Education & Pedagogy

In American public schools, the bulk of financial decisions have been left up to local boards of education, local school superintendents, and individual school principals. Traditionally, principals have been considered the utmost leader in their schools. Agricultural education has been linked to student achievement in a variety of ways. The National Council for Agricultural Education's Strategic Plan for Agricultural Education included a "call to increase the number of quality agricultural education programs" around the nation. Currently, there are no data on how Florida decision makers perceive agricultural education programs and how their perceptions align with the values of principals. Additionally, the relative lack of growth in FFA Chapters around the country and in Florida is concerning. The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of secondary agricultural education programs held by Florida secondary school principals. The results of this study found that Florida secondary school principals have positive perceptions of agricultural education programs. Additionally, the presence of a local secondary agricultural education program influences the perceptions of Florida secondary school principals. Demographics had many influences on the perceptions of Florida secondary school principals. A key finding was the influence of student achievement on funding decisions of principals. (Contains 11 tables.)

The growing demand for higher education worldwide, along with global expansion of telecommunication technologies, give online distance education a potential world-wide reach for institutions in many countries. Given the persistent international digital divide and the potential for the host institutions and languages to be those of wealthy, industrialized countries, international online distance higher education (IODHE) has great potential for educational and cultural imperialism. Therefore institutions contemplating expansion into international distance education must accommodate a number of changes that would enable building the safe learning/teaching environment needed for development of a successful course. Drawing on literature of domestic and international online teaching and learning, multicultural studies, as well as personal international teaching and learning experience, the authors examine four domains where these changes are of critical importance: 1) host institution, 2) technology, 3) learning models of students, and 4) teaching models of faculty. The paper discusses issues and practices in each of these domains and offers general recommendations for institutions participating or planning to participate in cross-border/cross-culture online education. (Contains 1 figure.)

Daegu University has enjoyed a long and remarkable history of special education. Daegu University is large University located in Daegu, South Korea, a large city in South Korea that is south of Seoul. Since the 1970's, South Korea has achieved unusual and comprehensive growth in its economy, and the field of special education continued to thrive as well. While the Korean government was taking a leading role in the economic growth of South Korea, the special education of children with disabilities was mostly led by private sectors. A detailed and comprehensive history of Special Education at Daegu University appears in two websites. (In Korean, the website is www.deagu.ac.kr. In English, the website is http://eng.daegu.ac.kr). We were not able to include all of this extensive history in this article of the Journal. Instead, this brief article highlights only some of the key events. This article describes: (1) the history of special education at Daegu University in South Korea; (2) the influence of special education at Daegu University on the development of special education throughout South Korea; (3) development of a post-secondary program in cooperation with the PACE program at National-Louis University in the United States.

This study explores the concept of "outside influences" to Arts education as a legitimate and important area of research in Arts education. In this study "outside influences" is defined, generally, as those groups that choose to contribute to public school Arts education, but are not a part of the institutional system of public schooling. Specifically, this study focuses on one community Arts advocacy group, Arts Collaborators, Inc. (ACI, a pseudonym), which has as part of its mission statement a focus and desire to contribute to Arts education in the schools. The paper presents an argument for a sociological examination of the actions of ACI, the relationships between Artist and audience, and examined ACI's educative actions within this framework. It analyzes the actions of ACI from Eisner's principles of Arts education, looking for a broad Arts education purpose. It examines the idea of audience development, and what the definition of "taste" might have to do with ACI's actions. These analyses are offered in the belief that schooling, specifically Arts education, is highly contextual--that is, Arts education as enacted is dependent upon many outside influences, who may shape and or contribute to the curriculum as designed and enacted in the classroom. (Contains 1 footnote.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a synopsis of some major trends that have marked discussions on global learning for sustainable development (GLSD) in higher education. The aim is formulated against the background of the complexity represented in GLSD, as well as the fact that sustainable development (SD) is an issue of global interest for universities. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted an overview in recent trends in research on GLSD in higher education over the last 20 years, based on the combination of the keyword higher education for Sustainable Development with global learning (GL) and global education. Findings: The overview suggests that only relatively limited steps have been implemented to achieve GLSD, and rhetoric still dominates the discussions. It appears that little empirical research has been undertaken on learning in global settings. Several authors have identified the need for a competence-based curriculum for GLSD. Originality/value: Universities, professionals and students need to take greater responsibility. How knowledge, values and abilities are formed and developed from the global learners perspective therefore, remains an open and fundamental question. The paper underlines the crucial role that higher education plays in GL for sustainability. (Contains 1 figure.)

Data comparing the effects of traditional lectures and instruction paired with video anchors on test scores of general education and special education preservice teachers are presented. The sample in both the experimental and control groups included a mixture of preservice teachers including those beginning a general education early childhood program and those beginning an early childhood special education program. Preservice teachers received traditional lecture-based instruction and video enhanced instruction focused on an introduction to using assistive technology with children who have disabilities. Multiple-choice and essay format pre-tests, post-tests, and follow-up tests were administered to general education and special education preservice teachers receiving traditional and technology-enhanced instruction to assess preservice teachers' baseline knowledge, immediate acquisition of new information, and maintenance of knowledge. Results revealed somewhat different within-group patterns as well as important between-group patterns. Although no differences between the two groups on the post-test immediately following the lectures was noted, the technology-enhanced instruction group out-performed the traditional instruction group on the eight-week follow-up test. Implications for future research are discussed particularly in light of teacher preparation programs for early childhood educators. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.)

Gender equality in education has held a prominent position in global policy making over the last decade through international frameworks and declarations such as the Dakar framework of Action on Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This paper draws on interviews conducted with participants who hold a gender brief in international organisations, active in the global Education for All movement. It examines the ways in which global commitments to gender equality in education are being understood in policy and programme work and what this reveals about gender mainstreaming in global education organisations. The MDG framework has been actively used in a number of organisations to leverage action on gender, primarily with regard to improving girls' access to schooling and achieving gender parity--equal numbers of girls and boys in school. This has meant that more substantive understandings of gender, which relate to the experiences of girls and women in and beyond school, often go un-discussed and un-addressed. The need for organisations to develop a more substantive notion of gender equality work linked to activism on women's rights is highlighted as a considerable challenge. This would take gender mainstreaming from a technical exercise to a political contestation with regard to processes of inclusion and exclusion. (Contains 4 notes.)

This paper explores a Sport Education pilot project as a case study of the approach in a primary school setting. The data was obtained from the end of unit written reflections of a class of upper primary students in an urban Australian primary school. The Sport Education unit of work was implemented by the school's physical education teacher who had the speculative hypothesis that Sport Education held the potential to be a construct through which to engage students that the teacher considered reluctant participants or socially isolated in class (author, 2008). The results expose an optimistic student response to the experience. Six themes emerge from the analysis of the results. They indicate Sport Education can deliver positive products for the class climate as well as for a student's personal and social skill development in a primary school setting. It is evident most students felt more included and motivated, and understood that they had developed skills for working cooperatively with others. Within this optimistic response complexities do emerge and these will be considered for their indications for Sport Education in primary school settings. However, it can be concluded that Sport Education is a curriculum model suitable for primary school physical education. (Contains 3 tables and 1 footnote.)

This paper considers the Sport Education model (Siedentop, 1994; Siedentop, Hastie & van der Mars, 2004) as a legitimate alternative for primary school physical education in a South Australian primary school. Physical education curriculum models (such as Sport Education) legitimacy as contexts for teaching appropriately rest on a capacity to facilitate teaching for student realisation of the relevant curriculum framework outcomes and as part of this, their capability to be inclusive and engaging for students. This paper reveals the elements that inhibited and supported a teacher during the implementation of a Sport Education season as an alternative curriculum model. In contrast to findings from other studies, the participation of skilled and athletic students was problematised by the teacher in that Sport Education contained the potential for the realisation of lower grades when students did not adjust to new performance and assessment expectations. The study also suggests that there is the potential for positive transfer of learning from the physical education context to the co curricular context. Further, the interesting prospect for Sport Education to become a deliberate construction for personal and social skill teaching emerges. (Contains 1 figure.)

The purpose of this study was to describe the profile, content, delivery mechanism, and application of teaching standards, National Association of Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) and Adapted Physical Education National Standards (APENS), within the Introduction to Adapted Physical Education (APE) course for college/university PETE preparation programs. Participants were 136 faculty members who taught the Introduction to APE course representing 129 different colleges/universities from 41 states. Participants representing 129 (response rate of 38%, 136 different faculty) colleges/universities from 41 of the 50 states in the U.S. completed an online survey of 40 questions. Student population was cross disciplined (i.e. teacher education, exercise science, athletic training) with the majority enrolled at the junior level. Content areas identified as a major emphasis (5 or more hours of lecture) were Disabilities (72%), Instructional and Motivational Strategies (70%), Modifications (70%), Physical fitness, Motor skills, and Motor development of students with disabilities (59%), and Writing and Implementation of Individual Education Plans (52%). Practicum experiences were included within 84% of the introductory courses. The courses were taught by professionals without Ph.D's in APE (60%). Participants indicated they addressed NASPE standards and APENS. (Contains 4 tables and 5 figures.)

As non-teacher training courses in UK higher education in Education Studies have grown and developed in recent years they have received enormous interest. All of these Education Studies degrees claim to integrate a number of disciplines using an interdisciplinary or a multidisciplinary paradigm. Traditionally the systematic integration of disciplines within courses has created a range of lenses for focusing upon issues such as in medical sociology and health. However, by their very nature, Education Studies courses are complex and influenced by a number of factors such as the socio-economic climate, political factors, changing technologies and the contemporary views of childhood as well as the changing and evolving socio-constructions of childhood. Currently, Education Studies courses integrate a number of disciplines to investigate the learning process in context. There is a trend for Education Studies degrees to shift between terms of disciplinarity such as multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity. This paper examines the nature of Education Studies degrees and tries to provoke the debate about the mono, inter, and multidisciplinarity nature of Education Studies. The paper promulgates that Education Studies by its nature and complexity cannot seek identity with any one of these approaches. It will suggest that, given the complexity of the context it serves to match, that instead Education Studies is embedded within transdisciplinarity.

The provision of education that is both effective and relevant to the needs of students within prison is challenging on a number of levels. The uniqueness of prison culture with a regime characterised by a focus on security measures such as lock-downs and head counts constrains the possibilities for learning. The absence of a supportive learning environment, together with an emphasis on punishment rather than rehabilitation, has the effect of marginalising education in prison so that "education" has come to be seen by some as "off limits". Priority is given to education in basic skills such as literacy and numeracy that contributes to "life skills". In contrast, access to higher education is more problematic, with this generally perceived by both prisoners and prison staff as an "elite" activity. This article adopts a case-study approach to consider the barriers to higher education distance learning in the prison setting. It focuses on the practical and organisational constraints faced by educators in their efforts to help students in prison negotiate the different worlds of prison and higher education. It also highlights the value of one-to-one tutorial support in facilitating learning in less than optimum teaching conditions.

This article presents the state education finance and governance profile of Florida. The state of Florida has 67 regular school districts as well as additional special districts comprised of developmental research schools and other schools that serve special populations. In 1973, the Florida Legislature adopted the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) as the funding formula to be used to allocate funds appropriated by the Legislature to school districts for K-12 public school operations. The FEFP uses the following information to determine the amount of funding to be allocated: the local property tax base, costs of education programs, costs of living, and scarcity of student population. Meanwhile, Florida's education governance is handled by the members of the State Board of Education and the Commissioner of Education who are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Florida Senate. Although many public schools (2,125) in the state of Florida are making a grade of A or B on the statewide grading scale, slightly more than half of schools (2,512) did not make adequate yearly progress in 2007 as mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. This is potential evidence of a disconnect between state and national education standards and requirements. (Contains 1 table.)

This article presents the state education finance and governance profile of Tennessee. The 17th largest state, Tennessee is home to 2.01% of the nation's inhabitants. Funding of K-12 education in Tennessee is accomplished via a formula known as the Basic Educational Program (BEP). This plan primarily utilizes school district enrollment numbers to determine appropriate funding levels in three areas: instructional, classroom, and nonclassroom. In 2007, governor Phil Bredesen sought significant improvements to the BEP formula. These improvements, dubbed "BEP 2.0," increased the state's share of instructional costs by 10%, expanded funding for at-risk and English Language Learner (ELL) programs, and included provisions for areas of high student growth. Tennessee's 136 school districts, 1,718 public schools, and four state-operated schools fall under the supervision of the Tennessee Department of Education. This agency is headed by the state commissioner of education, a gubernatorial appointee. Meanwhile, after years of generally poor rankings, the state is steadily improving in many education areas, specifically in the areas of assessments, for which the state ranked tenth in the 2009 "Education Week" report "Quality Counts," and transitions and alignment, ranked fourth among states. (Contains 1 table.)

This paper analyses Botswana's commitment to lifelong learning policy and discusses how it can help the state achieve its vision for sustainable development. First, it argues that while Botswana is renowned for its economic success, it still fails to address positively such traditional challenges as poverty, unemployment and income inequality, which are increasing disproportionately, especially among the youth and non-literate adults. These structural problems can be attributable partly to the low quality of education, which does not enable learners to reduce their risks and vulnerabilities. The paper outlines the concepts of lifelong learning and sustainable development and work from there to analyse the national education policy. It is acknowledged that the state made commendable progress in delivering basic, extension and continuing education since adopting lifelong learning in 1994. However, the delivery failed to use education to transform people's lives. The education itself failed to balance quantity with quality effectively to inculcate a culture of democracy. These issues need to be critically addressed because they invariably hamper Botswana's efforts to deliver quality education and attain its vision for sustainable development. Finally, the paper suggests that the education system should incorporate lifelong learning principles, effectively involve learners in decision making and teach for empowerment. (Contains 1 table.)