Education & Pedagogy

I argue that there is potential for collaborative work between science educators and citizenship educators. However, following comments about that potential, I raise a number of challenges. Those challenges relate to the public perception of science, narrow academic perspectives of some science educators, and problematic attempts to develop a form of science education that, at times, some have claimed is relevant to--or, even, a form of--citizenship education. The latter point is considered with reference to some science educators' perceptions concerning the nature of citizenship and citizenship education. I argue that the perceptions of some science educators seem to suggest significant differences in understanding from at least some of those who would regard themselves as citizenship education specialists. In the final main section of the article, I suggest, briefly, some ways in which further work to develop collaboration between science educators and citizenship educators could be considered.

In 1994 a comprehensive reform of upper secondary education was introduced in Norway, giving all 16-year-olds--including SEN students--a statutory right to enter upper secondary. In a longitudinal study following a representative group of SEN students through upper secondary from 1994 until 1999, the main findings were: (1) SEN students in special classes appear to achieve a lower level of success--measured by achievement of formal competence--than SEN students in ordinary classes, all other things being equal; and (2) an increase in the amount of special education for SEN students in ordinary classes appears to have a negative effect on the achievement of formal competence, all other things being equal. Following these findings, it may be concluded that special education in Norwegian upper secondary does not seem to fulfil its own ambition of reducing differences.

Gender is inherent in all aspects of the music education profession: musical instruments, occupations, materials, pedagogies and preferences. Despite this, feminist theory has been accepted slowly, and is consequently poorly understood. Working generally outside of the profession's accepted topics and means of research in a type of grr-illa game practiced against more established ways of knowing, feminist theorists act as nomads, carrying out research that interrogates the exclusionary practices and discourses in which music education is implicated. This philosophical analysis includes an overview of feminist critique in music education philosophy, and discusses direct and indirect responses to this research and to feminist critique in general. My discussion is framed and grounded in the concepts of feminism(s), difference, nomads and grrl-illa games, and is interwoven with philosophical and social possibilities of taking seriously feminist critique in music education research.

Ancient Chinese ideas of moral education could be said to have five main dimensions-- philosophical foundations, content, principles, methods and evaluation--which are described in this paper. An analysis of the fundamental features of Confucian thinking on moral education shows that it took the idea that human beings have a good and kind nature as its logical starting point. It built a system of ethical norms, based on the idea that an individual's feelings come from the inner mind, combined with external rites. Its methods of moral education are diverse, with an emphasis on learning from exemplars, environmental conditions and practice, as well as the cultivation of moral responsibility and social commitment. Its quintessential ideas were 'virtue lies in practice' and 'life is moral education'. The paper concludes by arguing that Confucian thinking on moral education has ongoing value for research and practice in contemporary moral education.

Productive strategies for evaluating outcomes are becoming increasingly important for the improvement, and even the survival, of teacher education. This article describes a set of research and assessment strategies used to evaluate program outcomes in the Stanford Teacher Education Program during a period of program redesign over the past 5 years. These include perceptual data on what candidates feel they have learned in the program (through surveys and interviews) as well as independent measures of what they have learned (data from pretests and posttests, performance assessments, work samples, employers' surveys, and observations of practice). The article discusses the possibilities and limits of different tools for evaluating teachers and teacher education and describes future plans for assessing beginning teachers' performance in teacher education, their practices in the initial years of teaching, and their pupils' learning. (Contains 2 notes and 2 figures.)

What happens when a government cannot meet its obligation to provide universal primary education and enhance the quality of education for all of its citizens? The present study examines the interactions among stakeholders in the user-fee policy in primary education in Kenya. It seeks to show how this policy has affected attendance rates and drop-out rates among elementary school children. It reveals that, in addition to limiting access and contributing to attrition, user-fees significantly contribute to absenteeism. The study also exposes the dire situation of economically vulnerable citizens who do not have the resources which they need to ensure private education for their children. It concludes that together the government and household-level economic weaknesses have made it virtually impossible to attain the goal of education for all in Kenya.

In this article, The Social Justice Education in Schools (SJES) Project integrates field-based study and existing research to identify five key Principles of Social Justice Education in Schools. An outgrowth of the federally funded Massachusetts Coalition for Teacher Quality and Student Achievement, the SJES Project seeks to positively impact teacher preparation, student achievement, and social justice practice in urban environments. The authors ground their discussion in their partnership with Rodriguez Elementary School, and present specific points of inquiry to facilitate K-12 educators, administrators, and community members' critical reflection on their own school environments. By developing a concrete framework for Social Justice Education in Schools, the authors hope to encourage future empirical research explicitly linking Social Justice Education to student achievement.

Disciplinary knowledge in anthropology occupies a unique position in relation to quality education: anthropology in education and the anthropology of education. This essay differentiates between anthropology as a field, as a repository of content and disciplinary knowledge (anthropology in education), and anthropology as a tool, as a theoretical and heuristic device that allows us to study students, schooling, learning, and teaching (the anthropology of education). Drawing on Bakhtin's formulation of centrifugal and centripetal forces, the author argues that anthropology has both enabled and limited possibilities for quality education. A retrospective look at the construct of culture is emblematic of this process. The author claims that the disciplining of anthropological boundaries has often resulted in disengagement of anthropology as a field from issues of practice. Furthermore, the argument is made that an engaged anthropology must confront the implications of its theories, especially as they are applied in the crucible of education and schools.

This is an analytical survey of the history of higher education--primarily but not exclusively in England--as written in the last quarter of the twentieth century. It examines the history of liberal education, of the rewriting of the history of Oxford and Cambridge, and of nineteenth- and twentieth-century institutions. It addresses new methodologies and data, and the search for more comprehensive and less parochial and antiquarian approaches to the history of institutions. It examines how accounts of new sectors of higher education and national agencies relate to social hierarchies and developments. It includes discussion of the contribution of non-historians to the history of higher education. It concludes that historical writing has firm roots in historians' contemporary environment. Bibliographical sources are suggested, and the references themselves constitute a bibliography of the historiography of the period. (Contains 101 footnotes.)

In some quarters, the suggestion that a productive marriage can and should exist between a liberal education and the entrepreneurial mindset might seem heretical. But in clearly defining what is meant by the entrepreneurial mindset, the importance of why its study as an integrative discipline within liberal education can be understood. Individuals with an entrepreneurial mindset are those who can extend their knowledge to recognize opportunities where others do not. But they do not stop at merely recognizing an opportunity; they also seize it, act upon it, and marshal the necessary resources to successfully execute the opportunity as a holistic plan. There are certain striking characteristics of liberal education graduates who have been infused with the entrepreneurial mindset--characteristics that are particularly relevant given today's unpredictable environment. Some of the most prevalent (and useful) traits these individuals exhibit are discussed.

Career and technical education is serving up great opportunities for students in culinary arts programs across the country. According to the National Restaurant Association (NRA), it is estimated that a total of 13.5 million workers will be needed for the rapidly growing restaurant and food-service industry by the year 2014. This article provides insight from major forces in the culinary arts industry on the latest job opportunity/career education trends and first-hand accounts of success stories reflecting these trends. It is divided into the following sections: An Opportunity for Instructors; A Community of Chefs (Lorain County Joint Vocational School); Integrating Academics (Lehigh Career and Technical Institute); Keeping It Strong (Johnson & Wales University); Secondary Education Connections; Connections for Success; and A Passport to Success. A brief list of related resources for further exploration is also included.

The UN Millennium Project Task Force on Education and Gender Equality, an expert advisory group commissioned by the UN Secretary-General, was asked to examine how dramatic improvements in education can be achieved in the developing world. The task force investigated the problems of low enrolment, early drop-out and poor learning outcomes that so profoundly affect many children in the developing world. The experiences of both countries that have achieved important successes in rapidly scaling-up access to primary education, and countries that have made only slow progress, shed light on the priorities for the leadership in both developing countries and donor agencies. The task force developed specific recommendations about overcoming demand- and supply-side constraints to greater primary school completion; and about how international donors and technical agencies can stimulate and support country-led progress, with financial resources that are linked to performance.

The movement toward inclusion has made educating and caring for children with disabilities an increasingly critical part of the early education teacher's role. The goal of this paper is to describe the extent to which early childhood teacher preparation programs are including early childhood special education/early intervention content and experiences as part of their core course and practicum requirements. A nationally representative survey of 438 chairs and directors of early childhood teacher preparation programs revealed that while a large proportion of programs consider early childhood special education/early intervention to be a part of the mission of their program, the amount of coursework and practicum experience vary considerably by content area and level of degree offered by the program. Implications are offered for policy and future research.

Many, if not most, general education students will have interactions with a person with a disability at some time during their lives; they may become the parent of a special needs child; have a family member, neighbor, or co-worker with special needs; or at the very least, come in contact with people with disabilities in the community. This article describes a course of study, developed in partnership with general and special education teachers, that addresses understandings of the needs of people with disabilities through the use of integrated language arts curriculum. The article chronicles the yearlong journey of a class of 5th-graders who learned about people with special needs through literacy instruction and interaction with the early childhood special education students on their urban campus. The authors hope that general education teachers will use this format to develop similar courses of study in their own classrooms.

Margaret H'Doubler brought the magic of dance to the 20th century, yet the 21st century has yet to find a person to rekindle the same public desire for dance education. Consequently, the future of dance education in the next century is hard to predict. Based on an informal survey of fellow advisory board members of Dance and the Child International, the author briefly profiles the status of dance education in a wide variety of countries and compares their status to the situation in the United States. Common barriers exist in answering the questions, "Who should teach, what should they teach, and who should teach the teachers?" The author recommends a clear course of action for advancing the cause of dance education, and suggests that dance educators have the ability to change government policies on the arts if they advocate with a strong united voice.