Education & Pedagogy

Retention and attrition rates in higher education have long been a focus of research. This paper presents findings of a single case study, undertaken in a School of Education, which identify important strategies that have led to attrition of five to eight per cent, compared with 18 per cent cross the education sector in Australia (Department of Education, Science and Training, 2004). Findings include: individual admissions interviews, funding of an Associate Dean Pastoral Care, course coordinators providing continuity of support, easy access for students to academic staff, well-supported, extended professional experience, senior staff lecturing undergraduates, congruence between co-curricular supports and the educational framework, and comprehensive mentoring of new students. Finally, sustainability of these strategies in modern times is discussed.

In recent years, the subject of internationalization has been one of the most discussed issues in academic and university centers. Experts in the higher education believe that this subject is a new paradigm and inevitable approach in the universities and curriculum. Internationalization refers to the process of integrating an international and intercultural dimension into the teaching, research and service functions of the institution. It is a term that is being used more and more to discuss the international dimension of higher education. It is a term that means different things to different people and is thus used in a variety of ways. The purpose of this study is, surveying the nature of internationalization of higher education and its causality, practical models and specifying it holistically for stakeholders of higher education systems.

Access to the general education curriculum is a critical component of special education today, yet many teachers struggle to implement practices that provide such access. The authors describe how teachers can draw on three levels of support--teacher-, student-, and peer-delivered strategies--to optimize access to the general education curriculum for students with autism. Included are a variety of research-based strategies for facilitating access to the general education curriculum and information on where to find additional references and resources on specific strategies. The final section includes an example of how the three levels of support can be combined to maximize access to the general education curriculum for students with autism.

What is the role of higher education when a nation moves toward a political climate in which the government has a free hand to do whatever it wants in the name of national security? If society faces a real threat that could destroy life as we know it, then we should all--including higher education--rise to its defense. However, if national security is merely used as a ruse to grab power, then higher education faces a very different imperative. Even if the threat is real, higher education still has a responsibility to carefully question the extent to which state power is justified. This article discusses the mission of higher education in relation to national security--to create informed discussion, and search for truth no matter where it leads.

The purpose of national education is to develop skills and build dignified national character and civilization in educating nation life (Act No. 20, 2003). The paper describes a system of quality assurance in culture and character education in primary education. This study employs the six sigma model which consists of the formula DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) to model the development of Quality Assurance System. Quantitative approach is used in this study with Research and Development (R&D) method. The research methodology consists of three stages: preface, development, and examination. The study finds that comprehension level of school members towards the idea, design, and implementation of culture and nation character education in the first stages of academic learning is generally considered decent.

Social Foundations of Education (SFE) courses play a critical role in preparing professional, effective PK-12 teachers, yet, for reasons argued in this article and elsewhere, such courses remain under attack. In this article, by arguing what SFE "stands for" as opposed to what it "stands against," the authors intend to persuasively present non-SFE teacher educators with formerly unknown or unclear knowledge of the SFE discipline and its intended outcomes with the goal they may become comfortable with--if not outright advocates for--their courses' content and knowledgeable on its purpose(s), rather than viewing SFE teacher educators and courses as unnecessary, radical, and burdensome to PK-12 teacher preparation curricula.

An education reform policy and inclusive education policy have been implemented in Hong Kong for over a decade. As more students with special educational needs have entered the mainstream education system under these policies, Hong Kong's primary music classrooms offer a site where three policies interact--the education reform policy entitled "Learning to Learn," the policy of inclusive education, and the undeclared "policy" of making savings in the government budget. This article seeks to explore the results of the interaction of these three policies. A qualitative study was carried out to investigate the views of Hong Kong primary school music teachers on the policy of inclusion in relation to music teaching. Insufficient support in inclusive learning in "non-core" subjects, such as music, is evidenced.

This argument in this study is that the descriptive dimension of the concept of education hub, which focuses on the importance of connectivity in enhancing the competiveness of a place, is inadequate in addressing the educational values in globalising higher education. Therefore, it attempts to initiate a normative dimension of education hub through an empirical account of the experience of a group of Myanmar university students in Hong Kong and an engagement with the ideas of cosmopolitanisation and the notion of higher education as a "transnational" human right. By considering these stories from Myanmar, this study reveals the adoption of the internationalisation of higher education in promoting transnational justice and development.

The present article analyses the changes in practices, ideas, and attitudes proposed by a group of novice science teachers during a further education teacher training program. The research on which it is based is focused on monitoring the training program and its impact on the participating teachers. The training program has as its starting point the practical problems teachers encounter, and is developed fundamentally through team work, debates, and reflection. The study demonstrates the suitability of these procedures to facilitate change and influence the professional development of these teachers.

The study examined the sustainability of distance education in the context of finance, management and availability of support services in Ashanti region of Ghana. Data for the study were obtained from five groups of respondents namely; centre coordinators, educational administrators, facilitators of distance education programme, potential and current students pursuing distance education. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics. The results revealed that current management and support services are adequate and sustainable. In the case of finance management, it is believed that financial resources generated by the programme through students' fees would sustain the programme. However, potential, and current students pursuing distance education viewed the private cost involved as high. Hence for sustainability of the programme, it is important that school fees charged are reviewed in order not to negatively influence students' access to distance education.

In the 1990s, New Zealand and Australia rolled out new school physical education curriculums (Ministry of Education, 1999, 2007; Queensland School Curriculum Council, 1999) signaling a significant change in the purpose of physical education in both countries. These uniquely Antipodean curriculum documents were underpinned by a socially critical perspective and physical education teacher education (PETE) programs in both countries needed to adapt to prepare teachers who are capable of engaging PE from a socially critical perspective. One way they attempted to do this was to adopt what has variously been labeled critical pedagogy. Critical pedagogies as a label is something of "big tent" (Lather, 1998) and this paper reports on the published attempts to operationalize critical pedagogy and its reported success or otherwise in preparing teachers for the expectations of the socially critical oriented HPE curriculum in both Australian and New Zealand.

Using a critical theory framework, the article explores emancipatory narratives obtained through a case study of women in rural India. In-depth interviews, focus group conversations, observations, and document analysis highlight the complexity of the subsequent set of challenges facing women as it relates to both the education and empowerment for women. Initial research questions addressed different dimensions of women's empowerment, but, through grounded theory, findings emerged that highlighted the constraints embedded in continuing education programs for women in these contexts. Providing evidence from the lived experiences of women who have been the recipients of an economic delivery program and nonformal education programs, themes highlight the role of politics, corruption, and poverty as larger systemic issues hindering women's access to education.

Current practices and procedures of distance education programs at selected institutions in higher education in Ohio were studied. Relevant data was found in the areas of: (1) content of the distance education program's mission statement; (2) needs assessment procedures; (3) student demographics; (4) course acquisition, development, and evaluation criteria and procedures; (5) hierarchical approval of courses; (6) delivery systems; (7) selection of distance education course instructors; (8) distance education course teaching/management procedures; (9) matriculation of distance learners; (10) budgeting; (11) marketing procedures; and (12) formative and summative evaluation of the individual courses and the entire distance education program. This research has led to the development of a Distance Learning Adminstrative Operational Model.

This paper is interested in projecting the likely purposes, pedagogies and practices influencing lifewide adult education in New Zealand ten years from now. It first identifies learning spaces in which lifewide adult education takes place. It explores formal, non-formal and informal spaces which conform to or oppose dominant ideological policies, trends and discourses. Second, it discusses current purposes, pedagogies and practices in lifewide adult education. The official purposes are seen as adult education contributing to New Zealand's success in a global marketplace. While lifewide adult education provides spaces to achieve such official purposes, it also creates spaces of neutrality and opposition. In the third section, the paper uses causal layered analysis (CLA) to project the likely future of lifewide adult education. The paper concludes that that while neoliberal purposes, pedagogies and practices will remain dominant, what will be flourishing in diverse spaces is counter-learning.

In April, the "New England Journal of Higher Education" ("NEJHE") launched its "New Directions for Higher Education" series to examine emerging issues, trends, and ideas that have an impact on higher education policies, programs, and practices. In this installment of the series, DiSalvio speaks with Richard Arum, co-author (with Josipa Roksa) of "Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses." Arum and Roksa pose fundamental questions about whether undergraduates are really learning anything during their undergraduate experience. For a large proportion of students, Arum and Roksa's answer to that question is a definitive "no."