Education & Pedagogy

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss a curriculum change in the provision of health promotion in pre-service teacher education in a one-year postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) secondary course in one Higher Education Institution (HEI) in England. Design/methodology/approach: The paper describes the iterative development process, from an initial survey and mapping of the existing pre-service teacher training programme, which provided an evidence base for the piloting of a new health promotion component in the curriculum, and its subsequent evaluation. Changes to the health promotion element of the curriculum reflect the programme philosophy which balances the requirements of a competency based curriculum with a more liberal approach to education and training in which pre-service teachers are expected to critically reflect on, and evaluate their practice. This work adopts a socio-constructivist approach to teacher education, in which teachers develop their knowledge, skills and attitudes by interacting with others through dialogue, and learning from more knowledgeable others in a cooperative and scaffolded manner. Findings: The paper presents the results of these changes and discusses implications for their sustainability. The changes made to the health promotion component of the programme and their implementation would not have been possible without the inter-professional collaboration that took place over three years. Originality/value: To the authors' knowledge similar work involving a multi-disciplinary collaborative approach to the development of a health education component of a pre-service teacher education curriculum has not been employed or reported. (Contains 3 tables.)

Context: A general education course taught by athletic training education faculty has the potential to expose the entire student body to the athletic training profession in a unique way while also meeting requirements of the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education. Objective: To introduce a detailed case study of a general education course taught by athletic training education faculty. Background: The general education curriculum is designed to enable students to appreciate and understand numerous disciplines. As a helping profession, athletic trainers are skilled at addressing a myriad of issues as they relate to an active individual's physical, psychological, and social well-being. Athletic training educators are ideal individuals to develop and teach courses demonstrating the interrelationships among psychology, sociology, and athletic training. Description: Detailed course topics and relevant supporting literature for the course are presented. Examples of techniques used in the course are provided to aid athletic training educators in the development of their own course. The challenges and rewards of offering a general education course are also outlined. Advantages: This course can expose the general student population to athletic training by fostering, introducing, and increasing collaboration among faculty, nontraditional teaching methods, and department/program productivity. Conclusion: A general education course developed and taught by athletic training education programs has both institutional and curricular value. Athletic training educators have knowledge and expertise with respect to musculoskeletal injury care and a unique understanding of a physically active individual's mindset following injury. These distinctive traits can help the entire student body understand and apply concepts of this course to their everyday lives.

This paper introduces a model for using informal science education venues as contexts within which to teach the nature of science. The model was initially developed to enable university education students to teach science in elementary schools so as to be consistent with "National Science Education Standards" (NSES) (1996) and "A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts and Core Ideas" (2011). The model has since been used in other university courses and professional development workshops for elementary, middle school, and high school teachers. Learners experience the Nature of Science (NOS) firsthand and develop their own understandings of NOS through interaction with exhibits and museum patrons. During experiential learning opportunities (Kolb, 1984), learners use the strategy of "using yourself as a learning laboratory" (Burkett, Leard, & Spector, 2003, p. 3) to gather data on how they learn science content information, experience NOS, and construct strategies for teaching science. Through reflection, face-to-face debriefings, and online discussion, learners incorporate experiences into their cognitive structures thereby constructing their own conceptions of NOS consistent with understandings commonly used in the science education enterprise (Lederman, 2003; McComas, Clough, & Almazroa, 1998). Examples are given of learners' statements indicating understanding of the NOS constructed during their work in the museum. The model for science education leaders' use of informal settings with educators learning about NOS is included. (Contains 3 tables.)

Neo-liberal values affect early childhood education through the production of specific teacher subjectivities. These subjectivities are connected not only to the logic of competition, but also to competing definitions of worth, trust and values, as demonstrated by data. Neo-liberal values of accountability are also intertwined with the traditional discourse of child-centred learning. This study contributes to research concerning early childhood education and care staff's professionalism by focusing on the effects of the commercialization of early childhood education and care teachers' understanding of their work. With survey data (161 responses) collected from the five largest municipalities in Finland, the authors examine the reasoning that early childhood education and care staff provide for choosing commercial as well as non-commercial digital applications, licensed programmes and ready-made learning materials. The research is highly topical since the number of innovations targeted at early childhood education and care is increasing. Digitalization opens new ways for the privatization and marketization of education by introducing appealing commercially produced programmes and materials. In this study, the authors show how the advertising of these innovations as providing 'easy solutions' to improve either children's learning or early childhood education and care practitioners' working time has become a discourse through which teachers and other staff members evaluate their work and their professionalism. In addition, the authors suggest that Finnish early childhood education and care practitioners seem to have internalized the pressure to enhance efficiency and accountability in early childhood education and care.

This book delves into the expansion and complexities of private education in the P-12 school sector across 12 Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) nations: Brunei Darussalam, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand. It focuses on the dynamic role private education plays in diverse educational and socio-economic landscapes, and how it complements or competes with public education systems in these countries. With examples ranging from individual school policies to national governance models, the book highlights how private education institutions navigate regulatory frameworks, respond to community demands, and interact with public institutions. Case studies illustrate specific governance practices, including leadership and administrative approaches, and examine how these impact educational quality, access, and resource allocation. The book also discusses the influence of globalization and technology on private education, examining both the challenges and opportunities these forces bring. This book is a comprehensive resource on private education, offering a detailed analysis of governance, policy, and socio-economic factors shaping this sector in the Asia-Pacific. It encourages readers to think critically about the future of education, prompting questions about how private and public institutions can work together to foster sustainable educational development, support inclusive access, and meet the needs of diverse student populations in the RCEP region. [Individual chapters are indexed in ERIC.]

Twenty-five years ago, the United States was on the cusp of a major expansion of the federal government's role in K-12 education policy. The No Child Left Behind legislation passed with bipartisan support and established standards and accountability as strategies to improve education. Until roughly 2013, reading and math scores did improve; however, in the years since, student achievement on test scores has gone down, and this trend accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the last decade, with new and rising challenges for educational outcomes, how has the politics of education at the federal level changed? What happened to bipartisan support for the standards-based accountability regime, and what has replaced it? We code and analyze longitudinal data on changes in party positions, congressional hearings, and executive action on education. After the adoption of No Child Left Behind ushered in a bipartisan education accountability policy regime, K-12 education started to recede from the Congressional agenda. Since 2015, growing attention to K-12 education from the executive branch and increasing partisan polarization around culture war issues have eroded the accountability regime. Executive actions during the Biden and Trump presidencies have steered education towards a broader array of high conflict issues focused on racial equity, gender, and curriculum. These changes have produced policy regime decay and little consistency or direction for state and local policymakers in K-12 education.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how enterprise education was adapted from a UK higher education institution (HEI) setting into an international context through collaboration with two Sri Lankan universities. It demonstrates the value of enterprise education in different cultures, and presents learning from the challenges faced by both staff and students in moving away from a traditional delivery method. Design/methodology/approach: Adopting a case study approach, the paper describes a blended, incremental implementation strategy aimed at developing staff and students' understanding of enterprise education in a gradual, supportive and culturally-sensitive manner. Evaluation is conducted through an analysis of formal assessment performance and qualitative module review. Findings: The paper demonstrates the impact of enterprise education in an international context and a capability amongst most students to engage with it successfully, whilst also highlighting the challenges of delivery in a different culture. Practical implications: The adaptation of enterprise education to an international setting can be shown to add value in various ways, including the development of soft skills and building confidence in team working and communication. It can also be shown to empower staff in delivering teaching using non-traditional techniques. However, consideration of context is essential to effective delivery. Originality/value: This study makes a contribution to the fields of transnational education and enterprise education in international contexts. It shows the value of enterprise education in challenging traditional delivery methods and the acceptance of such by both staff and students. (Contains 3 tables.)

During the 1979 Victorian state election, fundamentalist Christian groups such as the Citizens Against Social Evil launched a public campaign against the inclusion of homosexual content in secondary school education. And, on March 19, 1979, the Minister of Education's office sent out an order to all secondary school principals directing them "to ensure that copies of books seeking to foster homosexual behaviour are not available to children". Thirty years later, and at another Victorian state election, people see a different Minister of Education campaigning on an agenda that includes an increased focus on, and support for, sexual and gender diversity in education. This historical contrast raises a number of key questions too large for full discussion, including how can one describe the history of developments in ideas about sexuality and education in Victoria? What dominant ways of knowing sexuality and education have emerged through this history? And, what have been the implications of these emergent knowledges and their attendant practices on the contemporary conjunction of sexuality and education? In order to begin exploring these large and complex questions from the perspective of a more confined set of interests, the author reflects on the disciplinary basis of the contemporary teaching of sex and sexualities in Victorian schools. In particular, he argues for an interdisciplinary approach to the teaching of sex and sexualities education which foregrounds historical curriculum content and he uses this argument as a way to speak to broader questions that are raised by the shifts in sex and sexualities education since 1979. (Contains 9 notes.)

Background: Despite dire predictions of its demise, physical education continues to survive across most countries of the world. Moreover, the form of its survival is remarkably similar across cultures. Why has physical education survived as a cultural practice and why is its form so similar given the marked differences that exist between many cultures? Purpose: This paper pursues this question through a consideration of physical education as a "meme". A meme, a term first coined by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in his book "The selfish gene", is the cultural equivalent of a gene and is claimed to be the unit of cultural transmission. Memes are selected in a process not unlike biological selection. Some memes thrive and others die off or become unused. If we consider physical education to be a meme, then what is it about physical education that has been so successful in reproducing itself? Although far from uncontroversial, the study of memes, called memetics, might have the potential to be rather more than merely polemic or playful for understanding the future survival of physical education. Research design: In particular this paper provides a memetic analysis of Kirk's claim that there has only been one major shift in the idea of the idea of physical education since its inception as a school subject; namely from physical education as gymnastics to physical education as sport techniques. Conclusions: This paper concludes by suggesting that the next shift in idea of the idea of physical education might be oriented around obesity prevention rather than sport.

This article reports on recent findings from a mapping study of Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education in schools in England, focusing on the data derived from primary school participants. It is based on a nationally representative survey of 923 primary school PSHE education leads, and follow-up in-depth interviews and discussion groups with 171 participants. This included local authority support staff, and from participating primary schools: senior management representatives, PSHE education leads, teaching staff, governors, school improvement partners, parents, and pupils. Results included here primarily relate to two areas: delivery models and curriculum coverage, and pupil views on their experiences and the (potential) value of PSHE education. In examining these areas, the article raises issues about blurred boundaries between PSHE education and Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning and/or pastoral care within school more widely, and particular staff sensitivities about the teaching of certain elements of PSHE education, particularly sex and relationships education and drugs, alcohol and tobacco education. These subject areas were less likely to be included or prioritised within PSHE education than, for example, emotional health and well-being, but were often the areas highlighted as most important by pupils. In conclusion, the article raises questions about the potential links between PSHE education and attainment, and the use of different teaching approaches across the curriculum more broadly. (Contains 3 tables and 5 notes.)

The decline in civic participation, dwindling support for social services and deficits in state budgets, has created a climate in which higher education, supported by several policies, has to make a commitment to contribute to the reconstruction and development of society by linking academic programmes to community-based priorities (Campbell 2002). In South Africa, the Community Higher Education Service Partnership (CHESP) was implemented by the Joint Education Trust in response to the directive of the White Paper on Higher Education (1997) to develop and research pilot academic programmes through community, university and service sector partnerships. The purpose of these partnerships was to: contribute to the empowerment and development of local communities; make higher education policy and practice responsive to community priorities, and, enhance service delivery to participating communities (Lazarus 2001). It was anticipated that these partnerships would inspire a sense of citizenship; engender new forms of problem solving knowledge; capacity and practice; produce a new generation of leaders, and, contribute to national development (Nuttal, Bruzas and Mosime 2000). To test the relevance and practical application of these holistic and developmental concepts this article which is based on an intensive study undertaken at five university sites with ten multidisciplinary modules, explores the position of service learning and its impact on partnerships. The conclusion reached was that although the ultimate aim was to connect higher education and civil society, the formalisation of existing policies and institutional arrangements are necessary to facilitate meaningful partnerships. (Contains 1 note and 1 table.)

Every four years, the presidential election campaign unfolds, and the position of the candidates on education is predictable: They are in favor of it. Something else is easy to predict: In every presidential campaign, hot-button issues--some important and some infuriatingly not--suck up most of the oxygen, and the hoped-for focus on education withers and dies. In 2008, Republican nominee John McCain and Democratic nominee Barack Obama have laid out their positions for improving America's education system; but with the nation at war, fuel prices climbing and financial institutions collapsing, subjects such as early-childhood education or charter schools don't seem as urgent. That hasn't stopped education advocates from working to bring greater attention to what they see as the critical need to improve the U.S. education system. But it's unlikely that the education platforms of either major candidate will be a deciding factor in November balloting. Still, it's important for school and university administrators to be aware of how Obama and McCain view the education system and how they hope to improve it. Before President George W. Bush led the push for the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, the generalization had been that Democrats favor more federal involvement in education and Republicans back a more hands-off approach. Now that the NCLB reform law has fallen into disfavor among many educators and politicians, the proposals of this year's presidential candidates reflect the previous party orthodoxy. McCain's education platform contains few specific proposals and more statement of philosophy, specifically about giving parents more choices; Obama's campaign proposes more programs and explains them in more detail.

Community-based environmental education is an important part of the sustainability project. Along with regulation and market-based instruments, adult learning and education in non-formal settings consistently features in the sustainability strategies advocated and implemented by government, community and industry entities. Community-situated environmental education programs often feature didactic "messaging"[TM], public awareness and community-based social marketing approaches. Clearly, these approaches have limited capacity to stimulate the social learning necessary to reorient toward sustainability. Popular education provides a framework to break from these dominant modes of environmental communication and education and achieve outcomes of a different order. Popular educators build curriculum from the daily lives of community members, address their social, political and structural change priorities, and emphasise collective rather than individual learning. Their work creates opportunities for education as social action, education for social action, and learning through social action. Case studies from Australia and the United States highlight opportunities for community educators to draw on the traditions and practices of popular education. Residents of contaminated communities organise "toxic tours"[TM] to bolster their campaigns for remediation. Residents and conservationists concerned about freeway construction incorporate learning strategies in their campaign plan to enhance peer learning, mentoring and prospects of long-term success. Advocacy organisations and research institutions work together to create formal and informal educational programs to strengthen and learn from social action. The principles derived from these case studies offer a starting point for collaboration and action research. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

Teacher preparation has been called the "bete noire" of geography education in the United States (Boehm et al., 1994). Despite progress in other areas of geography, teacher education remains a significant issue affecting the quality of geography instruction nationwide. It is a multifaceted, multidimensional problem tied inextricably to national trends in education and teacher education reform. Some problems have resulted from a spatially dispersed and decentralised system of teacher education and certification. Today, many of the tensions within teacher education are the result of ideological arguments that have become highly politicised, pitting conservatives against liberals, Republicans against Democrats, in increasingly polarised discussions. As a consequence, geographers and professional geography societies have less influence in teacher preparation. This article briefly explores some of the significant issues affecting teacher preparation in the United States. The authors focus first on the volatile national context, particularly on changes in the last decade. The implications on teacher preparation of recent federal legislation entitled No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in general, and geography education specifically, are explored. Next, the authors describe the changing models of teacher education, including alternative certification, and the implications for geography education. They conceptualise teacher preparation as a three-stage process, and describe mentoring and professional development in geography education in the induction and early professional development stages. The authors conclude by reviewing the issues geography educators face in the next decade, suggesting research that may address them.

In Uganda, the implementation of universal primary education (UPE) in 1997 and universal secondary education (USE) in 2005 have led educational policy makers, teachers, parents, and students to seek creative solutions to the problem of ensuring educational quality as schools incorporate 4 million more students. Some Ugandans worry about overcrowded classrooms and express concern that the children of the poor, who cannot escape into the private school system, will be disadvantaged in the end by the short-term decline in outcomes that UPE must inevitably entail. As educators in Uganda search for strategies that will yield a high-quality education for all, it is instructive to look back to a time, early in the twentieth century, when Uganda had an educational system that provided rudimentary education to equal numbers of girls and boys, and large numbers of adults, but turned away from it. This article explores how the Phelps-Stokes Commissions' recommendations led to a turn away from literary education toward a focus on "adapted education," discusses the role of missionaries as the primary promoters of education in colonized Africa and their "selective lending" of nineteenth-century school practices, and tackles the application of the European and American ideas regarding education by missionaries, colonial policymakers, and a very small number of well-educated Africans. It discusses how Africans used indigenous practices of education to spread the skill of mother-tongue literacy: they did the adapting of what they already knew about education. (Contains 3 footnotes.)