Education & Pedagogy

Initial teacher education in many parts of the world has shifted towards de-politicisation, prioritising standardisation and technical proficiency over critical engagement. This trend raises concerns about educators' preparedness to navigate the complex socio-political landscape of contemporary education. Responding to the editorial team's challenge, in this article I make a case for teacher educators to re-engage with the politics of education. I trace the erosion of criticality in initial teacher education and our complicity in this process, while revisiting ideas such as bricolage, the teacher as stranger, and political action to foster critically engaged educators. Strategies for reclaiming the political dimension in initial teacher education are explored, including cultivating critical consciousness and enacting political agency. Throughout, various artworks are referred to, serving as conceptual lenses to reframe and illuminate key issues. By re-visioning initial teacher education as a space for dialogue, critical reflection, and collective action, we can advance an educational conception that transcends mere questions of efficacy and efficiency. If we are to equip educators who can navigate and shape the future of education, address systemic inequities, and drive social change, it is imperative that we re-politicise initial teacher education at all levels -- from policy frameworks to classroom practice.

Previous research underscores the profound influence of job satisfaction on the evolution of special education, underscoring the necessity to delve into the determinants and mechanisms that underpin this satisfaction. This study explored the relationship between the organisational climate of special education schools in China and the job satisfaction of special education teachers, examining the chain mediating effects of professional well-being and emotional exhaustion. A questionnaire was used to survey 557 special education teachers nationwide in China. After controlling for factors such as the teachers' education level, teaching segment, and the permanency of their positions, the findings showed that (1) the organisational climate of the school was positively correlated with job satisfaction of special education teachers; (2) professional well-being and emotional exhaustion separately mediated the relationship between the school's organisational climate and job satisfaction among special education teachers; and (3) professional well-being and emotional exhaustion sequentially mediated the relationship between the school's organisational climate and job satisfaction among special education teachers. This information helps to deepen the understanding of how the organisational climate of schools affects teacher job satisfaction and provides important practical guidance for improving the quality of special education.

Parental involvement is crucial for high-quality, inclusive education. Using a mixed methods approach, this study surveyed 128 parents of children with special needs (ages 2-6) in Hohhot City, China, and interviewed 11 parents to investigate their intentions in selecting inclusive education institutions. The survey found most children enrolled in special education (58.6%), with fewer in general education (25%) and inclusive education (14.8%). Parents predominantly preferred public preschools (32%) and special education institutions of public interest with inclusive education qualifications (28.1%). A one-way Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed significant differences in parents' preferences based on four factors: teachers' professionalism (p = 0.005), qualification of institutions (p = 0.002), developmental competence (p = 0.002), and learning content (p = 0.036). Interviews with parents revealed key factors influencing parental intentions to select an educational institution include teacher professionalism, institutional qualifications for inclusive education, learning content, and developmental competence. However, barriers such as limited shadow teacher services, inadequate teacher attitudes and competencies, and high entry thresholds hindered their choices. Promoting collaboration between classroom and special education teachers and enhancing institutional support services could help align parental intentions with accessible and inclusive education options.

The book suggests that culturally responsive and sustaining education should be the guiding principle in our schools, and that community partnerships be developed in a similar light. Although many of the chapters focus on specific content or places, a transdisciplinary problem and project-based experiential critical pedagogy is an ultimate goal. This necessitates developing awareness, advocacy and action / engagement regarding issues of race, ethnicity, gender, ability, choice, and culture to promote equity and social justice. The stories included in this collection are those of educators in a variety of contexts, but always through a public education framing. The stories come from educators at all levels of public education who are currently practicing in one of the most diverse urban areas of the U.S. Their experiences serve to provide hope for transformational change in education where the priority is truly equity and social justice for all. The idea is to provide voices of these brave educators who are striving to address equity and social justice issues is schools, education, and society -- on their teaching and in the students' learning.

This book focuses on discourses of effective learning environments globally for reducing discrimination in schools. It offers innovative ideas concerning the future directions that education and policy reforms could take, in order to promote equality, social justice, and access to quality of education for all. The chapters offer a timely analysis of current issues affecting schooling and strategies for creating effective learning environments globally for overcoming discriminations in schools. It is argued that that one of the most significant variables in creating effective learning environments for reducing classroom discrimination is the student's cultural identity, the self-concept and self-esteem. The next variables influencing students' learning environment are motivational strategies, self-regulated learning, and students' active engagement in constructivist learning. This book contributes in a very scholarly way, to a more holistic understanding of the nexus between globalisation, comparative education research and education reforms for reducing discrimination. It will be beneficial for a broad spectrum of users, including policy-makers, academics, graduate students, education policy researchers, administrators, and practitioners.

This regional dossier aims to provide concise descriptions and basic statistics about minority language education in a specific region of Europe. Lithuanian is a Baltic language that belongs to the Indo-European family. Most of the Lithuanian-speaking minority in Poland is confined to three municipalities near the Polish-Lithuanian border. Dispersed groups of Lithuanians also inhabit a neighbouring province and urban agglomerations throughout the country. Every Regional Dossier begins with an introduction about the region in question, followed by six chapters that each deal with a specific level of the education system (e.g. primary education). Chapters 8 and 9 cover the main lines of research into education of the minority language under discussion, and the prospects for the minority language in general and in education in particular, respectively. Chapter 10 provides a summary of statistics. Lists of (legal) references and useful addresses regarding the minority language are given at the end of the dossier. [The first edition of this Regional Dossier was published in 2005.]

As the Public School Forum enters its 31st year, they continue the tradition of forecasting the ten issues most likely to impact public schools across the state in "Top Ten Education Issues for 2017." As they do each year, they have included in the list issues they believe will be the top education issues for the year, as well as issues they believe should be at the top of the education agenda. The following key priorities are presented: (1) Exercise Strong Education Leadership for North Carolina's Children; (2) Fund North Carolina's Public Schools Fairly and Adequately; (3) Make Teaching in North Carolina Great Again; (4) Improve Access, Equity, and Accountability in School Choice; (5) Overhaul Principal Pay and Invest in Preparing the Next Generation of School Leaders; (6) Maintain a Strong Focus on Race in Public Education; (7) Improve Grade-Level Reading through Comprehensive Investments in Early Childhood; (8) Enable the Transition to Personalized, Digital-Age Learning Models; (9) Create Meaningful and Streamlined Assessments; and (10) Increase Support for the State's Struggling Schools. [For the 2016 report, see ED628975.]

A major change in our country's educational landscape is taking place. The Department of Education (DepEd) has launched the Enhance Basic Education (K-12) Program last June 2012. The main purpose of this study was to assess the Level of Cognizance of Basic Education Teachers on the Enhanced K-12 Basic Education Program at Columban College. The descriptive design was employed involving all the basic education teachers and using a survey-checklist to gather pertinent data. The data were treated and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The teachers knew the goals and objectives of the enhanced program but were lacking information, skills and expertise in delivering the curriculum. They were aware relative to the areas on curriculum development, teacher education and training, instruction, career guidance and assessment. Moreover, they were highly aware on the goals and objectives of the enhanced basic education program. The teachers were able to show that being aware of the enhanced program is not sufficient for them to become effective teachers of the new curriculum. Thus, there is a need for further information and skills enhancement regarding the Program. The department should devise strategies on how to impart knowledge, information, trainings and seminars to teachers.

This edited collection brings together a series of conceptual explorations and practical case studies to illuminate a developing innovative praxis of transdisciplinary peace and education. Drawing on the work of the Cambridge Peace and Education Research Group as well as international scholars, this book responds to calls for transdisciplinary peace and education praxis and presents innovative examples of peace and education research practices, peace interventions in educational settings, and alternative ontologies in peace and education work. Foregrounding the concept of 'second-order reflexivity', the book prioritises the lived experiences and viewpoints of struggling populations regarding the worth of 'peace' as grounded within their contexts. Ultimately, this book showcases how the practices of peace education and research can challenge the binaries of modern and postmodern approaches and provide examples of holistic transdisciplinary approaches that embrace complexity and criticality. Contributing new knowledge to peace and education, this volume will be of great interest to academics, post-graduate students and researchers in the field of peace education, peace studies and development studies. [The Introduction was funded by the Gates Foundation. The Afterword was funded by the George-Eckert-Institute.]

"Proceedings of International Conference on Social and Education Sciences" includes full papers presented at the International Conference on Social and Education Sciences (IConSES), which took place on October 7-10, 2019, in Denver, Colorado. The aim of the conference is to offer opportunities to share ideas, discuss theoretical and practical issues, and to connect with the leaders in the fields of education and social sciences. The IConSES invites submissions that address the theory, research, or applications in all disciplines of education and social sciences. The IConSES is organized for: faculty members in all disciplines of education and social sciences, graduate students, K-12 administrators, teachers, principals, and all interested in education and social sciences. [Individual papers are indexed in ERIC.]

Our world is changing and also getting smaller. We now know what is happening outside our narrow confines -- this means that we must all be involved in solving educational, societal, community, and global problems in inclusive fashions. For example, in education, we must be collaborative, consultative, and cooperative in solving school problems and in advancing school programs. To a large measure, inclusion in general and special education has become imperative in today's educational programming. Though it is seen by some as complex and appears to attract conflicting perspectives, it enhances different professional viewpoints and practices that help general and special education learners to maximize their fullest potential. Some schools end up doing inclusion well and others continue to work on it; however, many believe it has made education more efficient and effective. Inclusion strives to include all students with and without disabilities within the general education classroom and curriculum. This chapter discusses our conclusive thoughts on inclusion and where we think it is headed in the future. [For the complete volume, "General and Special Education Inclusion in an Age of Change: Roles of Professionals Involved. Advances in Special Education. Volume 3," see ED605014.]

This Eurydice report sheds light on two different but complementary perspectives of digital education: the development of digital competences relevant to learners and teachers on the one hand, and the pedagogical use of technologies to support, improve and transform learning and teaching on the other. The report covers different areas of digital education starting by an overview of school curricula and learning outcomes related to digital competence. The development of teacher-specific competences during initial teacher education and throughout their career is addressed as well as the assessment of students' digital competences and the use of digital technologies for assessment. Finally, the report gives some insight into current national strategies and policies on digital education at school. The annexes add specific information by country, on school curricula, teacher competence frameworks, top-level strategies and agencies supporting digital education at school. The report covers digital education at primary and general secondary levels for the school year 2018/19 in all 28 EU Member States, as well as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia and Turkey, 43 education systems in total.

Exploring the relationship between the role of education and Indigenous survival, "Digital Storytelling in Indigenous Education" is an ethnographic exploration of how digital storytelling can be part of a broader project of decolonization of individuals, their families, and communities. By recounting how a remote Indigenous (Métis) community were able to collectively imagine, plan and produce numerous unique digital stories representing counter-narratives to the dominant version of Canadian history, Poitras Pratt provides frameworks, approaches and strategies for the use of digital media and arts for the purpose of cultural memory, community empowerment, and mobilization. The volume provides a valuable example of how a community-based educational project can create and restore intergenerational exchanges through modern media, and covers topics such as: Introducing the Métis and their community; decolonizing education through a Métis approach to research; the ethnographic journey; and translating the work of decolonizing to education. "Digital Storytelling in Indigenous Education" is the perfect resource for researchers, academics, and postgraduate students in the fields of Indigenous education, comparative education, and technology education, or those looking to explore the role of modern media in facilitating healing and decolonization in a marginalized community.

More than 725,000, nearly 12 percent, of California's public school students receive special education and related services. Although more than half of those students spend 80 percent or more of the school day in a general education classroom, California's special education funding system may not be as inclusive as California's classrooms. This report provides a history and detailed description of California's special education funding system, setting the foundation for refinement of the current system through exploration of other funding systems and examination of California's special education population and funding structure. This study focuses on how current levels of funding can be used most effectively, including through better coordination and by differentiating special education funding to match the wide variety in student need and cost of implementing IEPs for students with disabilities. This study will be followed with a report on potential options to refine the system, supported by research, and the potential benefits and drawbacks of each option. [For Part 2, see ED616106.]

Nancy Fraser and Participatory Parity provides a philosophical framework based on the work of Nancy Fraser, examining how her ideas can be used to analyse contemporary issues in higher education and reimagine higher education practices. Providing a forum for considering Fraser's work in relation to participatory parity in higher education, the book shows how her political philosophy is relevant to higher education pedagogies, scholarship and practice. The recent student protests in South Africa in 2015 and 2016 has created an impetus to think about how to do things differently in higher education in response to economic, cultural and political inequities. This South African experience is aptly used as a prime example of rethinking issues of coloniality and social injustice in higher education. The contributors' use of Nancy Fraser's theories provides their analyses and reflections with a particularly sharp lens and clear focus. The book also puts her work into conversation with other contemporary writers on social justice and explores the resonances and differentiations of the various approaches. This book will be of great interest for academics, researchers and post-graduate students in the fields of social justice in education and educational policy.