Education & Pedagogy

As a meta-concept, "globalization" has the tendency to create master categories such as an emergent global/izing education policy. This paper critiques the thinking and assumptions that underpin a global education policy. The paper proposes that "global assemblage" is a more helpful conceptual thinking about the way education policy works in globalizing circumstances. Conceptually, the notion of an assemblage helps us to re-conceive global forms not as a totalizing external force but as an element that works in combination with other heterogeneous elements in local situations and contexts. Aspects of Singapore's education policy landscape are analyzed as part of Singapore's "global assemblage" to reveal a culture of education policy making that is constituted by heterogeneous elements such as global techniques, situated politics and ethics.

Thanks to its dedicated teachers and committed students, Massachusetts leads the nation in student achievement and classroom innovation. Massachusetts has made education its top priority because it's the path to a more fulfilling life, a more rewarding career and a richer society. The author has personally experienced the transformative power of education and has a deep understanding of what a good teacher and a good school can mean to a young person. In this article, the author describes how public education in Massachusetts is being supported through investments in educational innovation. A world-class, accessible system of public higher education is an important component of Massachusetts' growth strategy and its commitment to competing in the global economy. Massachusetts already hosts the brightest graduates and strongest institutions in the country. But best in the world is where it is heading.

This article examines the relevance of postcolonialism in early childhood education, with special reference to the kindergarten education system of South Korea. Most of the research on Korean kindergarten education has conceptualized it as preparing children for their later schooling and helping them learn the moral and social values most desired by society. In order to problematize such a monolithic conceptualization of kindergarten education, this article intends to reconceptualize it by analysing Korean kindergarten education in the context of its postcolonial condition. Using a postcolonial framework and Foucault's concepts of power and discourse, this article provides significant insights into reclaiming kindergarten education as a historical, cultural, and discursive product. With a specific focus on different conceptions of "readiness" as an example, how kindergarten education in Korea has become hybrid through postcolonial experiences is further elaborated. (Contains 11 notes.)

Education of all children in public schools, including those with disabilities, continues to be an unresolved issue in many countries around the globe. While education of all children is mandated by law and considered a basic human right in many countries, the current status of implementation varies. India, for example, is an ancient country that adopted several laws and policies for its citizens with disabilities after gaining independence from British rule. Today, India legally requires the education of all children in schools; however, despite this, millions of children with disabilities continue to remain out of school or receive little or no education. This paper discusses the special education history, legal system, current status and future for people with disabilities in India. (Contains 1 table.)

This paper is a macro study on higher education R&D and its impact on productivity growth. I measure the social rate of return on higher education R&D in 17 high-income OECD countries using country level data on the percentage of gross expenditure on R&D performed by higher education, business, and government sectors over the period 1981-2006. Empirical results suggest that lagged R&D performed by higher education is positively affecting productivity growth in all specifications. The long-run propensity of productivity growth to R&D performed by the higher education sector is also found to be positive and significant while it is found be insignificant to business R&D. (Contains 13 notes, 3 figures and 8 tables.)

This article considers the impact of recent political decisions on the provision of teacher education and the continuing development of teachers in England. It tracks how successive governments have changed the requirements necessary to become a teacher as circumstances have changed in the country and considers the impact of these changes on higher education institutions. It considers the range of ways in which someone might now become a teacher and the various providers that might become involved in this process. The recent coalition government's use of the term "initial teacher training" is used as means of identifying how the views of this government differ from others that use the term "initial teacher education" and what this means to both teachers and universities.

This paper examines perceptions of professional and organizational identity of teacher educators in a "new" University of Technology in South Africa, resulting from several recent mergers of colleges of education and colleges of technology mainly serving formerly disadvantaged students and schools. The findings show that most staff consider teaching and research as dichotomous. Research activities are seen to satisfy the institutional requirements for securing research funding and producing publications. Professional identities could be strengthened by a faculty-wide debate on the specific profile of teacher education in a University of Technology, resulting also in an agreed research ethos. Peer support in collaborative research groups with a focus on own practice is seen as an opportunity to strengthen research expertise. (Contains 1 table.)

For many years, formal school science education has been criticised by students, teachers, parents and employers throughout the world. This article presents an argument that a greater collaboration between the formal and the informal sector could address some of these criticisms. The causes for concern about formal science education are summarised and the major approaches being taken to address them are outlined. The contributions that the informal sector currently makes to science education are identified. It is suggested that the provision of an effective science education entails an enhanced complementarity between the two sectors. Finally, there is a brief discussion of the collaboration and communication still needed if this is to be effective. (Contains 5 tables.)

Contributors to this special issue have been asked to provide self-portraits of their intellectual lives and to consider the development of the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia (PESA) as an organisation. The author approaches this task by keeping the autobiographical details to a minimum and focusing more on the prospects for philosophy of education within contemporary institutions of higher education. Attention is paid to the New Zealand context and the role PESA has played, and can continue to play, in keeping philosophy of education alive. The author argues that while the challenges to retaining robust programmes of philosophy of education in university contexts are substantial, there is considerable hope for the future of the field in the work of newer and younger scholars.

This article describes the various capacity-building activities at the Institute of Environmental and Water Studies of Birzeit University during the past 10 years. It highlights the gained experience in advancing environmental science and engineering education and training programs as components of sustainable water and environmental management schemes. Furthermore, the major constraints faced, and future plans to sustain and enhance the capacity-building activities, are also introduced and discussed. Critical analysis of the past and ongoing educational and training programs provided clear evidence that environmental education and research capacity building in Palestine is still underutilized and threatened by a persistent lack of financial resources. The data presented should also be of interest to international agencies engaged in strengthening higher education. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)

In this paper, it is argued that sexuality education for individuals with intellectual disabilities has historically been incomplete to non-existent. While some progress has been made in this area, individuals with intellectual disabilities continue to receive inadequate sexuality education due to its failure to address the "ignored curriculum". The ignored curriculum is defined as the curriculum learned incidentally outside the classroom through peer interactions--interactions from which students with intellectual disabilities are often precluded. Here, comprehensive sexuality education that addresses the ignored curriculum is linked to a person's ability to exercise full rights of citizenship. An argument is made for a critical pedagogical approach to sexuality education as an effective means to teach individuals with intellectual disabilities the ignored curriculum of sexuality. (Contains 1 note.)

Comprehensive sexuality education is one of the most important tools to ensure that young people have the information they need to make healthy and informed choices. The aim of this article is, firstly, to outline general issues about sexuality education pertaining to curriculum content, the didactic methods used, agencies involved, political support, coverage and adequacy of provision and barriers to effective sexuality education in Europe. Secondly, the current state of sexuality education in most European Union member states and Norway is described, enabling a Europe-wide comparison of country experiences in the field. This reveals a wide variety of didactic methods and policies that have shaped the provision of sexuality education and the ease and difficulties with which the subject can be implemented, and at what age and in what form it is available. (Contains 3 tables.)

As democratic citizenship education gains importance worldwide, one wonders whether common civic education practices in the United States, such as mock elections, are adequate models for other countries, or whether they fall short of realizing the goal of promoting democracy in different regions and cultures. Despite various controversies, one fundamental question remains: How should we teach democracy? Should we teach it as a system of government or as a way of life? Jessica Ching-Sze Wang finds inspiration in Dewey's life and works. She draws on Dewey's experience during the First World War and his insights into the connection between democracy and education to reconstruct a culturally and morally robust form of democratic education, as opposed to the politically dominated one currently being practiced. Wang concludes that Deweyan democratic education thus reconstructed can help us better realize democracy as a way of life for our globalizing world.

Across advanced industrial economies, programs in higher education are increasingly becoming occupationally specific and universities are being seen as providers of "higher vocational education". With this have come expectations that graduates from these programs will enjoy smooth transitions into professional practice. Aligned with these expectations is an educational emphasis on providing students with access to and engagement in authentic instances of practice, and an expectation that these will be effectively integrated within higher education programs. Consequently, it is important to understand how these kinds of educational purposes and processes can be realised, and how higher education students' experiences in both university and practice settings should be best organised and integrated to realise these purposes. This article discusses the worth of these educational purposes and bases for realising the effective integration of these work experiences. This discussion includes considerations of the kinds of curriculum and pedagogic practices needed to be enacted to secure this educational worth.

For almost half a century from the early 1960s Martin Trow was the most persistent American commentator on British higher education. He analysed the main reports from Robbins to Dearing, developed and applied a language for discussing common problems amongst different systems, and focused on the uncertain progress of the UK to mass higher education. He was committed to understanding and comparing national systems of higher education in their wider contexts, applying his blend of sociology, history and policy research and analysis. The result was a sustained picture of British politics and policies, systemic and institutional change and resistance. This article follows his path through some of the most important and difficult events in British higher education, tracing his interpretations in his published and unpublished work, and conference papers. The article, therefore, becomes a recent history of British higher education through perceptive American eyes.