Education & Pedagogy

How has entrepreneurship education been implemented in Finnish comprehensive schools. A two-part survey was undertaken in 43 municipalities with different educational and socio-economic backgrounds. The first part, in 2005, dealt with the local curriculum reform with a focus on the development of entrepreneurship education. The second part, in 2006, dealt with the implementation of entrepreneurship education. Questionnaires were sent to the representatives of the education and business sectors in the municipalities. The research questions were: (1) What is the sense of responsibility for implementing entrepreneurship education? (2) What kind of knowledge is there about entrepreneurship education? The results indicate that an atmosphere of responsibility for implementing entrepreneurship education is developing, although teachers do not possess knowledge of how to implement entrepreneurship education in practice. To develop such new curricular fields, such as entrepreneurship education, one could develop partnership forms of curriculum reform in order to develop teachers' learning, school/work partnerships, and local curriculum work. Reforms need to be framed in practice-oriented terms, thus strengthening the realization of aims and contents. (Contains 3 figures and 9 notes.)

Higher education is a field of study. It does not have an integral cognate discipline that defines its extent and borders. Contributions to understanding higher education come from, among others, sociologists, historians, political theorists, economists and students of science policy and cultural studies. These were the disciplines whose exponents were assembled by Burton Clark in UCLA to summarise for a wider audience the contributions their disciplines were making to scholarship and research into higher education in the early 1980s. This paper reviews these disciplinary approaches and Clark's reactions to them in the light of later developments in higher education and its study. It concludes by claiming that the contributors showed remarkable prescience in identifying many of the main developments in higher education studies over the following quarter of a century. It also asserts that although there has been a huge expansion in higher education studies since then, and they now have all the attributes of an academically respectable field of study throughout the world, they remain dependent on their foundation disciplines for their intellectual rigour. (Contains 1 note.)

The Republic of Kyrgyzstan became a free and democratic state after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Since that time, Kyrgyzstan has redefined and renegotiated what education in its society should be. Although numerous internal and external initiatives have sought to reshape Kyrgyzstan's curriculum and instructional strategies, these projects have paid little attention to moral education and its role in educational reform for democracy. The international moral education study presented here sought a better understanding of curricular gaps, policy alternatives, and unique possibilities and approaches based on different social, cultural, economic, and historical perspectives. A cross-cultural civic education curriculum development project held at the University of Iowa with Kyrgyz educators offered the opportunity to investigate the problems associated with reinventing moral education in Kyrgyzstan after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. These Kyrgyz educators' perspectives-drawn from interviews, observations, and cognitive mapping tools-provided a picture of the complexities involved in Kyrgyz moral education. This study also provides a foundation for future educational reforms and initiatives, as the findings exposed the challenges and promises of democratically-oriented moral education in post-Soviet states and their relation to other democracies.

Since the signing of the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) in August 2008, providers of distance education courses and programs have been looking into procedures and technologies that will satisfy the accrediting agencies responsible for enforcing the law. Continuing education administrators are at the forefront because of the pervasiveness of distance learning in their programs. In order to make the most informed decisions and choose the most appropriate solutions for an institution, it is useful to understand the history of the legislation, and important to understand fully the issues associated with authentication. This article discusses the implications of the HEOA as it applies to continuing higher education administrators and distance education programs. The authors explain how the HEOA legislation was "the result of fraud committed by diploma-mill organizations and concerns by legislators about student cheating." They offer examples of current authentication systems, such as fingerprint scanning, iris scanning, speech recognition, handwriting recognition, and assorted "non-biometric authentication technologies" as well as timely advice from distance education administrators on considering "any new authentication and identity system."

This paper is a research-informed response to the paradigm shift that has taken place in the world of teacher education for the further education sector in England during the last few years. We begin by outlining the various changes that have taken place in terms of regulation of the sector and show how this has impacted upon the agency of those who have been involved in the "delivery" of a curriculum based on a set of new and prescribed standards. Making use of a life history approach, we compare and contrast two very different stories: one of a lecturer new to teacher education and the other of a lecturer who has been involved in teacher education for more than 25 years. Drawing upon these two cases we show that the myriad changes and prescriptions introduced into the further education sector have not closed down the achievement of agency of those involved in teacher education programmes. Rather, the changes have transformed the ways in which their agency can be articulated. (Contains 3 notes.)

Outdoor education is not a universal value. Rather, outdoor education's contributions need to be grounded in time, place and culture. In this paper we describe the historical and cultural milieu that has enabled the emergence of outdoor education in Singapore and report on exploratory survey research into Singaporean teachers' conceptions of outdoor education. We compare the reported outcomes of outdoor education in Singapore to similar studies from Australia and New Zealand. Further focus group research is then used to develop a vision for outdoor education in Singapore. In so doing we aim to illustrate, and celebrate, how culturally-specific circumstances must be considered in both interpreting and conceptualizing outdoor education. We conclude that while personal development outcomes are important for Singaporean outdoor educators, these are developed more for the benefits of society and the State. The future role of outdoor education in Singapore will most probably continue to be linked to ongoing and emerging social and cultural imperatives such as harmony among diverse religious groups and environmental consequences of climate change. (Contains 7 notes and 1 table.)

This paper examines an important development in Chinese higher education in the late 1990s and early 2000s, namely, its radical expansion of enrollment starting from 1998. After a brief review of the related literature on educational expansion, the paper analyzes the higher education expansion in China in detail. The paper argues that a variety of factors have led to the enrollment expansion, including the expectation to stimulate domestic consumption and to ease the immediate pressure on the labor market, the high public interest in and demand for higher education in Chinese society, and the political will of the Chinese government to develop higher education. The outcomes of the enrollment expansion are also examined. The paper argues that the expected short term impact of enrollment expansion on Chinese economy is not warranted by reality. Enrollment expansion has also put pressures on Chinese higher education to further reform its structure, curricula, and administration. More importantly, enrollment expansion has brought the issue of equity to the front. A table with the statistics of enrollment in higher education in China is appended. (Contains 15 notes.)

We describe the accreditation of medical education programs that lead to the Doctor of Medicine degree in the United States and Canada. We identify select accreditation standards that relate directly to the preparation of medical school graduates, as required for the supervised practice of medicine in residency training and for developing the skills of self-directed, independent learning. With standards that promote flexibility and encourage innovation, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education utilizes a continuous improvement model for the accreditation of undergraduate medical education with standards that promote flexibility and encourage innovation. The standards focus on curricula to meet learning objectives that address the current context of medical care. In undergraduate and graduate medical education, the relevance of the hospital as the predominant learning environment is challenged; in continuing medical education, traditional lectures are called into question for failing to change physician behavior and improve health care outcomes. To improve medical education from undergraduate through continuing medical education, all the relevant accrediting agencies must collaborate for success.

There is an urgent need to build a movement for adult education in the United States. Tens of thousands more classes are needed to enable democratic participation in the economy and society. This dramatic expansion of adult education and literacy should be aimed at the development of critical consciousness and civic participation of over ninety million potential students. Adult students and potential students who are aware of the world and actively involved can transform their communities and society. Adult education teachers and programs can serve the liberation of adult students or they can be society's gatekeepers, to control and domesticate them. This gatekeeping is manifested in the unequal treatment based on race, gender and nationality, but its foundation rests on the class relationships in this society. This article discusses the role of adult education practitioners and programs in social control. It describes work experience with teachers and programs in New York City and begins to look at the detrimental role of social control in adult education. (Contains 20 notes.)

Comparing popular education in the Philippines and South Korea, it is clear that a number of similarities and differences exist regarding the characteristics, methods, and main fields in which popular education has operated. "Church-related practices," "uniting with CO movements," "an elite-led tendency," and "a disregard for the Left" have all occurred in similar ways in both countries. While introducing the socio-political situation during 1970s and 1980s of these two countries, this paper discusses the theories and practices of popular education. Our findings indicate how popular education in both countries has played a significant role in raising the levels consciousness in the powerless and transforming societies and enabled them to establish a better community. Moreover, each country developed different concepts, initiatives and methods in relation to popular education. In addition, popular educators have been asked to play different roles in each popular education field while most methods were in fact heavily dependent upon elite-led practices. (Contains 17 notes.)

To effectively teach young children, early childhood teachers must be prepared to collaborate with families of diverse backgrounds. Studying the unique cultural contexts of children and families in American early care and education programs and communities will offer early educators information needed to develop empathy for the families with whom they wish to partner. This study investigated the attitudes of Chinese graduate students in the United States toward American early care and education programs. Chinese graduate students are a unique and growing population of approximately 189,000, 40% of whom have at least one child attending American early care and education programs. Chinese graduate students' educational expectations for their young children and reasons behind these expectations were also explored. Findings showed that participants' views of American early care and education reflected Chinese culture and life experience. In terms of American education, these Chinese graduate students compared the American programs' curricula to the Chinese national curriculum, a curriculum they successfully mastered. Implications for early childhood teacher education programs are discussed. (Contains 1 table.)

This article argues that public education needs to be reclaimed to fulfill its role as a "democratising force" to address social and economic inequality and to respect and recognise diversity and difference. By analysing historical developments in federal policy, funding and economic contexts a case is developed to demonstrate that the role of the state has been dismantled and the public nature of education has been reduced. The factors responsible are articulated and discussed with particular reference to the impact of neo-liberal policy, the "marketisation" of education and new public management. Measures such as those taken by Education Queensland that support the development of school leaders and teachers to engage in research, development and critical debate are supported. International examples of how systems have revitalised and supported the public nature of education are discussed. These include more intelligent accountability systems that respect the professionalism of teachers and collaborative curriculum development strategies that engage with all, including those who are least powerful such as the students. (Contains 2 tables and 1 endnote.)

One strategy for improving the quality of undergraduate education, with potential impact over decades, involves greater attention to the preparation of doctoral students who will soon fill the faculty ranks. Doctoral education is a time of socialization for future careers, including faculty work. In recognition of the important role of doctoral education in strengthening undergraduate teaching and learning, various efforts are underway to take a strategic and systematic approach to preparing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty for the future. In this chapter, the authors explain the role of doctoral education as a socializing process, present common concerns about doctoral education as preparation for faculty work, and briefly survey the range of programs to improve faculty preparation during doctoral education. Then they highlight two programs within the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CRTL), sponsored by the National Science Foundation, whose comprehensive nature makes them useful examples of institutional efforts specifically focused on preparing effective STEM faculty for the future. (Contains 1 table.)

Education has become a domain of considerable ideological division. Today the mantra is freedom and choice, yet at the same time, a push to "back to basics" is observed. This author attempts to trace the contours of this division by taking two steps back from the contemporary fray. One step is to situate present day discussions in a larger historical context. In this context, today's points of debate and disagreement are not so new. The other step is to interrogate the protagonists' underlying understanding of the nature of knowledge, in other words their epistemological assumptions. She describes three paradigmatic approaches to education: "didactic," "authentic," and "transformative." Transformative education may prove to be hugely significant in social terms and in the impact of social changes on education. In this article, the author reflects on the nature of the discipline of education. She concludes by arguing that education should conceive itself as a science, and suggests the constituent elements of a science of education. The time is ripe to open out the intellectual scope and ambition of education as a field of intellectual endeavour and social invention.

Supporters of bilingual education are hoping that the election of Barack Obama as president will lead to a thaw in attitudes toward what they consider a proven educational method that has been ignored--or worse--by the Bush administration. Advocates are encouraged by the endorsement of bilingual education by President-elect Obama in the recent campaign, and see the pending reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act as a vehicle to change federal testing and other policies they view as hostile to dual-language instruction. Obama's education plan--which was posted for months on his Democratic presidential campaign's Web site, but is not on his post-election site--stated that he and his running mate, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, "support transitional bilingual education and will help limited-English-proficient students get ahead by holding schools accountable for making sure these students complete school." Obama has not defined what he means by "transitional bilingual education." Many education experts believe his position indicates that his administration will give more attention to bilingual education than has President George W. Bush's administration.