Pascale, Louise M. (2013). The Role of Music in Education: Forming Cultural Identity and Making Cross-Cultural Connections. Harvard Educational Review, v83 n1 p127-134 Spr. In this reflection, Louise Pascale describes the evolution, development, and outcomes of the Afghan Children's Songbook Project, which is reintroducing children's ethnic songs to the children of Afghanistan and Afghan expats as well as to American schoolchildren. Her reflection highlights the potential for music to unify and strengthen community, thus joining people together in a common experience. She explores the suppression and resurgence of musical culture in Afghanistan and the connection of this experience to music education in schools in the United States…. [Direct]

Akseer, Spogmai; Kovinthan, Thursica; Vanner, Catherine (2017). Learning Peace (and Conflict): The Role of Primary Learning Materials in Peacebuilding in Post-War Afghanistan, South Sudan and Sri Lanka. Journal of Peace Education, v14 n1 p32-53. Post-war education is usually considered a positive contributor to peacebuilding; however, it can also reinforce divisive perspectives. Textbooks and learning materials can be instrumental in maintaining or exacerbating existing inequalities. This paper uses case study literature reviews of Afghanistan, South Sudan and Sri Lanka to explore the ways in which primary learning materials extend existing challenges of post-war education and potentially create new ones. An analysis of the literature on learning materials from these countries reveals that textbook development and uses are intertwined with larger national and international political and social power structures. We draw from Bourdieu and Giroux to consider how learning materials contribute to the reproduction of cultures of hostility, violence, divisiveness and silence or to transformatory cultures of peacebuilding, inclusivity and critical thought. Our resulting conceptual lens highlights how education can take on the role… [Direct]

Frazier, Patricia A.; Mitchell, Lauren L.; Sayer, Nina A. (2020). Identity Disruption and Its Association with Mental Health among Veterans with Reintegration Difficulty. Developmental Psychology, v56 n11 p2152-2166 Nov. Most research and theory on identity integration focuses on adolescents and young adults under age 30, and relatively little is known about how identity adjusts to major life events later in life. The purpose of the present study was to operationalize and investigate "identity disruption," or a loss of temporal identity integration following a disruptive life event, within the developmental context of established adulthood and midlife. We used a mixed-methods approach to examine identity disruption among 244 Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans with reintegration difficulty who participated in an expressive writing intervention. Participants completed measures of social support, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity, satisfaction with life, and reintegration difficulty at baseline right before writing, and 3 and 6 months after the expressive writing intervention. The expressive writing samples were coded for identity disruption using thematic analysis. We… [Direct]

Jamal, Aamir (2016). Why He Won't Send His Daughter to School–Barriers to Girls' Education in Northwest Pakistan: A Qualitative Delphi Study of Pashtun Men. SAGE Open, v6 n3 Jul. Resistance to girls' education in Pakistan has long been an intractable problem; the lowest enrolment figures are in Pashtun areas. This study focused on Pashtun men's perceptions of girls' education. Pashtun men of diverse backgrounds participated in a two-round Delphi exercise, followed by in-depth qualitative interviews in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan. Although contradictory ideas from religion, culture, and politics were elicited, consensus developed on major barriers to girls' access to education: poverty, "Pashtunwali" (tribal code), religion, accessibility, resources, shortage of female teachers, curriculum, and political apathy and corruption. Understanding the barriers to girls' education could help development professionals overcome them…. [Direct]

(2015). Global Inventory of Regional and National Qualifications Frameworks. Volume II: National and Regional Cases. UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning This second volume of the "Global Inventory of Regional and National Qualifications Frameworks" focuses on national and regional cases of national qualifications frameworks for eighty- six countries from Afghanistan to Uzbekistan and seven regional qualifications frameworks. Each country profile provides a thorough review of the main policy objectives, stakeholder involvement, validation of non-formal and informal learning, links to NQFs and important lessons and future plans. [Individual country sections contain a list of abbreviations and references.]… [PDF]

Anwar, Arif; Islam, Mir Nazmul (2012). BRAC in Afghanistan: Building South-South Partnerships in Teacher Training. Prospects: Quarterly Review of Comparative Education, v42 n1 p55-70 Mar. Training paraprofessionals such as teachers is one of many significant challenges facing Afghanistan's educational system. This case study focuses on the innovations offered in that regard by BRAC, a large NGO based in Bangladesh that brought its many years of development experience to Afghanistan in 2002 and established itself there as the premier change agent on multiple developmental fronts. Through the use of structured and semi-structured interviews with stakeholders, classroom observations, and extensive document analysis, the authors conclude that by successfully modifying its teacher training programme in Bangladesh, BRAC has been able to develop an approach to teacher training in Afghanistan that may become a showcase example of effective South-South partnership in education. The article concludes by urging adoption of BRAC's innovations in teacher training and recruitment by other developing nations facing similar challenges…. [Direct]

Dotolo, Frederick H., III (2021). Dialogues on the Experience of War: Using History and Student-Led Discussion Groups to Explore the Nature of Military Service. History Teacher, v54 n2 p357-374 Feb. In particular, the study of history–its scope, reliance on analytical narrative, and methodology of tracing change and continuity over time–provides for an exchange of meaningful narratives. As historians Martha Howell and Walter Prevenier argue, "All cultures, all peoples, tell stories about themselves, and it is these stories that help provide meanings that make a culture. In its most basic sense, this is what history is: the stories we tell about our prior selves." This insight provided the basis for a unique service-related, upper-level history seminar that the author and a colleague, Dr. Carolyn Vacca, offered in the spring semester of 2018 for the veteran and civilian students at a liberal arts college, St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York. This article discusses the course "Dialogues on the Experience of War," which was funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) special project, the purpose of which is to foster… [PDF]

Brand, Michael W.; Weiss, Eugenia L. (2015). Social Workers in Combat: Application of Advanced Practice Competencies in Military Social Work and Implications for Social Work Education. Journal of Social Work Education, v51 n1 p153-168. This article illustrates the types of situations that U.S. uniformed social workers have experienced in combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan with the purpose of preparing current and future social workers to effectively serve military and veteran clients in either military or civilian settings. Vignettes demonstrate the application of the military social work competencies as delineated by the Council on Social Work Education based on the 2008 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards. Implications for social work education are discussed along with the use of case studies through a problem-based learning approach…. [Direct]

Lundy, Sarah (2015). More Substance, Less Hype: Using Digital Texts to Support Diverse Readers. Social Education, v79 n2 p98-101 Mar-Apr. A thoughtfully designed digital text can provide classroom teachers with a powerful resource for addressing an enduring challenge of the K-12 classroom: how to simultaneously provide individualized and student-centered learning experiences for large class sizes and highly diverse student needs. The author describes how she relied on digital texts in her World History classes, provides examples of embedded learning supports in high-quality digital texts, and highlights a unit on Afghanistan that she taught as a good example of how she usually integrates a digital text in the classroom…. [Direct]

Bakhshi, Parul; Nandipati, Anand; Trani, Jean-Francois (2012). "Delivering" Education; Maintaining Inequality. The Case of Children with Disabilities in Afghanistan. Cambridge Journal of Education, v42 n3 p345-365. Education for children with disabilities in Afghanistan, particularly disabled girls, continues to lag behind despite laudable efforts of the Ministry of Education to promote universal access for all. The opportunity for education constitutes not just a means of achieving learning outcomes but also a space for social interaction, individual development and psychosocial support, which are paramount in Conflict-Affected Fragile States (CAFS). However, many persisting barriers still need to be overcome in Afghanistan to allow education for all and change negative attitudes towards education of children with disabilities. In this paper we argue that viewing education as a basic commodity, which is the widespread practice in CAFS, is not conducive to expanding human freedoms and capabilities. More specifically, through analyses of a national survey, we demonstrate that despite considerable resources, increasing access to education in Afghanistan has maintained processes of marginalisation… [Direct]

Jaffee, Laura Jordan (2016). The Materiality of Virtual War: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the Disabling Effects of Imperialism. Policy Futures in Education, v14 n4 p484-496 May. A slew of recent news coverage has reported favorably on the use of virtual reality video games as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Drawing on critical disability studies work, this paper argues that such depictions (re)produce a depoliticized framework for understanding PTSD that champions medico-technological interventions and hinders broader social and political activism by taking for granted and normalizing conditions of perpetual war. Through an analysis of medical research and media portrayals extolling such technologies, this paper unravels the contradictory logic in these celebratory depictions to condemn imperialism, problematize the use of virtual reality for PTSD treatment, and ultimately call for anti-imperialist disability studies scholarship and disability activism…. [Direct]

Mashriqi, Khalida (2013). Women's Access to Higher Education in Afghanistan: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, University of Phoenix. This qualitative, phenomenological study was conducted to explore the lived experiences of 12 Afghan women enrolled in higher education institutions in Afghanistan. The objective was to develop an understanding of the participants' perceptions of the factors that led to their enrollment in higher education and the factors that inhibit Afghan women from participating in higher education. Data were collected through a demographic questionnaire; one-on-one, face-to-face interviews; and an open-ended questionnaire. The interview and questionnaire data were analyzed using Moustakas's modified van Kaam method. The following themes were identified through the data analysis: (1) Barriers inhibit Afghan women from obtaining higher education, (2) Afghan women perceive benefits of obtaining higher education, (3) Afghan women who enter higher education institutions have similar characteristics, and (4) educated Afghan women have opportunities to improve Afghanistan. These themes indicate that… [Direct]

Hoover, Matthew Amos (2014). It Takes a Village: Network Effects on Rural Education in Afghanistan. PRGS Dissertation. RAND Corporation, Ph.D Dissertation, Pardee RAND Graduate School. Often, development organizations confront a tradeoff between program priorities and operational constraints. These constraints may be financial, capacity, or logistical; regardless, the tradeoff often requires sacrificing portions of a program. This work is concerned with figuring out how, when constrained, an organization or program manager can utilize social networks to take advantage of inherent tendencies that will allow a program to thrive. Specifically, this study looked at the playmate networks of children in 31 rural villages of central Afghanistan and how that relational information could improve programming of a rural schooling program. To accomplish this, a two-stage approach was used, where network structure and composition was estimated using exponential random graph models (ERGMs) and then related to individual child outcomes in math and language performance using multi-level models (MLMs). Unique in this work was translating ERGM parameters to MLM covariates by using… [Direct]

Noori, Abdullah (2019). Attitudes of Afghan EFL Lecturers toward Instructional Technology. TechTrends: Linking Research and Practice to Improve Learning, v63 n2 p170-178 Mar. The use of technology is an integral component in the learning and teaching of languages in the twenty-first Century. Around the globe, studies have been carried out to investigate the integration of technology in language classrooms. However, there is a lack of empirical research on this subject in Afghanistan. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore Afghan EFL lecturers' attitudes toward instructional technology, their actual use of instructional technology, and the challenges they face in successfully using instructional technology in EFL classrooms. This study was also conducted to examine 1) the relationship between teachers' demographic profiles and attitudes toward instructional technology; 2) the relationship between teachers' attitudes of instructional technology and their actual use in the classroom; 3) the relationship between perceived challenges and the actual use of instructional technology in the classroom. This study uses a quantitative research method in… [Direct]

Kramer, Eric-Hans; Moorkamp, Matthijs; Visser, Max (2021). Learning to Organize and Organizing to Learn: The Case of Dutch Military Expeditionary Task Forces. Learning Organization, v28 n3 p270-282. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide insight in how military expeditionary task forces cope with the dual challenge of organizing and learning, by reflecting on the experiences of Dutch expeditionary task forces in post-conflict missions in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. Design/methodology/approach: This paper reflects on the outcomes of a research project into the experiences of operators of different specific expeditionary task forces of the Dutch Armed Forces in dealing with everyday problems in their working environment. The case studies were based on interviews with military personnel of all ranks and focused on relating the process of making sense of environmental dynamics to characteristics of the organizational context. Findings: The case studies indicate that designing and learning become intertwined in the realities of everyday problem-solving in the more complex missions. As task forces are essentially tailor-made for the purpose of specific missions, units… [Direct]

Baloch, Mumtaz Ali; Buergi, Birgit Ruth; Mengal, Amilia Aziz (2018). School-Less or Out-of-School? Re-Thinking Special Needs Education and Practice in Baluchistan, Pakistan. International Journal of Special Education, v33 n2 p248-263. School absenteeism is oftentimes couched in Pakistan's local media and reports of development agencies in terms of "ghost schools" and "ghost teachers." Little has been written in the scholarly literature of the universal right to education about how this phenomenon is affecting the school attendance of primary and secondary school students with physical disabilities and learning difficulties. We propose the qualitative distinction between being school-less and being out-of-school as a conceptual tool to encourage fresh thinking about special needs education and teacher training in places, where public education is understaffed and underfunded, as in the politically unstable and impoverished province of Baluchistan bordering on Iran to the West and Afghanistan to the North. Instead of critiquing the lagging reform process and lack of service provision for children with special educational needs, we make this theoretical intervention to illuminate opportunities for… [PDF]

Terhart, Henrike; von Dewitz, Nora (2018). Newly Arrived Migrant Students in German Schools: Exclusive and Inclusive Structures and Practices. European Educational Research Journal, v17 n2 p290-304 Mar. Newly arrived migrant students in German schools are currently the centre of attention. In 2015 and 2016 the incoming number of migrant children and adolescents of school-age has risen. Schools, the education administration as well as politics need to take action with regard to this. In the on-going debate on new immigrant students in school, German media and the public focus have been predominantly on asylum seekers from conflict zones such as Syria or Afghanistan. For schools, the increasing number of newcomers with no or little proficiency of German currently poses a challenge, even though new immigrant students at school are not a new phenomenon, but rather a permanent one. From a theoretical point of view, social participation can be discussed within the division of inclusion and exclusion. In this article we examine the potential of a theoretical framework of social inclusion and exclusion in the case of new immigrant students and establish a connection between the organisation… [Direct]

Terry Dionne Mc Quay (2020). Classroom Accommodations for Student-Veterans Attending Community Colleges. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Walden University. Soldiers have returned from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) and have enrolled in post-secondary education in large numbers, especially at community colleges because of flexible course scheduling. The problem explored in this study was the need for 1 community college to have better information regarding classroom needs for student-veterans with PTSD or a TBI. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of both student-veterans with PTSD or a TBI and faculty concerning classroom accommodations for student-veterans at the study site. Knowles' theory of the adult learner served as the conceptual framework for this qualitative case study. Data collection consisted of individual interviews with student-veterans and faculty. Data analysis included coding, theme development, member checking, and triangulation. The results of this study revealed that not all student-veterans want or are aware of… [Direct]

DeVoe, Ellen R.; Paris, Ruth (2015). Engaging Military Fathers in a Reflective Parenting Program: Lessons from Strong Families Strong Forces. ZERO TO THREE, v35 n5 p43-47 May. Through Strong Families Strong Forces, a reflective parenting program for military families with young children, we were privileged to work with contemporary military fathers who served in the post-9/11 conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Due to this work, the authors gained valuable insight into the complexity of fathering during wartime, the critical role of fatherhood as motivation for seeking support during reintegration, and the strong commitment to healthy parenting among military fathers. In this article, the authors describe their positive experiences of engaging fathers in Strong Families Strong Forces and attempt to convey important elements of the fathers' stories as they navigated postdeployment parenting, co-parenting, and family life…. [Direct]

Dyer, Caroline (2016). Evolving Approaches to Educating Children from Nomadic Communities. Prospects: Quarterly Review of Comparative Education, v46 n1 p39-54 Mar. Evolving policies have increasingly aimed to include nomadic groups in EFA, but an overemphasis on mobility has distracted policy makers from going beyond access logistics to consider learning needs within nomads' contemporary livelihoods and cultural values. Notable global trends are the growth and institutionalization of forms of Alternative Basic Education (provided by state and nonstate actors for "disadvantaged" learners) and advocacy of Open and Distance Learning. Case studies of mobile pastoralists in Kenya, India, and Afghanistan, and of sea nomads in Indonesia, illustrate policy and practices on the ground. They highlight a need to address equality, equivalence, and learner progression more closely, rather than adopting strategies for education inclusion that reinforce nomadic groups' sociopolitical marginalization. This requires an extended post-2015 engagement with the larger political question of education's role in undermining, or sustaining and validating,… [Direct]

(2011). Afghanistan, the Taliban, and Osama bin Laden: The Background to September 11. Social Education, v75 n4 p185-190 Sep. On May 1, 2011, a group of U.S. soldiers boarded helicopters at a base in Afghanistan, hoping to find a man named Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden, the leader of the al Qaeda terrorist network, was responsible for a number of terrorist attacks around the world, including those of September 11, 2001, that killed nearly 3,000 people in the United States. The United States had been looking for bin Laden for nearly 15 years. On this May night, U.S. soldiers found him hiding in a large house in Pakistan with members of his family and a few al Qaeda members. The soldiers killed bin Laden and four others and flew back to their base in Afghanistan. Ten years after 9/11, the United States is still fighting a war in Afghanistan against the Taliban, an extreme Islamist group that controlled Afghanistan's government. This article details key issues and events including the rise of the Taliban and the emergence of Osama bin Laden as a global terrorist figure…. [Direct]

Malone, Susan (2019). Including the Excluded: Promoting Multilingual Education. MTB MLE Resource Kit. UNESCO Bangkok The number of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB MLE) programmes has increased in recent years, especially in the Asia-Pacific Region. The case study booklet in this MTB MLE Resource Kit describes programmes in Afghanistan, Nepal and Pakistan that are examples of what language communities can do to help their children prepare to enter and learn in government schools. It also describes programmes in the Philippines and Viet Nam, two of the growing number of countries in which governments support MTB MLE in the formal education system. A variety of activities that are part of MTB MLE programmes in Asia, Africa and the Pacific are presented in the booklets for policy makers, programme implementers and community members. These examples provide evidence of the creativity and strategic thinking of the people who plan, implement and support MTB MLE, often in very challenging situations. This MTB MLE Resource Kit is for people who are committed to the idea that all children have… [Direct]

Aikins, Ross D.; Bennett, Alexander S.; Golub, Andrew (2015). Readjustment of Urban Veterans: A Mental Health and Substance Use Profile of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans in Higher Education. Journal of American College Health, v63 n7 p482-494. Objective: To identify the prevalence of substance use and mental health problems among veterans and student service members/veterans (SSM/V) returning from Iraq and Afghanistan to New York City's low-income neighborhoods. Participants: A sample of 122 veterans attending college and 116 veterans not enrolled recruited using respondent-driven sampling. Methods: Logistic regression analysis of variation in characteristics of those veterans attending college; linear regression examining effects of college attendance on life satisfaction. Results: Having a traumatic brain injury or disability was positively associated with college attendance. Being married, employed, or in college was predictive of overall life satisfaction. SSM/V were significantly less likely to screen positive for depression or drug use disorder. African American veterans were significantly less likely to attend college than white or Hispanic veterans. Conclusion: Substance use and some mental health disorders do not… [Direct]

Crossouard, Barbara; Morley, Louise (2016). Women's Leadership in the Asian Century: Does Expansion Mean Inclusion?. Studies in Higher Education, v41 n5 p801-814. This paper draws on British Council commissioned research in response to concerns about women's absence from senior leadership positions in higher education in South Asia. The study sought existing knowledge from literature, policies, and available statistics and collected original interview data from 30 academics in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. A central finding was that gender is not a category of analysis in higher education policy, research or statistical data in the region. Our interview data suggest that leadership was frequently not an object of desire for women. Being associated with particular types of masculinities, leadership often carried a heavy affective load for those women who transgressed patriarchal socio-cultural norms and disrupted the symbolic order of women being led by men. Leadership was frequently perceived and experienced by women in terms of navigating a range of ugly feelings and toxicities that depleted aspirations,… [Direct]

Canfield, Julie; Weiss, Eugenia (2015). Integrating Military and Veteran Culture in Social Work Education: Implications for Curriculum Inclusion. Journal of Social Work Education, v51 suppl 1 pS128-S144. This article explores the conceptual question of how to best integrate military culture and issues into social work education. Military service members, veterans, and their families are returning to civilian communities with the ending of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and seeking community-based providers for health and mental health treatments. Civilian social workers need to have an appreciation for the unique psychosocial stressors and needs of this population to be able to engage and intervene effectively with them. The military lifestyle and its demands require an understanding of topics that include coping and adaptation to stress, ecological and systems theories, family roles and functioning, community capacity to support the population, and the effect of these across the lifespan…. [Direct]

Corley, Liam (2012). Reconsiderations: "Brave Words"–Rehabilitating the Veteran-Writer. College English, v74 n4 p351-365 Mar. From September 2008 to July 2009, the author traded academic robes for the Army Combat Uniform issued to US Navy personnel deploying to Afghanistan. Along with using the ceramic and Kevlar body armor he learned to don at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, he metaphorically defended himself from the disruption to his personal and professional life that would result from this mobilization by calling it a fully funded overseas federal fellowship. In this article, the author explains how his military service in Afghanistan left him having to reconsider his identity as a scholarly writer. (Contains 9 notes.)… [Direct]

Mason, Roger; Patterson, Eric (2013). War Gaming Peace Operations. Simulation & Gaming, v44 n1 p118-133 Feb. Today's military personnel fight against and work with a diverse variety of nonstate actors, from al-Qaeda terrorists to major nongovernmental organizations who provide vital humanitarian assistance. Furthermore, the nontraditional battle spaces where America and its allies have recently deployed (Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq) include a wide range of activities quite different from classic military campaign. How can the United States and its allies train its military personnel to think through the intersection of issues regarding working alongside and against nonstate actors, particularly in culturally sensitive environments? This article describes one such approach, the development of a war game for peace, designed for U.S. military officers and now utilized in the classrooms of several military colleges. More specifically, the article describes how reconstruction and stabilization operation decisions are modeled and worked through in the highly religious environment of contemporary… [Direct]

Boeding, Brooke S. (2017). Supporting the Camouflaged in Transition: Serving Student Veterans with Disabilities. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, California State University, Stanislaus. The purpose of this study was to identify the ways in which veterans with disabilities navigate the process of transition from their lives as members of the military community to participants in the community college. This study analyzed the subset of veterans with disabilities in a community college to identify the support structures and services that can help this population to navigate their academic experiences effectively. A qualitative, community-based participatory research design was used to provide a holistic account of the military to community college transition experience for student veterans with disabilities who participated in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Three major themes emerged from the data. The themes include: (a) the personal journey into new roles and identities; (b) building communities and overcoming adversities; and (c) the reflective veteran. This study provides community colleges with insights that may enable them to improve their services for this… [Direct]

Jakupcak, Matthew; Varra, Edward M. (2011). Treating Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans with PTSD Who Are at High Risk for Suicide. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, v18 n1 p85-97 Feb. Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans diagnosed with psychiatric disorders commit suicide at a higher rate than the general population (Kang & Bullman, 2008). Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been identified as a risk factor for suicide in veterans (Bullman & Kang, 1994) and is the most common mental disorder among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans presenting for treatment at Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities (Kang, 2009). Therefore, it is critical for health providers to identify veterans with PTSD who are at high risk for suicide in order to more effectively intervene to promote safety, stabilization, and reduce psychiatric symptoms. In the following paper, we discuss risk for suicide in veterans with PTSD and application of cognitive behavioral therapies to reduce suicidality in high-risk patients. We also discuss pertinent clinical issues common to treating Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans with PTSD…. [Direct]

Hewad, Gran; Johnson, Casey Garret (2014). A Rough Guide to Afghan Youth Politics. Special Report 344. United States Institute of Peace This report builds on several initiatives by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) to explore how a growing youth population and an increasing number of young political leaders are reshaping Afghan politics. Drawing on 160 interviews with politically active youth, university students, and young journalists in seven of Afghanistan's thirty-four provinces–Kabul, Kandahar, Khost, Herat, Balkh, Bamiyan, and Nangarhar–from June to November 2013, this report complements a focused ethnographic study by Anna Larson and Noah Coburn of three communities in and around Kabul city published by USIP in January 2014. [Contains notes.]… [PDF]

Wooten, Nikki R. (2015). Military Social Work: Opportunities and Challenges for Social Work Education. Journal of Social Work Education, v51 suppl 1 pS6-S25. Military social work is a specialized field of practice spanning the micro-macro continuum and requiring advanced social work knowledge and skills. The complex behavioral health problems and service needs of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans highlight the need for highly trained social work professionals who can provide militarily relevant and culturally responsive evidence-informed services. Responding to the military behavioral health workforce and service needs of recently returned veterans presents both opportunities and challenges for military social work education. This article discusses the rationale for a military social work specialization, the need for military social work education, and opportunities and challenges for social work education. An integrated model of intellectual capital is proposed to guide strategic planning for future military social work education…. [Direct]

Bordley-Hughes, Shannon L. (2018). Post 9/11 Gi Bill: A Proposal for Enhanced Services. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Wilmington University (Delaware). According to the Democratic Staff of the Joint Economic Committee, United States Congress (2017), "over 3.9 million soldiers have served in wartime, since September 11, 2001" ("Gulf War-era II Veterans," para. 1). The Post-9/11 Veterans Assistance Act of 2008 (GI Bill) "offers the 2 million Servicemembers who have served in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts generous support for educational expenses, and has prompted a significant upturn in the number of Veterans and military personnel enrolling in higher education" (McBain, Kim, Cook, & Snead, 2012, p. 5). It is unknown if educational programming and services are adequate to meet the needs of this eligible population. This study identifies the adequacy of accommodations for eligible students utilizing the Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits in post-secondary institutions through ex post facto data. The intention of this study is to promote Veteran and service member success in post-secondary institutions. As… [Direct]

Salter, Cathy (2010). Why Is Afghanistan Important?. Geography Teacher, v7 n1 p16-21. As a former Peace Corps volunteer, avid traveler, classroom geography teacher, and writer, the author has been interested in Afghanistan for decades. Sparked by her own travel experiences in Kabul in February 1970, she made certain that her ninth grade World History/Geography students in south Central Los Angeles not only knew where Afghanistan was, but understood why its landlocked location in Central Asia was strategically significant throughout the course of history right up to their own lifetime. These days, the author periodically does the same for her readership at the "Columbia Tribune" and "Boone County Journal," the two Missouri newspapers where her weekly columns have appeared since 1994. Not long before Hamid Karzai was sworn in for his second term as Afghan president amid allegations of high-level corruption and a rigged election, the author assembled virtual snapshots of Afghanistan in her newspaper column, "Notes From Boomerang Creek," as a… [Direct]

Barron Rodriguez, Maria; Cobo, Cristobal; Mu√±oz-Najar, Alberto; S√°nchez Ciarrusta, I√±aki (2020). Remote Learning during the Global School Lockdown: Multi-Country Lessons. World Bank The COVID-19 pandemic is severely affecting education systems across the world. While schools are closed (or partially closed), simulations across different countries suggest that learning gains previously achieved by students will be partly lost. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds have suffered these shocks even more and can be at a higher risk of dropping out of school. To better understand the effects of these shocks, as well as to analyze the perceived effectiveness of remote learning solutions, this qualitative exploratory study synthesizes the main national education actions deployed by a group of selected countries to mitigate learning losses. It includes three main sections that have been organized in a chronological order within this report: the first one, "What can we learn from education emergency responses in low- and middle-income countries?" analyzes the emergency education responses to the COVID-19 pandemic of over 120 governments from April until May,… [PDF]

Gray, Matt J.; Hassija, Christina M.; Jakupcak, Matthew (2012). Numbing and Dysphoria Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder among Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans: A Review of Findings and Implications for Treatment. Behavior Modification, v36 n6 p834-856 Nov. Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans experience significant rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other trauma-related mental health conditions. Understanding how specific PTSD symptomatology affects physical health and psychosocial functioning may be useful in improving the conceptualization of PTSD nosology and informing treatment approaches for this population. Confirmatory factor analytic evidence supports four-factor models of PTSD symptoms that classify emotional numbing and/or dysphoria symptoms as a distinct PTSD symptom cluster, and these symptoms appear to be related to poorer psychological adjustment among returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. This review briefly describes current conceptualizations of numbing/dysphoria symptoms of PTSD and summarizes research on the factor structure of PTSD symptoms. Then, the literature on the influence of numbing/dysphoria symptoms on physical and psychological health among these veterans is reviewed, and implications… [Direct]

Brooks, Racheal; Ofstein, Jennifer; Outlaw, Stacy; Pesetski, Christine (2014). Veteran Transfer Students and Concealed Weapons on Campus. Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, v17 n3 p33-47 Sep. This case details the challenges faced by various members of a 4-year university regarding Kathryn, a non-traditional transfer student and military veteran who recently returned from a traumatic deployment in Afghanistan. Precisely, this study identifies ambiguities pertaining to (a) threat assessment, (b) university weapons policies, (c) transfer students from community colleges to 4-year institutions, (d) military veteran students, (e) awareness and treatment of student mental health concerns, and (f) student residential issues. The case presents educational leaders with a detailed narrative of various campus stakeholders and promotes discussion of topics related to university policy, veterans' affairs, and campus safety…. [Direct]

Parajuli, Mahesh Nath; Takala, Tuomas (2013). Understandings of Gender and Education in the Political and Cultural Context: The Case of Afghan Students in an MA (Education) Programme. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, v33 n1 p53-67. Globally, gender differences in education have been an area of policy concern, research, and development partnerships. The international agenda of gender equality has been adopted by national governments even in countries, such as Afghanistan, where predominant views are clearly at variance with this agenda. Attempts to analyse such conditions must be based on examination of gender and education in the broader political and cultural context. Gender issues have been a central theme in an EU-funded Master's programme in Educational Research and Development for Afghan students at Nangarhar University, conducted during 2008-2010. This article analyses the political and cultural context of gender in Afghanistan, which constitutes the framework for the Afghan students' understandings of gender and education. These are examined as expressed in texts produced by the students and in group interviews. On the basis of our analysis, the following tension is clear: the students are aware of the… [Direct]

Preble, Brian C. (2015). A Case for Drones. Technology and Engineering Teacher, v74 n7 p24-29 Apr. The time has come for drones. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles played an integral and indispensable part in the United States' military operations during the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Since then, drones have taken new forms, found their way into hobbyists' hands, and recently have played a role in postmodern transportation. Current developments in drone technology prompted visionary leaders of business and industry to adopt Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) as an improved means of transportation in various areas of goods and services. The time has come for pioneers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) integration and technology education to utilize this cutting-edge tool as both a topic and instructional device in K-12 education. In this article, the author presents how drones have a place in secondary education as a tool to help foster technological literacy…. [Direct]

Sportsman, Michel A.; Thomas, Lisa (2015). Coming Home to School: Challenges and Strategies for Effective Teaching with Military Veterans. InSight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching, v10 p43-55. This article is an analysis of the unique needs of returning service members at the college or university level that impact the teaching decisions made by instructors. The article also discusses the challenges that service members are individually addressing while acclimating themselves to their new environment of learning. With the reduction in forces occurring after the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, many higher level learning institutions are struggling to adequately meet the needs of returning veterans. In turn, veterans often find that the style of instruction and the general college-level universe are difficult to negotiate. The combination of these factors can often result in veteran students performing below expectation or leaving school without finishing. The article proposes a variety of ways to understand and address these challenges including the use of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) strategies and characteristics…. [PDF]

Robert Sambrano (2021). Veterans' Perceptions of Mattering and Marginalization on Community College Campuses. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles. With troop withdrawals in Iraq and the recent U.S. peace treaty with the Taliban in Afghanistan, community colleges can expect more veterans on their campuses in the near future. Many institutions are eager to serve these students but are not certain how to meet their needs. Veteran students contend with a range of issues, from the bureaucracy of veterans' benefits to physical and emotional disabilities. The goal of this study was to understand the experiences and needs of student-veterans as they transition from military service to postsecondary education. The findings are derived from structured interviews with 20 student-veterans attending an urban, mid-sized, California community college. Questions explored how well the school's veterans resource center (VRC) was meeting the needs of the student-veteran participants, what gaps existed between these needs and what the VRC (and campus) offered, what would increase their sense of mattering, and what factors contributed to their… [Direct]

Babury, Mohammed Osman; Hayward, Fred Manwarren (2013). A Lifetime of Trauma: Mental Health Challenges for Higher Education in a Conflict Environment in Afghanistan. Education Policy Analysis Archives, v21 n68 Sep. More than 30 years of war in Afghanistan have resulted in immense policy challenges to address the resulting mental health issues. The purpose of this policy analysis is to examine the potential role of higher education in addressing the pressing mental health problems in Afghanistan's public universities and higher education institutions as a major policy challenge. We define and spell out the extent and nature of the mental health problems and policy issues involved, putting them in the context of students in a war environment. We discuss efforts by the leadership of the Ministry of Higher Education to respond to the physical damage of war and the resulting mental health crises in a setting of very scarce human and financial resources. We describe a system of higher education battered by years of war yet seeking to rebuild and raise quality even while the fighting continues. The conditions of the higher education system are described, as well as the scope, complexity and nature of… [PDF]

Bishop, Malachy; Frain, Michael; Sanchez, Jennifer; Tansey, Timothy; Wijngaarde, Frank (2013). Current Knowledge and Training Needs of Certified Rehabilitation Counselors to Work Effectively with Veterans with Disabilities. Rehabilitation Research, Policy, and Education, v27 n1 p2-17. Veterans with disabilities have gained national attention in recent years because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This study examined certified rehabilitation counselors' (CRCs) knowledge and preparation for working with veterans with disabilities on their rehabilitation. Results indicate that CRCs report low levels of preparation in some of the areas deemed important by veterans and professionals. However, CRCs report high knowledge in many important areas to work effectively with veterans with disabilities…. [Direct]

Dague, Christopher; Day, Stephen (2017). What Makes a Skateboarder? Teaching High School Students How to Conduct Sociological Inquiry. Social Education, v81 n4 p244-249 Sep. In most places in the world, teachers might be concerned that skateboarding will take students out of school rather than keep them in. Outside Afghanistan, skateboarding has long had an aura of rebellion. Rose and Strike labeled skateboarding as "dangerous" and "rebellious." Atencio, Beal, and Wilson call attention to its "non-conformity" and embrace the "risk." A T-shirt from the 1990s protested, "Skateboarding Is Not A Crime," but even "The New York Times" has called the skateboard "a talisman of youthful rebellion." These are discomfiting words to describe an activity shared by several million people in the United States, many of whom sit, perhaps disinterestedly, in middle and high school classrooms. What makes a skateboarder, really? Do skaters' teachers and peers understand? And if not, how can they begin to? This study focused on the process of socialization created by skateboarders, in addition to the… [Direct]

Doyle, Christopher L. (2012). Invisible Wars: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Teaching Insurgencies in Public Schools. American Educator, v35 n4 p19-21 Win 2011-2012. This author contends that contemporary issues classes no longer have currency, as standardized test results are the litmus test for education. In many schools, students are isolated from firsthand accounts and formal study of events that textbooks will one day proclaim as defining experiences of their generation. According to Doyle, schools tend not to teach many, perhaps most, headline-making problems: climate change, debt crises, the national and international polarization of wealth, revolutions in the Middle East, and oil dependence. Students can graduate from many, perhaps most, high schools today and remain tragically naive about the public history of their own times. Convinced that it is important for schools to reflect the history-making events of modern times, Doyle, feeling a bit like an "insurgent," slips these lessons into his classes "covertly," so as not to raise accusations about deviating from the official curricular script. He states his belief… [PDF]

Halim, Sabera; Hofyani, Sohaila; Kosha, Afifa; Liwal, Abida; Nabi, Tahira; Noormal, Bashir; Oriya, Spozhmay; Safi, Najibullah; Sahak, Mohamad Nadir (2014). The Resilience of Women in Higher Education in Afghanistan. Study No 1: Obstacles and Opportunities in Women's Enrollment and Graduation; Study No. 2: The Human, Social and Institutional Resilience of Female Doctors and Postgraduate Residency Programs. Resilience in Education Settings (RES)-Research Studies Series. World Bank Female access to higher education in Afghanistan has been and continues to be limited. At the basic education level, the country has made great advances since 2000; it increased access from 900,000 students in 2000, almost all boys, to 6.7 million students in 2009, and girl's enrollment increased from 5,000 under the Taliban to 2.4 million in the same time period (Afghanistan, Ministry of Education 2009-2010). Seventy-one percent are currently enrolled in primary and middle school (Grades 1-9) and 29 percent are enrolled in secondary education (Grades 10-12; Samady 2013). The post-secondary gains for girls have already increased, as 120,000 girls have graduated from secondary school, and 15,000 have enrolled in universities (George W. Bush Institute 2013). Every year, more than 100,000 secondary school graduates write the Kankor, the nationwide higher education entrance exam, but due to insufficient spaces and limited capacity, only about half of those students find a spot at the… [PDF]

Hybertsen, Ingunn Dahler; Moldjord, Christian (2015). Training Reflective Processes in Military Aircrews through Holistic Debriefing: The Importance of Facilitator Skills and Development of Trust. International Journal of Training and Development, v19 n4 p287-300 Dec. This paper explores how Holistic Debrief, a new concept in the field of debriefing and reflective processes, can contribute to restitution, reflection and learning in professional teams following stressful events and routine tasks. Interviews were conducted with Norwegian military aircrew mission commanders following deployment to Afghanistan in 2010. Phenomenological analysis in the frame of social learning theory revealed that reflective processes were easier to facilitate after stressful events than after routine tasks. Challenges identified included lack of trust during the early stages of team establishment and poor conceptual repertoires among aircrew commanders undertaking facilitation. Relational trust and reflective processes tended to improve after stressful events. Repeated interactions in Holistic Debrief tend to increase familiarity, trust and learning potential over time. This study reports data from the war context, an environment not often available for qualitative… [Direct]

Bass, Elizabeth (2019). Use of the Post-9/11 GI Bill by the National Guard and Reserves. Congressional Budget Office The Post-9/11 GI Bill provides educational benefits to service members and veterans who served on active duty on or after September 11, 2001. This GI Bill (officially the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008), which covers tuition, fees, housing, and related educational expenses, is managed by the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), part of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Partial benefits are available after 90 days of active-duty service, and many members of the National Guard and reserves have met that threshold because they have been activated for extended periods in support of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those with longer active-duty service receive greater benefits. This report focuses on the reserve component's use of Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits in 2016 and the cost of those benefits. (Throughout this report, "reserve component" refers collectively to the non-active-duty part of the U.S. military, which encompasses the National… [PDF]

Olorunfemi, Temidayo (2017). The Veteran, Library, Tasks and Tools (VLTT) Framework: An Analysis of Disabled Veterans, Information Tasks, and Assistive Tools in Libraries. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Dominican University. Veterans constitute a significant group in society, and reports have shown that the number of disabled veterans keeps increasing. More than 50,000 United States troops have been injured since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began and the numbers will increase until the troops are withdrawn (Geiling, Rosen, & Edwards, 2012). Consequently, services to disabled veterans remain very crucial to information service providers. The goal of this study is to analyze the barriers and challenges that disabled veterans face when using library services. This study used the Student, Environments, Tasks, and Tools (SETT) framework to explore how disabled veterans interact with library services (Zabala, 1995). Two surveys were conducted to provide data for a critical examination of the four elements (veteran, library, tasks and assistive tools) that provided insights into how librarians can better understand veterans with disabilities within the library setting. This study also captured and… [Direct]

Sivarethinamohan, R.; Sujatha, S. (2019). Ethical Living and Work Self Efficacy Beliefs of Academicians of Higher Education in Asia: A Key Determinant of One's Belief in One's Ability to Achieve the Desired Result in a Precise State of Affairs. International Journal of Higher Education, v8 n6 p203-221. Ethical academicians are perfectly virtuous. They always strive for greater virtue and follow strictly the moral stands of their profession. The ethical living and self-efficacy are important to them because of being fair and honest in their academics. Determinants of ethics include knowledge, values, attitude and intention. The domain-specific framework developed by Verbeke et al. (2004) has been considered as fundamental for identifying the dimensionality of work Self-efficacy and ethical challenges of academicians. A comprehensive literature review is undertaken regarding the concept of work Self-efficacy to assess workers' confidence and their ethical living in the workplace. This article examines theoretically and analytically the antecedent processes and information cues involved in the formation of work self-efficacy. Theoretical and numerical analysis of the key determinants of work self-efficacy increases the understanding of moral values, truthful fair and honest. Factors… [PDF]

Oyeka, Denita Hartfield (2018). Gulf-War-Era-II Veterans' Cognitive Information Processing and the Civilian Employment Transition. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Walden University. Gulf-War-era-II combat veterans have made professional contributions to the civilian workforce since returning from Iraq and Afghanistan combat operations. Service members in California encounter transition issues related to employment and adjusting their self-identity in the civilian employment culture. These complexities have led to career problems. Using Peterson, Sampson, Reardon, and Lenz's theory of cognitive information processing and Mincer & Becker's theory of human capital, the purpose of this phenomenological study was designed to provide a holistic account of the lived experiences of 11 Gulf War era II veterans who have successfully integrated into civilian employment with a focus on mitigating factors and decision making processes. Purposeful sampling and semistructured interviews were completed with Los Angeles Gulf-War-era-II veterans employed as civilians for more than 1 year. Data collected were analyzed using the Stevick-Colazzi-Keen method. Five themes emerged… [Direct]

Giampaolo, Mario; Pascali, Antonella (2016). Reflections after Working at the Center for Refugees of Conetta, Italy: Practice and Competencies Needed. Commission for International Adult Education, Paper presented at the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE) Commission for International Adult Education (CIAE) Annual Pre-Conference (65th, Albuquerque, NM, Nov 6-8, 2016). During the 2014 and the 2015 the Mediterranean Sea continued to be the theater of a huge migratory flow. Only in these two years, more than 320,000 persons, especially from Nigeria, Gambia, Senegal, Mali and Bangladesh, left their countries for a long travel with the hope of finding a place where they could live with dignity. Once they arrive on the Italian coasts of Sicily, Calabria, and Sardinia, immigrants are distributed throughout the different regions of Italy where they are hosted in centers for refugees' reception. In these centers they can stay until their request as political refugee is accepted. From November 2015 until April 2016, the first author worked in the refugee center of Conetta, a small village in the area of Venice in the north east of Italy. Established at the end of July 2016, the center is one of the biggest of the country and hosts more than 500 men hailing from the sub-Saharan countries of Africa, and the Asian countries of Afghanistan and Bangladesh…. [PDF]

Jennifer O'Neil (2020). Acknowledge Us: An Exploration of the Lived Experiences of Female Army Veterans in Undergraduate Programs. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Lesley University. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the lived experiences of female United States Army veterans who have enrolled in an academic undergraduate program post-discharge. As higher education continues to be an important transition point for female veterans, understanding the lived experiences of this population provides higher education administrators and faculty the opportunity to create and implement services and programs that will appropriately assist this population in their educational journey. Using a phenomenological methodology (Moustakas, 1994; Patton, 2015; van Manen,1990) thirteen female veterans across five different eras (Vietnam, 1980's peacetime, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan) took part in two-semi-structured interviews. Each participant was asked to retrospectively discuss their time in the military; the transition to civilian life; and their transition to and experience in higher education. The interviews were coded, and themes were developed (Braun &… [Direct]

Brodsky, Anne E.; Carrillo, Amy; Portnoy, Galina A.; Scheibler, Jill E.; Talwar, Gitika; Welsh, Elena A. (2012). Beyond [image omitted] (the ABCs): Education, Community, and Feminism in Afghanistan. Journal of Community Psychology, v40 n1 p159-181 Jan. This article examines the meaning, operation, and outcomes of education and related formation of feminist identity development within an Afghan women's humanitarian and political organization. Qualitative data, including 110 interviews, archival review, and participant observations, were collected using a feminist, community, strengths-based approach and were re-analyzed here with a focus on educational processes. Findings revealed multiple educational mechanisms, both similar to and different from many Western assumptions. Within these educational mechanisms, themes of critical consciousness and feminist identity also arose. Outcomes were mapped against Downing and Roush's (1985) feminist identity development model. Similarities, differences, limitations, and lessons in the application of a Western model to an Afghan context are discussed. Findings have implications for understanding indigenous educational methods, the development of critical consciousness and "feminist"… [Direct]

Buchert, Lene (2013). Introduction–Understanding Education, Fragility and Conflict. Prospects: Quarterly Review of Comparative Education, v43 n1 p5-15 Mar. This Introduction discusses approaches to and perspectives on analyzing the complex relationship between education, fragility, and conflict and its underlying causes and dynamics. It argues for the need for contextual and time-bound multi-level analyses of interlinked societal dimensions in order to address the ultimate purposes of education policies and programmes, whether they aim to ameliorate or transform existing conditions. Examples are presented of the ways these dimensions apply to the country cases on Afghanistan, Bolivia, Nepal, and Sudan and to the discussion of why quality data is important for analysis, and for policy and programme design…. [Direct]

Boon, Helen J.; Macdonald, Gail F. (2014). Student Support during Parental Deployment. Australian Association for Research in Education, Paper presented at the Joint Australian Association for Research in Education and New Zealand Association for Research in Education Conference (AARE-NZARE 2014) (Brisbane, Australia, Nov 30-Dec 4, 2014). Over 1000 Townsville based members of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) were deployed on an eight month military operation to Afghanistan from August 2011 until May 2012. A similar scenario occurred many times in the Townsville community between 1999 and 2013 as members of the ADF have been deployed repeatedly to East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan. A military deployment presents major life changes for ADF members and their families. Families of ADF members learn to cope not only with having their loved one away on a dangerous operation but also with the additional pressures associated with having one less adult living in the family home Children in the family are required to adjust to changes in family structure and routines, and often take on additional individual responsibilities. It is not uncommon for students to express their reactions to these changes through behavioural changes at school. Academic progress, classroom and playground behaviour may be adversely affected by… [PDF]

Carroll, Andrew (2013). Mud, Blood, and Bullet Holes: Teaching History with War Letters. Social Education, v77 n5 p235-238 Oct. From handwritten letters of the American Revolution to typed emails from Iraq and Afghanistan, correspondence from U.S. troops offers students deep insight into the specific conflicts and experiences of soldiers. Over 100,000 correspondences have been donated to the Legacy Project, a national initiative launched in 1998 to preserve war letters by U.S. troops and their loved ones. Beginning with handwritten missives penned during the American Revolution and continuing up to typed emails sent from Iraq and Afghanistan, these letters show the full spectrum of emotions that military personnel and their family members experience in times of armed conflict. Millions of war letters remain tucked away in attics, closets, and basements throughout America, just waiting to be found. (Many of the best submissions sent to the Legacy Project are from students who asked their parents or other relatives if they still had their wartime correspondences, and the search for these letters can be… [Direct]

DiDomenico, Victoria; Harmer, Adele; Stoddard, Abby (2011). Aiding Education in Conflict: The Role of International Education Providers Operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Prospects: Quarterly Review of Comparative Education, v41 n2 p205-221 Jun. Amid rising violence against civilian aid operations in insecure environments, attacks on the education sector pose a unique set of challenges for international aid actors. In recent years incidents of violence targeting the education sector in Afghanistan and the conflict-affected areas of Pakistan have increased. This article synthesizes recent research, quantitative analyses, and observations of practitioners in order to explore the key issues facing aid workers in the education sector. The findings suggest that in extremely violent and polarized environments such as Afghanistan and the conflict-affected areas of Pakistan, the international community can provide education assistance more effectively and securely through a low-profile, community-based approach that de-emphasizes the role of government, and avoids, as far as possible, any association with international political/military actors. The authors conclude that education sector coordinators could play a larger role in… [Direct]

Blow, Frederic C.; Bohnert, Amy S. B.; Ignacio, Rosalinda V.; Ilgen, Mark A.; Katz, Ira R.; McCarthy, John F.; Valenstein, Marcia (2012). Psychopathology, Iraq and Afghanistan Service, and Suicide among Veterans Health Administration Patients. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, v80 n3 p323-330 Jun. Objective: Despite concerns regarding elevated psychiatric morbidity and suicide among veterans returning from Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF), little is known about the impact of psychiatric conditions on the risk of suicide in these veterans. To inform tailored suicide prevention efforts, it is important to assess interrelationships between OEF/OIF status, psychiatric morbidity, and suicide mortality. This study sought to examine potential associations between OEF/OIF status and suicide mortality among individuals receiving care in the Department of Veterans Affairs health system, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Analyses assessed potential interactions between OEF/OIF status and psychiatric conditions as predictors of suicide. Method: Analyses included data for all individuals who received VHA services during fiscal year (FY) 2007 or FY08 and were alive at the start of FY08 (N = 5,772,282). Results: For this cohort, there were 1,920 suicide deaths… [Direct]

Wajdi, Habibullah (2013). The Process of Organizational Capacity Development in Action in Post-Conflict Setting of the Literacy Department of Afghanistan. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, University of Massachusetts Amherst. This paper presents a model of capacity development for public organizations in post-conflict settings. The paper reveals the challenges faced by the author as a "change agent" who tried to understand and develop the basic capacity of the Literacy Department of the Ministry of Education in Afghanistan. The author used an action-research approach and has actively followed events and actions to explore the "how can" of capacity development efforts. The review of organizational change literature provided background knowledge for the author's day-to-day work in a public organization and helped him to develop a Foundational Capacity Development Framework (FCDF). The FCDF offers four complementing components of "infrastructure, technical competence, social and organizational participation", and "strategic alignment." The framework also recognizes the importance of underlying components of capacity development which are based on the "beliefs,… [Direct]

Beckham, Jean C.; Elbogen, Eric B.; Johnson, Sally C.; Newton, Virginia M.; Straits-Troster, Kristy; Vasterling, Jennifer J.; Wagner, H. Ryan (2012). Criminal Justice Involvement, Trauma, and Negative Affect in Iraq and Afghanistan War Era Veterans. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, v80 n6 p1097-1102 Dec. Objective: Although criminal behavior in veterans has been cited as a growing problem, little is known about why some veterans are at increased risk for arrest. Theories of criminal behavior postulate that people who have been exposed to stressful environments or traumatic events and who report negative affect such as anger and irritability are at increased risk of antisocial conduct. Method: We hypothesized veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injury (TBI) who report anger/irritability would show higher rates of criminal arrests. To test this, we examined data in a national survey of N = 1,388 Iraq and Afghanistan war era veterans. Results: We found that 9% of respondents reported arrests since returning home from military service. Most arrests were associated with nonviolent criminal behavior resulting in incarceration for less than 2 weeks. Unadjusted bivariate analyses revealed that veterans with probable PTSD or TBI who reported… [Direct]

Smith, Katie; Steer, Liesbet (2015). Financing Education: Opportunities for Global Action. Center for Universal Education at The Brookings Institution It is hoped that this year will be marked in history as the year when the world agreed on an ambitious global plan to eradicate poverty and ensure that all children have access to a high-quality basic education. This report focuses on how a subset of the targets related to basic education–that is, that all children should complete high-quality pre-primary, primary and lower secondary education–can be financed. It reviews the financing efforts for the education sector in developing countries during the past decade and assesses what will be required in the coming years to reach the basic education goals by 2030. The authors draw on variety of data sources as well as five country case studies–for Afghanistan, Lebanon, Malawi, Nigeria and Pakistan. Based on their findings, they conclude with four opportunities for global action. Three annexes are included: (1) Projected Total Annual Cost, Domestic Public Spending and Aid for Basic Education in 2020, per Child, constant 2012 dollars;… [PDF]

Fox, William (2012). Issues and Importance of "Good" Starting Points for Nonlinear Regression for Mathematical Modeling with Maple: Basic Model Fitting to Make Predictions with Oscillating Data. Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, v31 n1 p1-16 Jan. The purpose of our modeling effort is to predict future outcomes. We assume the data collected are both accurate and relatively precise. For our oscillating data, we examined several mathematical modeling forms for predictions. We also examined both ignoring the oscillations as an important feature and including the oscillations as an important element. Our goal was a class project to model casualties in Afghanistan in an effort to support or refute Gen(Ret) McCaffrey's statement that casualties in Afghanistan would double in 2010. The casualty data set is more complex so we began analyzing a simpler data set we found concerning carbon dioxide levels as part of a lab exercise. We used regression packages in Maple using the Fit command as well as we wrote a program to calculate parameter estimates for nonlinear regression using the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. The Fit programs produced results that were not useful unless we included "good" initial parameter estimates. Some… [Direct]

Marlin, Benjamin (2013). Informing Education Policy in Afghanistan: Using Design of Experiments and Data Envelopment Analysis to Provide Transparency in Complex Simulation. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, New Mexico State University. Education planning provides the policy maker and the decision maker a logical framework in which to develop and implement education policy. At the international level, education planning is often confounded by both internal and external complexities, making the development of education policy difficult. This research presents a discrete event simulation in which individual students and teachers flow through the system across a variable time horizon. This simulation is then used with advancements in design of experiments, multivariate statistical analysis, and data envelopment analysis, to provide a methodology designed to assist the international education planning community. We propose that this methodology will provide the education planner with insights into the complexity of the education system, the effects of both endogenous and exogenous factors upon the system, and the implications of policies as they pertain to potential futures of the system. We do this recognizing that… [Direct]

Blackmore, Tim (2012). Eyeless in America, the Sequel: Hollywood and Indiewood's Iraq War on Film. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, v32 n4 p317-330 Aug. This article builds on conclusions drawn in the article "Eyeless in America," by the same author and considers how 50 American films about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan intended to function as what Jacques Ellul called "integration propaganda" fared. This article considers and rejects a number of theories about why most feature war films failed between 2002 and 2012 and proposes what war films might look like in the near future. (Contains 1 figure and 3 notes.)… [Direct]

Cupp, Craig L.; Poss, W. Bradley; Williams, Stephen J. (2014). Health Services Management Education On-Site at a Military Medical Center. Journal of College Teaching & Learning, v11 n2 p53-58. A cooperative educational program with the U.S. military is described to illustrate a unique opportunity that confronted a graduate healthcare management program. The resulting degree program supported the military's operational medical mission but also presented interesting and unexpected challenges resulting from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pressure to provide cost-effective services has been mounting for many years. Civilian and military cooperative ventures can be highly successful. The program addressed the need for enhanced managerial skills. Program content focused on traditional business and healthcare content with applications tailored to military settings. While instruction was provided primarily by civilian faculty, active duty military instructors were also incorporated into specific course content areas. Program pricing and marketing were critical to success. Technical course delivery issues raised additional challenges due to work obligations and deployments…. [Direct]

Helms, Kimberly Turner; Libertz, Daniel (2014). When Service Members with Traumatic Brain Injury Become Students: Methods to Advance Learning. Adult Learning, v25 n1 p11-19 Feb. The purpose of this paper is to explain which evidence-based interventions in study strategies have been successful in helping soldiers and veterans with traumatic brain injury (TBI) return to the classroom. Military leaders have specifically identified TBI as one of the signature injuries of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq with over a quarter of a million service members diagnosed with a TBI from 2000 to 2012. From the perspective of developmental education practitioners, this narrative examination reviews available research and government documentation to offer an understanding of TBI, effects of TBI on learning, and recommended approaches to provide these students the most beneficial learning experiences. The incorporation of effective learning strategies and appropriate instructional methods are critical in maximizing the learning outcomes of students with this kind of injury. Despite the attention that must be paid to each individual case, it may be beneficial to incorporate… [Direct]

Eggerman, Mark; Goodman, Anna; Panter-Brick, Catherine; Tol, Wietse (2011). Mental Health and Childhood Adversities: A Longitudinal Study in Kabul, Afghanistan. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, v50 n4 p349-363 Apr. Objective: To identify prospective predictors of mental health in Kabul, Afghanistan. Method: Using stratified random-sampling in schools, mental health and life events for 11- to 16-year-old students and their caregivers were assessed. In 2007, 1 year after baseline, the retention rate was 64% (n = 115 boys, 119 girls, 234 adults) with no evidence of selection bias. Self- and caregiver-rated child mental health (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire), depressive (Depression Self-Rating Scale), and posttraumatic stress (Child Revised Impact of Events Scale) symptoms and caregiver mental health (Self-Report Questionnaire) were assessed. Lifetime trauma and past-year traumatic, stressful, and protective experiences were assessed. Results: With the exception of posttraumatic stress, one-year trajectories for all mental health outcomes showed significant improvement (p less than 0.001). Family violence had a striking impact on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire data, raising… [Direct]

Cohn, D'Vera; Funk, Cary; Mokrzycki, Mike; Morin, Rich; Parker, Kim; Taylor, Paul (2011). War and Sacrifice in the Post-9/11 Era. The Military-Civilian Gap. Pew Research Center As the United States marks the 10th anniversary of the longest period of sustained warfare in its history, the overwhelming majority of veterans of the post-9/11 era are proud of their military service. At the same time, many report that they have had difficulties readjusting to civilian life, and have suffered from post-traumatic stress. While veterans are more supportive of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq than the general public, just one-third say that both been worth fighting. This report is based on two surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center: one of the nation's military veterans and one of the general public. A total of 1,853 veterans were surveyed, including 712 who served in the military after the attacks of September 11, 2001. The general public survey was conducted among 2,003 adult respondents. Three appendices are included: (1) Survey Methodology; (2) Topline Questionnaires; and (3) Supplemental Table on Views on Wars in Afghanistan, Iraq…. [PDF]

Biseth, Heidi; Changezi, Sofie Haug (2011). Education of Hazara Girls in a Diaspora: Education as Empowerment and an Agent of Change. Research in Comparative and International Education, v6 n1 p79-89. Afghanistan is a country which has experienced years of conflict and war. This unrest has forced large numbers of Afghans into diasporas, Hazaras comprising one of these groups. Hazaras have mainly fled from rural Hazarajat to more urban areas in Pakistan. Marginalization of Hazaras in general and girls in particular, both in Afghanistan and Pakistan, restricts their ability to, for example, access education and challenge traditional gender roles. However, in the authors' view, the change of locality is but one factor that has altered what kind of marginalization they experience, changing, among other things, the sentiments toward girls' education, as well as their access to schools. In analysing interviews conducted with Hazara parents, teachers and female students in Pakistan, the authors argue that this situation in a diaspora has made girls' education more accessible, and can be seen as an agent of change for both individuals and the Hazaras as a group. (Contains 1 note.)… [Direct]

Bangayimbaga, Apollinaire; Ndura, Elavie; Timpson, William (2014). Conflict, Reconciliation and Peace Education: Moving Burundi toward a Sustainable Future. Routledge Research in International and Comparative Education. Routledge Research in International and Comparative Education When the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States occurred–causing that nation to wage wars of revenge in Afghanistan and Iraq–the people of Burundi were recovering from nearly forty years of violence, genocide and civil wars that had killed nearly one million and produced another million refugees. Here in this small East African nation, one of the four poorest nations on earth, however, was a desire for reconciliation–not revenge–and it still runs deep today. The University of Ngozi in northern Burundi was created in 1999 and is now dedicated to peace, reconciliation and sustainable development. People in this region tell remarkable stories of tragedy and recovery amid these horrors. Their stories can inspire others to preserve their humanity and resist the urge to continue the violence, focusing instead on forgiveness, reconciliation and a better way forward. This volume presents case study analysis while pointing to the promise of a new kind of education that is… [Direct]

Dahlstr√∂m, Lars (2016). An Autobiographical Narrative towards Critical Practitioner Inquiry and a Counter Hegemonic Southern Network. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, v14 n1 p102-126 Mar. This paper is an autobiographical narrative to demonstrate how educational practices and ideas travel through time. It demonstrates how pedagogy based on solidarity and counter hegemonic ideas combined with scholastic perspectives build coherent practices in different social contexts. The work as a teacher, teacher educator, and researcher in Sweden created an experiential and scholastic foundation for a critical pedagogical perspective that was further developed in the global South. The colonial spectres are still haunting the capitalist development paradigm as a cure against poverty and so called backwardness. Furthermore, the time when education was seen as an emancipatory activity has now been replaced by the entrepreneurial saints of individualism and marketizations. In spite of the present hegemonic perspectives there is room for counter hegemonic thinking and pedagogical practices struggling for a re-emancipatory and re-enlightening vision of pedagogy. Critical Practitioner… [Direct]

Atkins, Christopher L.; Gottman, John M.; Gottman, Julie S. (2011). The Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program: Family Skills Component. American Psychologist, v66 n1 p52-57 Jan. Field combat stress clinics and research have identified the signature event that precedes thoughts of suicide and homicide in combat soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan: a distressing personal relationship event with a stateside partner. In response to this alarming information, we have identified critical factors and precipitating incidents as well as critical social skills that form the basis for changing communication between soldiers and their stateside partners. A pilot program is described that proved effective with small groups of soldiers who were led by a male-female professional team and given structured reading and social skills training exercises based on Gottman and Silver's (1999) book "The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work." Recommendations for future training are made based upon our assessment of the family issues facing the combat soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan. In conclusion, we describe the family fitness interventions and program elements of the… [Direct]

Martin, D'Arcy (2012). Speaking Personally–With Paul Avon. American Journal of Distance Education, v26 n4 p260-265. This article presents an interview with Paul Avon, the former executive director of the Canadian Virtual College Consortium. Avon has spent over fifteen years in the distance learning (DL) field managing the production and delivery of online learning at TVOntario, Humber College, the Sri Lankan National Online Distance Education Service, and the American University of Afghanistan. Avon is now living in Sri Lanka and working on commercial online projects. In the interview, Avon shares his experience and insights on distance education. He describes the scope and focus of the consortium that he coordinates, and how long it has been in operation…. [Direct]

Jones, Adele (2009). Curriculum and Civil Society in Afghanistan. Harvard Educational Review, v79 n1 p113-122 Spr. Although research has traditionally discussed the ways in which societies in conflict develop educational practices, only recently have scholars begun to examine the role of education in creating or sustaining conflict. In Afghanistan, changing regimes have had an impact on state-sanctioned curricula over the past fifty years, drastically altering the purpose and ideology of education. In this article, Adele Jones traces the changing nature of Afghan curricula since the 1960s, highlighting the conflict surrounding curricula during the Soviet regime. She posits that resistance to state-sanctioned curricula was seen as resistance to the state regime, often putting schools at the center of conflict. This continues today, as Taliban groups resist the Western-influenced curricula of modern Afghanistan. Jones argues that understanding this cycle of resistance is critical for Western agencies aiming to support educational efforts in the country. (Contains 5 notes.)… [Direct]

Blackmore, Tim (2012). Eyeless in America: Hollywood and Indiewood's Iraq War on Film. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, v32 n4 p294-316 Aug. This article examines 50 films produced and released between the years 2001 and 2012 that are concerned with the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Using Jacques Ellul's theories set out in his book "Propaganda," the article argues that while the films have failed at the box office, they were intended to function as integration propaganda. The article proposes six different tropes or common frames for understanding how the films avoid dealing with problems raised by the wars. Why the films failed, and what functioned as integration propaganda instead, is the subject for a second article titled "Eyeless in America, the Sequel." (Contains 12 notes.)… [Direct]

Mookerjea, Sourayan (2009). Herouxville's Afghanistan, or, Accumulated Violence. Review of Education, Pedagogy & Cultural Studies, v31 n2-3 p177-200. This essay explores the cultural-pedagogical logic of what the author calls the perlocutionary effect of transcendence that the "discourse of the West" produces. This discourse provides a fortified interiority beyond history, but also a door through which racisms, imperialisms, and fascisms of the past can possibly return. The second part of this essay situates the author's discussion of the Herouxville Declaration and the Reasonable Accommodation Debate (as well as the response of the Bouchard-Taylor Commission to them) in relation to the postwar cultural political formation over which a new hegemonic, national identity crystallized. The author also underscores here that, precisely as a hegemonic formation, whatever real and imaginary egalitarian policy content it possessed (or enshrined in the limited form of the Charter guarantees), this was a reaction of crisis management in the face of the struggles of the past; not only to second wave feminism in Canada and elsewhere… [Direct]

Plane, Jandelyn (2010). Approaching Gender Parity: Women in Computer Science at Afghanistan's Kabul University. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park. This study explores the representation of women in computer science at the tertiary level through data collected about undergraduate computer science education at Kabul University in Afghanistan. Previous studies have theorized reasons for underrepresentation of women in computer science, and while many of these reasons are indeed present in Afghanistan, they appear to hinder advancement to degree to a lesser extent. Women comprise at least 36% of each graduating class from KU's Computer Science Department; however, in 2007 women were 25% of the university population. In the US, women comprise over 50% of university populations while only graduating on average 25% women in undergraduate computer science programs. Representation of women in computer science in the US is 50% below the university rate, but at KU, it is 50% above the university rate. This mixed methods study of KU was conducted in the following three stages: setting up focus groups with women computer science… [Direct]

Burde, Dana; Linden, Leigh L. (2012). The Effect of Village-Based Schools: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Afghanistan. NBER Working Paper No. 18039. National Bureau of Economic Research We conduct a randomized evaluation of the effect of village-based schools on children's academic performance using a sample of 31 villages and 1,490 children in rural northwestern Afghanistan. The program significantly increases enrollment and test scores among all children, eliminates the 21 percentage point gender disparity in enrollment, and dramatically reduces the disparity in test scores. The intervention increases formal school enrollment by 42 percentage points among all children and increases test scores by 0.51 standard deviations (1.2 standard deviations for children that enroll in school). While all students benefit, the effects accrue disproportionately to girls. Evidence suggests that the village-based schools provide a comparable education to traditional schools. Estimating the effects of distance on academic outcomes, children prove very sensitive: enrollment and test scores fall by 16 percentage points and 0.19 standard deviations per mile. Distance affects girls… [Direct]

Crow, Janet R.; Seybold, Amanda K. (2013). Discrepancies in Military Middle-School Adolescents' and Parents' Perceptions of Family Functioning, Social Support, Anger Frequency, and Concerns. Journal of Adolescence, v36 n1 p1-9 Feb. Previous literature suggests that adolescents' and parents' perceptions of family functioning are typically quite disparate and that perceptual discrepancies increase when a family is under stress. During the years of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan adolescents in military families have faced uniquely stressful circumstances which may exacerbate difficulties commonly experienced during adolescence. For this study 91 middle-school adolescent-parent dyads from U.S. Army families were surveyed about their perceptions of family functioning, social support, the adolescent's frequency of anger, and the adolescent's concerns. Findings indicated significant differences in parents' and adolescents' matched ratings for all variables except adolescent concerns. Adolescent-parent perceptual discrepancies were greatest for families who had never experienced deployment and during or following the first deployment. The results of this study may be useful to those supporting military families as… [Direct]

Allison, John (2014). R. Freeman Butts: Educational Foundations and Educational Diplomacy. British Journal of Educational Studies, v62 n1 p1-17. R. Freeman Butts was an American historian and philosopher of education who died in March 2010. This paper will investigate Butts' various roles and writings and ask the question: why is Butts important to the contemporary generation of teacher educators and teachers? This paper will argue that the breadth of Butts' work builds connections and is a very positive model for sub-disciplines in education. Firstly, it is critical to examine Butts' contribution, as Butts provokes teachers to inquire about the "context of education," rather than simply the "how to" of teaching and the question of classroom management. Additionally, it is significant to for educators to study Butts' life and works as they embody the essence of service–in his case, as an education diplomat. He started with what former US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton calls "the conversation," and this led eventually to projects such as the Afghan Project to bring development to Afghanistan… [Direct]

Banchs, Rafael E.; Gonzalez-Bailon, Sandra; Kaltenbrunner, Andreas (2012). Emotions, Public Opinion, and U.S. Presidential Approval Rates: A 5-Year Analysis of Online Political Discussions. Human Communication Research, v38 n2 p121-143 Apr. This article examines how emotional reactions to political events shape public opinion. We analyze political discussions in which people voluntarily engage online to approximate the public agenda: Online discussions offer a natural approach to the salience of political issues and the means to analyze emotional reactions as political events take place in real time. We measure shifts in emotions of the public over a period that includes 2 U.S. presidential elections, the 9/11 attacks, and the start of military action in Afghanistan and Iraq. Our findings show that emotional reactions to political events help explain approval rates for the same period, which casts novel light on the mechanisms that mediate the association between agenda setting and political evaluations…. [Direct]

Wheeler, Holly A. (2012). Veterans' Transitions to Community College: A Case Study. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, v36 n10 p775-792. Veterans on college campuses are not new; however, the recent influx of veterans returning home from war-time service present challenges to the colleges they attend. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the transition process experienced by veterans leaving military service and attending community college for the first time. This study sought to understand the process veterans experience as they leave overseas deployment in support of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and negotiate the various changes such a transition entails. Using Schlossberg's (1984) Theory of Adult Transitions as the guiding framework, three themes emerged regarding how veterans manage this transition: academic experiences, personal relationships and connections, and benefit bureaucracy. These findings could be used to help community colleges better serve this special population…. [Direct]

Sullivan, Mary E. (2017). Role and Identity Adjustment and the Experience of Liminality in Veterans Seeking Higher Education: A Qualitative Investigation. ProQuest LLC, Psy.D. Dissertation, William James College. Many U.S. service members who repatriate following military service in Iraq and Afghanistan seek educational benefits proffered by the Post-9/11 Veterans Education Assistance Act of 2008. Student-veterans are a diverse and unique population within university settings, and there is much to be learned about factors that may influence their rates of retention and graduation, as well as best practices to support such individuals. The purpose of this study was to explore the transitional experiences of post-deployment student-veterans to better understand the bi-directional influence between individual reintegration processes and experiences within higher education. The anthropological construct of "liminality" was explored to facilitate a more nuanced awareness of the complex transition from military to civilian life, from warrior to student. The researcher interviewed 12 veterans who attended college following military service. Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) methodology… [Direct]

Gahm, Gregory A.; Gonzalez, Oscar I.; Novaco, Raymond W.; Reger, Mark D.; Swanson, Rob D. (2012). Anger and Postcombat Mental Health: Validation of a Brief Anger Measure with U.S. Soldiers Postdeployed from Iraq and Afghanistan. Psychological Assessment, v24 n3 p661-675 Sep. The involvement of anger in the psychological adjustment of current war veterans, particularly in conjunction with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), warrants greater research focus than it has received. The present study concerns a brief anger measure, Dimensions of Anger Reactions (DAR), intended for use in large sample studies and as a screening tool. The concurrent validity, discriminant validity, and incremental validity of the instrument were examined in conjunction with behavioral health data for 3,528 treatment-seeking soldiers who had been in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Criterion indices included multiple self-rated measures of psychological distress (including PTSD, depression, and anxiety), functional difficulties (relationships, daily activities, work problems, and substance use), and violence risk. Concurrent validity was established by strong correlations with single anger items on 4 other scales, and discriminant validity was found against anxiety… [Direct]

Cozza, Stephen J.; Holmes, Allison K.; Rauch, Paula K. (2013). When a Parent Is Injured or Killed in Combat. Future of Children, v23 n2 p143-162 Fall. Since the U.S. military began fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2002, approximately two million military children have seen a parent deploy into harm's way at least once, and many families have experienced multiple deployments. Most deployments end with a parent's safe return home, but more than 50,000 service members have been physically injured in combat, and even more are later diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI) or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the worst case, deployed parents do not return at all. This article examines the impact on dependent children of deployments that result in visible or physical injuries (for example, amputations or burns); invisible injuries, including TBI and PTSD; and a parent's death. Seven recommendations for service providers and policy makers are detailed. The article concludes that ultimately more research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of existing programs and disseminate the findings so that… [PDF]

Karney, Benjamin R.; Loughran, David S.; Pollard, Michael S. (2012). Comparing Marital Status and Divorce Status in Civilian and Military Populations. Journal of Family Issues, v33 n12 p1572-1594 Dec. Since military operations began in Afghanistan and Iraq, lengthy deployments have led to concerns about the vulnerability of military marriages. Yet evaluating military marriages requires some benchmark against which marital outcomes in the military may be compared. These analyses drew from personnel records from the entire male population of the active components of the U.S. military between 1998 and 2005, and from the Current Population Surveys from the same years, to compare the likelihood of being married or divorced between service members and civilians matched on age, racial/ethnic composition, employment status, and education. Results indicate that service members are significantly more likely to be married, but are not more likely to be divorced, than civilians with matched characteristics. These patterns have not changed substantially since the current conflicts began. (Contains 2 tables.)… [Direct]

Williams, Christopher; Yazdani, Farzaneh (2009). The Rehabilitation Paradox: Street-Working Children in Afghanistan. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v3 n1 p4-20 Jan. International humanitarian intervention in Afghanistan reflects a policy discourse of "rehabilitation," which is very evident in relation to nongovernmental organization (NGO) projects for street-working children. Through analysing national and international policy, professional perceptions of the children, and field visits to see how policy relates to practice in NGO projects in Kabul, this article argues that the discourse is a "rehabilitation paradox." The international goal is to return "minority" children, who are numerically the majority, to a "mainstream," which is either mythical or a transient international elite. John Gray argues that Western utopianism explains the misguided nature of recent international military interventions, and this article extends that argument to rehabilitation. Without a concept of rehabilitation, "intervention" can be an act of wanton destruction. Policymakers need to be aware of how education can… [Direct]

Lindsay, Douglas R. (2011). The Benefit of Negative Examples: What We Can Learn about Leadership from the Taliban. Journal of Leadership Education, v10 n1 p145-152 Win. Approximately four months ago the author was sitting at his desk at the Air Force Academy preparing a course in leadership that he would be teaching during the fall semester. Then, something happened that would have a drastic impact on his professional life as an educator and a military officer. He was informed that he would be deploying to Kabul, Afghanistan, for the next six months to support Operation Enduring Freedom. At first, he was a little taken aback by the opportunity since he had planned a summer of lesson prepping and writing, as he has found this to be the best time for such endeavors. However, after a little reflection, he quickly realized what a great opportunity for him to grow as an educator by giving him a chance to see leadership from different perspectives. As he got to Afghanistan he quickly realized not only were there examples of good leadership, but negative as well. What he is referring to here is the Taliban and how that organization is organized and… [PDF]

Creed, Charlotte; Morpeth, Roslyn Louise (2014). Continuity Education in Emergency and Conflict Situations: The Case for Using Open, Distance and Flexible Learning. Journal of Learning for Development, v1 n3. Emergency and conflict in countries such as Syria, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan have made us more aware of the long-term serial disruption and psychosocial damage faced by people caught up in emergency and conflict areas. Open, distance and flexible learning (ODFL) has sometimes been employed in these regions to maintain a degree of continuity in education. For the most part, however, this role has been ad hoc, short-term, and often bearing limited relation to the psychosocial and educational needs of the displaced or traumatised populations it serves. But could ODFL play a more planned, significant and relevant role in emergency and conflict regions and if so, how? This paper will address this core question. We identify particular aspects of ODFL programmes, which are especially useful in reaching and extending basic and secondary education to hard-to-reach children and those in emergency and conflict contexts. Through a specific case study of the recent conflict in… [PDF]

Delaney, Douglas E., Ed.; Engen, Robert C., Ed.; Fitzpatrick, Meghan, Ed. (2018). Military Education and the British Empire, 1815-1949. University of British Columbia Press Common military education was the lifeblood of the armies, navies, and air forces of the British Empire. It permeated every aspect of the profession of arms and was an essential ingredient for success in both war and peace. Yet much military history overlooks external factors and influences such as education, which shape armed forces. "Military Education and the British Empire" is the first major scholarly work to address the role of military education in maintaining the empire throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Bringing together the world's top scholars on the subject, this book places distinct national narratives — Canadian, Australian, South African, British, and Indian — within a comparative context. The contributors examine military education within the British Empire as a generator of institutional knowledge, as a socializing agent, and as an enhancer of interoperability. Moreover, this volume explores the importance of professional military… [Direct]

Dillard, Robert J.; Yu, Helen H. (2016). Best Practices in Student Veteran Education: Making a "Veteran-Friendly" Institution. Journal of Continuing Higher Education, v64 n3 p181-186. With the conclusion of major military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. institutions of higher learning are experiencing an inflow of student veterans on a scale not seen since the conclusion of World War II. In response, a large number of American colleges and universities quickly sought to exploit this glut of new students by arbitrarily labeling themselves "military-friendly" or "veteran-friendly" institutions without taking any tangible steps toward better serving the educational needs of their student veterans. Consequently, student veteran retention rates have been poor, resulting in lost federal and state aid money, a potentially wasted generation of student veterans, and a broken promise from the American people to our service members. However, transforming an underperforming campus from ostensibly veteran-friendly to veteran-friendly-in-practice can be accomplished with minimal expenditure of resources. In August 2013, recognizing the coming… [Direct]

Taliaferro, Cheryl (2011). Ninth Grade Students' Negotiation of Aesthetic, Efferent, and Critical Stances in Response to a Novel Set in Afghanistan. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of North Texas. This qualitative, action research study was guided by two primary research questions. First, how do students negotiate aesthetic, efferent, and critical stances when reading a novel set in Afghanistan? Second, how do aesthetic and efferent stances contribute to or hinder the adoption of a critical stance? A large body of research exists that examines student responses to literature, and much of that research is based on the transactional theory of reading. However, it remains unclear how critical literacy fits into this theory. This study describes how one group of high school students' aesthetic and efferent responses to a novel set in Afghanistan supported their development of critical stances. Six students enrolled in a ninth-grade English course participated in this study. Data were collected for 13 weeks. Data included two individual interviews with each student, student writing assignments in the form of 6 assigned journal entries and 7 assigned essays, transcriptions of… [Direct]

Clausen, Kurt; Horton, Todd A. (2015). Extending the History Curriculum: Exploring World War II Victors, Vanquished, and Occupied Using European Film. History Teacher, v48 n2 p321-338 Feb. War is one place where the complexity of victory and defeat should be explored more deeply. Unfortunately, war–whether experienced directly as a soldier in Afghanistan or a Syrian in an Aleppo suburb, or indirectly through a news item on the Internet or American television–is a near inescapable aspect of most people's daily life. Yet unless you've "been in a war," it is difficult to know what it is actually like and what meanings are created from the experience. Thankfully, few students in contemporary American history classes have experienced war directly, but a perusal of social studies and history curricula across America indicates an expectation that students will learn about many wars during their school years. Students learn about war to explore cultural perspectives on duty, courage, loyalty, honor, rebellion, betrayal, cruelty, compassion, survival, and resilience. But much of the powerful learning beyond these rudimentary understandings may be found in… [PDF]

Bailey, Sara D.; Dunn, Nancy Jo; Kent, Thomas A.; Schumacher, Julie A.; Stanley, Melinda A.; Taft, Casey T.; Teten, Andra L.; White, Donna L. (2010). Intimate Partner Aggression Perpetrated and Sustained by Male Afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam Veterans with and without Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, v25 n9 p1612-1630 Sep. Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) consistently evidence higher rates of intimate partner aggression perpetration than veterans without PTSD, but most studies have examined rates of aggression among Vietnam veterans several years after their deployment. The primary aim of this study was to examine partner aggression among male Afghanistan or Iraq veterans who served during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and compare this aggression to that reported by Vietnam veterans with PTSD. Three groups were recruited, OEF/OIF veterans with PTSD (n = 27), OEF/OIF veterans without PTSD (n = 31), and Vietnam veterans with PTSD (n = 28). Though only a few comparisons reached significance, odds ratios suggested that male OEF/OIF veterans with PTSD were approximately 1.9 to 3.1 times more likely to perpetrate aggression toward their female partners and 1.6 to 6 times more likely to report experiencing female perpetrated aggression than the other two… [Direct]

Goodrich, Gregory L.; Katsaros, Jennifer; Kingston, John; Vu, Yurika (2010). Neurological Vision Rehabilitation: Description and Case Study. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, v104 n10 p603-612 Oct. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been notable for the high rates of traumatic brain injury (TBI) that have been incurred by the troops. Visual impairments often occur following TBI and present new challenges for rehabilitation. We describe a neurological vision rehabilitation therapy that addresses the unique needs of patients with vision loss that is due to TBI. (Contains 1 figure.)… [Direct]

Agnello, Mary F.; Lucey, Thomas A.; Olaniran, Bolanle; Todd, Reese H. (2009). Afghanistan and Multiculturalism in Khaled Hosseini's Novels: Study of Place and Diversity. Multicultural Education & Technology Journal, v3 n2 p96-111. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to frame Khaled Hosseini's novels, "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns", as literature to expand and enhance the American secondary curriculum with multicultural themes based on Afghanistan as a geographical and cultural place in a dynamic, diverse, and complex world more mediated than ever before by computer technologies. Design/methodology/approach: The methodological approach to the study is a synthesis of geographic education grounded in the concept of place and diversity pedagogy. Findings: Khaled Hosseini's web site has become the cyber place where hundreds of readers from around the world come to express their deep emotional reactions to "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns". At the same time, that so many diverse international readers are responding favorably to Hosseini's novels, his works are being censored in classrooms in the USA. The research outlines geographical and… [Direct]

Davids, Nuraan; Waghid, Yusef (2015). Maximalist Islamic Education as a Response to Terror: Some Thoughts on Unconditional Action. Educational Philosophy and Theory, v47 n13-14 p1477-1492. Inasmuch as Muslim governments all over the world dissociate themselves from despicable acts of terror, few can deny the brutality and violence perpetrated especially by those in authoritative positions like political governments against humanity. Poignant examples are the ongoing massacre of Muslim communities in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan by those government or rebel forces intent on eliminating the other whom they happen to find unworthy of living. This article attempts to map Islamic education's response to violence and terror often perpetrated against people considered to be in vehement disagreement with another, for instance, Muslim rebel forces assassinating Christians in Syria and destroying ancient monasteries, Muslim "jihadist" fighters kidnapping and assassinating people in revengeful acts of terror and Muslim government militia quelling resistant forces that oppose the government's so-called reformist agenda. In arguing against any form of violence,… [Direct]

Parks, Rodney; Smith, Carol; Walker, Erin (2015). Exploring the Challenges of Academic Advising for Student Veterans. College and University, v90 n4 p37-52. As troops return to the United States from conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, many student veterans are expected to utilize their education benefits and enroll in higher education. A key element in their success in college will be the quality of academic advising they receive. Student veterans are much more likely than traditional students to drop out of higher education. Yet little if any research has explored how academic advisors advise student veterans or how they might improve student veterans' college experience and academic success. The study presented in this article utilized a mixed-methods research design to explore the challenges of advising student veterans. The goal of the study was to determine how academic advisors can help student veterans adjust successfully to higher education. Fifty-one student veterans participated in the quantitative portion of the study; five of the 51 also participated in the qualitative portion of the study. Four themes emerged from the data… [Direct]

Turner, Ross (2015). Measuring Learning Growth in a World of Universal Education. International Developments. Volume 5, Article 4. Australian Council for Educational Research In 2013, staff at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) Centre for Global Education Monitoring (GEM) identified the need to build measurement tools to monitor learning growth that could be used across different year levels and in different national contexts. One of those projects, under ACER's Monitoring Trends in Educational Growth program, involved the development of an assessment program in Afghanistan at the Grade 6 level, which is now being extended to Grade 3, and later possibly to Grade 9. At the same time, the Learning Metrics Task Force led by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) and the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution was progressing rapidly in its work to develop a framework that identifies education's central place in post-2015 global development goals as well as the tools that would be needed to monitor progress against those goals, particularly in developing countries. GEM researchers presented an approach to measuring… [Direct]

Oliver, Diane E.; Persky, Karen R. (2011). Veterans Coming Home to the Community College: Linking Research to Practice. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, v35 n1-2 p111-120. Community colleges must prepare for change as increasing numbers of students who are veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars use their post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to join the colleges' diverse student bodies. Based on the findings of a mixed methods case study, needs of veterans at the community college are framed and discussed within five major themes that emerged from the data: credit streamlining; streamlining of programs and services; faculty, advisor, and counselor training; difficulties encountered by veterans; and factors that constitute a veteran-friendly campus. Related recommendations are offered regarding programs and services to provide essential support for these students…. [Direct]

Long, Michael H. (2015). First Person Singular: Building the Road as We Travel. Language Teaching, v48 n4 p561-574 Oct. After completing a law degree at the University of Birmingham when I was 20 and not really knowing what I wanted to do, except that it was not law, I became an English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher accidentally through signing up as a volunteer with the British United Nations Association (BUNA), roughly equivalent to the US Peace Corps. Instead of being dispatched to assist starving people through a remote third-world community development project, as I had naively expected, I was sent on a fast-paced, two-week English as a second language (ESL) teacher-training course at a well-known private language school, International House, on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the heart of London's West End. Then came a one-week BUNA "orientation" course in the suburbs. A hundred-plus neophyte volunteers were lectured on how to deliver a baby, how to deal with snake bites, how to remove leeches using gasoline or matches (but not both), the importance of taking anti-malaria pills daily… [Direct]

Carlson, Kathleen F.; Gulden, Ashley; Kehle, Shannon M.; Laska, Melissa Nelson; Lust, Katherine; Widome, Rachel (2011). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Health Risk Behaviors among Afghanistan and Iraq War Veterans Attending College. American Journal of Health Behavior, v35 n4 p387-392 Jul. Objective: To determine if post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with health risk behaviors among Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) veterans attending college. Method: Using 2008 Boynton College Student Health Survey data, we tested associations between self-reported PTSD diagnosis and self-reported risk behaviors (n=406). Results: We found PTSD diagnosis to be significantly associated with reporting involvement in a physical fight in the past year (ARR = 3.1; 95% CI: 2.2, 4.4) and marginally associated with high risk drinking (ARR = 1.3; 95% CI: 1.1, 1.6). However, no association was seen between PTSD and the tobacco use and other safety behaviors that we examined. Conclusion: PTSD is likely a factor that contributes to the relationship between military service and certain health risk behaviors…. [Direct]

Sigrell, Anders (2012). 'Whenever I Put a Black Jacket on, I Get Dandruff:' On Metonymy as a Device for Constructive Argumentation Analysis. Education Inquiry, v3 n4 p535-550. Mother-tongue teachers teach argumentation analysis. To this end, among other things, they use a stylistic meta-language, i.e. the tropes and figures of style, to analyse arguments as well as more aesthetic communication. The best-known trope is the metaphor. In this article it is argued that a more pragmatic view on the related figure metonymy could sharpen our tools for argumentation analysis. Metaphor is about resemblance or similarity; metonymy is about some kind of contextual togetherness or contiguity, "The White House has decided to decrease the military presence in Afghanistan". Since the information focus in the metonymy is somewhere other than on the name shift, it makes it a potential carrier of possibly insidious assumptions and attempts to persuade. Such possible instances could be "Prices go up" or "Pensions go down". The metonymy concept can help us see that pensions do not go down; someone has decided to lower them…. [Direct]

Beckham, Jean C.; Brancu, Mira; Calhoun, Patrick S.; Dedert, Eric A.; Runnals, Jennifer; Van Voorhees, Elizabeth E. (2012). Childhood Trauma Exposure in Iraq and Afghanistan War Era Veterans: Implications for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms and Adult Functional Social Support. Child Abuse & Neglect: The International Journal, v36 n5 p423-432 May. Objective: This study examined the relationship among childhood trauma, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and adult social support in a large sample of veterans who served in the military after 09/11/2001, with a specific focus on the potential role of the PTSD avoidance and numbing cluster as intervening in the association between childhood abuse and adult functional social support. Method: Participants were 1,301 veterans and active duty soldiers who have served in the military since 09/11/2001; a subsample of these participants (n = 482) completed an inventory of current functional social support. Analyses included linear regression and nonparametric bootstrapping procedures. Results: After controlling for combat exposure, exposure to childhood trauma was associated with PTSD symptoms in adulthood. Further, PTSD symptoms, and particularly PTSD avoidance/numbing cluster symptoms, intervened in the relationship between childhood trauma and adult functional social… [Direct]

Herring, Terry W. (2012). Exploring Collaboration System Effectiveness at the United States Army Brigade Echelon. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Northcentral University. Since the attacks on September 11, 2001, a major transformation of the United States Army began to create a modular, scalable, and modernized military force. This effort was the most significant restructuring of military forces in the last 80 years. However, after 6 years of sustained combat operations in the Middle East many of the collaboration systems employed are estimated to be only 75% effective and fall short of the required 99% level. In addition, no research exists that addresses this phenomenon at the brigade echelon. Therefore, a qualitative phenomenological study was conducted to examine the lack of collaboration system effectiveness at the brigade echelon. Specifically, this study was focused on developing a better understanding of the factors that contribute to and prohibit effective communications at the brigade echelon. Purposeful sampling was used to select 15 brigade staff personnel from a population of 6,500 who have completed at least one 12 month deployment to… [Direct]

Guimbert, Stephane; Miwa, Keiko; Nguyen, Duc Thanh (2008). Back to School in Afghanistan: Determinants of School Enrollment. International Journal of Educational Development, v28 n4 p419-434 Jul. One of the first achievements of post-conflict Afghanistan was to bring almost 4 million children back to school. Issues remain daunting, however, with low primary enrollment especially for girls and in rural areas and very weak learning achievements. We review some key features of the education system in Afghanistan. By matching household and school data, we assess the impact of various factors on enrollment. Overall, the analysis indicates that further increasing supply alone is unlikely to lead to higher enrollment. The analysis confirms the importance of demand factors such as the education of parents, the family language, and other community and ethnic factors…. [Direct]

Abbott, Lynda; Grayson, Richard S. (2011). Community Engagement in Local History: A Report on the Hemel at War Project. Teaching History, n145 p4-12 Dec. This article, by Lynda Abbott and Richard Grayson, offers a fascinating example of collaboration between school and university, focused on the development of a community archive. The project–run as an extra-curricular activity–was originally inspired by a concern to preserve the personal stories of those whose lives were affected by the Second World War. As students have gained experience in researching local stories, developing interviewing skills and learning how to locate and interrogate different kinds of archival material, so their range has expanded, drawing in the experiences of combatants and non-combatants in conflicts ranging from the Boer War to recent missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. The article reveals the wide range of ways in which different participants have benefited from the construction, collection and dissemination of these personal narratives. (Contains 7 figures.)… [Direct]

Mellon, Ericka (2011). Army Strong, Superintendent Savvy. District Administration, v47 n5 p71-74, 76-77 May. Brigadier General Anthony "Tony" Tata of the U.S. Army had one of those "ah-ha" moments in April 2006 when, on the eve of an operation he was heading in Afghanistan, an Al Qaeda rocket shattered a nearby school. The attack killed a teacher and seven students and wounded dozens more. The rocket incident eventually nudged Tata toward a new mission: improving public education in America. After retiring from the military in 2009, Tata became the chief operating officer of the District of Columbia Public Schools. A year and a half later, in December 2010, his reputation as a direct communicator and level-headed leader earned him the top job at the nation's 18th-largest district, the Wake County (North Carolina) Public School System…. [Direct]

Balwanz; David (2007). Meeting EFA: Afghanistan Community Schools. Academy for Educational Development From 1979 to 2002, Afghanistan was in a near constant state of war and exhibited some of the lowest levels of development in the world. While local conflicts and Taliban remnants continue to challenge Afghanistan's reconstruction and stabilization, significant progress has been made since the 2001 U.S. led invasion and subsequent fall of the Taliban. Since the mid-1990s, a small number of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have promoted community and home-based schools as approaches to expanding access to primary education, despite Afghanistan's challenging and ever-changing political landscape. CARE Afghanistan launched its first small pilot education access program in Khost province in 1994. The initiative has evolved into the Community Organized Primary Education (COPE) program and now operates in nine provinces. This EQUIP2 Case Study examines the model and outcomes of the COPE program as well as the institutional and cultural context of the areas in which COPE schools operate…. [PDF]

Folmar, Steven; Palmes, Guy K. (2009). Cross-Cultural Psychiatry in the Field: Collaborating with Anthropology. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, v48 n9 p873 Sep. Psychiatric and anthropological collaborations have produced robust literatures on varied topics but there are challenges in the working relation between these two fields. A research into how cultures deal with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders in Afghanistan is discussed to highlight the challenges in the working relations between psychiatrists and anthropologists…. [Direct]

Freifeld, Lorri (2010). Warriors to Workers. Training, v47 n5 p14-18 Sep-Oct. Pentagon data reveals that more than 1.6 million military personnel have been deployed to the Middle East since the war in Afghanistan began in late 2001. But when they return home, these veterans face an extraordinary high unemployment rate. This article describes the transitional and technical training provided by two nonprofit groups (the Wounded Warrior Project and the United Association of Plumbers, Pipefitters and Sprinklerfitters (UA) Veterans In Piping (VIP) Program) to returning veterans and the career opportunities and mentors offered by companies such as AlliedBarton…. [Direct]

Matsumoto, Yukitoshi (2008). Education for Demilitarizing Youth in Post-Conflict Afghanistan. Research in Comparative and International Education, v3 n1 p65-78. This article examines both the largely negative role that education has played historically in contributing to conflict in Afghanistan and the ways that education has been purposefully employed as a post-conflict strategy aimed at building peace and social cohesion. The growing attention among academics and policy makers to the role of youth in post-conflict contexts, and the urgent need to reintegrate ex-combatants has led to the implementation of educational programming directed at Afghan youth as a central part of the country's Demobilization, Demilitarization, Reintegration (DDR) effort. Drawing on the author's field research and experience working on literacy programming for youth and adults in Afghanistan, this article investigates how the unfulfilled aspirations and needs of a "lost generation" of young Afghans have been addressed within DDR processes. It argues that the adoption of a more dialectic approach to the educational programming provided through DDR–one… [Direct]

Sayers, S. L. (2011). Family Reintegration Difficulties and Couples Therapy for Military Veterans and Their Spouses. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, v18 n1 p108-119 Feb. There is compelling evidence that mental health problems complicate the process of family reintegration of military service members after a wartime deployment. Couples in which one spouse has recently returned from military deployment in Iraq or Afghanistan and are experiencing marital problems can present a significant treatment challenge. There is little empirical evidence regarding effective treatments for this population, and these couples tend to exhibit a wide range of difficulties, including the following: conflicts about reintegration, problems with posttraumatic stress disorder and/or depression, chronic injury, infidelity, and personal and social challenges associated with rejoining civilian life. Behavioral couples therapy provides a useful framework for intervention with these couples, combined with individual treatment and education about the impact of combat deployment. This paper discusses considerations for integrating these treatment approaches and future clinical… [Direct]

(2011). Problems Related to Alcohol, Other Drugs, and Violence among Military Students. Prevention Update. Higher Education Center for Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Violence Prevention According to a Research Update from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan \continue to strain military personnel, returning veterans, and their families. Some have experienced long and multiple deployments, combat exposure, and physical injuries, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI)… Although less common, substance abuse is also a key concern. While the 2008 Department of Defense Health Behavior Survey reveals general reductions over time in tobacco use and illicit drug use, it reported increases in other areas, such as prescription drug abuse and heavy alcohol use. In fact, prescription drug abuse doubled among U.S. military personnel from 2002 to 2005 and almost tripled between 2005 and 2008. This paper presents data on problems related to alcohol, other drugs, and violence among military students…. [PDF]

Elbih, Randa (2012). Debates in the Literature on Islamic Schools. Educational Studies: Journal of the American Educational Studies Association, v48 n2 p156-173. Contemporary global events, such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the unresolved conflict in the Middle East, and the pessimistic relationships with Muslim countries, pose challenges for Muslims living in the United States in all walks of life. In addition, Muslims encounter daily struggles to live within a society that follows considerably dissimilar beliefs, norms, and way of life. Therefore, Islamic schools and other organizations emerged in response to those challenges. There are several debates in the literature about Islamic schools; among those debates is whether Islamic schools segregate Muslim students, inspire religious intolerance, and rejection of social pluralism's ideals. In addition, there are debates of whether Islamic schools are capable of developing a strong Muslim identity skilled to tackle future challenges. Discussing these debates is considered the first step to critically tackling the challenges meeting Islamic schools, their relevance, and their… [Direct]

Lopez, Eddie S. (2013). The Effectiveness of University Programs, Services, and Practices in Retaining Student Veterans Transitioning to Higher Education: Voices of Student Veterans–A Case Study Analysis Approach at Two Universities. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, California State University, Los Angeles. With an active war ongoing for nearly thirteen years, the nation has been experiencing hundreds of thousands of returning solders as a result of the military drawdown of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. The intent of this research study was to understand the effectiveness of university programs, services, and practices in retaining student veterans transitioning to higher education. This qualitative case study analysis approach was informed by persistence theories in order to analyze and understand the challenges, obstacles, and experiences of student veterans attending two universities and to hear the persistence stories or voices of student veterans as they transition to institutions of higher education. This study interviewed 20 presumptively selected participants who were student veterans enrolled at two universities in California. Data collection methods for this study included face-to-face individual interviews, focus group discussions, field notes, and text-based documents…. [Direct]

Furtek, Diane (2012). Developing a New Transition Course for Military Service Members in Higher Education. College and University, v87 n4 p33-36 Spr. As a result of President Obama's drawdown of military troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, many service members will be returning to the United States. With service members returning to civilian life and to campuses, the relevance to a changing education environment is enormous both for this population and for today's higher education institutions. Some institutions have determined that a transition course is needed to support service members during their anticipated influx into higher education. A transition course provides opportunity for military service members to develop the skills required for success in the classroom, to include meeting academic responsibilities and coping with the transition from military to college life. A transition course using the technological process is one recommendation for meeting the need to help service members succeed academically and become fully acclimated to the campus environment. In developing a new transition course, administrators and teachers… [Direct]

Cole-Morton, Gladys S. (2013). Experiences and Expectations of an African American Male Veteran Student in Higher Education. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, East Tennessee State University. Since the Post-9/11 GI Bill an increasing number of veterans and military students are seeking to complete degrees online and through enrollment at campuses across the nation (Brown 2011). The increased number of military students in postsecondary education settings presents challenges and opportunities for both the veteran student and institution of higher education. Military students also referred to as veteran students are choosing to pursue postsecondary education for occupational and employment opportunities, personal growth and enrichment, and to use their Post-9/11 GI education benefits. It is expected that military personnel with past military service in Afghanistan and Iraq will become a growing student population enrolled in U.S. postsecondary education. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the experiences and expectations of an African American male veteran student at an institution of higher education. This qualitative research study included an in-depth interview… [Direct]

Phillips, David (2012). Aspects of Education for Democratic Citizenship in Post-War Germany. Oxford Review of Education, v38 n5 p567-581. Interest in post-crisis education and concomitantly in education for democracy and citizenship, manifest in a large number of recent initiatives and publications, provides an opportunity to revisit the period of occupation in Germany after the Second World War, when there was concern–at least in the Western Zones–to create an awareness of the citizen's duty to participate in the democratic processes on which a future state could be built and to oversee educational development in such a way as to encourage those processes. That interest has been reinforced through consideration of the consequences of military intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq. The necessity to plan for what needed to be done–in education as well as in other fields–in the post-conflict conditions in those countries was clearly not given the attention it deserved by the eventual victors, and any lessons of history, it seems, were barely considered. Occupied Germany provides an instructive example. This paper… [Direct]

Husting, Sheila; Intili, Jo Ann; Kissam, Edward (2008). Teacher Training in Afghanistan: Intersections of Need and Reality. Convergence, v41 n2-3 p27-40. As post-Taliban Afghanistan moves toward the establishment of a viable educational system, key stakeholders and donors are faced with the formidable challenge of how to most rapidly implement teacher training within an environment of diverse, changing, and largely unassessed training needs. The current article explores the dilemmas inherent in establishing a national teacher training programme which precedes comprehensive monitoring, evaluation, and needs assessment, as well as the pressing arguments in favour of such action. Utilising data from a pilot teacher training programme which took place in two provinces of northern Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007, this article examines the direct responses of local teachers to the training programme; describes the problematic gap which they described between theoretical objectives and practical application; and discusses the vital relevance of creating a training programme which sufficiently bridges this educational gap. (Contains 1 note.)…

Labi, Aisha (2008). At American U. of Afghanistan, Turmoil at the Top. Chronicle of Higher Education, v55 n14 pA23 Nov. Billed as the country's first independent university, the American University of Afghanistan was established in 2004 with financial support from the highest levels of the American and Afghan governments. But its development has been rockier than anticipated, even taking into account Afghanistan's growing instability. A number of current and former faculty members say that a good share of the blame goes to the university's recently departed president, Thomas M. Stauffer, a former head of two U.S. universities, who stepped down in September without offering any explanations about why he was leaving after less than two years. Critics describe Stauffer as an absent administrator, detached from the realities on the ground and uninterested in soliciting advice from the staff. Stauffer's controversial leadership and abrupt departure raise questions about how he was hired and what potential may have been squandered during a critical time in the university's growth…. [Direct]

Acker, Michelle L.; DeVoe, Ellen R.; Paris, Ruth; Ross, Abigail M. (2011). When Military Parents Come Home: Building \Strong Families Strong Forces,\ a Home-Based Intervention for Military Families with Very Young Children. Zero to Three (J), v32 n2 p36-42 Nov. The long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have presented unique challenges to military-connected families with very young children, yet few evidence-based services are available to support these families through deployment and reintegration. Although many military families have shown remarkable resilience throughout the intense demands of the wars, very young children (from birth through 5 years old) and service member parents' relationships with these children are particularly vulnerable in the face of deployment. Interventions targeted to the post-deployment period can assist families in managing the challenges of reintegration for parents and young children. The authors describe the process of developing and testing a culturally responsive home-based reintegration program for service members, their partners, and their very young children. Composite case examples are presented to illustrate the major concerns of military families and to highlight program elements aimed at enhancing… [Direct]

Elias, Eileen; Scherer, Marcia J.; Trudel, Tina M. (2011). TBI-ROC Part One: Understanding Traumatic Brain Injury–An Introduction. Exceptional Parent, v41 n7 p33-37 Jul. This article is the first of a multi-part series on traumatic brain injury (TBI). Historically, TBI has received very limited national public policy attention and support. However since it has become the signature injury of the military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, TBI has gained the attention of elected officials, military leaders, policymakers, and the public. This series is being published by the Traumatic Brain Injury-Resource Optimization Center (TBI-ROC) and its Advisory Group, which is facilitated by JBS International, Inc. The TBI-ROC aims to be a recognized source and leader for advancing national attention to the myriad of policy, research, practice, and service needs supporting both civilian and military individuals who incur TBI and their families. In this article, the authors identify the causes of TBI and describe its symptoms, which fall into three broad areas–(1) physical; (2) cognitive; and (3) psychosocial or behavioral challenges…. [Direct]

Simmons, Jacqueline Ann; Woo, Yen Yen Joyceln (2008). Paved with Good Intentions: Images of Textbook Development in Afghanistan. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, v28 n3 p291-304 Sep. In 2002, the Afghanistan Ministry of Education adopted a new National Curriculum Framework, created to promote child-centred teaching and learning strategies for the next generation of Afghan schools. As is often the case in post-conflict education development, a cadre of international curriculum consultants was hired to facilitate the production of syllabi and new textbooks. However, much of the available literature about Afghanistan's current wave of curriculum reform fails to present a critical view of the day-to-day contexts and interactions between international consultants and local textbook writers, which may provide a deep understanding of capacity development in this post-conflict setting. This paper uses Paulo Freire's pedagogical strategy of focusing critically on concrete images of life to understand the attendant ambiguities, dilemmas, and limitations of what occurs in international education development. This account is drawn from the authors' experiences as curriculum… [Direct]

Aryan, Bushra (2010). From Kabul to the Academy: Narratives of Afghan Women's Journeys to and through U.S. Doctoral Programs. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Denver. This study explored the experiences of seven Afghan women pursuing doctoral degrees in a variety of disciplines and programs across the United States. The guiding question for this study was: What factors influence Afghan women's journeys to and experiences in doctoral programs? In an attempt to understand Afghan women doctoral students, I provided a historical background of Afghanistan and education in Afghanistan followed by a literature review on South Asian women, the broader category for Afghan women. Within this literature review I explored the following components: culture, gender, immigration, experiences in postsecondary education; all factors that may be influential in the journey of South Asian women in U.S. postsecondary education. Finally, a critical race feminism theoretical framework was utilized to fuse the factors affecting South Asian women in higher education and provide a theoretical guide for further research specifically investigating Afghan women in doctoral… [Direct]

Kirk, Jackie; Winthrop, Rebecca (2008). Home-Based School Teachers in Afghanistan: Teaching for Tarbia and Student Well-Being. Teaching and Teacher Education: An International Journal of Research and Studies, v24 n4 p876-888 May. Teachers in community-based or home-based schools in Afghanistan play a critical role in extending access to education to children who are unable to access the government schools, especially girls. These teachers–men and women–are nominated by the community to teach, without necessarily having teaching experience or even completing their own education. Whilst they may feel under-confident about their teaching skills and need ongoing professional development and support, these teachers nonetheless have a strong sense of their roles in the community, especially with respect to guiding children in their faith and promoting children's "tarbia" (moral and ethical character) and well-being. This paper draws on qualitative data collected though the Healing Classrooms Initiative of the International Rescue Committee (IRC). Using interview and questionnaire responses it presents home-based school teachers' experiences and beliefs about education and the role of the teacher, and… [Direct]

Bagian, James P.; Huber, Samuel J.; Mills, Peter D.; Watts, Bradley Vince (2011). Systemic Vulnerabilities to Suicide among Veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan Conflicts: Review of Case Reports from a National Veterans Affairs Database. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, v41 n1 p21-32 Feb. While suicide among recently returned veterans is of great concern, it is a relatively rare occurrence within individual hospitals and clinics. Root cause analysis (RCA) generates a detailed case report that can be used to identify system-based vulnerabilities following an adverse event. Review of a national database of RCA reports may identify common vulnerabilities and assist in the development of more robust prevention strategies. Our objective was to identify and compare common themes among reports of suicide among veterans of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF) in the Veterans Affairs system. Common themes among root causes of suicide as identified in RCA reports were collected and compared as the primary outcome–systematic vulnerabilities. Actions recommended within the reports were coded as the secondary outcome–prevention strategies. Fifty-one RCA reports of OIF/OEF suicides were identified by our search. Coding generated 16 common categories among 132… [Direct]

Engel, Rozlyn C.; Gallagher, Luke B.; Lyle, David S. (2010). Military Deployments and Children's Academic Achievement: Evidence from Department of Defense Education Activity Schools. Economics of Education Review, v29 n1 p73-82 Feb. Household disruptions–such as divorce, relocation, and parental absence–have long concerned researchers interested in the educational attainment of children. Here, we consider a plausible source of exogenous variation in work-related parental absences–military deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan in the 2002-2005 period. Combining the standardized test scores of children enrolled in Defense Department schools with their military parent's personnel data, we evaluate the effect of a soldier's deployment on the academic achievement of his or her children. We find that deployments have modest adverse effects in most academic subjects, with lengthy deployments and deployments during the month of testing associated with the largest detrimental effects. Evidence also suggests that these adverse effects may persist for several years. (Contains 5 tables.)… [Direct]

Webb, Allen (2009). Literature from the Modern Middle East: Making a Living Connection. English Journal, v98 n3 p80-88 Jan. While the United States is deeply involved in the Middle East, most Americans, including students, lack knowledge about the region. Yet from Afghanistan to Palestine, from Morocco to Iraq, there is a vibrant and exciting literature by living authors that can bring the diverse experiences and perspectives of this vital part of the world to classes. In this article, the author offers resources, ideas, and strategies that other English teachers can use to integrate Middle Eastern literature into their classes. (Contains 2 notes.)… [Direct]

Luxenberg, Alan (2011). Notes on Teaching 9/11. Footnotes. Volume 16, Number 09. Foreign Policy Research Institute As today's high school students ranged in age from four to eight that fateful Tuesday morning, for many of them 9/11 is ancient history even though they live with the consequences of 9/11–namely, two wars (Afghanistan, Iraq), at least two low-level wars using special forces or drones (Yemen, Somalia), smaller-scale terrorist incidents (Fort Hood), thwarted or failed plots (the Times Square Bomber, the Underwear Bomber), and very intrusive procedures at the airport. So the first thing educators have to do is explain what exactly happened that day, then turn to why it happened, what their response was, and finally what are the consequences for today–for them. The author finds the best way to get started on this is to ask them what they already know; whether it is knowledge based on their own vague recollections or stories they've been told by families and friends, or something they've been taught in school. This paper offers some notes about \Teaching 9/11\ based on the author's own… [PDF]

Smith, J. Elspeth S. (2011). Answer This Simple Question. Writing Instructor, Dec. In this essay, the author discusses her journey from her first year of the PhD program at USC, and the work she is doing now for a company that builds infrastructure in Afghanistan. She explores the ways in which studies for her 1985 PhD in Rhetoric, Linguistics and Literature did and did not prepare her for the work she does now. Her memoir shares her educational and pedagogical journey by connecting the dots between important places along her way, from a whites-only first-grade classroom in the rural south to a Southern women's college; from her first experience teaching composition as an MA English graduate teaching assistant to her Ph.D. in Rhetoric Linguistics and Literature at the University of Southern California, where she was among the five founding editors of "The Writing Instructor"; from her grant-funded post-doctoral literacy work in Southern schools to her work as a teacher of ESL to national women in newly opened public universities in the Middle East…. [PDF]

Pintak, Lawrence (2012). Journalism Education in the Pakistani Borderlands. Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. Students brave roadside bombs and Taliban threats while on class assignments. Professors are kidnapped and killed. Campus radio stations get regular visits from military intelligence. Welcome to journalism education in Pakistan's tribal areas. The region is off-limits to most outsiders, so students find themselves reporting for Pakistani and Western news organizations even before they graduate. But some learn the hardest lessons of journalism early. Two died when their vehicle hit a land mine while on assignment for a regional radio station; another was killed in a Peshawar bomb blast. The programs at Gomal University, Hazara University, Kohat University of Science & Technology, and the University of Peshawar are receiving assistance from international donors. The goal is to bolster journalism education and, through campus radio stations at the universities, help bridge the sectarian divide in the region and provide an alternative to the so-called Mullah Radio stations… [Direct]

Georgescu, Dakmara (2007). Primary and Secondary Curriculum Development in Afghanistan. Prospects: Quarterly Review of Comparative Education, v37 n4 p427-448 Dec. The article analyzes curriculum processes and products pertaining to the overall reconstruction of Afghanistan's education system after 2002. With the support of several international agencies, including UNESCO's International Bureau of Education (IBE), as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Afghanistan's Ministry of Education succeeded in making important progress with regard to quality education, curriculum planning and design. Based on a careful analysis of needs, new curriculum frameworks for primary and secondary education were developed over the period 2002-2006, and syllabuses and textbooks for primary and secondary education will be developed and disseminated in schools across the country. However, many challenges remain to be tackled, especially with regard to the dissemination of a new curriculum culture and the writing, printing and distribution of quality syllabuses and textbooks at all education levels. The article highlights both the achievements and the… [Direct]

Cosgrove, Lisa; Pearrow, Melissa (2009). The Aftermath of Combat-Related PTSD: Toward an Understanding of Transgenerational Trauma. Communication Disorders Quarterly, v30 n2 p77-82. The number of military personnel who are involved in combat situations continues to increase. As a result, researchers have identified risk factors associated with the development of combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The authors of this article review some of the characteristics of military personnel involved in these conflicts, factors unique to the current military actions, and symptom presentation and prevalence rates of PTSD among those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. They discuss mechanisms for the transgenerational transmission of trauma symptoms and identify strategies for interventions…. [Direct]

Chartrand, Molinda M.; Osofsky, Joy D. (2013). Military Children from Birth to Five Years. Future of Children, v23 n2 p61-77 Fall. Because most research on military families has focused on children who are old enough to go to school, we know the least about the youngest and perhaps most vulnerable children in these families. Some of what we do know, however, is worrisome–for example, multiple deployments, which many families have experienced during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, may increase the risk that young children will be maltreated. Where the research on young military children is thin, Joy Osofsky and Lieutenant Colonel Molinda Chartrand extrapolate from theories and research in other contexts–especially attachment theory and research on families who have experienced disasters. They describe the circumstances that are most likely to put young children in military families at risk, and they point to ways that families, communities, the military, and policymakers can help these children overcome such risks and thrive. They also review a number of promising programs to build resilience in young… [PDF]

Glenn, David (2008). Peacekeeper and Scholar Is Killed in War Zone. Chronicle of Higher Education, v54 n43 pA1 Jul. In the summer of 2003, the "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" published an essay warning that the United States was on the verge of losing the peace. Dozens of similar arguments appeared that year, but this one, written by Michael V. Bhatia, a 26-year-old graduate student, was as devastating as any of them. In 2007, to the surprise of some of his friends, Mr. Bhatia joined one of the U.S. military's most visible efforts to fix its mistakes. In October he flew to Afghanistan to join the Human Terrain System, a controversial program that places social scientists in Army brigades. This article provides a profile of Michael V. Bhatia, a peacekeeper and scholar who was killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan while participating in the Human Terrain program. Friends and colleagues are still trying to come to terms with Mr. Bhatia's death. At the age of 30, he had already published one book and completed work on another. He had several other projects in the works, and he… [Direct]

Hager, Emily (2009). War News Radio: Conflict Education through Student Journalism. Harvard Educational Review, v79 n1 p94-103 Spr. In this essay Emily Hager presents an example of conflict education through student journalism. War News Radio is a student-organized and student-produced program developed at Swarthmore College in which participants produce for a global audience nonpartisan weekly radio shows and podcasts focused on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hager shares her experiences of reporting for and producing War News Radio and explains how these experiences have helped her learn skills, attain information, and develop responsibility while growing in her understanding of the complexity of and humanity behind armed conflict…. [Direct]

Jones, Adele M. E. (2007). Muslim and Western Influences on School Curriculum in Post-War Afghanistan. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, v27 n1 p27-40 Mar. In Afghanistan, education has largely been destroyed, partly in the name of Islam, by the wars fought on its behalf, or by different ethnic groups vying for control of this Islamic country. Similarly, curriculum has been used to promote political and/or religious viewpoints and to strengthen positions of power. War dominated the language of curriculum to such an extent that it became part of the discourse on Islam and education in Afghanistan. In what might be called post-conflict Afghanistan, the new Life Skills curriculum for primary schools promotes ideals of peace and social justice that are inherent in Islam, while being influenced by Western concepts of pluralism and civil society. This paper considers past sociopolitical influences on language and content of textbooks, and examines Islamic and civil society principles espoused in the new curriculum framework as reflected in the Life Skills curriculum. Finally, it considers the convergence of universal themes and Islamic… [Direct]

Floyd, Latosha; Phillips, Deborah A. (2013). Child Care and Other Support Programs. Future of Children, v23 n2 p79-97 Fall. The U.S. military has come to realize that providing reliable, high-quality child care for service members' children is a key component of combat readiness. As a result, the Department of Defense (DoD) has invested heavily in child care. The DoD now runs what is by far the nation's largest employer-sponsored child-care system, a sprawling network with nearly 23,000 workers that directly serves or subsidizes care for 200,000 children every day. Child-care options available to civilians typically pale in comparison, and the military's system, embedded in a broader web of family support services, is widely considered to be a model for the nation. The military's child-care success rests on four pillars, write Major Latosha Floyd and Deborah A. Phillips. The first is certification by the military itself, including unannounced inspections to check on safety, sanitation, and general compliance with DoD rules. The second is accreditation by nationally recognized agencies, such as the… [PDF]

Williamson, Kevin D. (2012). The New Leader of the Free World. Academic Questions, v25 n1 p105-113 Mar. On January 20, 2009, Dr. Manmohan Singh, the prime minister of India, became the leader of the free world. The free world's attention was focused elsewhere: Senator Barack Obama, who on that day became President Barack Obama, quietly abdicated the role now taken up by Dr. Singh, having run an election campaign premised upon the ever-present but never-quite-articulated proposal that the interests of the United States would be best served by such an abdication. Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, global jihad, global financial crisis, Europe declining, China rising: It was all too much for a country whose aging population was beginning to press heavily upon its finances and institutions, public and private, a situation attested to by the fact that Bill Clinton, once synonymous with youthful vigor (with an excess of youthful vigor) was by that time eligible to begin collecting Social Security benefits. India–poor, illiterate, violent, corrupt, backward, unstable, within living memory the… [Direct]

Novelli, Mario (2010). The New Geopolitics of Educational Aid: From Cold Wars to Holy Wars?. International Journal of Educational Development, v30 n5 p453-459 Sep. The paper explores shifts in the nature, volume, trajectory and content of aid to education in the wake of post-9/11 Western preoccupations with the rise of Islamic radicalism. The paper develops a framework for understanding the dynamics of how educational aid appears to be becoming increasingly politicized in strategic conflict and post-conflict countries. The approach links up with broader debates within the field of development studies on the "militarization of development" while attempting to shed light on the specificity of how "educational aid" becomes caught up in these processes. The paper argues that particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan educational aid is becoming submerged under the counterinsurgency strategy of the Western occupying forces with detrimental effects not only for long-term development progress but also for the personal security of development workers. (Contains 2 figures.)… [Direct]

Adair, Kathryn C.; Fredman, Steffany J.; Monson, Candice M. (2011). Implementing Cognitive-Behavioral Conjoint Therapy for PTSD with the Newest Generation of Veterans and Their Partners. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, v18 n1 p120-130 Feb. As the newest generation of veterans returns home from the fronts in Afghanistan and Iraq, increased attention is being paid to their postdeployment mental health adjustment as well as the interpersonal sequelae of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health conditions. The Department of Defense has begun to invest in relationship-enhancement programs to ease the burden on both service members and their families across the deployment cycle. However, when there is the presence of PTSD, a disorder-specific conjoint treatment may be needed to address both PTSD and associated relationship difficulties. Cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy (CBCT) for PTSD is a disorder-specific, manualized conjoint therapy designed to simultaneously improve PTSD symptoms and intimate relationship functioning. This article reviews knowledge on the association between PTSD and relationship problems in recently returned veterans and provides an overview of CBCT for PTSD. We then present a… [Direct]

Keane, Terence M. (2011). Responding to the Psychological Needs of OEF-OIF Military: A Commentary on Progress in Treatment Development. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, v18 n1 p144-148 Feb. America's involvement in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (i.e., OEF-OIF) is entering its 9th year with casualties exceeding 5,000 American deaths and many times that number with serious physical injuries. Epidemiological surveys and mental health screening concurrent with service and at the point of discharge provide us with important information on the psychological status of those directly involved in the military action. Support to mental health professionals coming primarily from the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the National Institutes of Health provided an important catalyst in the development of psychological treatments aimed specifically at the presenting problems of service men and women and their families. This special series highlights the impressive growth in treatments developed for OEF-OIF military and demonstrates the wide-ranging nature of the treatments that are now available for testing and use in assisting those most affected by… [Direct]

Alvi-Aziz, Hayat (2008). A Progress Report on Women's Education in Post-Taliban Afghanistan. International Journal of Lifelong Education, v27 n2 p169-178 Mar. This article examines the relative progress and major setbacks in the education of Afghan women from the end of the Taliban regime until the present, focusing on government and NGO reconstruction efforts. It is argued that these projects promote the agendas of the state and of NGOs over the needs of women and girls. The adversities arising from recent waves of violence affect the female population most acutely. Just when the education sector was making tentative progress, with some girls' schools being built and operating, the current security realities pose major hurdles to post-conflict reconstruction and rebuilding. This is the environment in which Afghan women continue to struggle against the misogynist and fanatically militant elements that have threatened any areas of progress within the rebuilding of the country. As such, security and a reorientation of state and NGO policies are essential preconditions for women's educational attainment…. [Direct]

van Tubergen, Frank (2010). Determinants of Second Language Proficiency among Refugees in the Netherlands. Social Forces, v89 n2 p515-534 Dec. Little is known about the language acquisition of refugees in Western countries. This study examines how pre- and post-migration characteristics of refugees are related to their second language proficiency. Data are from a survey of 3,500 refugees, who were born in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, former Yugoslavia and Somalia, and who resided in the Netherlands. The analysis shows that speaking and reading skills are better among refugees who received more pre-migration schooling, who migrated from a major city, and who arrived in the host country at a younger age. Post-migration characteristics are also important. Language skills are better among refugees who only lived in a refugee reception center for a short while, who completed an integration course, who received post-migration education, who intend to stay in the host country, and who have fewer health problems. (Contains 4 notes and 3 tables.)… [Direct]

Carr, Coeli (2010). Soldiering on. Community College Journal, v81 n1 p28-32 Aug-Sep. As community colleges welcome an influx of veterans returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, administrators must focus on helping these soldiers–many who are pursuing higher education for the first time–obtain the knowledge and skills necessary to thrive in a changing economy. The process starts the moment these men and women set foot on campus. Academic advisers and counselors are often the first to greet these students. It's their job to help returning soldiers understand their educational entitlements under the Post-9/11 GI Bill. That includes knowing how to help veterans translate professional experience into experiential college credit and taking advantage of the funding available to them. It also means providing access to support systems to deal with the lingering emotional and psychological effects of war. This article discusses how community colleges and universities' administrative commitment and targeted programs help returning veterans succeed in their educational… [Direct]

Antonides, Bradley J.; Danish, Steven J. (2009). What Counseling Psychologists Can Do to Help Returning Veterans. Counseling Psychologist, v37 n8 p1076-1089. The purpose of this article is to describe the needs of service members and their families who have fought or are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and who have sustained psychological and/or physical injuries and how counseling psychologists can help. The focus is twofold: (a) to help the reader better understand those who have served and how what counseling psychologists have to offer may be especially unique and valuable and (b) to describe several programs consistent with the traditions of counseling psychology that those at the Life Skills Center have developed. One program, F.R.E.E. 4 Vets, will be described in some detail. (Contains 2 notes.)… [Direct]

Catani, Claudia; Neuner, Frank; Schauer, Elisabeth (2008). Beyond Individual War Trauma: Domestic Violence against Children in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, v34 n2 p165-176 Apr. To date, research on the psychosocial consequences of mass trauma resulting from war and organized violence on children has primarily focused on the individual as the unit of treatment and analysis with particular focus on mental disorders caused by traumatic stress. This body of research has stimulated the development of promising individual-level treatment approaches for addressing psychological trauma. In contrast, there is virtually no literature addressing the effects of mass trauma on the family and community systems. Research conducted in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, two long-standing war-torn societies, found that in addition to multiple exposure to war or disaster-related traumatic events children also indicated high levels of exposure to family violence. These findings point to the need for conjoint family- and community-based programs of prevention and intervention that are specifically tailored for the context of the affected society. In particular, programs should take… [Direct]

Miller, Jenny; Premier, Jessica Aimee (2010). Preparing Pre-Service Teachers for Multicultural Classrooms. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, v35 n2 p35-48 Mar. Cultural diversity is evident throughout schools in Victoria, Australia. Many students are new arrivals from war-torn countries including Sudan, Afghanistan and Iraq. To what extent do teacher training courses in Victoria prepare pre-service teachers to cater for the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) students? This paper reports findings from a qualitative study on pre-service preparation for teaching CALD students in mainstream secondary schools. It investigated ways in which CALD student needs are addressed in secondary teaching courses in Victoria. Data included course outlines, questionnaires completed by forty-one final year pre-service teachers, and interviews with four final year pre-service teachers. Findings revealed that the majority of pre-service secondary teachers feel that their teacher education courses lack a focus on cultural and linguistic diversity in schools. Course content analysis supports this. Courses need to be updated to address the needs… [PDF]

Alvarez, Helen; Fear, Nicola T.; Greenberg, Neil; Hull, Lisa; Jones, Norman; Mulligan, Kathleen; Naumann, Ulrike; Wessely, Simon (2012). Postdeployment Battlemind Training for the U.K. Armed Forces: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, v80 n3 p331-341 Jun. Objective: Combat exposure can increase the risk of subsequent psychological ill-health in armed forces (AF) personnel. A U.S. postdeployment psycho-educational intervention, Battlemind, showed a beneficial effect on mental health in U.S. military personnel exposed to high combat levels. We evaluated the effectiveness of an anglicized version of postdeployment Battlemind. Method: Battlemind was adapted for the United Kingdom. The main amendments were to sections about carrying weapons, driving, and alcohol misuse. The anglicized Battlemind was compared with the U.K. standard postdeployment brief in a cluster randomized controlled trial. At baseline, 2,443 U.K. AF personnel returning from Afghanistan via Cyprus completed questionnaires about their combat experiences and mental health. Of these, 1,616 (66%) completed 6-month follow-up questionnaires. We used the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL-C) to measure probable posttraumatic stress disorder and the General Health… [Direct]