Education & Pedagogy

This document describes Ohio's career education model in six sections. Section 1 explains the educational philosophy on which the model is based. Section 2 lists the seven developmental areas (self, individual and environment, economics, world of work, education and training, employability and work adjustment skills, and decision making) the model covers and the general goal statements for each. Section 3 lists the four grade-level components (motivation for grades K-6, orientation for grades 7 and 8, exploration for grades 9 and 10, and preparation for grades 11 and 12) and learner objectives for each. Section 4 describes the seven core functions that must be provided in every Ohio career education program (career assessment, career information, staff development, community involvement, curriculum, career-related instructional materials, and coordination of staff and activities). Section 5 describes the five special concerns that career education programs must address: combating sex-role stereotyping and sex bias; equitably addressing the career education needs of disadvantaged, minorities, women, persons who speak limited English, handicapped persons, and talented and gifted students; developing effective linkages with guidance counselors; initiating cooperative programs with job placement personnel; and providing awareness of major societal trends. Section 6 describes the career education delivery system in terms of student outcomes and the roles of teachers, counselors, and administrators. (CML)

This document, which examines the use of educational technologies for distance education for adults in Canada, consists of five narrative sections and a bibliography. The first section introduces the topic and the document's objectives (to describe those technologies used in Canadian adult distance education, paying particular attention to those most widely used; to identify current trends; and to locate centers of excellent practice). The second section describes the use of educational technologies in Canadian higher education, government, private enterprise, and social services. A table lists by province and by type of technology the number of distance learning activities at universities, colleges, school boards, provincial ministries of education, and educational communication authorities. The third section focuses on those technologies most used (for instance, audio conferencing, television, cable systems, satellite, and telephone). Section 4 reports a trend toward cooperation and intergovernmental arrangements for sharing distance education programs and states that Ontario and Quebec use all communication technologies more than do provinces in eastern Canada. Several collaborative distance education projects are discussed, among them the Open Learning Agency, the Canadian Distance Learning Development Center, and the Nova Scotia Educational Communication Agency. Section 5 lists eight agencies and projects "arbitrarily chosen for excellence." The document concludes with a 25-item resource list. (CML)

The report summarizes findings and recommendations of a California Task Force which arose out of a California court decision (Larry P. versus Riles) which prohibits the use of intelligence tests for assessing black pupils to determine their placement in special education programs and requires alternative means of assessment. Seven major recommendations are presented concerning inservice training, selection of alternative means for assessing intellectual functioning, general education's responsibility, and development of state and local norms including ethnic representation. Most of the report consists of guidelines for school psychologists and others on the Individualized Education Program team. The following areas are considered: (1) general education's role in the general education/special education continuum (e.g., the school consultation team process); (2) interface in the general education/special education continuum; (3) special education's assessment role in the general education/special education continuum (e.g., procedural model of assessment, report of documentation); (4) conceptual strategies (e.g., developmental assessment, ecological assessment, neuropsychological assessment, skills within subjects); and (5) selection of instruments (e.g., tests prohibited for black assessment for special education and identification of bias in assessment). A glossary and bibliography of about 100 references are also provided. (DB)

In 1986, a Commission appointed by the governor of Virginia recommended that the teacher preparation degree program should consist of the greatest number of courses in the arts and sciences that can be included feasibly and some specially developed education courses. In response to this challenge, Radford University developed a totally restructured undergraduate teacher education program which was subsequently approved by the State Board of Education. This paper presents a summary of the more salient features of the Radford University Plan to Restructure Teacher Education. The summary is organized to address three major areas: collaboration, innovation, and evaluation. The first of these is the collaboration by an interdisciplinary task force composed of faculty from throughout the University and public school personnel which reviewed and developed new courses. The second area, that of innovation in the four-year degree program, provides for extensive general education which includes generic pedagogical studies appropriate to all preservice teachers regardless of level or subject matter specialty. Clinical experiences are emphasized for elementary, middle, and special education teachers. An outline is presented of the Comprehensive Teacher Education Assessment and Management plan, which was established to evaluate the program. Resources for program planning research are listed. (JD)

This paper provides results of a national survey of 110 educators involved in American Indian education on their general attitudes toward such education; of the total sample; 60 responses were received. Lack of funding for American Indian education was the most important national issue identified, followed by need for qualified Indian administrators and educators, curriculum issues, financial aid for students in higher education, and academic achievement. Locally, however, parent/family involvement and recruitment, retention, advisement, and counseling were rated among the top five needs. Nationally 35.1% of respondents felt that American Indian education has improved in the past five years, whereas 33.3% felt it has gotten worse. Comparable data are reported for improvement at the state and local levels. A majority of the respondents supported raising achievement standards but felt that Indian education fared poorly under the Reagan administration. Ninety-three percent believed that culture and language as well as academic studies should be the focus of Indian education programs. Almost 100% supported bilingual education for American Indians. While 92.7% believed there is a need to do more research in Indian education, only 21.8% knew of meaningful research being conducted. Results are presented in tables, but include summaries of comments on each question. The text of each question in the survey is included in this report. (DHP)

Information on the educational systems of Israel and the Occupied Territories (West Bank and the Gaza Strip) and guidelines on placing students from this region in U.S. high schools and colleges are presented. After describing the country and territories, attention is directed to preschool, primary, and intermediate education; secondary education; teacher training and the education profession; nursing and other health professions; overseas student programs in Israel; technological education; higher education; and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Profiles of technical and higher education institutions in Israel and the Occupied Territories cover degrees/diplomas, admission requirements, college programs, and school characteristics. General information on Israeli higher education includes: college organization and administration, the grading and credit systems, examinations, and degree programs. Guidelines for admissions officers focus on the admissibility and appropriate level of placement of students from Israel and the territories in U.S. schools. A glossary and list of postsecondary technological/vocational schools are appended. (SW)

The history of liberal education is the story of a debate between orators, whose tradition stresses commitment to a body of civic knowledge derived from texts, and philosophers from whom our modern notion of formal science and specialized research originates. The story is very old--not only historically as it begins with Socrates and Plato--but also historiographically, because it has long been evident in the writings of modern scholars such as Hans von Arnim, Werner Jaeger, and Henri Marrow. It is also quite new in that no volume about the historical roots of "liberal education" in the United States has taken adequate account of this background. The volume presents an interpretation of the history of the ideals underlying the education that has been identified as "liberal." Certain conclusions have influenced the presentation: U. S. higher education in the second half of the 20th century holds Socrates, rather than Cicero, as its paragon; the purpose, rationale, structure, and content of its liberal education are, in a fundamental sense, Socratic and Platonic; and it is the nature of liberal education to report concerns in line with the philosophical ideal of liberal education, the continuing, ever-critical search for truth. (BZ)

In March, 1986, the National Science Foundation (NSF) commissioned a study designed to assess initiatives available to NSF to address problems and opportunities in K-12 science education. The first part of this volume presents a detailed discussion of "core functions" for the NSF in K-12 science education (promoting professional interchange, building the base of information and knowledge about science education, and supporting innovation). Part 2 of the document discusses the basis for strategic investment in three key areas. These are: (1) designing initiatives; (2) developing an overarching strategy; and (3) building NSF's strategic capacity. The volume's remaining three parts include a discussion of study methods, a summary of NSF's 30-year history of funding in K-12 science education, and three commissioned papers (regarding NSF's role in mathematics education, computer science education, and efforts to serve minority students in science). The appendix contains tables delineating the suggested initiatives to implement overarching strategies, along with resource estimates indicating the funds needed for each initiative over the next five years. (TW)

All children deserve access to education, including those in low income countries. Educators and teachers share a desire to promote inclusive education, and can came together, such as the current group of authors did, to educate themselves about current developments. This paper examines published research relevant to inclusive education in Cameroon to contribute to understandings of inclusive education in Africa. An extensive review of published and grey scholarly literature since 2002 yielded 22 documents. Analysis, framed around a human rights perspective, focused on three areas: the legal context for inclusive education; the situation of children with disabilities in inclusive education settings; and the organizations providing inclusive education. Findings indicate that there is emerging attention to inclusive education for children with disabilities in Cameroon yet many children are still not able to realize their educational and social rights. It appears that most children with disabilities are not included in schools, and points to a need to address teacher attitudes and pedagogy. This paper initiates a discourse into the strategies to increase awareness and promote change among teachers, principals, school administrators, parents, and other stakeholders in Cameroon, and concludes with cautious optimism that inclusion in schools in Cameroon is beginning to take place.

Enabling education has a respected and established place in Australian higher education as an alternative pathway into university study. While the value of enabling education in providing access to higher education is undeniable, its provision across Australia is necessarily diverse, as individual programs respond to the needs of their local communities. This resulting diversity makes it difficult to gain insight into the field of enabling education. Given the purpose of enabling education is to prepare students for tertiary study, the role of academic literacies and language (ALL) is central for both Native English Speaker and Language Background Other Than English students, and it is to this focus that this paper attends. To shed light on the field, this paper presents the findings from a national audit of enabling education, providing a much-needed overview of the enabling programs offered across Australia, focusing on the ways that language and literacies are taught, positioned and, in some cases, disconnected from practice. Drawing on this analysis, we discuss how language and literacies are positioned as either central or periphery to the core work of enabling programs and begin a discussion which seeks to place ALL at the centre of enabling education.

Promising pedagogical practices is described in relation to incorporating ICT (Information, Communication and Technologies) with the study of Human Rights issues in Visual Arts Education for teacher candidates. As part of a course, "Senior Years Art," students at the Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba during 2013-2014 experienced a class project entitled, "digiART and Human Rights: A New Media, Arts Integrated Project." For this course the authors drew upon a pilot course held earlier in 2011 as a Faculty of Education Summer Graduate Institute in which significant curricula using new media was connected to the theories outlined in the Human Rights Education Paradigm by Tibbitts (2002) specifically related to the (1) values/awareness model (2) accountability model and (3) transformational model. The authors found that models 1 and 3 relate to pedagogical approaches regarding ICT in visual arts education. In this article the writers will describe one outstanding student's process learning about ICT in relation to examining the Canadian immigrant experience. The pedagogical approach used has the promise for wider relevance across subject areas.

There are very few studies concerning the importance of teaching methods in biology education and environmental education including outdoor education for promoting sustainability at the levels of primary and secondary schools and pre-service teacher education. The material was selected using special keywords from biology and sustainable education in several scientific databases. The article provides an overview of 24 selected articles published in peer-reviewed scientific journals from 2006-2016. The data was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Altogether, 16 journals were selected and 24 articles were analyzed in detail. The foci of the analyses were teaching methods, learning environments, knowledge and thinking skills, psychomotor skills, emotions and attitudes, and evaluation methods. Additionally, features of good methods were investigated and their implications for teaching were emphasized. In total, 22 different teaching methods were found to improve sustainability education in different ways. The most emphasized teaching methods were those in which students worked in groups and participated actively in learning processes. Research points toward the value of teaching methods that provide a good introduction and supportive guidelines and include active participation and interactivity.

A substantial number of studies have been conducted on sexuality education in Nigeria. These provide evidence of the positive impact of sexuality education on the psychosocial well-being of children and youth and the value of sexuality education for the sexual health of young people. Yet another research has investigated the views of parents on the school-based sexuality education of children and the different models and approaches employed. All of these studies implicitly reflect an issue that has not yet been sufficiently discussed. Nigeria is a uniquely pluralised country, with a multitude of cultures and sexual cultures. The implications of this diversity for policy and practice in sexuality education and for how sexuality education has (or has not) responded to this heterogeneity are rarely considered. This article addresses this gap by seeking to conceptualise how sexuality education might proactively address the cultural diversity of Nigeria. It begins by sketching out key features of this diversity in Nigeria and highlights the need for a culturally sensitive approach. Thereafter, there is a critical engagement with three possible approaches that sexuality education might take. Highlighting the weaknesses of monocultural, multicultural and transcultural approaches, this article argues for an open-cultural stance as the best means of fostering culturally sensitive sexuality education.

Substantial evidence supports the benefits of quality preschool education for children of all levels and backgrounds. However, early childhood gifted education services rarely exist in preschool centers. This study included 263 preschool centers representing geographic diversity in a southern state in the United States. Narrative data were collected centering on two issues: the barriers to implementation of gifted education services and the potential benefits related to the implementation of gifted education services in preschool centers. Qualitative analyses included constant comparative analyses for data reduction to support thematic inferences. Participants described barriers related to human and capital resources, challenges of implementing gifted education services, and the lack of information about gifted education in preschool settings. Participants articulated benefits in two general categories: educational/developmental and business/marketing. There was some evidence that a small portion of participants were opposed to the implementation of gifted education, but most participants indicated a desire for more responsive education services. This study may help gifted education advocates understand the needs of preschool centers seeking to broaden their services to support cognitive development of young children who are gifted from diverse backgrounds.

This paper explores discourses of affirmative consent in sex education curriculum and policy. It traces the ways in which discourses of consent have emerged in sex education debates, focusing first on the activism of two young women in Ontario, Canada who lobbied the provincial government to include discussions of consent in a new Health and Physical Education (HPE) curriculum. Their activism is instructive for the ways in which their lobbying was eventually subsumed into the logics of curriculum, with learning outcomes and lesson plans taming the passion of their protest. As others see in sex education the answer to sexual violence, we cannot forget that sex education is, in part, a defence against passion, and that consent--once swallowed up by HPE--might also work to tame the unruliness of sexuality. Turning to age of consent laws--another arena where discourses of consent discipline the sexuality of young people--I ask how our pedagogical and legal address to sexuality paradoxically refuses its force. This is the central argument of this article--namely, that the concept of consent brings with it, into education, a procedural logic that misrecognises sexuality as a transparent, communicative, and rational experience and mistakes compliance for learning.