Education & Pedagogy

The Portuguese came to Macau in the 16th century, Macao has become part of China again since 1999. Under the strong economic growth in recent years, the Macao government has invested substantial human, material and financial resources for the implementation of IT in education in Macau since 2001. This paper reviewed the development of IT in education in Macao, including hardware development, the integration of IT into teaching and learning and other informal forms of support by the government to the development of IT education. Although the development of Information Technology (IT) in education in Macao has progressed rapidly in the last few years, there are still many problems. The author makes some suggestions alleviating the shortcomings.

This paper focused on preparing teachers for the contemporary Nigeria. Teaching is a versatile field that requires at all times the correct identification of indices of developments in the society. This responsibility makes it imperative that teachers be an embodiment of a constant search for updated knowledge in various fields of Endeavour. The fulcrum of this paper therefore lies on the factors inhibiting teaching profession in Nigeria. This historical approach is used for this study. The findings of the study revealed the fallen standards of education which have been traced to among other factors, the quality of teacher's programmes in the country. This paper recommended an urgent improvement in the programmes for initial teacher education in the country, improved funding of the education sector and complete overhauling of the teacher's education curriculum towards meeting the yearnings and aspirations of the 21st century education in Nigeria.

Childhood represents the passage into and through constrained notions of spatio-temporal identity and normative constructions. The role of education is too frequently understood as the shaping of life and purpose in the service of democratic ideology. I propose another examination embracing historical anthropologies of education troubling normative constructions of childhood and education through deconstruction. Re-reading the philosophical foundations structuring primary education in the 21st Century opens the question of difference and social justice towards equitable purpose honouring the passage of childhood in presence beyond ascription. Drawing on foundational critiques of education in Derridean logos and Deleuzean inscription, I will interrogate our common conceptualisations of the philosophy of childhood education as a "space of transformation" where the self/subject escapes on "lines of flight" facilitating becoming. This is an enfolding of connectivity resisting prescription and chro´nos unfolding on diverse planes of immanence. Childhood then is not the passage to adulthood through pedagogical engagement, but rather the opportunity to explore episteme´ and connectivity in passage, in presence.

This paper discusses the education context and English teaching and learning in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The paper is organised into five main sections. The first section offers a brief glance at the social, religious, economic, and political context in KSA. The second section provides an overview of the education system in KSA, which includes a brief explanation of the history of education, a discussion of the role of government in modern education, and a description of the administration of education in the country. The third section presents information about English teaching and learning in public and higher education in KSA, while the fourth gives insights into the challenges and difficulties students face when learning English. The last section focuses on the importance of learning English in KSA.

Online education is an increasingly important element of contemporary higher education, but many argue its potential has not been fully realised. Attempts to analyse the limits on educators' uptake or effective implementation of online education emphasise individual and institutional adaptation to technology, at the expense of understanding the context of its introduction and use. In contrast, we apply Biesta's (2006) and Connell's (2013) conceptualisation of the education encounter as a tool for analysing educators' engagement with online education technologies. We argue that educators' uses of these technologies must be contextualised within the ideologies and practices of neo-liberal universities. Educators' sometimes tentative uptake of online education reflects their attempts to manage the ideals of the education encounter with new managerialist demands. We conclude that understanding how and why educators use online education necessitates accounting for the importance of relationships between educators and students, and educators and their institutions.

The proliferation of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has stirred a fervent debate about global access to higher education. While some commentators praise MOOCs for expanding educational opportunities in a more open and accessible fashion, others criticize this trend as a threat to current models of higher education and a low-quality substitute for traditional learning. Drawing on a comprehensive literature review of both academic and popular media sources, this article will explore the impact of MOOCs on the field of higher education, with a particular emphasis on their promise to enhance educational opportunities worldwide. Specifically, the analysis will focus on the four issues that have--so far--proven to be most significant in shaping the future of MOOC as an equalizing force in higher education: credit, pedagogy, internationalization, and, finally, legal and financial aspects.

This study dissects the history of Finnish elementary education and the way children were raised during the initial phase of Finnish education in the 18th century. The development of Finnish education was studied through contemporary decrees and laws and studies of Finnish school history. The preliminary aim was to focus on the principles and practices of raising children in Finnish schools. This study focuses on (1) describing the birth, goals, and practices of Finnish elementary education and development toward compulsory education, (2) describing the way children were raised toward the contemporary goals, and (3) dissecting the connection between teacher training and the goals of raising children in Finnish schools. All these viewpoints are discussed from the viewpoint of how the aspirations and objectives were realized and implemented in practice in raising children. As a conclusion, we discuss the influence of the past in today's educational practices.

Higher education institutions have an unavoidable responsibility to address the looming economic, environmental and social crises imperilling humans and ecosystems by placing "education for sustainability" at the heart of their concerns. Yet, for over three decades, the practice of 'higher education for sustainability' (HEfS) has encountered significant barriers to implementation, begging the question as to why. Drawing on a diverse, interdisciplinary literature, we identify four structural impediments to implementing HEfS: (1) disciplinary contestation, which creates confusion over what "sustainability" means; (2) institutional fragmentation, which prevents the interdisciplinary dialogue that sustainability demands; (3) economic globalisation, which transforms higher education into just another market opportunity; and (4) "fast and frugal" habits of reasoning, which steer time-pressed academics towards poorly integrated decisions and unsustainable positions. Our analysis highlights that wider structural change within and beyond the academy will be required if higher education institutions are to meet their responsibilities and drive the necessary social transformation.

This article focuses on Kasuya Yoshi's comparative text, "A Comparative Study of the Secondary Education of Girls in England, Germany and the United States, With a Consideration of the Secondary Education of Girls in Japan," published by Teachers College, Columbia in 1933. The article explores the gendered construction of comparative education and adopts a transnational approach to make women visible as non-state actors constructing educational knowledge, founding institutions and practicing as educationists. The preface to "Secondary Education of Girls" is used to explore a transnational circulatory regime supporting Kasuya's travel and study in the USA. Modes of managing meaning used to mediate actions and ideals oriented to both the universal and the particular in the model of modern Japanese womanhood Kasuya scripted in her text, and the elements of the education she prescribed to achieve her ideals, are analysed through notions of vernacular cosmopolitanisms.

This paper employs the provisions of international human rights law in order to analyse whether and how liberal states should regulate Haredi educational practices, which sanctify the exclusive focus on religious studies in schools for boys. It conceptualises the conflict between the right to acceptable education and the right to adaptable education in international human rights law, and analyses four case studies of Haredi education that exemplify different socio-legal approaches towards this conflict. The case studies show how education laws are transformed along the cogwheels of education policy, in which there are plural normative orders and many agents who implement them. Based on the case studies, I suggest that policies providing financial incentives for implementing educational standards may facilitate the realisation of the right to acceptable education in Haredi schools more than policies devised to enforce this right. I also suggest stipulations for effective conditional-funding policies.

Nigerians have always realized that education is the singular factor that brings about national development. The central goal of university education is to prepare one for productive employment. Such employment can be a paid one or a self-employed one. This paper examines the problem militating against university education, its implications for economic development and its products in terms of suitability for the changing environment. The world is changing as a result of technological and economic advancement and this creates peculiar problems and challenges which most Nigerian graduates cannot cope with and this makes them not suitable for employment. This paper emphasizes the need to get Nigerian graduates trained on entrepreneurship skills and knowledge through well planned and executed entrepreneurship education by re-positioning University education. Once this is done, Nigerian graduates will be happy and be fulfilled. They will be productive and committed as employees or employers of labour as they transit to a meaningful life in the world.

Initial teacher education programmes in universities must meet the needs of varying constituencies. Politicians, school leaders and academics, for example, understandably seek to influence how these programmes should look. Given the importance of well-qualified teachers for the building of effective schools, it is right that a range of stakeholders should have their say. The Donaldson Report on teacher education in Scotland (2011) has much to say regarding the academic content of teacher education programmes. It offers food for thought for those wedded to the "craft" model of teacher education. Academic rigour and breadth of experience cannot be seen as inimical to the need to ensure that newly qualified teachers are, indeed, ready to teach. The rediscovery of liberal approaches to education studies and the value of the liberal arts can be key components of a reimagined teacher education process.

A vision statement and call to action from Deans for Impact--a group of deans committing themselves to a set of principles intended to elevate the performance of educator preparation programs and the status of teachers. Their objectives include: Develop a consensus around a professional knowledge base for teachers; create a tighter connection between K-12 systems and schools of education; require states to make data available to programs and the public about teachers prepared by each institution; aim the research lens inward to evaluate and identify the most effective elements teacher education; rethink structures and incentives in higher education institutions to create entities that are more nimble and receptive to change; and develop a strong professional network for schools of education leaders that connects them to peers and helps them lead change within their institutions.

Increased rates of students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are documented throughout the world. In Turkey, there are currently 100,000 students under the age of 14 with ASD and increasing each year by approximately 5,000 students. As a result of the current population and increased prevalence, special education and general education teachers are providing educational services to increasing numbers of students with ASD. The purpose of this study is to examine teachers' perceptions of students with ASD. The Autism Attitude Scale for Teachers was administered to 117 general education (n = 53) and special education (n = 63) teachers in 19 Education Centers for Children with Autism in Turkey. Results indicate both groups are receptive to students with autism, but special education teachers have more positive perceptions of students with ASD. Implications for teacher certification programs and continued professional development initiatives are presented.

Contemplating one's teaching has long been an essential part of teacher education. Accordingly, as an instructor of a literacy methods course with a tutoring component, I asked education majors in the class to send me weekly e-mail reflections about their teaching experiences. However, they had difficulty considering their lessons. I knew poetry stimulated introspections. Therefore, hoping to evoke the education majors' reflexivity, I requested they create two poems (middle and end of the semester) that portrayed their perceptions and dilemmas related to their teaching practices and lessons. Using constant comparative analysis, I explored the education majors' lyrical forms. Writing in a poetic voice prompted the education majors' contemplations. However, rather than focusing on their lessons, their initial poems portrayed their anxieties about teaching while their end of semester poems centered on concern for children. Thus, as is typical in arts-based research, the study afforded generativity (puzzlements meriting additional investigation).