• Vocational Education Performance Standards

National and International organisations and agencies

• Australian Department of Education, Science and Training
• Australian NCVER listing of web sites, Australian and international, containing vocational education and training (VET) information
• European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP)
• European Forum of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (EFVET)
• German Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB)
• UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training
• UK Department for Education and Skills
• Scottish Executive Education Department
• US Dept of Labor of Employment and Training Administration - Office of Apprenticeship Training, Employer and Labor Services (OATELS)
• US Dept of Education - Office of Vocational and Adult Education
• U.S. Job Training and Vocational Education Programs

Reports

• Vocational Education in the United States: Toward the Year 2000 US National Center for Education Statistics

Vision Forum is a publishing company based in San Antonio, Texas which publishes books, audio books and produces documentary films for the Christian family. Some of the subjects covered in its materials are creationism, homeschooling, and Biblical patriarchy. Its founder, Doug Phillips, is the son of Constitution Party leader Howard Phillips.

External links

• Vision Forum, Inc.
• Vision Forum Ministries.

References

• Homeschoolchristian.com interview with Doug Phillips.

A videobook is a form of online training that delivers web-based training via downloadable training videos. Most videobooks are single website entities that focus on teaching the user (typically a subscriber)a particular topic (see links below for examples). Videobooks are, as the name implies, similar in content and outline to a “regular” book. The videos are typically recorded by a trained instructor and offered to the viewer on a subscription-based model. The user visits the videobook (the website containing the training videos), purchases a subscription, and can then download any or all of the training videos.

Videobooks are different from many Computer-based training (CBT) models in that videobook videos are typically in a shareable/portable (non-proprietary) format. They also differ in the content delivery

Key Components of a Videobook

A videobook is typically a single website or subdomain in order to make it easier on the viewer to locate the videos in the videobook.

• Downloadable videos
• Videos are usually 5-25 minutes in length and focus on teaching a specific task (task-based videos)
• User can watch the videos in any order they wish; the videos are presented in a recommended order but, due to the downloadble model, users can download and watch videos in any sequence
• Require no Internet connection to watch the video (Internet connection is required to download the video however)
• Videos are portable and non-proprietary - users can watch the video on any computer and most portable devices
• Low cost, often between $10 and $50 for a subscription
• Target market is usually the individual instead of a corporation or company department

Competition and Comparison

Videobooks often get lumped in with CBTs (Computer-based training) and e-learning yet they are distinctly different. A comparative analysis of each is listed below: Computer-based training (CBT) is a very effective medium for training employees. Although it offers an excellent ROI, CBTs often carries a high start-up cost for business looking to implement and are therefore marketed mostly to companies/departments (cost is often too high for an individual to purchase). CBTs are an excellent tool for training and can feature online (trackable) quizzes, excellent examples and 3D motion video. Many CBTs can be viewed offline (no connection to the Internet may ever be required) and most CBTs are delivered via CD-ROM or DVD via postal mail or in-store purchase. CBTs are historically proprietary and often require special software to be installed on the user’s computer.

e-learning and videobooks are also often compared due to the fact that both models use the web for content delivery. The main differences between the two are cost (e-learning is typically not a low-cost medium), target market (e-learning has historically been too expensive for individuals and so the target market has primarily been companies and departments), and portability (e-learning requires an Internet connection to participate).

See also

• e-learning
• computer-based training
• web-based training
• Blog Entry: “How Do Videobooks Compare to CD-ROM Video Training?
• Blog Entry “Are Videobooks E-Learning?”

Upward Bound High School in Hartwick, New York was the first alternative education program in Otsego County, New York. Created by English teacher Mike Newell and principal Mark Rathbun, the school was first located in the basement of a Unitarian church in Oneonta, New York.

Created in the mid-1980s, Upward Bound strived to create an environment for “at-risk” high school students more conducive to learning than traditional publicly-run school. By pooling together the students having the most difficulty functioning, regardless of the root of the problem, Upward Bound brought students together by eliminating labels. In classes of a maximum of eight students, each student could now properly be concentrated on.

Though the school has ostensibly disappeared within the last three years, the program still continues, though with less of an eye toward individuality. After the move to Hartwick, Upward Bound students had their own campus and building, providing a safe location in which to thrive.

Always a part of the Otsego-Northern-Catskills BOCES program, Upward Bound most recently joined the local occupational education center in their own wing of the facility. With this transformation, and more closely-controlled operations by new BOCES management, much of the founding staff has been displaced.

Though now vastly different from the original concept, the school still represents a progressive approach to alternative education.

This United States school-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Universal Preschool is the notion that access to preschool should be avaialable to families similar to Kindergarten. Child advocates have different definitions of the definition of who is included and how it is to be funded. There has been a move to change the name to Preschool for All. Like Kindergarten, the concept is to have a voluntary program, unlike education, that is mandated by law in the United States with exceptions to allow for homeschooling and alternative education. Advocates have argued over:

• the age of children eligible for the service of preschool with some taking the more traditional view that priority should be provided to children four years of age and others believing that brain development dictates that learning begins at birth and declines significantly by age eight.
• Other child advocates believe that children except for those in institutions are in a family, whether it be a two parent family, single parent family, foster care, guardianship, kinship care that often requires a full day rather than a part day preschool.
• Child advocates point to the head start model as ideal with parent involvement and education, social services and a family focus as critical to a quality preschool.
• A last issue for child advocates is whether the preschool should be provided by government, usually through public school systems or whether the existing diverse delivery system. Currently most preschool used by families consists of public, nonprofit, church related, private for profit and in home settings (family day care).

Support of universal preschool

• Research based studies that show significant positive outcomes for children who attend preschool, especially children who are “at risk.”
• Public School reformers who feel that many children start out behind in school for a variety of reasons including lack of social skills, not knowing English or lack of experience in a group educational setting.
• Advocates who see society as having a responsibility to all children
• The rate of return for preschool in later years for children who have access to preschool.

Opposition to universal preschool

• What’s coming out of Oklahoma and Georgia, two states that implemented universal preschool over a decade ago–is not particularly promising. Last year, the gains in reading scores of fourth graders in both states ranked among the bottom 10 on the National Assessment of Education Progress tests–the premier benchmark for comparing student performance across states. Even more stunning, not one of the 10 best performing states had universal preschool programs.
• Universal preschool advocates often underestimate the cost of universal preschool. This is what a sober assessment of a similar universal day care program in Quebec suggests. The final price tag for Quebec’s day care program is 33 times what was originally projected: It was supposed to cost $230 million over five years, but now gobbles $1.7 billion every year. Much of the increased spending has gone not toward increased access, but increased costs. Day care worker unions, on the threat of strike, negotiated a 40 percent increase in wages over four years.
• Universal prschool often creates long waiting lists and results in disadvantaged children competing with higher income children for preschool access. In Quebec many low-income parents, who lost their child care tax deductions in order to finance the program, have been crowded out by middle- and upper-income parents more savvy at negotiating the system. According to research by Peter Shawn Taylor for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, half of Quebec’s day care spaces are taken by families in the top 30 percent income bracket.
• Home schooling movement that believes children should be educated by their families and not by the government
• Anti-government movements that believe that the government does not do well with providing services, except for police, military and fire
• Extreme capitalists that desires the privatization of all functions including even private prisions and private roads.
• Private preschool providers who may feel threatened economically by a system that could exclude their participation.
• Those opposed to the particular funding mechanism or desire the funding to go to another benefit instead of Universal Preschool.

Movement

• The Universal Preschool movement started in France with Ecoles Maternalles in 1834.

• Various other European Countries adopted some form of Universal Preschool including Sweden.

• The movement gained ground in the United States as public opinion changed from viewing young children as the responsibility of only families to a shared responsibility of families and society. To date, various states have begun implementation of a Universal Preschool system including Georgia, Florida, New Jersey, Oklahoma and others. Many programs have been started by the Legislature and Governor. New Jersey’s program came out of a court decision based on the poor quality of education in large parts of the state (Abbott versus Burke). Florida’s Universal Preschool was established by initiative approved by the voters that left much of the program to be implemented by the Governor and Legislature. Georgia dedicated their lottery profits for preschool.

• On June 6th, 2006, California voters will be deciding on an initiative that would establish part day preschool for all four year olds as a constititional right. The initiative also has an unusual provision that would provide for a dedicated tax on those in very wealthy income brackets that would be placed in a separate fund that would not be part of the state budget. The initiative can be found at Preschool for All Act (pdf). The initiative is sponsored by Film Director and Actor, Rob Reiner

External links

Web resources on studies and information on the Universal Preschool Movement:

• EarlyEducation
• Trust for Early Education
• Preschool California
• National Institute for Early Education Research
• The Economics of Investing in Universal Preschool Education in California, RAND

Web resources making THE CASE AGAINST universal preschool.

• The Case Against Universal Preschool, Reason Foundation
• Bruce Fuller,PACE
• Assessing Proposals For Kindergarten and Preschool, Goldwater Institute
• Universal Preschool hurts Women and Minorities
• Evaluating Universal Preschool in Quebec