Education & Pedagogy

The current research is intended to describe and recognize the concept of social capital in higher education based on theoretical method in a descriptive-analytical approach. Description and Recognition of the data, gathered from theoretical and experimental studies, indicated that social capital is one of the most important indices for development and growth of higher education which has three components: social confidence, social integration and social participation. Social capital is obtained from educational institutes since preschool to higher education levels. Higher education is considered as a powerful producer of social capital. Thus, existing social capital is considered as the major precondition of creating opportunity, incentive and capability of individuals in higher education which influences knowledge creation through opportunity and combining capability and knowledge. Functions of higher education and social capital have mutual effects. In order to promote social capital, the elements of higher education must be formulated based on the components of social capital and needs of community.

A key signpost to a profession is clarity of disciplinary knowledge. In this paper I describe the content and outcome of a process to refine the qualification guidelines for outdoor education teachers in Victorian, Australia. The guidelines, developed for the Victorian Institute of Teaching, include both practical skills and disciplinary knowledge. These can help differentiate outdoor education from other areas such as physical education. The practical skill areas that form the basis of the outdoor education teacher guidelines are summarised in the paper. The disciplinary knowledge required of outdoor education teachers includes content such as human interaction with natural environments, activity knowledge, safety and ecological literacy. Ecological literacy has been less often described in past editions of AJOE. In the latter half of the paper I therefore describe, with reference to David Orr (1992, 2004), the value and relevance of ecological literacy for outdoor education. I conclude that ecological literacy could be developed as a key rationale and practice for outdoor education in schooling.

In this paper, the authors engage in a collaborative inquiry illustrative of a dialogical process of meaning making addressing the future of teacher education in times marked by uncertainty, intense public and political scrutiny, changing policy, and imposed learning standards. The authors urge teacher education programs and teacher educators to reclaim their crucial role in driving education discourses rather than submitting to mandates based on flawed ideological assumptions about teaching, learning, children, and communities. Teacher educators need to participate in the counternarrative of the de-essentializing "turn" in teacher education. By critiquing and problematizing minimalist and flawed assumptions driving education policy, teacher education programs can shift the focus back to advocating for what is relevant and meaningful to the communities they serve. De-essentializing teacher education necessitates embracing complex curricula and pedagogies of unknowability, rather than perpetuating simplistic disciplinary pedagogies of safety and certitude.

The purpose of this article is to present an analysis of the philosophical, historical, sociological, political, and economic perspectives reflected in the public policies about lifespan sexuality education of Germany and The Netherlands. A new conceptual framework for analysis and evaluation of sexuality education policies that integrates the Conceptual Model of Nursing and Health Policy and the Neuman Systems Model guided the analysis. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 informants from the two countries during the summers of 2012 and 2013. A short discussion of sexuality education in the United States is presented with implications focused on how the results of the analyses of sexuality education policies in Germany and The Netherlands could influence development of sexuality education policies in the United States.

This paper aims to explore the "agency" of teachers for peacebuilding education in Sri Lanka through a critical multiscalar analysis of the interplay between "context"--education policies and governance--and "agent"--teachers as strategic political actors. It draws on two studies conducted in Sri Lanka in 2006 and 2011 to give insight into a changing context from conflict to post-conflict. While peace education and social cohesion were high on the political agendas before the official ending of the conflict, the need for a continuous and integral peace education approach seems to be losing political ground in present-day Sri Lanka. The paper seeks to contribute to the broader debate on the complex role of education and teachers in conflict and post-conflict situations.

Re-visioning education is critical to developing new ways of thinking and acting in the face of global threats to life from global climate change and weapons of mass destruction. Like philosophy in Quine's words, education is "losing contact with the people." Education suffers this loss in part because education has lost contact with philosophy. The paper first addresses the relations between philosophy and science. Nietzsche is a primary guide on this question. While his elitism must be dismissed, his apocalyptic vision of philosophy may help students become more deeply engaged in all levels of schooling. The paper's second concern is whether philosophy can be infused into all other subjects. The conclusion considers whether it is practical to teach philosophy to all students. Schooling that democratizes philosophy can reveal that many more human beings are gifted than we could have imagined. W.E.B. Du Bois in fact argues that virtually all humans should receive higher education. A compelling reason to democratize philosophy is to further democracy itself.

This correlation study investigates the relationships between prospective teachers' multicultural education attitudes and classroom management styles. The participants were 495 prospective teachers majoring in different departments of education faculties at two state universities in Turkey. "Democracy and Multicultural Education Attitude Scale" and "Classroom Management Style Scale" were used as data collection tools. Correlation and regression analyses were performed for data analysis by using SPSS 23.0 software. The results of descriptive analyses showed that most of the participants adopted authoritative style in terms of classroom management. Also, they had positive attitudes towards multicultural and democracy education. According to correlation analysis, there were significant relationships between the variables. Specifically, authoritative style was a powerful predictor of the attitude towards democracy and multicultural education. The prospective teachers with more authoritarian and indifferent styles had more biases towards multicultural education. Moreover, it is estimated that discussion and educational implications will shed light on teacher education.

Brand equity in higher education has received significant scholarly attention in recent years. However, there are a number of contradictions between the empirically approved determinants and the dimensions of brand equity in higher education. This research empirically investigates an adopted brand equity conceptual model in both a developed market and an emerging higher education market to develop a comparative analysis based on cultural dimensions. The empirical study included a qualitative exploratory research and a subsequent quantitative research in USA (an example of a developed market) and Egypt (an example of emerging market). Further, the authors qualitatively explored, via in-depth qualitative interviews, the industry for more insightful results based on customer's perception in both markets. Findings indicated that the determinants of brand equity reported in the literature vary depending on the higher education industry maturity and cultural contexts.

In the wake of declining state support for higher education, many state leaders have adopted lottery earmark policies, which designate lottery revenue to higher education budgets as an alternative funding mechanism. However, despite the ubiquity of lottery earmarks for higher education, it remains unclear whether this new source of revenue serves to supplement or supplant state funding for higher education. In this paper, we use a difference-in-differences design for the years 1990-2009 to estimate the impact on state appropriations and state financial aid levels of designating lottery earmark funding to higher education. Main findings indicate that lottery earmark policies are associated with a 5 percent increase in higher education appropriations, and a 135 percent increase in merit-based financial aid. However, lottery earmarks are also associated with a decrease in need-based financial aid of approximately 12 percent. These findings have serious distributional implications that should be considered when state lawmakers adopt lottery earmark policies for higher education.

This study presents a critical review of religious education policies and practices from the perspective of inclusion. In this sense, it raises the problematics of compulsory and optional religious education courses and Imam Hatip schools, which have an important place in state-religion relationships in Turkey as an inclusive education issue. Considering the education policies and practices that emerged as a result of these policies, it can be argued that no matter how objective, democratic, pluralistic and thus inclusive the discourses the authorities and governments used were, from the very beginning, they did not manage to be independent of any ideology and included exclusive practices in differing aspects. Accordingly, what is expected from the Turkish education system is to embrace an inclusive approach that encourages the representation of all religious groups and atheists and to prioritise "students," not ideologies.

Thomas College is leading the field of teacher preparation through the design of its three-year programs in Education, which are now being offered across our suite of early childhood, elementary and secondary programs. Students can earn a teaching degree and be recommended for certification in three years. There is a need for practical answers to systemic challenges in the ways the school approaches contemporary teacher education, while it also needs to incubate and support a new generation of teachers to serve a highly diverse population. The school's faculty is still seeking, striving and pursuing a model of teacher education that reflects the dynamic atmosphere of the classrooms that pre-service teachers will be entering, the schools they will be influencing, and the next generation of students they will be leading towards what may be possible to see.

Physical education teacher education programs have a responsibility to prepare preservice teachers in the technical aspects of teaching while also preparing them for the sociopolitical realities of teaching a marginalized subject. There is also a need for inservice teachers to engage in continuing professional development related to socialization and school sociopolitics to build upon lessons learned during initial teacher education. In the United States, one such professional development opportunity is reflected in master's degree programs. These programs are typically guided by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education advanced standards for physical education teacher education. However, these standards do not currently have any reference to socialization or sociopolitical learning. The purpose of this article is to propose that an additional standard focusing on sociopolitical skills and teacher socialization be added to the National Association for Sport and Physical Education advanced standards for U.S.-based post-licensure master's degree programs.

Tendencies to marketization and privatization in higher education, along with other factors, have challenged the idea of higher education as a public good in many countries over the years. China has experienced this situation to some extent. During the last 20 years, this has triggered various discussions on higher education and public good(s) in China. Drawing on qualitative data from 24 semi-structured interviews in both government departments and universities, this study defines and explores public and common good(s) in relation to higher education in China. As the first empirical study on this theme in the country, it is argued that this study makes a significant and original contribution to knowledge with international relevance. This paper identifies the complex nature of higher education in China and proposes that it may be better described in relation to common good(s). Also, as a common good, higher education in China contributes to the (global) common good and generates (global) common goods in many aspects.

STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education is vital for incubating future scientists, engineers, and inventors. Teaching and learning in STEM education require teachers and students to employ design thinking and multi-disciplinary knowledge to formulate new solutions for emerging problems. School teachers are facing multiple challenges in implementing STEM education. With the application of the Self-efficacy and stages of concern theories, this quantitative study (with 235 teacher respondents) aims to unearth Hong Kong teachers' responses regarding STEM education. The results show that 5.53% of the respondents regard themselves as "well prepared" for STEM education. On the other hand, the respondents have intense "information", "management", and "consequence" concerns about implementing STEM education in schools. The findings reflect that there is an urgent need to provide teachers with articulated professional development, pedagogic support, and curricular resources for empowering them to implement STEM education in practice.

This article explores the policy reasons behind Adult ESOL Citizenship Education in the United Kingdom and then examines whether Adult ESOL Citizenship Education adequately prepares migrants for active citizenship in T.H. McLaughlin's "'maximal' sense": involving active political participation premised upon a shared concept of democratic culture underpinned by rights and obligations. It argues that Adult ESOL Citizenship Education, as envisaged by Bernard Crick and Terence McLaughlin, has fallen short of its maximal conceptualisation due to the watering down of citizenship education and Adult ESOL Citizenship Education in preference to Fundamental British Values, and the Crick reports' 'light touch' to their implementation. The article calls for a need to reassert the reality of the modern nation as pluralistic and rejects the current drive towards monism. It also argues that Adult ESOL Citizenship Education is unlikely to deliver social cohesion and integration, or an actively participatory citizenry, unless issues of social justice and equity are addressed.