Search

A study of the current expressed reading interests of children in the first two years of school conducted in ten countries--Austria, Canada, England, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Panama, Sweden, and the United States--is reported in this paper. Over 2,000 children drew pictures about what they would best like to read or have read to them. They were then interviewed for additional information in an attempt to ascertain the derivation of their interests. Specific topics drawn and/or stated by the children are listed along with the categories into which topics were placed. Three of the conclusions appearing to grow out of the study are: although some significant differences emerged from country to country, there were more similarities in interests across the ten countries than differences; fairy tales and fantasies were the most preferred expressed reading interests of first- and second-year children in the ten countries; and reading interests of second-year children demonstrated more preferences for nonfictional topics than the interests of first-year children. (Author/WR)

This paper reports on research designed to explore the status of children and the relationship of patterns of child care to social structure and social change. The study is based on interviews with scholars and government officials, an analysis of statistical data and research reports, and visits to day care centers, playgrounds, and other settings in the United States, Sweden, Israel, and China. While much of the information necessary to assess the system of child care in this country has not been systematically collected and analyzed, there are a number of empirical indicators of child neglect and abuse. The current "crisis" seems to be the result of a combination of social trends of which the following appear to be major ones: (1) changes in the structure of households, (2) changes in sex roles which downgrade parenthood and child rearing, (3) loss of child care options outside the family, (4) a serious imbalance in the supply and demand for child care, and (5) the costliness of children. The role of the child and role system involved in child care which operates in different societies is also discussed. (Author/CS)

This paper describes a research project which was designed to analyze the extent of functional literacy at different grade levels in Sweden. Functional literacy is defined here as the use of the mechanics of reading for different information purposes. A test battery was administered to 2600 students in grades six through twelve. The test battery was intended to represent a sample of important skills needed for functional literacy in a modern industrial society. The battery included comprehension tests of normal prose, tables, forms encountered in everyday life, difficult prose such as text from a home insurance policy, and a reading rate score. The tests were administered twice with an interval of one year between testing. Some results were an increase in reading comprehension from grade to grade at all levels, with the exception of the highest percentiles in grades eleven and twelve, and wide overlapping of scores between grades. Questionnaires were sent to 950 head teachers asking for their opinion of the value of the skills measured by the test battery and asking them to indicate a minimum score for satisfactory ability. Partial data results are discussed. A majority of the teachers who responded indicated that they felt the skills measured were important. (MKM)

The personnel function in industrial society has been marked by crisis, reappraisals, struggles for power, and guilty conscience. The profession is again under pressure; company management often questions its contribution to the solution of strategic personnel matters, while employees and their unions question its values, and wish to place its actions under the control of the employees. The description of the present situation must be based on tendencies toward change which have already had effect. Some of the tendencies which we may observe in action at present and which will influence personnel work in the future include: (1) movement toward a postindustrial society, with industry's principal branch being services and the basic conflict between the capital owner and the worker giving way to conflict between the professional and the layman; (2) movement toward a realignment of power, between the company and society and within companies, prompting considerable personal development on the part of employees and necessitating new company organization; (3) movement toward a more humane technology; and (4) movement toward a more open and more flexible company organization. Personnel officers must become realistic specialists in people, able to analyze values and processes of change in different situations. (Author/AJ)

With reference to data from a Swedish investigation into learning difficulties in mathematics, an analysis is presented of models and taxonomies applied to special education problems. The author suggests that such developmental cognitive theories as those of J. Bruner, J. Piaget, and R. Gagne are suitable as a starting point for a taxonomy in mathematics for low achievers but contain inconsistencies. Proposed is a three dimensional model which relates the child's stage of development, instructional objectives and activities, and mathematics content categories. (Author/DB)

An overview is provided of the development of national planning and the centralization of research libraries in four countries: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Included in the review are cooperative projects and the actions of government and/or library commissions in each country. Planning at the local level and inter-Scandinavian efforts are excluded, as are standardization and other developmental work in library routines. In the chapter on Finland, a model is presented of the inquiry processes used in the planning objectives, and the participants in the decision making processes. Advantages and disadvantages are cited for planning as conducted by librarians and as carried out by outside experts. Suggestions are made for an optimal planning organization. (Author/SL)