Education & Pedagogy

The proceedings of the first International Conference of the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAEE), which was also the 13th annual conference of the National Association of Environmental Education as the NAEE was formerly known, provides as complete a record as possible of the conference activities. Papers and reports are listed alphabetically by presenters in 10 general sections. Keynote speeches are given full length while abstracts of 1500 words or less are given for the remaining papers. Sections included are: (1) major addresses (representing perspectives from Canada, the United Nations, the United States, and Australia); (2) Banff Declaration (affirming a commitment to a new governmental ethic); (3) sections workshop report (focusing on ecological sustainable development); (4) international issues and actions (reviewing programs and conditions in Swaziland, Brazil, Barbados, Norway, India, Egypt, New Zealand, and Thailand); (5) governmental roles (including a symposium on Canada/U.S. relations and panels on information systems and a national center for environmental education); (6) issues (covering such topics as acid rain, nuclear arms, toxic substances, and population); (7) nonformal education (considering parks, centers, churches, and environmental history); (8) tertiary education (examining training programs); (9) curriculum (describing outdoor progress, community issues, technology, energy, and computers); and (10) research (reporting on attitudes, behaviors, cognitive models, evaluation, and curriculum materials). (ML)

A detailed statistical profile of education in the United States is based on information from the Center for Education Statistics' many studies and surveys as well as from other sources within and outside government. Along with the narrative, each topic entry consists of a table and a chart highlighting the data in the table. This 12th annual report presents some 45 measures of education grouped within the framework of "outcomes" of education, such as test score results; the "resources" available for education, like per pupil expenditures and teacher salaries; and the "context" in which education takes place, that is, environmental factors, including student characteristics, public opinion about the schools, and legislative action on school standards. Although the majority of indicators address aspects of elementary and secondary education, 10 indicators describe postsecondary education. The second section consists of the following issue papers: "Preschool Enrollment: Trends and Implications" (Audrey Pendleton); "Trends in Elementary and Secondary Public School Enrollment" (Phillip Kaufman); "School Dropouts in the United States" (Aaron M. Pallas); "Growth in Higher Education Enrollment: 1978-1985" (Phillip Kaufman); and "Private School Enrollment and Tuition Trends" (Mary Frase Williams). The third section consists of appendices with supplementary tables, sources of data, technical notes, standard error tables, and a glossary. (MLF)

This is a summary report of a study that examined the practice and effects of vocational education in 14 classrooms in 8 Minnesota public schools. Data were collected from classroom observations; interviews with students, teachers, administrators, and counselors; and written survey instruments assessing student career development, vocational maturity, and demographic characteristics. Vocational education was found to play an important role in helping students build competence, apply basic skills, think through problems, learn technical skills, explore life roles, learn to work together, express themselves, extend themselves to the community, and practice life roles. Within the context of secondary education, vocational education was found to provide a change of pace from other experiences in the comprehensive high school. However, although the benefits of vocational education are clear, vocational students were frequently confronted with mixed perceptions by other students and by teachers about the value of their vocational education. Vocational education was found to help students in five ways. It helped students experience an egalitarian atmosphere and cooperation and teamwork, provided learning activities relevant to students' lives, gave teachers an opportunity to know their students well, and helped students develop self-esteem. It was concluded that those responsible for planning, administering, and teaching vocational education should continue to be creative and challenge students beyond their expectations, clarify the purpose of vocational education, and continue to provide new areas for student exploration without becoming so specialized as to narrow students' opportunities. (MN)

The evolution of technical education in Argentina has not been so much a process of vocationalization of academic education as a process of secondarization of vocational education. Argentine technical schools are the product of a process of convergence among terminal trade schools, vocational schools, and industrial technological schools that has resulted in an educational system with a dual purpose (to foster mobility toward higher education and to teach vocational skills) and a nonintegrated curriculum. Brazil, on the other hand, has traditionally had a selective academic secondary education accompanied by a less prestigious vocational branch, with the latter accounting for half the secondary school enrollment in 1971. In 1971 it was decided to vocationalize the entire second cycle of secondary education throughout Brazil. An amendment was subsequently introduced that allowed special preparatory studies for bright students. The attempted reform was not entirely successful because some schools cheated by retaining old curricula under new names, other schools lacked the resources to implement first-rate programs, and yet other schools offered certifications that discriminated between two kinds of qualifications in order to avoid granting professional degrees to incompetent graduates. The problem in both countries appears to be how to attain a mix of general education, preparatory studies, and vocational education in secondary education in a way that would permit a significant proportion of graduates to continue on to higher education but at the same time would furnish most of them with the skills necessary to compete in the labor market. (MN)

The study reported in this paper describes business/industry involvement with the education of secondary school students in Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany, and France. The study covers the following: business/industry's criticisms and recommendations about secondary education; the institutional framework within which business/industry involvement with education takes place; the characteristic collaborative arrangements in each of the three countries; the directions and forms of business/industry involvement with education across the three countries; and the conditions influencing such involvement. Some of the findings of the study, drawn from onsite inquiry and documentary sources, are as follows: (1) employers in all three nations make similar criticisms of the schools, including lack of connection of school curricula with the world of work, the schools' preoccupation with academic study and credentials, inadequacy of basic skill training, and the consequent unpreparedness of school leavers for work; (2) their recommendations for change are also very similar--a more practical curriculum, greater appreciation of the world of work, and more efficient management of schools; (3) business/industry participation is organized in substantially different ways in each of the three countries--France's job education is the most school-based, Germany's is the most firm-based, while England has a mixed model; and (4) business/industry continues to have an important if not dominant role in vocational training. There is no indication that any method of financing, whether public or business/industry, affects the involvement of business/industry in vocational education. (Author/KC)

This document contains the National Council on Vocational Education's recommendations for improving the effectiveness of the vocational-technical educational system. They follow a list of council members, explanations of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act and the purpose of the council, a quiz on vocational-technical education for the reader, and a description of vocational-technical education as a hidden national treasure. The recommendations address the council's desire to (1) improve program effectiveness by offering states flexibility in providing services to special populations, further implementing the concept of technical committees, and maintaining the emphasis on academic skills; (2) increase the cooperation between business and vocational education by expanding model programs; (3) retrain adults by emphasizing lifelong learning; (4) provide access to information regarding the market demand for skills by developing a national labor force database; (5) meet the needs of handicapped people by establishing successfully employed graduates as role models; (6) link vocational education with the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) by (among other things) making similar the timetables for vocational education and JTPA; and (6) provide current information on the types and levels of occupational competencies by working with business, industry, and labor. The document also includes information on the council's national awareness campaign and awards it presents, a summary of its meetings in 1988, biographies of members, and seven references. (CML)

At this regional colloquium 13 papers were presented concerning the relationship between education and employment. Themes addressed were: (1) the transformation of the workplace by technology and science; (2) the future of the disadvantaged population as a consequence of the technological revolution; and (3) the resulting changes in the education systems. The papers presented were: (1) Labor Mobility, Technological Changes, the Right to Work and Learn (Ettore Gelpi); (2) The Effects of Technological Innovation on Employment and Occupational Qualifications (Victor Manuel Gomez); (3) Technological Innovation, Productivity, and Professional Qualifications: A Study of the Dairy Industry (Marcos Supervielle; Jean Ruffier); (4) Technological Innovation, Literacy and Employment (Elio Vieira); (5) Technological Transformation and Literacy in Rural Areas (Edgar Silva Soloyano); (6) Non-Formal Education and Technology Among Small Agricultural Producers (Guillermo Briones); (7) Professional and Occupational Readjustment among Workers in Crisis (Graciela C. Riquelme); (8) An Experience of Education-Work in the Central Mine Cooperative of Bolivia (Jorge Albarracin); (9) Transformations of the Work World and Its Effects on Education (Ettore Gelpi); (10) Educational Preparation for Work in Venezuela (Arnaldo Este); (11) Preparation for Work (Cesar Pena Vigas); (12) Technogical Transformation of Work and Its Effects on Educational Programs and Literacy (Luis E. Maso Frometa); and (13) Basic Education in Venezuela (Delia Malave de Silvestri). (NL)

More than ever, U.S. economic well-being is intertwined with that of other countries through expanding international trade, financial markets, and investments. National security, and even world stability, depend upon U.S. understanding of and communication with other countries. Therefore, international education must be an integral part of the education of every student. This report highlights individual examples of worthy international education programs at all levels from across the country. These pockets of progress must be nurtured and expanded until they grow into a national commitment to international education. State governors must take the lead in creating an international focus for the U.S. educational system at all levels. Critical to the success of this effort will be the involvement of a broad coalition including teachers, school administrators and board members, legislators, university presidents, college faculty, and the business community. The following objectives for state action are recommended: (1) international education must become part of the basic education of all of students; (2) more students must gain proficiency in foreign languages; (3) teachers must know more about international issues; (4) schools and teachers must be aware of the wealth of resources and materials that are available for international education; (5) all college and university graduates must be knowledgeable about the broader world and conversant in another language; (6) business and community support of international education should be increased; and (7) the business community must have access to international education, particularly information about export markets, trade regulations, and overseas cultures. A 50-item bibliography is included. (JB)

To overcome the education deficit, the United States must first have a national commitment to excellence in education and, second, must restructure elementary and secondary education. The provision of choice in education is the cornerstone to restructuring education in this country. Opportunities offered by choice have benefited students at the Jose Feliciano School for the Performing Arts in East Harlem, New York. Minnesota has been putting the nation's most ambitious statewide choice program in effect since 1985. Iowa and Arkansas have enacted open enrollment legislation, and it is reported that 21 states are considering choice programs. According to Charles Glenn, civil rights director, Massachusetts Department of Education, choice can promote equity" by creating conditions that encourage schools to become more effective...by allowing schools to specialize and thus to meet the needs of some students very well rather than all students at a level of minimum adequacy, and...by increasing the influence of parents over the education of their children in a way which is largely conflict free." Choices at the postsecondary level of education in the United States have helped to produce the highest caliber educational system. The same approach can promote progress and success for our elementary and secondary schools. In order to provide momentum in the national effort on choice in education, several federal initiatives are announced along with four publications that concentrate on the theory and practice of choice. Finally, a 3-year evaluation to be conducted of the impact of Minnesota's open-enrollment choice program is announced. (MLF)

The lack of economics literacy is a serious problem in the United States. Today, public school students are taught little if any economics and score very poorly on economics literacy tests, with the average test score being 40 percent. This absence of economic understanding hurts the economy in the following ways: (1) economically illiterate workers are not as productive, (2) decline in productivity causes an increase in the price of goods and services, (3) states have difficulty retaining employers and attracting new ones, and (4) economic illiterates do not make educated citizens since they cannot make informed choices. Economics education must be incorporated into all levels and types of education, especially vocational education, in order to produce a quality workforce. Individual citizens must be capable of making informed decisions in order to direct the country's economy and way of life. Employers now seek workers with more than simple job-specific skills. Workers need a basic understanding of economic processes, as well as the skills necessary to make sound, rational decisions on a variety of topics. There is a natural link between economics education and vocational education, particularly in teaching about work and career related issues and business competitiveness. Economics education must be made interesting to students in order to be successful, and a variety of methods can be used to incorporate it into the curriculum. Economics education must go beyond rote learning and develop thought processes and teach people with job skills to be flexible and to have communication and problem solving skills. (AS)

A Swedish project was designed to address the question, "What contribution is popular education making today toward the emergence of a more democratic society?" The 2-year project involved adult education associations and folk high schools. The project had three tasks: (1) to chart equality of opportunity and to show where women are located in adult education associations, folk high schools, and their activities; (2) to synthesize and analyze research into adult and popular education from women's perspective; and (3) to compile an inventory and a description of the measures taken within adult education associations and folk high schools for, by, and with women. The study confirms the image of the folk high school as a sexually segregated institution. Nearly half the female participants had worked in the caring and service sector, and nearly half of them also wanted to supplement their education with a view to changing jobs. All adult education associations had a number of study circles dealing with women's questions. None of them, however, had taken any special steps to adapt their activities to women's situation, beyond what the participants could achieve by themselves. The equal opportunities question has attracted some attention at the national level, and some activities have been developed to meet the concerns. The study found that research has not taken women's specific questions as its starting point; rather, women have been viewed as an aspect of a problem. The contribution of women has not been described. However, some projects are now being conducted for women. (KC)

Data gathered from a national survey on the status of adult and continuing education in the United States are presented. Chapters cover: continuing education in 410 institutions of higher education (description of the sample, relationships among institutional characteristics, staffing patterns, and support for grants acquisition); the continuing education deanship (personal backgrounds of the deans, job structure, evaluation of the deans, faculty advisory committees, what deans do on the job, satisfactions and frustrations of the deans, and careers, institutions, and futures); teaching and teachers (funding for excellence, tenure, merit salary increases, the dean's teaching revisited, and teaching and unionization); and program quality in continuing education: the dean's perspective (program quality and program evaluation, the dean's impact on quality, and resource allocation). Among the conclusions are that: one in five institutions has the dean as the sole continuing education professional administrator; graduate degrees earned by continuing education deans include doctorates (70%) and other advanced degrees (3%); 54% of the deans experience an annual evaluation; the most general satisfaction for the deans is meeting community and student needs for programs; just over 50% of the chief academic officers in continuing education report teaching at least one course per year; teaching is the most important factor in tenure decisions for faculty working in continuing education; and teaching quality is the factor most frequently reported as very important in the dean's assessment of continuing education. (SM)

The theme of this special issue of "FIRE: Forum for International Research in Education" is "Reimagining Internationalization: Critical Dialogues on Global Dimensions of Education" based on the 2014 Midwestern Regional Conference of the Comparative and International Education Society (MCIES). The Comparative International Education Society (CIES) is an association of scholars within and outside of academia "dedicated to increasing the understanding of educational issues, trends and policies through comparative, cross-cultural and international perspectives" (CIES, 2015). In addition to its annual meeting, CIES supports regional conferences, which allow for scholarly engagement among colleagues in an intimate setting. The 2014 MCIES was held at Indiana University (IU), organized by graduate students in the School of Education, and supervised by Margaret Sutton. The Center for International Education, Development and Research (CIEDR) in the IU School of Education, directed by Patricia K. Kubow, served as a conference sponsor. In consultation with Justin Wild and A'ame Joslin, two graduate students who co-led the conference committee's outreach efforts, Kubow suggested curating a collection of research presented at the conference for a journal special issue, which "FIRE" generously agreed to support. This article introduces, and describes the contents of that special issue. The hope is that the pieces within will help readers to reexamine critically the dialogues on education, globalization, and culture in their efforts to reimagine the possibilities of internationalization in postsecondary and K-12 settings around the world.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and determine the effectiveness of university education on the economy of various countries. Design/methodology/approach: To determine the necessity and expedience of making provision for the effectiveness of university education on the market economy, this work uses the method of regression and correlation analysis. Evaluation of effectiveness of the system of university education is performed separately for students, state, and employers by taking as example countries with specially developed formulas. Findings: The authors substantiate the necessity for provision of effectiveness of university education on the market economy, view the effective system of university education as a basis for the development of a knowledge economy, determine approaches to evaluate the effectiveness of university education on the market economy, perform evaluation of effectiveness of the system of university education by the example of various countries, determine its connection with indicators of economic growth and development, and provide recommendations for provision of effectiveness of the system of university education on modern market economies. Practical implications: The practical value of results of the conducted research consists in the possibility to use the developed formulas for determining the level of effectiveness of the system of university education on various countries of the world. Originality/value: Theoretical value of this paper consists in the possibility for the application of authors' conclusions and recommendations in the process of development of the policy of management of effectiveness of university education system.

Background: School-based sex education is effective in reducing risky sexual behavior among adolescents that may lead to unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. However, most sex education policies in the US do not support evidence-based programs. Understanding parental attitudes around sex education is crucial to overcoming perceived barriers to implementing school-based sex education. Little research has been published on the opinions of parents in Texas, which accounts for 12% of the nation's teen births. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine whether Texas parents favor teaching sex education in schools, in what grades they think sex education should be taught, what content they think should be taught, and who they think should make decisions regarding sex education. Methods: We commissioned a telephone survey of parents of children 18 years or younger in Harris County, Texas. Survey questions assessed demographic characteristics and opinions about sex education. We used chi-square tests to examine differences across sociodemographic characteristics. Results: 1,201 parents completed the survey. The majority of parents (80%) responded that sex education should begin in middle school or earlier, and two-thirds said that it should include information about condoms and contraception. Hispanic parents showed the highest support for teaching sex education and providing medically accurate information on condoms and contraception in middle school or earlier. Conclusion: Parents in Harris County overwhelmingly support sex education that includes medically accurate information about condoms and contraception beginning before high school. These data provide evidence to change sex education policies to better reflect parental opinions.