Education & Pedagogy

The study reported on here was intended to reveal the existence and direction of education democracy in Indonesia with regard to the regulations, the implementation models, problems, and future prospects. The data were obtained from various written materials of official government policy records, namely, laws, ministerial regulations, curriculum implementation guidebooks, discourses and policy criticisms on the implementation of education democracy in Indonesia published in mass media, articles and research journals. The data were analysed using philosophical-dialogical analysis. The findings indicate that in terms of practice, the regulations related to education democracy in the form of education autonomy still could not be implemented properly because of several constraints such as a lack of teachers' professionalism, poor and less effective management of education and learning systems which are not in line with the administrative prerequisites and principles and spirit of education autonomy. Moreover, through its policies, the government still controlled education nationally resulting in autonomy that should provide maximum freedom to the community to manage education is being eroded, which limits the autonomy of education.

This article provides information and resources to help special education teacher educators improve preservice teachers' competence for working with disabled students and addressing ableism in their classrooms, by incorporating young adult (YA) literature into special education teacher preparation experiences. Embedding YA literature with representations of disability can address ableism in education by helping preservice special education teachers to conceptualize disabled adolescents differently. Current approaches to teacher education may reinforce dysconscious ableism (Broderick & Lalvani, 2017) and undergird educational segregation on the basis of disability. After reviewing current literature on addressing ableism during teacher preparation and using YA literature in teacher education, this article models how special education teacher educators can critically examine YA texts by providing criteria for evaluating representations of disability and a unit plan with three lessons for use in an introductory special education course. A bibliography of young adult books featuring characters with disabilities is also provided.

In order to effectively engage and be an advocate during the special education process, parents must be equipped with knowledge of the special education process as well as their rights. This article reports the results of a synthesis of published studies that explored, reported, or estimated parents' knowledge and understanding of the special education process and their rights. Findings from 15 studies revealed that the study types could be divided into the readability of special education documents or parents' reported knowledge and understanding. The readability studies revealed that essential special education documents are written at a level that could be challenging for many parents to comprehend. The studies examining parents' perception of their knowledge showed that the majority of parents reported being knowledgeable about their rights and the special education process. However, some discrepancies emerged when these perceptions were compared with other assessable data. The documents provided by schools are often too complicated for many parents to understand, and changes should be made to resolve this issue.

This study addressed the autism awareness of College of Education students in two universities in Turkey. The main purpose of this research study was to conduct a needs assessment to learn more about Turkey's College of Education students' knowledge and awareness of autism. The Autism Awareness of College of Education Students in Turkey questionnaire was used to collect the data. The survey statements were designed to answer the research questions and provide considerable information on College of Education students' awareness and attitudes about autism. Participants for this study were randomly selected from among the students in the College of Education at two different universities in Turkey: Gazi University, Ankara, and Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon. The data from the questionnaire were analyzed with descriptive statistics to understand attitudes, beliefs, and thoughts of College of Education students in Turkey. Results generally demonstrated that College of Education students' knowledge of autism was limited; however, they realized they need more classes and preparation in order to effectively work with children with autism.

The authors of this article discuss the discriminatory practices through language in both multicultural and bilingual education. Bilingual education promotes academic instruction in the native language, to varying degrees, while multicultural education stresses the need to valorize and appreciate cultural differences as a process during which linguistic minority students come to voice. However, in multicultural education, the underlying assumption is that coming to voice takes place in English only. Conversely, while bilingual education offers some degree of native language use, standard native languages are preferred while students' vernaculars are denigrated and ignored, rendering bilingual education colonial-like in nature. Critical and anti-colonial literature, educational research, and current events are used to construct and support the authors' basic argument that, in order for education to truly be liberatory, it must be respectfully communicated in the vernacular of the students themselves, particularly when these students come from subordinated populations.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the extent to which quality physical education is currently being taught in Atlantic Canada. We used survey methods to generate descriptive data indicating: (a) the backgrounds of those who teach physical education and (b) what is being taught in physical education. Our findings suggest physical education is taught by a group of mostly-white teachers with varying qualifications, interests, and experiences in teaching the subject. Further, sport experiences tend to dominate the subject matter that students engage with, at the expense of dance and gymnastics. Although some physical education programs could arguably be classified as being of a sound quality according to the national subject association, we contend that more needs to be done to present the subject as a diverse enterprise, both in terms of who teaches and what is taught in physical education.

In terms of the number of students served and the overall quality of special education services provided, it is clear that special education has, from its early beginnings in the late seventeenth century, advanced at various rates in the different countries of the world. Data from the United States Department of Education (2007) indicates that 12% of the school age population (6-17 year olds) in the nation are children with disabilities in special education. Kenya's population of students with disabilities in the schools now stands a little over 221,995 (Ministry of Education, 2008) in a country where 25% of the estimated 3.2 million people with disabilities are school age children. This paper provides a comparative overview of the role of government policy in the progress of special education in both the United States of America and in Kenya with the aim of emphasizing the role of comprehensive policy, follow-through, oversight, and accountability to achieve targeted results in the field of special education in Kenya.

This research examines how the conservative movement has used both conservative think tanks and the media to gain entry into the field of education policy. The study examines how the conservative movement has attempted to use think tanks as legitimating organizations to enter the education policy arena by (a) measuring the historical growth in the number of conservative think tanks focused on education policy, (b) situating that growth within the larger context of efforts on the part of the conservative movement to bring free market ideas to education, and (c) analyzing and comparing conservative think tank media presence to that of centrist and progressive think tanks and university-based education-policy centers. Findings indicate that conservative think tanks produced the largest number of education media citations, followed by centrist think tanks. Liberal/progressive think tanks and university-based education-policy centers had little to no media presence.

Teacher education is widely recognized as a key strategy that is yet to be effectively utilized to embed environmental education and/or education for sustainability in schools. This paper reports on a research study that examined a range of pre-service teacher education initiatives, both in Australia and internationally, that were seeking to reorient teacher education towards environmental sustainability. This paper reports on six factors utilized across the initiatives that were critical to their success. These were (1) the nature and length of funding arrangements; (2) the range and quality of partnerships and networks; (3) the curriculum focus and the teaching and learning processes used; (4) the nature of, and incentives for, participant engagement; (5) the level at which a change was being sought; and (6) the use of evaluation as a tool for learning and ongoing improvement. This paper discusses why and how each of these six factors proved critical and explores the implications for initiatives seeking to reorient teacher education towards environmental sustainability.

Sales education is on the rise and for good reason. Statistics say that sales jobs will continue to grow at a rapid rate over the next few years. Many universities are preparing their students to start their careers in the professional selling function through the inclusion of sales education in their business curriculum. Yet little research exists that investigates the relationship between sales education and sales performance on graduating from a college of business. This article seeks to fill this void in the sale pedagogy literature by assessing, empirically, the relationship between what is learned in university sales programs and the actual selling behaviors of recent graduates from these programs (vs. students who did not receive formal sales education in their undergraduate programs). Likewise, the relationship between sales education and extrinsic and intrinsic performance indicators is investigated. The findings suggest that university sales education is a significant contributor to sales rep performance. However, the results on the behaviors taught and those used in day-to-day selling were mixed.

For this study, we interviewed eight Canadian and American continuing education deans and directors to explore how their personal accounts or "stories" about leadership high-light the dynamic nature of their leadership roles. This article focuses on the potential impact of these stories to better integrate and serve the adult learner within the higher education environment. Four major themes emerged from our analysis of the data: the non-traditional career trajectories of the leaders; marginalization and identity; leadership and innovation; and alignment and resistance. Our study suggests that continuing education leaders generally excel in sharing student-centered narratives and in pushing boundaries--in part to convince diverse stakeholders of the importance of the field of continuing education. Interviews with participants indicate that continuing education leaders think in interdisciplinary terms and weave a master narrative about life-long learning, combining several individual threads. Continuing education leaders strive to have conversations leading to collaborative partnerships and educational innovation.

Human activities such as inequitable and unsustainable production and consumption of earth resources cause "environmental problems." There is need to develop research and innovative techniques towards public understanding of these environmental problems and sustainable development. This paper contains the first edition of "Environmental and Sustainability Wall Chart with manual for explanation." This chart will be displayed at public places such as schools, libraries, hospitals, airports, rail stations and offices, as a holistic approach to environmental education. How to use this wall chart and manual for teaching environmental education at all levels (K-16 or P-16) is contained in the manual. All types of degradation threatening natural landscape, resources, existence and the ability of planet earth to serve future generations are contained in this manual. This wall chart and manual model presents environmental education as early education, accessible education, and education for all and for sustainable development.

Previous studies have found that student teachers value the practicum over other parts of physical education teacher education and that they experience a gap between theory and practice in their education. The purpose of this study was to provide more knowledge about the theory-practice relations in the context of the practicum of physical education teacher education. Data were generated through focus group interviews with physical education teacher education students ("n" = 37) from three different university colleges in Norway. The analysis and discussion of the data material were framed with the concept of practical synthesis (Grimen, 2008). The findings indicate that students experience theory and practice as fragmented, but that they have a differentiated understanding of what theory is. The analysis also suggests that, for the students, university tutors occupy a rather distant role in the practicum and that it is mostly left to the students to make connections between theory and practice.

Inclusion of students with disabilities has been practiced and advocated for more than two decades in the United States. This practice involves the placement of students with disabilities in a general education classroom for part or all of the day, and the primary instructor is a general education teacher in collaboration with a special education teacher. The authors reviewed coursework related to inclusion provided to pre-service elementary teachers during their teacher preparation programs. A total of 109 elementary education bachelor's degree programs were examined to determine the number of course hours devoted to inclusion, instruction, and management of students with disabilities. Results suggest that many teacher preparation programs provide instruction related to characteristics of disabilities and some form of classroom management; however, few programs offer courses specifically related to differentiation of instruction for students with disabilities or collaboration between general and special education teachers.

This publication contains a model which is a framework for evaluation of secondary vocational education effectiveness at the school, district, regional, and state level in Oregon. The model can also be used to obtain information on the characteristics of students enrolled in vocational education and of those who choose not to take vocational education. The document is organized in five sections, plus appendixes. Section 1, the introduction, contains a description of some major obstacles faced in evaluating vocational education; purposes for the model; discussion of the key concepts of vocational education, evaluation, and effectiveness; and assumptions underlying the model. Section 2 presents a conceptual framework for viewing vocational education evaluation, while section 3 discusses some of the key elements of evaluation already in place or available in some districts. Section 4 describes the evaluation instruments developed by this project; in Section 5, some ways that the model can be used are suggested. A brief description of the total project is found in appendix A, while the remainder of the appendixes consist of student survey instruments for vocational education evaluation. (KC)