Education & Pedagogy

There has been an ongoing tendency, taking place in the Scandinavian countries from the late 1970s onwards, to expand the repertoires and resources of music as an educational matter, an academic field, as well as an area for support and funding from cultural authorities, organisations and institutions. Here, popular music, jazz, folk music and world music have gained considerable educational, curricular and institutional status. In this article, we will discuss how different ideas of what is considered to be genuine, original or authentic meet and break against each other in music education. Using a deconstructive methodology, our point of departure is three specific examples from earlier research in music education, on popular music and jazz education, respectively. We aim to deconstruct the different and partly contradictory concepts of authenticity that characterise the fields of music education we examine.

This paper outlines the complex contemporary milieu of Australian teacher education within which curriculum leaders responsible for designing teacher education programs must make their program design decisions. Particular attention is paid to the collision of vertical ("hierarchical" or "academic rationalist") and horizontal ("flat" or "student-centred") curriculum discourses as a program design problem that has emerged within the current context; how it is intensified by an unexpected alliance between progressivist and new managerial curriculum discourses; and how this problem may be amplified in graduate entry teacher education programs. This paper concludes with a provocation to see the curriculum tensions and conditions outlined as offering a challenging design problem for the current generation of curriculum leaders responsible for the assembly of teacher education programs.

This paper details a conceptual framework that situates curriculum design for information literacy and lifelong learning, through a cohesive developmental information literacy based model for learning, at the core of teacher education courses at UTAS. The implementation of the framework facilitates curriculum design that systematically, consistently and incrementally develops information literacy capabilities across entire teacher education course structures, thereby facilitating teacher education students to graduate as critical thinkers, problem solvers, informed decision makers and independent, self-directed lifelong learners. As education professionals, these graduates have the potential of developing these capabilities in the children they teach. The paper discusses the development of a conceptual framework and identifies areas for future research. (Contains 8 figures.)

In light of recent attempts to defend the role of the arts in education against the effects of policies based on utilitarian principles, this paper examines the arts educational writings and practical projects of Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) at Santiniketan in West Bengal, showing how they were motivated by a Romantic and Upanishadic philosophy centred on the anti-utilitarian concept of "surplus". While the development of Santiniketan's present arts and music departments away from Tagore's original ideals is acknowledged and traced, the paper argues that Tagore's aesthetic and educational philosophy still contains much to challenge us. In many ways, his thought can be seen as more compatible with progressive and liberal arts education than the ideology of high modernism that developed at the same period in Europe.

This research investigates the relationship between students' field of study and their preference for distance education. For this research, data were used from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study: Undergraduate, which uses a complex survey design to collect data from a nationally representative sample of undergraduate postsecondary students in the US. Results show that a student's field of study is significantly related to enrollment in distance education classes, enrollment in a distance education program, and satisfaction with distance education. Full-time employment, presence of dependents, and a mobility-limiting disability are also significantly associated with distance education preference. Enrollment trends show significant growth in distance education enrollment over 2000 to 2008 among students in all fields of study.

Parental grief reactions have typically been examined in situations where parents have a child diagnosed with a major medical or mental health condition. This study used the grief and loss model as conceptualized by Kubler-Ross (1969), Lamb (1988), and Kubler-Ross and Kessler (2005) as a foundation in examining parental reactions when a child has been referred for special education services. The model was expanded to include definitions of the concepts as applied to a special education setting and incorporated additional stages. Findings suggested almost half of the sample had reactions typically associated with the initial stage of grief, which encompasses feelings of denial, shock, and anger. Implications for school-based personnel are provided.

The authors first briefly describe how the concepts of talents and giftedness found in German-speaking Europe have evolved in the school system and in general over the past two centuries, and how the variety of gifted-education efforts found within and beyond schools as well as counseling efforts attest to these changes. They then discuss four hallmarks of gifted education in German-speaking Europe: (a) the ongoing development of gifted promotion methods through the integration of newer insights about learning and social aspects; (b) the development of new methods of gifted education, particularly in the areas of mentoring, self-regulated learning, and hybrid approaches; (c) a decidedly scientific approach, which is increasingly characterized by systemic perspectives; and (d) the results of research on the effectiveness of various approaches to gifted education in German-speaking Europe.

Traditional analytical philosophy of education assigns a peripheral place to physical education, partly because orthodox epistemology finds its cognitive claims implausible. An understandable but dubious response to this state of affairs is the attempt to relocate physical education within the academic curriculum, with its characteristic emphasis on theoretical knowledge and formal assessment. Dissatisfaction with this response suggests an analysis of physical activity in terms of practical knowledge or knowing how, but the results of this seem inconclusive. More recently, the development of neurocomputational and embodied-cognition approaches in cognitive science appears to offer alternative ways of understanding motor skill and physical activity, and thus of rescuing physical education from its marginal status. But these strategies are not unproblematic, particularly where questions of personal agency and motor control are concerned. Examination of these issues prompts a radical reconsideration of the traditional problem of physical education, and consequently of some familiar assumptions in the philosophy of education.

To gain a deeper understanding of mentor preparation, which is still an underdeveloped area, the current paper focuses on a formal mentor education programme offered to teachers in secondary school at a university in Norway. The research questions in this qualitative study examine why teachers participate in the programme, how they perceive the education and which parts of the programme they value. The underlying question is whether mentor education matters. The findings show that the mentor students in the programme moved from a practical towards a more conceptual understanding of mentoring. They developed "a mentor language, a mentor network and a mentor attitude". There is, however, a limited understanding of mentor education in schools, and being a mentor is not recognised as a profession.

This article examines a critical question for the special education community: What should be the current meaning of "free appropriate public education" (FAPE) in light of not only the Supreme Court's landmark "Rowley" decision in 1982 but also developments in the 30 years since then? After synthesizing what the "Rowley" Court, the scholar-commentators, and the post-"Rowley" lower courts have said, the author examines the latest answer from Congress via the 2004 Individuals With Disabilities Education Act amendments. Particular attention is paid to the provision concerning peer-reviewed research and the recent case law interpreting this provision. The author suggests that the time is ripe for the special education community to help Congress fashion an appropriately heightened substantive or at least procedural standard for FAPE.

This article explores the issues surrounding the establishment of an Africentric public school in Ontario. It provides a historical overview of the foundation of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the U.S. as well as the benefits they provide to Black students, communities and the labor force. It extrapolates the tropes guiding the principles of Africentric schools to explore other minority serving higher education institutions, focusing in particular on institutions for Indigenous students and students with disabilities. Although the current focus within the Toronto school board remains Africentric schooling, the factors which contributed to establishing the school can be easily applied to other underrepresented groups. This article concludes with a discussion of the implications for Canadian postsecondary education institutions.

The aim of this study was to determine physical education teachers' organizational commitment levels. The sample consisted of 204 physical education teachers working in the city center of Konya in the 2011 to 2012 academic year. The respondents were randomly selected in this research. Data collected for this research by using the Scale for Organizational Commitment was addressed in three different dimensions, including affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment, to determine physical education teachers' commitment levels. Furthermore, this study analyzed whether teachers' commitment levels differ by their gender, age and seniority. Statistical analyses showed that physical education teachers mostly displayed a commitment level of affective commitment. It was determined that the female teachers of physical education had more continuance commitment as compared to the male teachers and the male teachers had more normative commitment than the female teachers.

Fifteen fact sheets--two page overviews of issues in special education developed by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Handicapped and Gifted Children in 1981--are presented. The fact sheets address topics in a question and answer format and provide references as well as resources on each subject. The following titles are included, "The Administrator's Role in the Education of Gifted and Talented Children"; "The Cost Effectiveness of Special Education"; "Advocacy and Self Advocacy for Disabled Persons"; "Learning Related Visual Problems"; "Serving the LD Student in a Vocational Education Classroom"; "Careers in Special Education"; "The Argument for Early Intervention"; "The Arts and the Handicapped Child"; "Rights of the Handicapped"; "Educational Rights of American Indian and Alaska Native Handicapped Children"; "Procedural Safeguards"; "Individualized Education Program"; "Children on Medication"; "Parents' Rights and Responsibilities"; and "Parents of Handicapped Children." (CL)

As part of a health education program for K-12, this curriculum guide for grade eight provides: (1) a short overview of health education; (2) a scope and sequence chart which lists specific topics to teach on mental health, physical health, community health, and safety that are appropriate at different grade levels; (3) a list of objectives; and (4) sample learning activities and accompanying learning resources for each objective. Since health education is influenced greatly by individual value systems, activities are not designed to teach right or wrong but to encourage students to examine issues from different perspectives and then to form their own opinions. Activities involve a variety of teaching techniques including reading, discussion, guest speakers, audiovisual aids, worksheets, games, writing, and demonstrations. Some topics covered are the human body; alcohol, drug and tobacco; communicable diseases; first aid; nutrition; mental health; family life--heredity, growth and development; and consumer health. (DC)

The following papers on teacher education are presented: (1) "How to Break Out of the Never-Ending Circle of Retraining: A Self-Adjusting Mechanism for the 1980s," by Frank M. Grittner; (2) "Preservice Teacher Education: Some Thoughts for the 1980s," by Elizabeth G. Joiner; and (3) "Inservice Teacher Education: Content and Process," by Helen L. Jorstad. The first paper presents self-evaluation instruments and suggestions for using them and indicates five standards for an approved program in foreign languages. The second paper lists a series of observations and recommendations for the profession to consider in planning for the next few years. The third paper proposes a variety of in-service experiences that teachers need and several formats for them. The summary article lists several key issues in teacher education and makes both general and specific recommendations for their implementation. (AMH)