Education & Pedagogy

This essay is a critical humanist discussion of curriculum; a departure from the technicist view of education [education meant to support a global capitalist economy] and an analysis of curriculum considering critical humanism, political economy and critical race theory among other modes of critical analysis and inquiry. Our discussion supports a revolutionary curriculum: the turn from a static coercive system of domination where the everyday lives of students are controlled to a dynamic liberatory education where education supports a student's imaginary (Pinar), creativity and their everyday practice of freedom (Freire, Greene, Hooks).

The aim of this paper is to examine how the University of Huddersfield embraced the ethos of community cohesion and made moves into a problematic community. Drawing on qualitative research conducted in Oldham in Greater Manchester the paper presents insights into how higher education is viewed in the area. The research reveals that higher education in a deprived community is successful but one of the complications in such an environment is related to the policy context. The paper acknowledges the transformation in higher education but argues that central government and higher education bodies need to clarify and consolidate policy initiatives.

The paper makes three claims: first that regulatory state making and market making in higher education is intertwined through a project of market citizenship that shapes the "publicness" of higher education. Second, we argue that these projects of market citizenship are variegated and in Australia has taken the form of accommodation--via regulation tools--between social democratic and market elements, and finally we argue that the effect of this new regulatory state is a strategy to depoliticise the governance of higher education. Policy making appears to be the application of a set of technical rules rather than political decisions about the allocation of values.

Adult educators know that adults and families change their lives through adult education. Adult education also positively impacts a host of social and economic issues. Yet this fact is largely unknown or misunderstood by the general public. Resources have become increasingly scarce, while at the same time adult educators are asked to do more with less. Advocacy must happen in order to help adults, families, and communities to change lives through adult education. This article presents 4 tenets of advocacy and discusses how advocacy can have a positive effect on the issues facing adult education.

The timing of education across the life cycle is differentially associated with older age health outcomes and socioeconomic status among military retirees, a subpopulation with common levels of adolescent health, but variation in educational timing. A year of education obtained before military service lowers the probability of poor health in retirement by 2.5 percentage points, while a year obtained after service reduces poor health by only 0.6 percentage point. By contrast, education raises income and wealth uniformly through vintage. This suggests that education improves health through fostering the lifelong accumulation of healthy behaviors and habits rather than raising income or wealth.

Correctional Education English as a Second Language (ESL) literacy programs vary from state to state, region to region. Some states enroll their correctional ESL students in adult basic education (ABE) classes; other states have separate classes and programs. At the Maryland Correctional Institution in Jessup, the ESL class is a self-contained classroom with 99% of the ESL students coming from Spanish-speaking countries. These students come from unique backgrounds and teaching literacy can be challenging. This article describes characteristics of the ESL literacy program at MCI-J.

This article presents and discusses the findings of a small-scale research project into the occupational outcomes of graduates of an Initial Teacher (Further) Education (ITE) programme at Maynooth University in Ireland. The findings from this mixed-method research indicate that many graduates experience high levels of occupational precarity and a sense of professional inequity when compared with their compulsory education teacher-peers as they attempt to make the transition into the heterogeneous field of adult and Further Education in Ireland.

Higher education system in India facing daunting challenges from within--forces from within the institutions, and from outside within the country, and from global forces. The system needs major and somewhat pressing, if not emergency reforms. At the same time, we are confronted with a variety of dilemmas in reforming higher education. It is argued here that some dilemmas are redundant, a few valid and genuine, and some need a little bold re-thinking--drawing from traditional wisdom and contemporary world experience. The paper deliberates on these different types of education dilemmas.

This essay contemplates the role of "music as education" (as opposed to "music education") in the Western World since Ancient Greek philosophical inquiry and throughout early Christianity, the Middle Ages, and Modernism. It regards music as a potential tool for instruction and knowledge exchange. In particular, this essay examines post-Enlightenment philosophical trends that reshaped Western understandings of music. Finally, this paper explores music education within the Seventh-day Adventist educational system as influenced by both nineteenth-century thought as well as informed by the reformative attempts that followed in the twentieth century.

The emerging focus on instructional technology in society and education has not been effective in providing the basis for widespread adoption in physical education (PE). Interest in technology's role in education, in general, has grown, but its role in PE remains in question. Many professionals express concern over feasibility, technical wherewithal, and lack of support. In this paper, the authors (a) discuss factors that influence PE teachers' adoption of technology in teaching, (b) outline how decision-making research can inform the technology adoption process, and (c) provide a framework and recommendations to promote technology adoption among PE teachers.

European countries are increasingly committed to human rights and inclusive education. However, persistent educational and social inequalities indicate uneven implementation of inclusive education. This article reviews scholarly evidence on inclusion and its implementation, to show how inclusive education helps ensure both quality education and later social inclusion. Structurally, the article first establishes a conceptual framework for inclusive education, next evaluates previous research methodologies, and then reviews the academic and social benefits of inclusion. The fourth section identifies successful implementation strategies. The article concludes with suggestions on bridging the gap between inclusive education research, policy, and practice.

The current narrative surrounding urban education, while incomplete, often focuses on concerns related to student achievement, failing schools, and teacher quality. This article targets teacher preparation as one response to these challenges and investigates the extent to which liberal arts colleges and universities are involved in this work. The article provides a summary of practices associated with effective urban-focused teacher preparation and analyzes data from liberal arts teacher education programs. Based on this research, the author categorizes the programs' various approaches and offers recommendations for maximizing the ability of such programs to effectively engage in this crucial work.

This essay considers the variants of liberal education that have arisen outside of the United States, conceptualizing liberal education as a loosely transferred "ideal type" and the United States as a "reference society." The geopolitical framings (i.e., American style, European model, Asian approach) that differentiate global liberal education are explored, and I argue that these labels are revealing in terms of location and legitimacy but less useful with respect to understanding the educational transfer that has been occurring. I analyze the loose coupling asserted in theories of educational borrowing, calling attention to the possibilities and limits of the geopolitical framing, and responding to the spatial reconsideration being called for in the comparative education field.

Recent years have seen much interest in positive education. In this article, we will show how person-centred education, like positive education, is concerned with the promotion of human flourishing. Both offer ways in which education goes beyond traditional skills and knowledge to a concern for the well-being of people. However, we argue that an awareness of the scholarship of Carl Rogers, the author of "Freedom to Learn" and the originator of the person-centred approach with its contrasting ontological stance to human nature will broaden the scope of the positive education movement to create a healthy and necessary theoretical tension in views of how positive education can be delivered.

Discussed are some changes needed in teacher education programs if prospective teachers' training in child development is to be relevant to the ethnically diverse children encountered in the classroom. Particular attention is given to characteristics teachers must have to teach children in large urban areas; the incorporation of human growth and development in all aspects of teacher education; training teachers to respond with appropriate instructional strategies to students' culturally-based learning styles; preparing teachers to teach students the intellectual skills they need to learn and use their knowledge; and recommendations for expanding the teacher preparation curriculum and the length of the teacher education program. (RH)