Education & Pedagogy

The purpose of this paper is to examine substate linkages between business, labor, and vocational education in Florida. Information for the paper was gathered by reviewing the activities of the Regional Coordinating Councils for Vocational, Adult and Community Education, the Private Industry Councils, the regional consortia, and organized labor. In addition, a literature search was conducted, and the report lists and reviews significant linkage-related publications including reports of related Florida studies conducted over the past few years. This is followed by descriptions of current state-level vehicles for linkage programs and substate-level linkage activities. The state-level vehicles include ACCESS (the state's education clearinghouse for economic development); the Division of Vocational, Adult, and Community Education; the Florida Council on Vocational Education; the Florida Education and Industry Coalition; the Florida High Technology and Industry Council; the Industry Services Training Program and Advisory Council; the Job Training Partnership Act; the Southern Technology Applications Center; the Sunshine Skills Act; and the Trust Fund for Postsecondary Cooperation. Substate linkage activities are described for Regional Coordinating Councils, Private Industry Councils, regional education-industry consortia, and organized labor. As a result of the study, the Florida Council on Vocational Education made the following recommendations: (1) to strengthen the industrial representation component on the Regional Coordinating Councils, (2) to strengthen the involvement of labor and apprenticeship in vocational education, and (3) to increase regional coordination of vocational education and training activities and related organizations. Appendices include a Regional Coordinating Council linkages survey form, maps showing planning regions, service delivery areas, and regional consortia areas, and a questionnaire on labor's linkages to vocational education. (KC)

A study was conducted to determine demographic characteristics, motivation, and program satisfaction of General Educational Development (GED) candidates and adult education (including adult basic education, secondary adult education, and English as a second language) students in Texas. Between June and December 1985, about 6,000 adult education students and 5,000 GED candidates responded to questionnaires. Some of the highlights of the report include the following: (1) 7 of 10 adult education students reported their origin as Hispanic, compared to 3 of 10 GED candidates; (2) adult education students reported language difficulties and financial needs most frequently as their reason for not completing high school; (3) adult education students and GED candidates are most likely to hold jobs as handlers/equipment cleaners/helpers/laborers, or in sales and service or as homemakers; (4) recent awareness about adult education and GED programs was a trigger to begin participating in adult learning programs; (5) recent career changes were triggers for two of three GED candidates and one of two adult education students; (6) information about the programs is spread primarily by word of mouth, especially for participants in adult education programs; (7) relatively more adult education students want to attend community or junior college than do GED candidates; and (8) program improvements suggested by the students included more extensive and flexible scheduling and more publicity on television and radio. (The report contains extensive tables with explanations.) (KC)

This volume consists of report summaries, literature reviews, and document annotations on the subject of education in Asia and the Pacific. The reviewed literature includes the following: "Reorientation and Reform of Secondary Education in the Asian and Pacific Region: A Status Report," edited by R.S. Adams; Unesco's "Primary Education on the Threshold of the 21st Century"; "Secondary Education in the World Today," by Z.A. Malkova and B.L. Vulfson; "Distance Education in Asia and the Pacific," proceedings of the Asian Development Bank Seminar; "Public and Private Sectors in Asian Higher Education Systems," Hiroshima University; "Pacific Perspectives on Non-Formal Education," edited by Michael Crossley and others; "Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women in Asia and the Pacific," United Nations; "Realities, Reflections, and Reform: A Study of State Universities and Colleges in the Philippines," by Higino A. Ables and others; "Education and Employment: the Case Study of Thailand," by Tunsiri Vichai; Trevor Williams'"Participation in (Australian) Education"; a government report on Japanese educational reform; a pilot study of computer education in Penang, Malaysia; an Australian government report on policy for girls' education; and a Japanese national research report on new ideas with computers in mathematics education. The annotation section includes descriptions of about 33 documents arranged by nations, dealing with such topics as occupational training, teacher education, rural housing, and the economic role of women in Asian and Pacific countries. The book also includes addresses of sources for the materials described. (TES)

Four surveys of attitudes toward vocational education were conducted in three school districts in Nevada in 1988 to derive information for use in strengthening vocational education programs. The surveys were completed by 331 parents, 1,454 students, 154 vocational teachers, and 29 administrators. More than 85 percent of students and a smaller majority of parents (73 percent) perceived vocational education to have three purposes: to explore occupational areas, to develop general skills for later use at home or on the job, and to prepare for employment in specific occupations. The education level of the parents appeared to influence their perceived choice of purpose for vocational education; parents with less college education indicated more often that one of the purposes of vocational education was to prepare students for technical school. Approximately three-fourths of the students and four-fifths of the parents surveyed recommended that students take a vocational course, especially for the purpose of career exploration. Parents and students who did not recommend taking at least one vocational course cited choice of subject or that it was not necessary for college. Three-fourths of the parents had favorable opinions about vocational education. Nonvocational students did not enroll because of lack of interest and lack of time. The study recommended more teacher recruitment; more accessibility to the vocational education curriculum; more public relations activities to educate parents, students, and the community about the benefits of vocational education; additional vocational guidance; and other actions to increase enrollment in vocational education. (KC)

Providing pre-service early childhood general educators with a strong knowledge base of key aspects of early childhood special education is essential in the United States as US federal law mandates it. Specifically, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) stipulates that children with special needs must to be placed in the least restrictive environment, and thus this legislation increases the number of young children with special needs in general education settings (Cook, Klein, Tessier, 2008; Crockett & Kauffman, 2013; Siegel, 2007). For many pre-service early childhood educators, learning about concepts in early childhood special education can be challenging given that pre-service general educators can often feel uncomfortable with potentially working with children with special needs, a population that they may feel they have little understanding of how to effectively teach (Henning & Mitchell, 2002). However, teacher education approaches that allow the exploration of various perspectives about inclusive practices while also developing critically reflective thinking skills can promote a sound understanding of inclusive teaching practices (Silverman, 2007). This study introduced an anchored instructional experience using a software program called PulpMotion to create video media to bridge meaningful understandings of general educators with potentially challenging knowledge of early childhood special education. Pre-service early childhood educators presented with the PulpMotion created anchored instructional video experiences were shown to have a marked increase of on-line discussion board postings and reviews of "non-required" reading of early childhood special education

This article explores the territory that has been covered since the publication of Ladson-Billings and Tate's 1995 article, "Toward a Critical Race Theory in Education." We organize our review of the CRT literature around what we are calling CRT "boundaries." We identify six boundaries for CRT and education: 1) CRT in education argues that racial inequity in education is the logical outcome of a system of achievement presided on competition; 2) CRT in education examines the role of education policy and educational practices in the construction of racial inequity and the perpetuation of normative whiteness; 3) CRT in education rejects the dominant narrative about the inherent inferiority of people of color and the normative superiority of white people; 4) CRT in education rejects ahistoricism and examines the historical linkages between contemporary educational inequity and historical patterns of racial oppression; 5) CRT in education engages in intersectional analyses that recognize the ways that race is mediated by and interacts with other identity markers (i.e., gender, class, sexuality, linguistic background, and citizenship status); 6) CRT in education agitates and advocates for meaningful outcomes that redress racial inequity. CRT does not merely document disparities. We suggest that these core ideas provide a framework for analyzing the work that has been done in education in the past and a way to determine what might be left to do.

This article suggests future directions for policy, practice and research in the area of human rights education. These suggestions are based on an attempt of a critical overview of recent policy studies, of actual developments in human rights education and of some of the available research on human rights education. This attempt of an overview of the status quo of policy, practice and research is confronted with the idea of human rights education (e. g. the formal definition of human rights education promulgated by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights). The differences between the "idea" of human rights education and the "reality" will be the starting point for the development of the suggestions of future directions. Based on the discussion of the differences between "idea" and "reality" of human rights education, the author proposes that future policy should focus on guidance at the national and local policy level in relation to human rights education and on closing the gap between existing materials and their use and the implementation of human rights education in different contexts. Regarding future practice the author suggests the integration in human rights education programs of study visits of human rights institutions and of meetings with human rights defenders as living examples of the human rights tradition and the inclusion of the service learning-approach into human rights education to enhance the practice-orientation of human rights education. Future research might concentrate more fully on impactrelated evaluations.

The role of quality education in nation building cannot be overemphasized as no nation can grow beyond the level of education it offers its citizenry. In the same vein, no country can develop meaningfully without a well-developed vocational education programme. Business Education is geared towards the attainment of skills, values, and abilities that prepare its beneficiaries to enter into a specific job or occupation. This paper reports on how the quality of business education in Ekiti State, Nigeria could be enhanced to achieve this objective. Eighty business education lecturers and their students completed questionnaires on the 'Funding of Business Education in Nigeria; Issues and Challenges' (FBENIC) and the Key Informant Interview (KII) schedule. Three research questions were answered. Weighted mean and standard deviation were used in the analyzed data. Any item with a weighted mean value of 3.00 and above was regarded as agreed or adequate. A mean value below 3.00 was assumed as disagree or inadequate. Results indicated the need for better funding, effective management of suitable curriculum, recruitment of qualified teachers, provision of necessary facilities and educational research. Major obstacles include: Poor funding of business education, inadequate technological orientation, government as the sole financier, diversion and misappropriation of funds, inadequate records of materials and facilities allocated for the business education programme. Business education offers a possible solution to the perennial problem of insecurity and insurgency, unemployment and poverty if its potentials are carefully harnessed through an enhanced curriculum delivery system.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the opinions of physical education teachers on the concept of sportsmanship. This study, which has been based on the qualitative research paradigm, involves opinions of 13 physical education teachers (9 males and 4 females) which serve in public schools of Turkey and which have been specified through a critical incident sampling. A "semi-structured interview form" which has been developed using a literature review and expert opinions has been used to collect data. The descriptive analysis technique was used in analyzing the obtained data. Results of the study showed that physical education teachers have different views on the sportsmanship concept. Although physical education teachers stated their opinions on requirement of activities towards enhancing the awareness with regard to the sportsmanship concept in schools they work in, it was determined that they performed few activities pertaining to sportsmanship. However, it was seen that the current physical education course programs do not provide teachers with sufficient information regarding the sportsmanship education and that teachers desire to have education on the sportsmanship concept during in-service training activities. Furthermore, the involved teachers think that quality of the current university education in terms of the sportsmanship concept should be improved. In conclusion, in order to enhance the quality of physical education teachers with regard to the sportsmanship concept, particularly faculties of education are recommended to include compulsory courses containing both the theory and practice on sportsmanship and researchers are recommended to develop sample activities and practice guiding physical education teachers.

This article focuses on the work of three British Women Education Officers (WEOs) in Nigeria as the colony was preparing for independence. Well-qualified and progressive women teachers, Kathleen Player, Evelyn Clark (née Hyde), and Mary Hargrave (née Robinson), were appointed as WEOs in 1945, 1949, and 1950 respectively. I argue that the three WEOs endeavoured to reconcile their British cultural values, progressive education, English language instruction, and the intricacies of Nigerian cultures in order to prepare students for life and work in an independent Nigeria. Their roles were diverse, encompassing administration and teaching, teacher education, and leadership of girls' boarding schools and residential training colleges where English was the language of instruction. Following an outline of the WEOs' prior experiences, I compare and contrast their approaches to progressive education, beginning with Clark's endeavours to make girls' education "a graft that would grow onto and into their own way of life" at the Women's Training College, Sokoto, in far Northern Nigeria. Then I discuss Robinson's work in a men's elementary training college at Bauchi where she dispensed a "down-to-earth practical" progressive education to prospective primary school teachers. Finally, Player gave girls "as complete an education as possible for life as a worker, wife and mother" at Queen Elizabeth School, the first government secondary school for girls in Northern Nigeria. Each situation illustrates the complex social relations involved in realising WEOs' commitments to progressive education as an emancipatory project.

The aim of this research is to determine the extent of benefit of teacher training education of the teacher candidate students who are having pedagogical teacher training education. This research is a quantitative study in general screening model. In the research, a questionnaire formed of 5-point Likert type with 26 items was used. Cronbach Alpha coefficient of the scale was 0,74. 222 teacher candidates participated into the study. The scale items were gathered under sub-dimensions of "lessons taken by means of distant education, lessons taken by means of face-to-face education, teaching practice process in schools and general assessment of teacher training education." According to the findings of the research, it was seen that assessments of the teacher candidates relating to the profession were positive. The students preferred face-to-face education to on-line education. Within this process, the importance of teaching practice was detected due to the provision of opportunity for the candidates for putting their theoretical knowledge into practice. No significant difference was seen in the assessments of the teacher training education in terms of gender by the teacher candidates. There was a difference in sub-dimension of "lessons taken by means of face-to-face education" with respect to the group of History-Geography students. As suggestions, it is anticipated that teacher training education of the teacher candidates should be provided with the face-to-face education freely and courses should be arranged within four years of undergraduate education programs.

Mathematics is the discipline that a significant majority of most incoming researchers in mathematics education have prior qualifications and experience in. Upon entry into the field of mathematics education research, these newcomers--often students on a postgraduate programme in mathematics education--need a broadened understanding on how to read, converse, write and conduct research in the largely unfamiliar territory of mathematics education. The intervention into the practices of post-graduate teaching and supervision in the field of mathematics education that I describe here aims at fostering this broadened understanding and thus facilitating newcomers' participation in the practices of the mathematics education research community. Here I outline the theoretical underpinnings of the intervention and exemplify one of its parts (an Activity Set designed to facilitate incoming students' "engagement with the mathematics education research literature"). I supplement the discussion of the intervention with comments sampled from student interview and student written evaluation data as well as observations of the activities' implementation. The main themes touched upon include: "learning how to identify appropriate mathematics education literature"; "reading increasingly more complex writings in mathematics education"; "coping with the complexity of literate mathematics education discourse"; "working towards a contextualised understanding of literate mathematics education discourse." I conclude with indicating the directions that the intervention, and its evaluation, is currently taking and a brief discussion of broader implications, theoretical as well as concerning the supervision and teaching of post-graduate students in mathematics education.

Multicultural education is important in multicultural societies. Multicultural education should be introduced in the early years as the preschool years are a critical time when young children develop the moral values and ethical standards of their society. Therefore, it is crucial for preschool teachers to be equipped with the appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes to promote multicultural education. This paper reports the findings of a survey involving 854 preschool teachers who were serving in both public and private preschools in Malaysia. The preschool teachers completed a questionnaire to demonstrate their understandings of multicultural education, their perceptions of its importance in early childhood education and their opinions about other preschool teachers' attitudes towards multicultural education. The findings indicated that the Malaysian preschool teachers had a limited understanding of multicultural education. Although most of them acknowledged the importance of introducing multicultural education at preschool level, the extent to which they actually understood the concept was still doubtful. Even though a majority of the preschool teachers believed that other preschool teachers had favourable attitudes towards multicultural education, there were a considerably high percentage of preschool teachers who actually possessed unfavourable or condition-dependent attitudes. Thus, it is critical to focus on supporting teachers in developing more critical and deeper understandings of multicultural education. Efforts such as reviewing teacher training programmes as well as enhancing teachers' openness, self-reflective abilities, commitment to social justice and positive intercultural experiences are needed to promote teachers' positive beliefs and attitudes towards diversity.

Science teacher education has traditionally presented science as a body of knowledge to be mastered, along with the methods that may be used to help learners to master this body of knowledge. With pressure mounting on higher education institutions to engage more actively with communities, avenues have opened up to facilitate the development of teacher education courses that incorporate education for the empowerment of communities. This paper reports on two cases of socially responsible biology courses which enable students to interact with their communities. The two cases were applied in two biology education modules, using education for sustainable development (ESD) as a concept to define the content and activities incorporated in the above-mentioned modules. The first case incorporates ESD in a method module where students are required to develop an environmental policy for a school in collaboration with the school. The second case incorporates ESD in a biology education research module where students are required to direct their research activities in such a way that their research contributes to communities living healthier and more sustainable lives. By incorporating this approach in science education courses, the opportunity arises to promote personal growth and social responsibility through science learning. While developing their knowledge and skills pertaining to science education, they are able to reflect on their roles as educators in a broader community and in particular their roles of agents of change in that community.

This study investigated the extent of implementation of the Civic Education curriculum content in senior secondary schools in Osun State. It also determined the adequacy of curriculum content as provided in selected Civic Education textbooks in the schools. It finally assessed the adequacy, availability and utilization of the instructional facilities used for the teaching of Civic Education in schools. The study employed descriptive survey research design. The population of the study comprised Civic Education teachers, students, as well as textbooks and instructional facilities for the teaching and learning of Civic Education in secondary schools in Ife-Ijesha Senatorial District of Osun State. The sample consisted of 15 Civic Education teachers, 150 senior secondary school students and two selected Civic Education Textbooks in Osun State that were selected using multistage sampling technique. Three instruments were used for data collection. They are: Civic Education Textbook Content Checklist (CETC2), Teaching Assessments Form (TAF) and Instructional Facilities Checklist (IFC). Data collected were analyzed using frequency, percentage and One-Way ANOVA. The results showed that not less than 84.0% of the students agreed that the contents of Civic Education curriculum are relevant, whereas, percentage of students ranging from 85.3 to 100.0% indicated that the recommended textbook contents adequately covered the curriculum contents of Civic Education. The study concluded that Civic Education curriculum is well implemented in senior secondary schools classrooms in Osun State. Also, the selected Civic Education textbooks content are adequate to the senior secondary schools Civic Education curriculum in Osun State.