Education & Pedagogy

After an elaboration of the paradigm shift concerning religious education in Europe, we will give a critical presentation of the Belgian and Flemish system of religious education. The article continues with a discussion of diverse proposals to change the religious education system in Flanders, and concludes that the introduction of an independent, nondenominational, and obligatory subject about religions, ethics, citizenship, and philosophy is the most promising option. In addition, denominational religious education can still be offered as an optional subject. This double system seems the best approach to cope with the educational challenges, the freedom of religion, and (religious) education in Flanders today.

This article looks at the central and local governments' policymaking and implementation of compulsory education for migrant children in China. Three distinct models of policy implementation were identified through a case study approach. They indicated a selective adaptation of central policy objective and principles by the local governments and revealed diverse conditions of compulsory education for migrant children across the nation. In spite of substantial improvement over the years, migrant children still could not receive equitable compulsory education as urban children, due to three system barriers in general and local policy differences in particular.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have entered the world of online education with a splash, and their potential to transform higher education is being widely hailed. Indeed, many involved in the creation, implementation, and facilitation of this new format regularly speak in terms of "revolution" and massive "disruption." If MOOCs are truly on the point of "revolutionizing" higher education, then several important questions must urgently be raised and discussed--questions grounded in core social beliefs about the purpose of education. In this article, the authors examine both the democratic potential and the potential pitfalls of the integration of MOOCs into higher education.

Quality education is the core of college education. Libraries are the second class for students due to the extremely important position and function in quality education. Libraries are the best place for cultivating students' morals, the important front for improving students' scientific and cultural qualities, and the effective facilities for developing special technological education, serving as favorable conditions for promoting students' comprehensive qualities. The main idea for libraries strengthening quality education is to build a "people-oriented" management thought, create service equipments and environment with humanism, stick to human service style, and improve the quality of library staff.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the theoretical structure of what we call multicultural apprenticeships in teacher education. This structure is drawn from decades of scholarship and research in teacher education, in general, and in preparing teachers for diversity, in particular. It is further situated within our own work in an Early Childhood Education Masters in Education program and our commitments to preparing teachers to support diverse populations of children. Three different multicultural apprenticeships are used to provide concrete examples of the characteristics of this approach to preparing teachers for diverse classrooms.

The purpose of this article is to report our preliminary work on student-centered teacher preparation to promote school success among culturally and linguistically diverse learners. The authors believe that teacher education programs need to be very purposeful in their approach to multicultural literacy teacher education. Drawing upon Vygotskian perspective on learning, the authors chose two cases from the beginning of their teacher education program and during student teaching, which often marks the end of teacher education program. The authors explain the potential of a student-centered approach they experienced and its implications for teacher education programs.

Some suggest there is a dilemma in post-secondary education between the tidal pulls of career- or disciplinary-oriented education and liberal education. A survey of University of Lethbridge alumni indicated that they found their liberal education important for developing skills that are valuable in life and work after graduation. Specific skills the Conference Board of Canada (2000) identified as important for employment success were indeed skills which alumni say they developed during their liberal education experience. I argue there is no dilemma at all and that liberal education does provide skills for employment success.

In this article, I explore some contemporary versions of character education with specific reference to the extent to which they are viewed as constituting a form of citizenship education. I argue that such approaches often end up displacing the idea of political education and, through their language and stated aims, avoid any genuine engagement with the very concept of the political in all but its most superficial sense. In discussing some of the points raised by critics of character education, I defend the need for a more robust and radical conception of the political as a basis for a form of political education.

Using the notion of travelling global policy, this paper discusses the ways in which teacher education in Scotland has responded to world-wide demands on school systems. It highlights the embedded practices which have resisted an unequivocal move to a market-based approach in initial teacher education and contrasts this with approaches to continuous professional development. It discusses the role of the General Teaching Council for Scotland as a possible bulwark against state control and as protector of standards. It concludes that, if the Council could become a more representative body, its already considerable influence as a policy player could be further enhanced.

Children and youth in juvenile corrections have statutory rights to education services of comparable quality to those found in the public schools. However, during the past 40 years in many states, access to education services that meet state and federal requirements under IDEA and state regulations has been inconsistent and inadequate for youth in correctional institutions. In response, parents and advocates have sued state and local jurisdictions to ensure that children receive access to services. After reviewing the status of education in juvenile corrections and several cases challenging inadequate education services, this paper identifies promising developments and next steps in securing adequate education services for all incarcerated youth.

As a special education coordinator of students with learning disabilities, I come into contact quite frequently with students who are considered twice exceptional. My role is to provide support to teachers on how to best meet the needs of the students with special needs in my school district. It is imperative that collaboration occurs between special education, general education, and gifted education teachers to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each child and continue to advocate for students. If each student has the right to a free, appropriate public education, this collaboration is vital to ensure that 2e students get what is appropriate, not just what is acceptable or adequate.

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the level of quality of work life QOWL of Jordanian special education teachers. Participants of the study were 133 special education teachers. Results showed that special education teachers cited average level of QOWL. Furthermore, teachers rated administrators' and colleagues' respect as the best item of QOWL. Whereas, teachers rated participation in decision making in school as the lowest item of QOWL scale. Results also indicated no statistically significant mean differences due to teachers' gender, education levels, and type of school (mainstreaming and special education school). Recommendations for future research are presented.

We consider some peculiarities in the evolution of Russian engineering education as it underwent two radical paradigmal transformations during the past century, especially from the viewpoint of restrictions that inhibited access to higher education (HE). The driving forces of this evolution are revealed and some negative results are shown. While the former restrictions are gone, the new ones emerged as regards quality education which in part is related to the general degradation of engineering HE, in part to the stratification of the population. The new limitations can be overcome only within advanced corporations involved in innovation.

This exploratory study was designed to determine if there is a level of alignment between technology education curriculum and theories of intellectual development. The researcher compared Epstein's Brain Growth Theory and Piaget's Status of Intellectual Development with technology education curriculum from Australia, England, and the United States. The researcher hypothesized that there would be alignment between technology education curriculum, brain growth, and intellectual development theories. The results indicate that students could become more technologically literate citizens if technology education was presented to them earlier in their school careers. School systems and students may be missing an opportunity since technology education is not offered in most elementary schools.

Special education professionals serve as facilitators of Individualized Education Plan (IEP) team meetings. As special educators serve on many IEP teams during the course of an academic year, and as the member composition for each team varies, facilitators are confronted with a unique set of challenges to managing successful meetings. In this study, the authors investigate the specific types of problems and facilitator techniques occurring in IEP meetings. Findings suggest that facilitation issues and techniques are varied across special education professionals. In addition, facilitator training is needed to review and introduce facilitation techniques that may improve meeting member contributions.