Education & Pedagogy

What is the nature of comparative and international education as a discipline? What are the relationships and connections between comparison and internationalization? Such questions have long been discussed in comparative education and have provoked much debate."Comparative and International Education: An Introduction to Theory, Method, and Practice" by Phillips and Schweisfurth (2014) provides answers to both questions. This second edition is discussed in relation to the development of comparison as a discipline and the increasing international commensurability occurring through such development. The author argues that among other things, the book provides help when when pondering the two most important questions for the field. Also discussed are possibilities for rethinking sameness and difference in intercultural comparison today, drawing from the work of the French philosopher, François Jullien.

Although interaction with natural environments has been recognized as supportive to children's overall health, learning, and behavior, the decision-making process of teachers who implement outdoor education field experiences is not well understood. This narrative review summarizes the literature exploring motivators and deterrents for teacher engagement in outdoor education field experiences. Twenty-two articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. This review further explains the facilitators and barriers for teacher decision making and implementation of outdoor education field experiences, providing support for teacher education and a point of entry for future study of teacher motivations.

The purpose of this article is to describe with examples what kind of challenges there are in the handling of religion in public school. This is done with case examples from interactions between teachers and Somali Muslim pupils and guardians in a school. The school is located in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area and has 350 pupils in grades 1-6. The qualitative data used here includes ethnographic field notes and field interviews, interviews and group interviews. The participants include education professionals and pupils from the school. In the article, three kinds of examples of challenges with regard to handling religion in public education are described. These are nationalising/ethnicising Islam, isolating religious education from lived religion and religionising cultural practices.

This article questions the shift towards the global in discourses of development education in Ireland. Drawing on analysis of policy and research on discourses of development education with facilitators in Ireland, it shows that this shift is neither complete nor necessarily critical. Side by side with talk of the global are discussions of 'development issues' and 'promoting development', with the global often constructed in terms of the Global South and local-global relations assumed to mean North--South. The article examines some dynamics around shifting discourses and argues that the shift to the global does not necessarily signal a more critical development education. As such, it calls for critical analysis beyond changed language used in development education to explore the assumptions that underpin it and its implications for criticality.

The United States has a long, complicated history with sex education as, often, different stakeholders advocate dissimilar educational frameworks (Irvine, 2004). Although controversies remain in defining the boundaries of sex education, there is a movement both nationally and internationally to define sex education comprehensively (Haberland & Rogow, 2015). However there are often barriers to individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) receiving comprehensive sexuality education (Stinson, Christian, & Dotson, 2002). Although all states are involved at some level in providing sex education to public school children (National Conference of State Legislators, 2016), youth with IDD are often precluded from receiving comprehensive sexuality education. This article is meant to be a guide for providing human sexuality instruction to individuals with IDD.

A large amount of research on teacher effectiveness in physical education teacher education has identified clear benchmarks that contribute to effective teaching. The benchmarks most often identified in the literature are (a) establishing an appropriate learning environment through classroom management, (b) providing several opportunities for students to practice skills, and (c) ensuring student practice leads to success. Thus, the groundwork for educating preservice physical educators on these benchmarks must be established early in a teacher education program. This manuscript explores the implementation of a systematic framework for developing preservice physical educators, with the support of cooperating teachers and university supervisors, in field-based practica that emphasizes clear components of teacher effectiveness.

Over its 100-year plus history the community college has struggled to make clear its mission. As a comprehensive community college its mission has bounced around to focus on liberal arts, developmental, workforce, community, and general education. In today's increasingly competitive society with shifting values and changes in power it is likely that workforce education/career and technical education will remain a foundational mission of the community college. Workforce education is strongly supported by state and federal legislators who demonstrate that support with billions of dollars. It is strongly supported by business and industry. And it is strongly supported by parents and students. This brief history captures many of the key issues and developments of the continuing evolution of workforce education in the community college.

In recent years, the majority of new immigrants to the United States have settled in rural areas, creating unique challenges for special education administrators. In this article, we discuss the details of the challenges to rural schools in meeting the requirements of the federal mandates, especially No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act passed in 2001 and the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA). Additionally, we discuss the challenges related to isolation, distance, teacher retention, resources, and English language learners and learners in poverty in rural areas. We then provide guidance and recommendations for improving the practice of special education in rural areas.

Hargreaves (2002) suggested that vigorous social movements have the potential to improve the quality of (and increase the equity in) public education. This paper explores the role of Equal Education, an education social movement in South Africa led by university students and secondary school learners, in the process of educational change. Drawing on interviews with the organisation's founding members, organisers and secondary school learners, the paper examines how the organisation/social movement embodies what Oakes and Rogers (2007) describe as "learning power" and in the process contribute to improvement in public education.

The aim of the research is to develop the policy and strategy recommendations to increase the quality of higher education in Russian Federation. The study examines the significance of equal educational opportunities and the influence of this factor on the educational systems of developing countries. Transformational processes in the domain of higher education have brought forth the problem of institutional strategies of attaining the equality of educational opportunities. The study outlines ways of using regional institutional mechanisms of ensuring the equality of educational opportunities in terms of access to high-quality higher education. The results of the research are designed in the way to be applicable in any developing country facing the same problem.

This paper examines the rise of value-added as a measure of quality in education. As a point of departure, the paper begins with an analysis of the rise of the concept of quality in education and discusses how, at times, various contradictory determinants of quality have managed to influence the evaluation and assessment frameworks of most countries. Leading on from this, the second part of the paper provides a discussion on the use of value-added as a determinant of quality in education. Finally, the study concludes with a discussion on the challenges relating to the introduction of value-added into the Irish education system, a development which will, arguably, become a contentious educational reform initiative within the future landscape of Irish education.

By clarifying what global learning is and how it is essential to higher education, this article considers what global learning provides for teaching, learning, and internationalization in higher education. It demonstrates how the global nature of knowledge and learning in the 21st century requires a re-definition of classrooms and learning environments that recognizes how knowledge production today is a collective, global, and diverse process. The article suggests a number of foundational principles for global learning, including relational approaches, reflection, contextualized knowledge, perspective shifting, disorientation, responsibility, and an ability to navigate the general and the particular. It concludes by revealing how a global learning framework has benefits beyond teaching and learning and how it can contribute to the deliberate internationalization of higher education.

In this article, I probe a question at the core of comparative education--how to realize the right to education for all and ensure opportunities to use that education for future participation in society. I do so through examination of refugee education from World War II to the present, including analysis of an original data set of documents (n = 214) and semistructured interviews (n = 208). The data illuminate how refugee children are caught between the global promise of universal human rights, the definition of citizenship rights within nation-states, and the realization of these sets of rights in everyday practices. Conceptually, I demonstrate the misalignment between normative aspirations, codes and doctrines, and mechanisms of enforcement within nation-states, which curtails refugees' abilities to activate their rights to education, to work, and to participate in society.

This study presents narrative case study vignettes of three elite African American male football athletes at a major historically White institution of higher education with a big-time athletics department. More specifically, I draw from critical race theory to garner insight into their secondary schooling background, what education means to them, and how racism impacts their holistic development. The focus group and individual interviews revealed each came from urban high schools in close proximity to the university, viewed education as more than classroom learning and obtaining a degree, and perceived racism as alive and well in college sport.

This paper describes developments in Welsh-language terminology within the education system in Wales. Following an outline of historical terminology work, it concentrates on the consolidation of terminology standardization at the Language Technologies Unit, Bangor University, with particular reference to two projects, one concerned with terminology for school-age and further education, the second concerned with higher education. The developments described include the adoption of international standards in terminology standardization and their incorporation in an online terminology standardization environment and dissemination platform that enable access to the centralized terminological dictionaries via a number of sophisticated websites, portals and mobile apps featuring rich dictionary entries. Some of the issues in managing large term collections are explored, and usage statistics are presented for the resources described.