Educational Psychology in a Changing World

This work discusses the development of children in Third World countries, looking in particular at the bearing the home background may have on the child's ability to integrate into a formal educational system which often owes much to its origins outside the indigenous country. In most cases the children have had rural backgrounds within an extended family system and an emotional and social environment which is still largely dominated by customary values. Attempting to put themselves in the place of children in Third World countries, the authors try to understand the demands of these societies and to describe some of the ways children adapt to and modify these demands. They also outline the psychological needs common to children all over the world. Since the publication of the first edition of this book, there has been an increase in interest in both educational and developmental psychology in Third World countries and, as a result, in this edition the authors report on various new studies conducted in Third World settings. This edition also has new sections which take account of recent advances in both child development and educational psychology.
The authors try to assess the extent to which a psychology developed within a Western setting is relevant to non-Western societies.