Education & Pedagogy

The dominant sustainability ethos and discourse within early childhood education pursue a normative ontological and epistemological direction aimed at empowering children's agency and thus, building certain predefined moral values, knowledge, and skills. Likewise, mainstream early childhood teacher education programmes strive to build early childhood pre-service teachers' sustainability knowledge and skills, especially to enhance their capacity to be transformative agents and motivators for change to engage children with sustainability challenges. In this conceptual article, drawing on posthuman concepts, I highlight the limits of such orthodox assumptions in early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS) teacher education and invite broader ontological and epistemic possibilities. I interrogate the human-centric assumptions that unintentionally perpetuate the deep-rooted binary thinking that separates humans from non-humans and other species. In doing so, I offer an expanded understanding of the underlying ontological and epistemic assumptions within teacher education for ECEfS. I conclude by indicating how posthuman theories serve as an impetus for epistemological and ontological multiplicities in early childhood teacher education for sustainability.

America's current sociocultural moment requires that we reexamine, reevaluate, and reimagine our dance education policy documents, curriculum, and classroom practice. This position paper raises questions about the assumptions underpinning our dance education archival discourse and infusing the language we use to articulate it. A return to scientific approaches to education featuring standardization and accountability, which threatens to further marginalize non-dominant voices, makes this inquiry urgent. I describe my current research as an example of this direction for inquiry. Referencing the standards' history, dance education's historical influences and counter-narratives, and motor learning theories in cultural context, I propose that explicit and implicit cultural messages in our standards may convey Euro-Western aesthetic, epistemological, and pedagogical frameworks, reflecting widely accepted dance education practices. Further, I question whether our standards and our practice may be inadvertently perpetuating inequitable cultural narratives. The paper concludes with a charge for the dance education community.

Recent years, research on curriculum-based ideological and political education has been one of hotspots in the field of higher education in China. Using both literature analysis software of CiteSpace and VOSviewer, visual analysis and information collection have been carried out on 429 papers of Chinese curriculum-based ideological and political education from 2014 to 2021, so as to find out the research focuses and evolution in this field and then to predict the trend in the future. The results are that the hotspots of ideological and political research focus on the definition of its connotation, construction value, and the exploration of practical paths. Furthermore, current research frontiers including "ideological and political elements", "talent cultivation", "college physical education (PE)" and "core socialist values" reflect that the current study focuses on the exploration of practical paths. It is expected that education mechanism, teaching practice research and multidisciplinary research will become the main trends of curriculum-based ideological and political education in China in future.

The debate around standardized assessments became a global agenda imposed by multilateral organizations. These tests, in the neoliberal context, impose an impoverishment of the curriculum and also strong control over the teaching work. On the other hand, it also causes resistance from social movements. This paper addresses this process of disputes for hegemony in the context of early childhood education in Brazil within the last few years. This research analyses the protagonism of the Inter-Forum Movement of Early Childhood Education in Brazil (MIEIB) in the context of the Workers' Party administrations (Lula and Dilma). During this period, the movement had an amicable relationship with the federal administrations, which opened discussions about different ways to evaluate educational quality, based on the discourse of the right to education. Currently, this democratic dialogue no longer exists and the relations between the movement and the federal administration has become antagonistic, as the Bolsonaro administration wishes extend tests to early childhood education.

The purpose of this study was to examine music education faculty members' perceptions of admissions and selection criteria for entering master's students in music education degree programs. Using multistage sampling, we distributed a questionnaire to music education faculty at National Association of Schools of Music (NASM)-accredited institutions in the United States that offered master's degrees in music education. Results indicated that music education faculty were involved in most admission decisions, and that transcripts, interviews, and letters of recommendation were the most common materials submitted for review. In response to open-ended questions, participants reported that their admission decisions are usually determined by four criteria: academic skills, demonstration of potential as a graduate student, demonstration of teaching ability, and less measurable indicators. This exploration of the admissions and selection criteria that music education faculty use when making admission decisions provides music teacher educators a greater understanding of this important transition point.

This article deals with the question of what has happened to 'the public' in the Swedish education system during the last three decades. In our search for an answer we illuminate and discuss how the process of marketisation, together with the learnification and individualisation of education, replaced 'the public' from public education with the logic of the market place. To shed some further light on the current discourse on Swedish education, we contrast two principles in education and teaching, the aristocratic principle and the democratic principle. According to the aristocratic principle, education is about fixating and reproducing existing power relations as the cornerstone of a well-ordered society. According to the democratic principle of education, equality is the cornerstone of a well-ordered democratic society. Considering the shift in the very infrastructure of the Swedish educational system, we arrive at the conclusion that the principles in education and teaching are characterised by the aristocratic principle, rather than those we have characterised as democratic principles. The educational message is clear: upcoming generations are to accept the rules of the market economy and play the game accordingly.

Indigenous education within urban contexts is diverse within Oceania. Pacific peoples' movements in the diaspora, including their educational journeys and responsibilities, are ongoing and fluid. This paper employs talanoa va, an indigenous Pacific approach to understanding the negotiations of educational processes and practices in urban education contexts across the diaspora of Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, and Aotearoa-New Zealand. We utilize talanoa as a method of gathering narrative data based on transoceanic education experiences. We argue indigenous education within urban contexts in the diaspora is fluid yet dynamic. The continuous movement of people for improved life and education further emphasizes the diverse ways Moana communities mobilize their knowledges and practices as well as educational aspirations across multiple networks in the diaspora. Indigenous education therefore is context-specific, inclusive of the negotiations across time and space that enable the sense making of educational experiences that empower the next generation in Oceania.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how adult education institutions have developed in close connection with the Danish welfare state and how structural reforms since the 1990s have changed the institutional structure and impacted accessibility. This involves analyses of the main functions linked to the different types of adult education institutions (VUCs) in Denmark and their development in relation to welfare state policies in the first instance and to globalization and competition state policies in the second. Thus, the paper provides a historical outline of the development of adult education institutions in two main areas, a vocational and a general, followed by an analysis of selected policy documents on structural reforms. Focusing on the reforms of 2000, 2007, and 2018, the analysis identifies external and internal limitations to accessing general adult education. In conclusion, the market orientation of the VUC entails limitations to both external and internal accessibility.

Students who are eligible for special education and related services are entitled to a free appropriate public education (FAPE), which is delineated by the Individualized Education Program (IEP). The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine 133 IEPs from seven rural districts that were interested in evaluating their compliance with state and federal special education regulations. The researchers evaluated (a) the present level of academic and functional performance (PLAAFP), (b) IEP goals, (c) PLAAFP and goal alignment, and (d) progress monitoring. Fewer than 7% of the IEPs examined included PLAAFP statements, goals, and contingencies for progress monitoring that met regulatory standards. The majority of IEPs (74%) evaluated did not provide complete statements of how a student's disability affected school performance. Methods for quantitative progress monitoring were also frequently absent from the documents (23%). Furthermore, the PLAAFP, goals, and progress monitoring were often unaligned. Implications for school practice and areas for future research are reported.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are becoming increasingly important participants in educational programmes and implementing education policy. This study explores governmental policymakers' perceptions and reactions to NGO involvement in the implementation of education policy. We applied a qualitative research method, conducting in-depth interviews with ten senior policymakers in Israel's Ministry of Education. We utilised an inductive process of condensing, encoding, categorising, and theorising to analyze the data. Our findings yielded three major themes: (a) intersectoral partnership policies in education and mechanisms for their implementation, (b) budgeting and engagement policies that reexamine mutual responsibility models in education, and (c) the benefits of the intersectoral partnership in advancing education goals. This study expands the knowledge of policymakers' attempts to lead change, from methods and strategies of centralised and bureaucratic governance through community networks that constitute an intermediate path to realising social and educational goals in the age of privatisation and commercialisation in education.

Special education administrators need an understanding of adapted physical education (APE) educational service delivery in order to properly supervise APE service delivery to students with disabilities. However, some preliminary research has suggested that special education administrators have a general lack of knowledge related to APE. Content acquisition podcasts (CAPs) may provide them with the knowledge needed to effectively supervise APE services. The purposes of this study were to examine the impact of CAPs on special education administrators' knowledge specific to APE and determine how special education administrators perceived CAPs as a form of professional development. Qualitative analyses, t-tests, and a repeated measures ANOVA were used to determine CAPs' impact on 29 participants. Results revealed that the participants had a low understanding of APE; however the CAPs were found to increase the participants' knowledge. In addition, the participants had positive perceptions towards the CAPs as a form of professional development.

While Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge (TPACK) has been studied in many domains, its application in special education remains limited. This study examined the TPACK of in-service teachers at special education schools for students with visual impairments (SVI, N = 415) and further compared the TPACK of Taiwanese and Chinese teachers. Based on both Taiwanese and Chinese samples, we revised and validated a TPACK survey for teachers in special education schools for SVI. Results showed that special education schools for SVI teachers knew content knowledge and teaching strategies better, however, they were less knowledgeable about technological tool applications. Furthermore, Chinese teachers scored higher than Taiwanese teachers in terms of integrated knowledge (TCK/TPACK) and content knowledge and teaching strategies (CKS). Implications were put forward regarding school leadership, peer sharing, and interactions between Taiwanese and Chinese special education in-service teachers.

On 6 November 2020, the "Policy Framework for Internationalisation of Higher Education in South Africa" was promulgated. It provides high-level principles and guidelines for the internationalisation of higher education in South Africa, lays down specific rules for certain aspects of the process and aims to shape the process of internationalisation at South African higher education institutions, redressing past inequalities whilst addressing policy imperatives of higher education in a democratic South Africa. In this paper, we analyse the context and content of the Policy Framework. We first explore the context by discussing the historical background leading to the development and drafting of the Policy Framework, whereafter we analyse the substantive content of the Policy Framework. We consider its suitability for advancing the South African higher education system's internationalisation objectives, interrogate whether it can provide direction for comprehensive internationalisation of higher education in the country and provide recommendations on the way forward devoting attention to strategies for successful policy implementation.

Intergovernmental organisations (IOs) have developed global policies that have shaped the practices of higher education for decades. The OECD, WTO, and World Bank have long framed higher education as both a contributor to human capital and a driver of economic growth. Yet, their policy agendas have transformed over time and more recently taken up neoliberal narratives. This paper analyses a corpus of IO texts to demonstrate how these organisations have shifted the governing responsibility for higher education, subordinated higher education to the practice of lifelong learning, and created the conditions for increasing international student mobility. Applying a Foucauldian analysis of discourse and studies in governmentality, this paper broadly explores the complexity of IO governing policies, which have (re)imagined and (re)positioned the purpose of higher education and its role as a technology of government. As global environmental, social, political, and health crises demand globally researched and financed solutions, this exploration of IO policy is a necessary step in the work of reimaging the future practices of higher education.

The purpose of this multiple-case study was to explore the experiences of two students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in a full-inclusion music education context and how those experiences aligned with stakeholder perspectives regarding the role of music education for this population. Three themes emerged from the data: The Not-So-Atypical Benefits, A Focus on Strengths, and A Culture of Inclusivity. Factors related to the educators and school community had impact on these students' experiences and are further explored through the lens of an ethic of hospitality. Documenting educational practices and elucidating the beliefs of stakeholders (including music educators, the special education team, administration, and parents) regarding music education for students with ASD in an inclusion setting may offer insights into best practices while interrogating perceptions regarding unique benefits for this population.