Education & Pedagogy

This article describes efforts from the mid-1990s in South Africa to reshape higher education curricula, and the responses of universities to a series of policy initiatives concerned with higher education curriculum reform. Pressures of globalisation and the local challenges of reconstruction and development formed the context in which higher education curriculum restructuring occurred. Two discourses, a credit-accumulation-and-transfer discourse and a disciplinary discourse, have shaped education policy making in South Africa since the mid-1990s, particularly in higher education. Policy initiatives to re-shape higher education curricula are discussed, as well as the ways in which science and humanities faculties at universities have responded to these initiatives. A typology of different curriculum forms is presented which suggests that in spite of the influence of the credit exchange discourse in policy documents, undergraduate curricula continue to be presented on a largely disciplinary basis.

In 2000, the 11th Circuit Court provided the largest single award in special education history to date, approximately $2.5 million, to two teenage students who were deaf. The students were judged to have been denied a free, appropriate public education (FAPE), having spent their academic careers in generic special education classes for students with multiple disabilities without the benefit of access to a communication system; the services of a certified, qualified teacher of the deaf; or related services. This article describes the case from the perspective of FAPE, least restrictive environment, and due process in the presence of guardians who did not understand the implications of the Individual Education Program (IEP) teams' decisions; presents a chronology of the case; explores the implications for various stakeholders; and discusses the catastrophic impact on the social, emotional, communication, and academic development and earning potential of the students.

This article outlines the important contribution that further education (FE) colleges make towards higher education (HE) in Scotland, and the ways in which this is a distinctive contribution, differing from that provided by the higher education institutions (HEIs). However, it also explores the ways in which the boundaries between FE colleges and HEIs are being blurred. This discussion is presented in the context of a wider process of differentiation and stratification in HE in Scotland, which has been associated with the emergence of a mass system of HE. A number of sub-sectors can now be identified which are making different types of contributions to HE provision. The FE colleges can be seen as one of these sub-sectors. The article also provides a brief discussion of recent developments at the level of national policy and strategy designed to create a more coherent and integrated system of tertiary education in Scotland. (Contains 2 notes.)

This study examined Chinese attitudes toward women's careers, marriage rights, sexual freedom, and the importance of having sons using a 1991 national sample of individuals and community-level data and through a series of nested multilevel models. Education influences gender attitudes in multiple ways at both the micro- and macrolevels. Better-educated individuals hold more egalitarian gender attitudes, and this positive effect of individual education is larger for women than for men, indicating a strong empowerment effect for women. Egalitarian gender attitudes trickle down through education, as individuals in communities with high education are socialized toward more egalitarian attitudes. Community education has a larger effect toward the egalitarian direction on the attitude toward the importance of having sons than on the attitude toward women's marriage rights, indicating that change in the latter attitude occurred earlier and has now spread via education. These findings show that education is a vehicle of socialization that is used by both the domestic power elite (the Communist Party) and the Western culture.

The anniversary of the "International Journal of Lifelong Education" can participate in a conceptual landslide from lifelong education to lifelong learning. Contemporary discourses of lifelong learning etc. are abstractions behind which new functions and agendas for adult education are set. The ideological discourse of recent policies seems to neglect the fact that history and resources for lifelong learning are different across Europe, and also neglects the multiplicity of adult learners. Instead of refusing the new agendas, however, adult education research should try to dissolve the abstractions by broadening its scope of interest, by focussing on differences of learners, by age, gender, ethnicity, social experience, and differences in context, by socioeconomic environment, culture etc. Practically, it is argued, this means embracing the new focus on informal learning and work related learning. Adult education research must fulfil its potential conversion from normative philosophy to critical and empirical social science.

The historiography of African American education has stressed the work of education professionals, tensions over curricula, and the desegregation of schools. Informal learning settings, while recognized as important educative spaces, have remained tangential to the broader narrative of the struggle for education. Thus, the influence of Black civic voluntary organizations is largely underexplored. In this essay I posit that instead of being on the margins, Black associations supplemented, guided, supported, and funded the education of African Americans through overlapping organizational networks that comprised autonomous counterpublic spaces. In these spaces, a wide variety of voluntary groups worked collaboratively to improve local public schools, to develop curricula centered on Black culture, and to provide educational opportunities for youth and adults. Recognizing that the history of African American education cannot be fully told without investigating informal spaces, this essay offers a roadmap for the investigation of Black civic voluntary organizations.

This article focuses on political education, a vital but neglected component in histories of education within South Africa's liberation movement in exile during the 1970s and 1980s. The article shows how in conditions of exile the idea of political education as a forward-looking, home-bound form of education was counterposed to a notion of "refugee education". It explores its relationship to the idea of "peoples' education" that had emerged through the National Education Crisis/Coordinating Committee (NECC) inside South Africa, how it entered the educational debate through the ANC's Lusaka and London Education Committees in connection with the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College (SOMAFCO), and the roles of Jack Simons and Harold Wolpe. As such, it contributes to more complex understandings of the relationship between the national and transnational, and the entanglement and interconnections of practices and ideas across time and space.

The development of more culturally competent special education teachers is integral to striving for a more equitable education system for all students. However, the development of cultural competency around disability as diversity, especially from an intersectional lens, is often underrepresented in teacher preparation programs. As a result, if it is included at all, it is often at the discretion of individual teachers willing to incorporate such content into their teacher preparation classes. For teacher educators who are searching for ways to infuse disability as diversity content into their coursework, critical disability studies provides a framework for implementation by supporting teacher candidate's critical reflective practice. In adopting such a framework, teacher educators can better target the development of cultural competency in their special education teacher candidates. As such, the aim of the present article is to provide a method of instruction to support the development of critical reflective practices in special education teacher preparation programs.

Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are often insufficiently engaged with in professional higher education. This study presents results from a mapping of SRHR indicators in formal higher education documents relating to 11 higher educational profession programmes in Norway. The findings show a modest level of inclusion of SRHR indicators but a low level of constructive alignment between different levels of educational documents regarding SRHR. These findings likely negatively impact the ability to reach sustainable development goals (SDGs) relating to sexual health (SDG 3: Good health and well-being) and gender equality (SDG 5: Gender equality), both of which highlight SRHR as an important contributor to population health and development. To meet the population's needs for SRHR, formal documents in higher education should display greater clarity, and ensure that education, regardless of type, placement and context, provides equal knowledge and competence on SRHR for future professionals.

Australian psychology higher education and training has historically excluded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' knowledge systems which has profoundly shaped the discipline, including its cultural responsiveness. Decolonising psychology education offers a systemic approach to improve education and practice, and, in turn, the cultural responsiveness of psychology. Decolonising psychology higher education has become a focal point to support transformational change. The present research investigated how higher education providers (HEPs) are decolonising psychology education in Australia. An Aboriginal Participatory Action Research approach was used to design, implement and evaluate the research. Eighteen representatives of psychology HEPs completed a short, open-ended survey. Findings were thematically analysed via qualitative content analysis. Results highlighted 11 interconnecting themes ranging from effective policies to adequate resourcing. The results demonstrated the need for ongoing Indigenous leadership, resourcing and systemic changes that value Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing to support efforts in decolonising psychology education.

This article critically examines "Laura's Story: Using Problem-Based Learning in Early Childhood and Primary Teacher Education" by Suzy Edwards and Marie Hammer (2006), highlighting its significant impact on Problem-Based Learning (PBL) research. This seminal work is distinguished by its practical focus on teacher education, using the narrative of Laura's story to demonstrate PBL's effectiveness in real-world teacher education scenarios. The article employs a slow-reading approach, offering a detailed and reflective examination of the sections of the text from introduction to conclusion. This thorough analysis aims to uncover deeper meanings and assess the text's influence on the role of PBL in developing essential teaching skills. Through this meticulous process, the article seeks to provide valuable insights into PBL's application in teacher education, highlight its pedagogical implications, and suggests directions for future research.

The purpose of this study was to connect with adapted physical education (APE) teachers in PK-12 programs to explore service delivery practices and the impact COVID-19 had on those practices and gather teacher suggestions for APE teacher preparation programs. Seventeen teachers with comprehensive APE experiences were interviewed. Questions included a combination of general service delivery questions, how COVID-19 impacted the education environment, and suggestions to improve teacher preparation programs. Three interrelated themes emerged: (1) collaboration and communication, (2) special education process and legal knowledge, and (3) remote instruction and assessment. Participants provided a range of suggestions for teacher preparation programs to include as learning outcomes for preservice teachers. Findings suggest APE teacher preparation programs need to prepare students to work in an interdisciplinary school setting and be adaptable in an ever-changing environment.

The characteristics of institutional work in higher education change is an understudied topic in research. This article describes an institutional change process in higher education by analysing multilevel institutional work. Drawing on the results, the paper presents a modified process model on the multilevel institutional work and the related micro-macro linkages. The model describes how micro-level strategy work connects with organisational strategy, the macro-level development and policy. Based on the results, the institutional change in higher education is characterised by the interplay between practice work and boundary work in a process, which has special characteristics at different stages. The empirical focus of the study is in the engineering and technology education in Finland. Using a theory-informed, mixed-methods single-case study design, this study explores the characteristics of multilevel institutional work and transformation mechanisms. The results generate theoretical knowledge on the micro-macro linkages of the institutional change process in higher education.

Disparities exist in autism identification and service access in U.S. public schools. Over- or under-identification of autism may limit access to appropriate services. This study examined racial and ethnic differences in autism identification, general education inclusion, and service access in the California education system and examined trends in autism identification by race and ethnicity in special education from 2008 to 2018. Hispanic/Latino and Pacific Islander students were less likely to be identified with autism than other groups. Black autistic students were less likely to be included in general education settings. A narrowing gap in autism identification over the past decade between White and Hispanic/Latino students suggests some improvement in equitable identification practices, although continued disparities exist.

The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of the influence of a student-authored case study, completed in a teacher preparation special education reading course, on inservice teachers' current reading instruction. Study participants reported that completing the case study as a teacher candidate did impact current reading instructional practices. Further analyses indicated that general educators and special educators valued different components of the case study. In this manuscript, we describe the context of participants' current teaching positions in special education and general education, and the components of the assignment found to be most applicable to reading assessment and instruction. This study highlights the need for teacher educators to analyze teacher preparation course assignments to explore how the shift from self-as-student to self-as-teacher occurs.