Education & Pedagogy

Although adult education leads to a moderation of racist or authoritarian attitudes amongst the general population, little is known concerning the impact of adult education on individuals with extremist racist-authoritarian views. In this paper we group individuals from the NCDS (National Child Development Study) into various racist-authoritarian categories at ages 33 and 42 using cluster analysis. Following this identification we test various hypothesis concerning the relationship between adult education and attitude change. In particular, questioning whether adult education can transform attitudes amongst those with racist-authoritarian attitudes and/or whether adult education can sustain non-extremist views. Although there is evidence of a conditional association between adult education and sustaining non-extremist views we are sceptical concerning the ability of adult education to change extremist positions. We conclude that further work on the mechanisms linking education and extremist attitudes is required if we are to identify causal processes. (Contains 4 tables and 2 figures.)

Understanding the invaluable contribution of philosophy in physical education can mean the difference between a "roll out the ball" mentality and one that will change the lives of students forever. What good is an educated mind if it is housed in an unfit body? The more that physical education teachers in training understand the critical role they play in helping American youths develop positive movement habits, the greater their impact will be in decreasing the trend for obesity in youths. The educational setting is our best hope to teach sound physical activity habits to our nation's children. In order to achieve this goal, it is paramount to understand the need, worth, value, and magnitude for physical education. This can only be done through philosophy. This article explains why all preservice teachers need to include in their teacher education curriculum a course that focuses on the philosophical foundations of physical education.

The disproportionate representation of minority students in special education programs has been a persistent problem in American education. Being labeled as disabled often has a negative impact on social relationships and self-concept and long-term outcomes such as graduation and employment. Disproportionate identification of students from certain ethnic and racial groups begins in general education when teachers view a child's poor academic performance and/or behavior as a problem inherent to the child. It is critical for general education teachers and administrators to understand the relationship between insufficient supports and interventions in the classroom--academic and behavioral--and the overrepresentation of minorities in special education. This paper examines the issue and explains general education practices that may reduce the number of students inappropriately identified and referred for special services. (Contains 1 table.)

This article examines the links between prosocial moral education, educational innovations and concerns of school system personnel during an innovation's implementation process. The role of social innovations in promoting prosocial moral education is discussed with attention given to the challenges and processes associated with implementing such innovations. Promising moral and prosocial education innovations are reviewed with outcomes. The authors then describe implementation challenges identified by the original designers of the reviewed moral education interventions. Among the challenges is the difficulty of maintaining fidelity as the moral education innovation is expanded to educational settings. The analysis of prosocial moral education innovations leads to a recommendation of an important new direction for scholars and practitioners as they support diffusion of the moral education innovation. The recommendation highlights the importance of monitoring the affective concerns of facilitators as they diffuse moral education curricula to site-specific kindergarten (5 years) through Grade 16 undergraduate (average age 22 years) contexts. (Contains 2 tables.)

This paper sets out to explore connections between a number of plausible claims concerning education in general and moral education in particular: (i) that education is a matter of broad cultural initiation rather than narrow academic or vocational training; (ii) that any education so conceived would have a key concern with the moral dimensions of personal formation; (iii) that emotional growth is an important part of such moral formation; and (iv) that literature and other arts have an important part to play in such emotional education. It is argued here that what is needed for a clear view of the moral educational relevance of literature and the arts is a conception of moral education that does justice to the interplay between the cognitive and the affective in moral life, and that a non-relativist Aristotelian ethics of virtue holds out the best prospect for such a moral education of reason and feeling.

In this first decade of the 21st century, we mark two milestones in education history: the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 2004, and the 30th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2005. Both Brown and IDEA asserted the need for increased educational opportunities for once excluded groups of students and asserted that segregation was inherently harmful and unequal. However, although we might wish to celebrate, there is also a need to critically examine the unfulfilled promise of both these efforts toward integrated education. In this article, we focus on one of the most long-standing critiques of special education practice: the disproportionate placement of students of color in special education programs, referred to in the education literature as overrepresentation. We then trace some of the origins of the current problem of overrepresentation by tracing the tangled relationship of special education and resegregation in the first years following the Brown decision.

This article examines the complexity of the education of values in the People's Republic of China (PRC) since the beginning of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). It attempts to provide an insight into how the central state has managed the values of music education with respect to the dynamic changes to its political ideology across these four decades. It explores how the Chinese Communist government uses music to articulate a sense of corporate identity around traditional values and Communist ideology, whilst being responsive to the demands of the contemporary world. The main argument of this article is that the Chinese state is the primary agent of cultural transformation in music education, which, as such, has continued to play a significant role in determining musical knowledge as a sociopolitical disciplining of society. The challenges to values education in China's music education are the interplay between Communist ideology and contemporary values, and that between Communist revolutionary music and other contemporary musical styles.

Since Grossman's seminal paper in 1972, there have been a number of studies concerning the effect of education on health and health care demand. Though several studies have distinguished between preventive and curative care, no study has investigated the effects of general education on the utilization of unnecessary emergency department use. We test whether general education reduces "potentially unnecessary" emergency department utilization and provide a measure of the resulting private benefits associated with increased education. Our results partially confirm our hypothesis regarding "potentially unnecessary" emergency department use. We find that moving from a high school to greater than high school education appears to reduce "potentially unnecessary" emergency department use, with the impact being greater among the insured. However, though reducing the education level from high school to less than high school increases "potentially unnecessary" emergency department use among the insured as predicted, it has the opposite impact on the uninsured.

This article outlines the state of the art in German research on environmental education and education for sustainable development (ESD). Empirical German research on the importance of environmental education and ESD for schools is analysed in relation to three research fields. First, survey research describes the practice of environmental education and ESD, for example in the ways instruction is organised by teachers and pupils. Second, research on innovation analyses strategies for implementing environmental education and ESD in the school system, while third, research on teaching and learning examines the effects of teaching and learning processes. In describing the state of the art, longitudinal research providing evidence on the development from environmental education to ESD is examined, as are teachers' understandings of the new concept. The results of innovation and teaching-learning research allow us to identify research gaps and challenges, and to make recommendations for future research. (Contains 1 note and 2 figures.)

A National needs Assessment Survey is described that gathered information on current practices in physical education in both center based schools for the deaf and mainstream programs serving deaf and hard of hearing students, grades K-12. The manner in which deaf and hard of hearing students are being served in physical education programs, the depth and breadth of curricula, and the credentials needed to teach are described. The study compares similarities and differences among physical education programs in center-based deaf institutions and mainstream schools. In summary, the study identifies areas of concentration needed in curriculum, and methods of teaching appropriate for student teacher candidates. This information has value for physical education programs that are considering revising their curricula to prepare teacher candidates who wish to work with deaf students. (Contains 5 tables and 1 figure.)

Where does higher education in the United Kingdom sit today in terms of the public-private distinction, and what does that distinction mean in the higher education context? This article considers these questions and related issues, noting how the particular example of the United Kingdom compares with other systems internationally. Following a historical exploration of the meaning of "public", "private" and other related terms, an examination is undertaken of their currency during the post-war period in the UK higher education system. This is exemplified through an analysis of the two major British higher education reports of the last 50 years--the Robbins Report of 1963 and the Dearing Report of 1997. It is argued that the contemporary UK higher education system could be seen as suffering from the worst of both worlds, trapped between and suffering from the seemingly contrary pressures of privatisation and nationalisation.

What have been some of the high points and disappointments of K-12 education over the past 75 years? How have shifting demographics in terms of race, ethnicity, social class and other differences shaped the educational experiences of various segments of the U.S. population? Sonia Nieto examines these questions, beginning with a discussion of the impact of demographic changes on U.S. educational policy. Nieto traverses 75 years of theory, attempting to explain the differences in achievement among U.S. students; explicating cultural inferiority, social reproduction, cultural incompatibility, voluntary and involuntary immigrant, resistance, and various other achievement theories. Nieto then discusses three movements towards the eradication of these inequities: desegregation, bilingual education, and multicultural education, contending that all three of these advancements have been systematically eroded by domestic pressure and policy. Nieto concludes that U.S. education has drifted far from its democratic ideals, and that a recommitment to the possibilities of U.S. education envisioned by Dewey and Mann is necessary.

Outdoor education in Ireland, as in many countries, takes place in a variety of physical locations ranging from urban to wilder, minimally human influenced environments. Irish public outdoor education providers have traditionally placed little emphasis on cultural understandings of the places where learning occurs. Moreover, outdoor education commonly demonstrates characteristics of a McDonaldized experience as opposed to a place-based experience. This paper explores two topics that may help to explain why place is not to the fore in teaching and learning in Irish outdoor education practice: historico-cultural relationships with the land, and the impact of the rationalisation of place on outdoor education. We approach this conversation from the belief that places, as well as people, can teach and that a more conscious pedagogical engagement with place encourages deeper, richer learning experiences. We conclude this paper by outlining how a more place-focused practice may be developed in (Irish) outdoor education.

In this paper, primary teachers' views about STEM education and the conditions of its introduction to primary education are investigated. The results came from 114 questionnaires and 27 structured primary teachers' interviews. STEM is clearly perceived as an interdisciplinary subject with many advantages, related to the cultivation of students' scientific thinking and their social skills. Primary teachers support its introduction to primary education, but they believe that it needs better preparation and design. For the successful introduction of the STEM in primary education teachers' training, the provision of infrastructure and equipment and more time in the timetable is needed. Finally, teachers raise the issue of the need for increased accessibility to STEM education as a means of facing gender, racial and social inequalities. In this line, they demand financial support from the state, to strengthen STEM education in all public schools and not only in well-paid schools.

Teachers as professional educators are also the result of the social division of labor. No matter how significant education is and how sacred its nature, its practitioners must come from the general population. This also means that individual educators are not sacred in themselves. They may be required to possess various kinds of professional knowledge, skills and qualities needed in education. Of course, they may also be required to abide by special professional ethics standards in education, but they cannot be required to have a sacred character. In this sense, love is a means and tool of education in a very real and rational way. If we can confidently say that it is reasonable to use love as a means and tool of education, we can further discuss the art of love in education. In this way, the art of education can also be validated in a scientific sense and both practitioners and researchers of education can expand the scope of their imagination based on their understanding and practice.