Education & Pedagogy

This article reports the findings of a shared review of the initial preparation of teachers for special educational needs (SEN) in Ireland. The research was funded by the Centre for Cross Border Studies as part of its remit to support collaborative developments by teacher educators throughout Ireland, North and South. Policies for SEN and for initial teacher education in the two jurisdictions are reviewed. The special education representatives of 13 institutions of initial teacher education in Ireland responded to a survey and met in conference for focused discussion. The authors identify patterns in the positioning of what is currently construed as SEN knowledge within pre-service courses and suggest frameworks for the audit and coordination of SEN knowledge and experience in initial teacher education. (Contains 1 figure, 2 tables and 1 note.)

Despite valuable syntheses of the field of gender and science education, there has not been a systematic, comprehensive review of the literature on gender and science education in recent years. We examine the literature pertaining to girls' engagement in science and develop four themes (equity and access, curriculum and pedagogy, the nature and culture of science, and identity) that we believe provide a coherent picture of the different kinds of approaches happening currently, while at the same time allowing for discussion of how ideas in the field have progressed and changed over time. We present new questions and approaches for further research that arise when applying insights from these themes to ongoing work in gender and science education. (Contains 4 tables and 6 notes.)

This paper reports on a major national study of higher education science and engineering learning communities in New Zealand. The scope of the research project along with a description of the methodology and method used in the study together with rationale for the study and research approach adopted are provided here. Details of the theoretical framework and a discussion of paradigm that underpinned the study are presented. A discussion of issues of reliability and validity and measures taken to maximize these also is presented. The paper begins with an overview of the New Zealand compulsory education sector and traces the now multitudinous pathways into higher education nationally. It thus provides a valuable context for this national study of higher education science and engineering learning communities.

Community and Individual Development Association (CIDA) City Campus is a private business college that provides bachelor's degrees to economically disadvantaged students in South Africa. CIDA's model of management education is in stark contrast to conventional business schools, which are not accessible to or adapted to students from extreme poverty. To help overcome their disadvantaged backgrounds, CIDA students are provided with holistic education encompassing inner development and community spirit, not just career-oriented skills and knowledge. Furthermore, CIDA students are engaged in creating economic value for their school and their communities, in contrast to traditional education that sequesters students from productive engagement with their communities. The CIDA model provides lessons for management educators seeking to target impoverished students and their communities. (Contains 1 note and 1 table.)

Moral education can take many forms. With the end of the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education (UNDHRE) (1995-2004), we critically review developments in human rights education (HRE) during those ten years in the context of moral education. We argue that, despite some modest successes, the decade lacked direction and a major impact and has failed to prepare a sound basis for securing HRE internationally. These outcomes largely account for the United Nations' (UN) decision in 2005 to initiate the World Programme for Human Rights Education. Meanwhile initiatives in defining the goals and practice of HRE have happened outside the UN context. Overall the UN's contribution to building HRE and moral education has, at best, been marginally successful due in large measure to the inherent weaknesses of the organisation as well as the UN's inability to engage member states. (Contains 1 note.)

Focus on textbooks, not class size, poor countries are regularly told as they seek to improve education quality. Yet, at the same time, with strong support from professional educators, the voters of the U.S. state of California approved massive expenditures to reduce the size of classes that in global terms were already quite small. These dramatically different approaches to improving education quality offer insight into the ways in which the aid relationship is itself an obstacle to improving education quality. The nature of the learning process--interactive, locally contingent, negotiated, and continually changing--requires funding agencies concerned with improving education quality to reach beyond the usual list of improved inputs. Yet, that is not easily accomplished. The structure and organization of the aid relationship set priorities and specify practices that disempower locally rooted education reform initiatives. Equally important, improved education quality and persisting and planned dependence on foreign aid cannot comfortably coexist.

This article provides a model of online professional development that is consistent with recommendations from the fields of teacher education, technology staff development and online learning. A graduate mathematics education course designed and implemented using the model is presented to exemplify the model's core components and interactions. The model has been used to develop courses in using the World Wide Web to enhance the teaching of children's literature, mathematics, science, social studies, multicultural education, parental involvement, literacy, inquiry-based learning and English as a second language. The model's components and pedagogical foundations are applicable for the design and implementation of online courses in other disciplines with field-based learning experiences. Unique features of the model are also shared as well as findings from a formative evaluation study. (Contains 1 figure.)

This paper provides an analysis of current educational finance debates in Manitoba within a broader discussion of the essential character of public education in Canada. Arguing that public accessibility and equity, public funding, and public control constitute three touchstones of public education, the paper describes the Manitoba debates over provincial and local funding of schools and the use of property taxes to fund education and analyzes them in relation to these criteria. Significant continued local school board funding from property taxes, along with a greater commitment to provincial equalization initiatives, is the direction that the paper suggests offers the greatest potential for sustaining and nurturing a strong publicly funded school system characterized by both public accessibility and public control. (Contains 2 tables and 11 notes.)

How are educators moving museums' interpretive goals beyond exhibition galleries? How are programs creating new relationships between a museum and its adult audiences? As plans for physical transformation at the Chicago History Museum took form, the education department launched a parallel process of planning to redefine the "look and feel" for adult learning. With the reopening of the museum in fall 2006, the education department premiered an annual menu of programs designed to reach adult learners and foster exchanges with Chicago. "New Directions in Adult Education" is a new approach to program design that has created a core offering of programs for adult audiences at the museum. This article explores how education can move the interpretive focus in program design away from an exhibition-centered approach to one that is creating new connections between adults, history, and the City. (Contains 3 resources and 12 notes.)

This paper discusses the key issues and concerns in the Cambodian government's efforts to implement three priority education policies for 2006-2010: ensure equitable access to education; increase quality and efficiency of the education services; and promote institutional development and capacity building for decentralisation. This paper identifies the prevailing problems of low enrolment, high dropout rates and high repetition rates of students in public schools. The paper further explores some concerns which may hinder the government from achieving the desired outcomes in the priority policies: the high opportunity cost of schooling; the heavy education costs due to teachers charging informal fees from students; and the localised socio-cultural setting where transparency, accountability and meritocracy are difficult to achieve.

Funding special education is an ongoing subject of discussion and debate. It is also exceedingly complex. One state's funding methodology is rarely, if ever, completely comparable to another's, and yet people are constantly comparing them in search of the right one. In this article, the author suggests that people are looking in the wrong places and asking the wrong questions. She believes that a school must make a commitment to becoming a responsive learning environment. The school must seek to build a general education program that deliberately, thoughtfully, and comprehensively believes that all students can learn and can achieve to high levels. Teachers must believe that the challenge is to find what is necessary for learning to happen and provide a good opportunity for learning to every student. Thus, she states that commitment will bring resolution to the issue of special education funding. (Contains 2 notes.)

This qualitative, explanatory study examined Post-RN baccalaureate nursing students' experiences of empowerment with distance education and computer conferencing (CC) for fit with the constructs of Kanter's (1977, 1993) Theory of Structural Power in Organizations. Seven post-RNs from Canadian distance education nursing programs were interviewed. Interview transcripts were examined using content analysis. Kanter's theory was useful in describing empowerment structures in distance education courses. Feedback from instructors, access to library facilities, and support from employers and family are essential elements of an empowering educational experience. Students missed face-to-face contact. Two themes unrelated to Kanter's theory--self-direction and determination to succeed--emerged. This study, based on a theoretical framework, will be of interest to educators and administrators of distance education programs. (Contains 1 figure.)

A number of recent criticisms relating to education for library and information work are discussed. These criticisms are interpreted as centring on the level of "meaningfulness" of such education, in terms of deep critical understanding; relevance of content to working practice; and development of personal qualities additional to narrower "tradition" academic abilities. The author argues that despite the need for strong programmes of post-qualification study, and improved interaction between teachers, researchers and practitioners, a high value must be placed on good quality initial full-time education. [To mark the 25th Anniversary edition of "Education for Information", editors re-visited articles published in the inaugural issue "to look again at them through the telescopic lens of a quarter century and to ponder how much has changed and how much has remained constant in educational issues relating to information studies." This article is a reprint of EJ312275.]

In 2000 a survey was undertaken in an attempt to establish a sustainable, coherent database of empirical information on NVQ level 3, 4 and 5 activity in English and Welsh higher education institutions HEIs. As a result of this work a report was produced, "The Utilisation of NVQs in Higher Education in England and Wales," which set out the survey findings. The article reviews the findings of the data collection and highlights a range of issues concerned with accurate and consistent reporting of data by organisations charged with this responsibility. The penetration of NVQs into higher education is discussed and reference made to a number of case studies. These studies offer valuable insights into the ways in which various institutions have addressed the problems of the integration of NVQs into higher education provision. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

The remarkable spread of home education needs to be considered in light of the arguments driving its growth. While acknowledging that there are many good reasons for individuals to choose home education, this analysis examines some of the most prominent assumptions and claims that advance the practice as a mass movement. Specifically, arguments regarding the rights and responsibilities of parents, and the impact of home education on students and schools are considered with regards to organisational theory, democratic governance and social science standards. These arguments promoting home education highlight the individualised or privatised focus of the phenomenon. The paper contends that home education amplifies the advantages and disadvantages of students' background characteristics, yet such serious equity issues are too often disregarded in an emerging paradigm based on the pursuit of individual advantage. (Contains 5 notes.)