Education & Pedagogy

Teacher education in the USA is faced with an uncertain future. Unprecedented efforts on the part of government, philanthropic foundations, social entrepreneurs, professional societies and others are reshaping the enterprise. Warring camps have emerged to promote decidedly different visions for teacher education, with university-based teacher education challenged for its cost, focus, effectiveness, structure and format, and ideological orientation. Teacher education has become a topic for national debate and the array of alternative models and structures and those who represent them make it difficult to predict a likely outcome. Research remains inconclusive regarding directions to be pursued and the appeals to expertise and professionalism are largely ignored by policy makers and others. Traditional coalitions of supporters have fractured and there is a decided absence of political and professional support for traditional teacher education. The authors identify half a dozen challenges that confront the schooling of children and youth and appeal for teacher educators to lead efforts to address each of these needs. (Contains 1 table.)

Adopting the perspective of "entrepreneurship as an everyday practice" in education, the authors conceptualize opportunities as arising from the everyday practice of individuals. Opportunities are thus seen as emanating from the individual entrepreneur's ability to disclose anomalies and disharmonies in their personal life. The paper illustrates how opportunities unfold depending on regional differences, local heritage and gender, to show how entrepreneurship education must take into account differences in context, culture and circumstance. Rather than perceiving entrepreneurship education as universalistic and searching for a generally applicable teaching approach, the authors argue that there is a need to tailor entrepreneurship education to the particular. They therefore propose that the pedagogy of entrepreneurship education should be personalized and they build a conceptual framework that contrasts two opposing views of entrepreneurship education: "universalistic" and "idiosyncratic". Following this distinction, they explore how different elements of entrepreneurship education may be fitted to the particular needs of each individual learner. This insight is relevant for didactic reflections on single entrepreneurship courses and for the construction of an entrepreneurship education curriculum. (Contains 2 figures, 1 table, and 1 note.)

The aim of this article is the explication of the identity of Comparative Education and a critical reflection thereon, by means of a journal analysis of articles published in the "Comparative Education Review" during the first 50 years of its existence. The 1157 articles were analyzed under the following rubrics: levels of analysis of articles; number of units covered by articles; geographical area which articles deal with authors: numbers, countries and institutional affiliation; research methods; paradigmatic affiliations; phase of education articles cover; mode of education articles deal with; and themes/topics focused on. The analysis revealed two equally strong trends--a remarkable resilience/constancy amidst a broadening. For example, the hermeneutic paradigm continues to be the most frequent paradigm, although there has been a significant diversification of paradigms recently. Comparative Education still has the "black box" character, whereby things outside educational institutions (i.e. shaping forces of education and societal effects of education) are studied more than that which takes place inside educational institutions. The study suggests that there is much scope for the expansion of Comparative Education along new lines. Some of these are pointed out. (Contains 14 tables.)

In Kansas, local and state adult education leaders realized that leadership standards cannot be ignored if adult education is to be perceived as a professional discipline within the state's larger educational community. The perfect opportunity to study and develop leadership standards for adult education directors and coordinators presented itself during 2008. Kansas State University and the Kansas Board of Regents implemented an Adult Basic Education (ABE) Leadership Academy, a three-year leadership and management training program for 40 directors and coordinators from adult learning centers in Kansas. This article discusses the development of the Kansas Adult Education Leadership Standards. The standards are designed to set high expectations for individuals and to assist in designing professional development opportunities for all adult education leaders, from those who have only a few years of experience to those who have served as center directors for twenty years. The purpose of these standards is to raise the level of leadership and increase professional acuity as well as to enhance each center's ability to improve student outcomes and performance. (Contains 1 table.)

Character education is important within the Christian tradition but tends to be viewed with suspicion by educators who privilege autonomy as the aim of a liberal education. Equally, Christians may have concerns that character education places too great an emphasis upon good works rather than God's grace. This article reasons that character education need not be indoctrinatory, in the pejorative sense, on the one hand nor conflated with Christianity on the other. It shows that Christian-ethos schools can promote the autonomy of their students in matters of religion while also providing character education that enables them to choose well. Research from a case study of character education in a school with a Christian ethos is drawn upon to illustrate the capacity such schools have for sharing values while disagreeing about their sources. This is seen as an important feature of character education that is critical and also fosters a tolerant, respectful and inclusive school and society. It is suggested that acknowledging this complexity demonstrates an appreciation of the value of the Christian tradition in character education and within schooling. It also clearly distinguishes between being a Christian and being of good character. (Contains 1 table.)

This study examined the relationship between the 1997 UPE policy and regional educational and poverty inequality and its impact on lifelong learning through a one-year field based critical ethnography in Uganda, between June 2007 and May 2008. It drew on the Government's assumption that through UPE the twin goals of the universalisation of primary education and lifelong learning would be attained. This led to the concentration of resources away from higher education, secondary education, and lifelong learning to primary education. This "UPE centric" approach ignored the precarious situation of the large number of illiterate children, youths and adults who have never accessed UPE or dropped out without attaining literacy and numeracy skills. This paper will clarify the relationship between informal, formal, non-formal, adult education and lifelong learning. It will suggest policy recommendations to prioritise lifelong learning as the route towards achieving well-balanced national Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) goals of halving poverty and achieving UPE by 2015. (Contains 2 tables.)

In the context of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), United Nations University (UNU) initiated the creation of a network of Regional Centres of Expertise (RCEs) for Education for Sustainable Development. This paper describes the philosophy behind the activities performed by one of those RCEs, RCE Rhine-Meuse, an RCE initiative in the triangle formed by the cities of Eindhoven (the Netherlands), Cologne (Germany) and Leuven (Belgium). A small and flexible structure was created that allows the organisation to operate at the lowest possible level of costs. Safeguards in relation to both academic quality and stakeholder participation were instituted to guarantee a lasting commitment on the part of regional actors; and a strategic advisory board made up of regional stakeholders and academic professionals was formed. Some examples of RCE Rhine-Meuse projects are given. (Contains 1 figure and 2 notes.)

The purpose of this commentary is to respond to the article written by Voltz and Collins (2010) that considered the preparation of special education administrators for inclusion in diverse, standards-based contexts by highlighting the Administrator of Special Education Standards that were adopted in 2009 by the Council for Exceptional Children. The authors of the present article agree that the 2003 Administrator of Special Education Standards used in Voltz and Collins's article were not responsive to the contemporary demands of educating students with exceptionalities and serving families from diverse backgrounds. The authors also agree with Voltz and Collins that administrators of special education need to be prepared to lead in settings that serve children with disabilities from diverse backgrounds. In their response, the authors highlight the features of the 2009 standards that they believe address the concerns with the 2003 standards that Voltz and Collins raised in their article. (Contains 1 table and 1 note.)

On the basis of a three-year study of the role of popular education in local development processes in Sweden (2006-2008), this paper sets out to outline the role of popular education as a development actor in rural and urban contexts. Two different scenarios and approaches are discussed. One is the role of popular education in rural areas, which is interlinked with the village movement, dominated by bottom-up approaches and strongly linked to voluntary work carried out by local inhabitants themselves. Another scenario is the role of popular education in urban areas, which is dominated by top-down approaches in which popular education has taken on the role of implementing and running projects funded by the government and public sector, "for" local inhabitants. Our findings on the role of popular education in local development processes in urban and rural areas are discussed in relation to theories on community development and community identity, and to a theoretical model that illustrates the different ways in which popular education relates to local communities. (Contains 2 notes.)

School nurses are often asked to participate in the health component of many physical education (PE) programs in schools. With this opportunity comes an ability to invite a model of physical education that enables physical, mental, and relational health. A pilot study was initiated to explore why girls' enrollment in physical education was dwindling once the compulsory credits were achieved. What emerged was the reality that for many girls, physical education was a source of constant shaming regarding their athletic ability and eventually themselves. Forced competition, degrading evaluation, and sexuality- and size-related harassment by both peers and teachers led the participants in this study to opt out of any further physical education classes. Within school-based physical education exists an opportunity to promote the health of adolescent women. School nurses, in partnership with physical education teachers and girls, can construct a model of physical education that is neither based on competition nor athletic ability, but rather on building a positive self-esteem and a positive relationship with one's body. This model would be rooted in participation, fun, and female friendship. (Contains 1 figure and 5 tables.)

This article explores the policy responses and conceptual underpinnings of intercultural education in Greece. In the past two decades, and as a result of migration, Greece has seen its demography significantly and irreversibly altered in social, cultural, economic, ethnic, racial, and religious terms. Faced with an increasingly diverse student population, novel education policies are required. This article addresses the following questions: How has intercultural education been designed in Greece in response to growing immigration? What are the main objectives of Greek educational policy as regards contemporary Greek society overall and the immigrant population in particular? Are these changing, and if so in what direction? Is intercultural education perceived differently on the part of the various stakeholders? Based on our empirical research we highlight the connection between education policy approaches, practices and national identity discourses in order to explore the conceptual confusion of intercultural vs multicultural education approaches and the importance of the national context. We also raise a number of issues that we consider merit further examination both in policy and research terms in order to expand and enrich intercultural education in Greece. (Contains 2 tables and 17 notes.)

In the present political climate, politicians are singling out children's programs and services for budget cuts. The need for teacher education programs to prepare early childhood teachers as children's advocates is becoming ever more evident. For years, the National Association for the Education of Young Children has called for greater involvement of early childhood educators as advocates for programs and services that promote children's health and education. In teacher education programs, however, this call has largely gone unheeded. The purpose of this article is to discuss the importance of involving teacher candidates in advocacy activities and policy research, the obstacles that teacher educators can face when incorporating advocacy components into their teacher education courses and programs, and resources and strategies they can use. This discussion builds upon a motivation-obstacles-resources framework developed for adoption of innovative practices [Mintrom, M. (2001). "Achieving quality early childhood education for all: Insights from the policy innovation diffusion research" (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 451 959). Working Paper Series. New York, NY: Foundation for Child Development].

The recent restructuring of higher education in Japan has been carried out in the context of neo-liberalism with an emphasis on the unbridled workings of market forces. However, civic discourse on issues such as active citizenship and social inclusion/exclusion, which is significant to higher education as a democratic public sphere, has been left behind. Focusing on this omission, this article aims at a critical analysis of the government expansion policy initiative in Japan. It includes discussion of a wide-ranging group of participants, in particular adults who are disadvantaged with regard to access to higher education in a knowledge-based society, from the point of view of lifelong learning. It is a very important subject in Japan to encourage the active participation of adults in higher education. Regarding this aspect, the article discusses significant points for building new concepts and systems in higher education, instead of the established traditional concepts and systems, which have contributed to the exclusion of adults from higher education. (Contains 3 tables.)

With a commitment to establishing collaborative relationships with a local special education community, a consultation process was undertaken to ascertain what practising educators considered essential special education graduate characteristics. This consultation occurred against the backdrop of broad-scale university organisational restructure, faculty level program redesign, and the reported lack of an empirical basis for special education teacher attributes as distinct from general teacher education attributes. Special education professionals in a regional Australian city were invited to participate in two workshops to generate and analyse the qualities they considered essential for graduates of special education teacher preparation programs. The attributes identified by participants as essential were in agreement with many of those identified in the literature, yet behaviour support and resilience, which are typically subsumed within other categories in the literature, featured as stand-alone areas in this study. The processes and outcomes described in this article are discussed in relation to the potential value of special education teacher attributes for the field, and establishing a bridge across the perceived gap between the field and universities.

Where does Finnish science education come from? Where will it go? The following outside view reflects on relations, which Finns consider "normal" (and thus unrecognizable in introspection) in science education. But what is "normal" in Finnish culture cannot be considered "normal" for science education in other cultures, for example in Germany. The following article will trace the central ideas, which had a larger influence in the development of this difference. The question is, if and why the Finnish uniqueness in the philosophy of science education is empirically important. This puts Finnish science education into the perspective of a more general epistemological debate around Ernst Mach's "Erkenntnistheorie" (a German term similar to the meaning of history and philosophy of science, though more general; literally translated "cognition/knowledge theory"). From this perspective, an outlook will be given on open questions within the epistemology of Finnish science education. Following such questions could lead to the adaptation of the "successful" ideas in Finnish science education (indicated by empirical studies, such as the OECD PISA study) as well as the further development of the central ideas of Finnish science education.