Education & Pedagogy

This paper addresses several of the challenges facing today's system of higher education, and discusses the implications of these challenges for the athletic training profession. Among the major challenges are cost, accountability, access, and value of a higher education. The paper next focuses on several issues about which athletic training educators should be thinking. They include the importance of a liberal arts education at the undergraduate level, athletic training's role in interprofessional education and practice, and the importance of diversity and inclusive excellence in helping to diversify the health care workforce and reduce health disparities. The paper concludes with a discussion of the evolution of athletic training from physical education to the health care professions and the transition to the professional master's degree as the entry-level degree in athletic training. The contents of this paper are based largely on the keynote address at the 2015 National Athletic Trainers' Association Athletic Training Educators' Conference in Dallas, Texas, February 27-March 1.

The authors consider the future of special education personnel preparation by responding to an overarching question: "What frameworks might teacher educators use as a basis to promote special education teacher effective performance now and in the future?" In answering this question, they summarize current trends in the context of schooling and special education (i.e., Common Core State Standards [CCSS], multi-tiered systems of support [MTSS]) and what these contexts demand of special education teachers. The authors propose a practice-based model for fostering effective special education teacher performance. Grounded in the science of learning, the model includes approaches in teacher education that align with this literature. Implications for implementing the model are provided, which recognize current constraints on schools and colleges of education, to better promote this model for fostering effective performance.

In his article, "Urban special education policy and the lived experience of stigma in a high school science classroom," Chris Hale persuasively argues that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and subsequent special education policies have largely failed to serve special education students who are stigmatized by their deficit classification. Though classified students may be doubly stigmatized, research suggests that students of color who live in economically stressed communities are also subject to systemic educational policies that produce stigma; special education should be understood within the larger context of educational policy in the inner city. Though we cannot immediately dismantle the macro level structures that nurture stigma, I suggest pedagogies based on facilitating phenomenological awareness enacted through individual-collectively based methodologies to challenge the stigma that classified as well as non-classified students in the inner city often carry with them. [For "Urban Special Education Policy and the Lived Experience of Stigma in a High School Science Classroom," see EJ1084052.]

Teacher performance evaluation represents a high stakes issue as evidenced by its pivotal emphasis in national and local education reform initiatives and federal policy levers. National, state, and local education leaders continue to experience unprecedented pressure to adopt standardized benchmarks to reflect and link student achievement data to formal teacher performance evaluations. No teacher performance evaluation measures have been developed for use with special education teachers or the settings in which they teach. Dedicated focus is needed to ensure that adopted evaluation measures are sensitive to the specific expertise reflected in the practices of specialty teachers and valid for use. This study explored whether special education stakeholders perceived skills subsumed within nationally endorsed professional special education standards to be important for special education teachers' effectiveness. Findings are presented in terms of next steps to inform the development of a meaningful measure of special education teacher professional performance and implications for future research.

The aim of this study was to investigate STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) teacher education and to examine the successful conditions for its implementation. This study observed two leading schools that have actively participated in STEAM education since the initial stage of STEAM education in Korea. Through participant observation, we videotaped actual lessons, interviewed teachers, and collected their documents. The data analysis was carried out from a community of practice (CoP) perspective and the CoP dimensions were categorized as joint enterprise, mutual engagement, and shared repertoire. The results show that the two communities shared similar dimensions: open-mindedness and self-innovation as joint enterprise, reciprocal relationship and continuous role exchange as mutual engagement, and educational materials and abundant time as shared repertoire. This study gives some practical implications for teachers' successful engagement with and for their competency in STEAM education.

Over the past two decades, the education sector in India has undergone a substantial transformation. Recent advances in technology have provided access to high quality educational resources and information on the Internet. This article examines the role of open educational resources (OER) in addressing the challenges of higher education in India, which range from geographical disparities in access to education, to shortages of trained and qualified faculty. The authors examine and discuss several OER initiatives that are currently advancing India's efforts to create strong institutional mechanisms to overcome the country's educational challenges through a national strategic framework designed to improve access to quality higher education. The authors explore these initiatives designed to increase access to education through OER, as well as those designed to develop OER-related skills for educators. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these initiatives for the development of open educational practices in India.

In recent years, there has been an increase in paraeducator supports, in large part because students with low incidence disabilities are being included more frequently in general education settings. As a result, special education teachers have been given additional supervisory responsibilities related to directing the work of paraeducators in special and general education settings. Many teachers, however, feel unprepared for this supervisory role. Therefore, to gain a better understanding of current practices in paraeducator supervision, the authors interviewed 13 special education teachers who were nominated by district special education administrators as exemplary supervisors of paraeducators. From the interviews, three themes emerged: creating effective teams, ensuring appropriate training and evaluation, and recommendations for the field. Practices for paraeducators working with students with low incidence disabilities in general education settings are noted in the first two themes. Implications for policy, practice, teacher preparation, and future research are also discussed.

The transition to technology education has been grounded in the dramatic changes that technology and technological innovations have brought to all aspects of society. Thus, the need arose to assure that all students have experience in technology education in order to acquire technological literacy. While there are many of models for technology education, organizing technology education as separate and distinct courses is the most common approach at the middle and high school levels. While there are many examples of successful technology education programs that are grounded in the separate subject approach, questions have surfaced such as: Must the profession pursue disciplinary status or are there other educational strategies that will achieve the educational goal of technological literacy for students and co-equal status for technology teachers? Should technology education become a catalyst for blurring the boundaries among the disciplines? The purpose of this article is to present an alternative approach for the delivery of technological literacy education utilizing an integrative model.

The major purpose of this article was to disclose the quality of education in the Muslim world and try to clarify the misperceptions in the West and in the Muslim world about Islamic education. It also tries to highlight the efforts of Islamic scholars in filling the gaps between them. Education in the Muslim world and Islamic education have gained much attention in the past few years due to the perceived link between those issues and concerns for development and security in the Muslim world and beyond. This paper attempts to define Islamic education, provide an in-depth analysis of the educational systems and Islamic education in the Muslim world, using political-historical, socio-cultural, and religious analytical approaches, and identify challenges in improving Islamic education. The paper concludes with a synthesis of approaches and strategies for improving education in Islamic schools of Islamic world.

While governments and communities across the globe are faced with the challenge of providing their citizens with good-quality education, there is lack of consensus on how education quality should be defined. Whereas a great deal has been written about the human capital and human rights approaches, which currently dominate the debate, the potential value of the capabilities approach to the field of education quality policy and practice is yet to be fully explored. This article aims to advance discussions on education quality, through critical engagement with discourses on the capabilities approach and its implications for education quality thinking, and offer an example of what implementation of this approach might mean in a South African teacher education context. The article outlines the core concepts underpinning the capabilities approach to education quality against the background of critiques of the human capital and human rights approaches. It then critically explores what a capabilities approach has to offer to education quality thinking, and describes how these concepts and principles are being interpreted within the new Rhodes B.Ed. (Foundation Phase) programme, currently being developed.

Special education certification is used as an indicator of teaching quality in research, practice, and policy. This study examined whether elementary and middle school students with learning disabilities (LD) or emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD) scored better on state math and English language arts (ELA) assessments in years when they were taught by a teacher certified in special education or dual-certified in special education and another area compared to years when they were taught by general education--certified teachers. For most student groups, academic achievement appeared unrelated to teacher certification type. Students with LD and higher academic skills appeared to benefit from having a dual-certified teacher over a general education--certified teacher in ELA. Lower achieving students with EBD scored worse in math when they were taught by special education--certified teachers instead of general education--certified or dual-certified teachers. Implications for indicators of teaching quality in special education are discussed.

While much has been learned about the socialization of physical education teachers through occupational socialization theory, less is known about the socialization of adapted physical educators. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences leading individuals to enrol in a graduate-level adapted physical education teacher education programme in the United States. Participants included 17 first semester preservice adapted physical education teachers (5 males, 12 females). Data were collected through two individual interviews with each participant and autobiographical essay writing. Results revealed similarities and differences in the recruitment of adapted physical educators and physical education generalists. Specific themes included: (a) individuals with disabilities were the most powerful socializing agents; (b) both positive and negative experiences in sport and physical education facilitated recruitment; (c) an incomplete apprenticeship of observation framed recruitment; and (d) participants had different background experiences and espoused diverse career goals. Results are discussed with implications focusing on the socialization of both physical educators and adapted physical education specialists.

China has a rich history of dance education and has established prominent tertiary dance institutions. Coupled with this is a growing global interest to engage with China, and connections are developing between Chinese and non-Chinese tertiary dance institutions. Within this curiosity and internationalization of dance education, there is the potential for authentic and exciting dialogue and exchange to occur. However, to allow such interactions to be the most beneficial it is of interest to look at the past of dance education in China to navigate the present and the future. Therefore, this article seeks to critically examine histories of higher dance education in China, to then provide critical understandings of higher dance education in China in the present and how these histories might inform future dance education. Within this article, there is a purposeful focus on the meanings of dance education in China, the relationship between politics and dance, and the examination-orientated education philosophies in teaching and learning dance within a Chinese context.

Correspondence education, or learning by post, lasted over 100 years in the UK; it had its roots in the nineteenth century, peaking in the mid-1960s. It was also widespread, numbering hundreds of thousands of enrolments, significantly increasing access to higher education. Yet it has been marginalised in accounts of British higher education. This is partly because it was largely private and for-profit and so distinct from the public education system, while the state declined to play any significant role in its oversight. Consequently, little official data concerning correspondence education has ever been available. This paper constructs an account of the history of correspondence education in the UK in terms of its development as a form of academic and professional provision, and its regulatory framework. The paper also considers the reasons for the eventual demise of the correspondence education sector following changes in teaching methods, and the impact of digital technology.

This article will showcase the power of collaborative relationships to transform pre-service learning and in-service practice in the area of inclusion. A middle school principal and college professor in Special Education partnered to address the need for support of inclusion students in schools and pre-service education in EPP's. The collaboration at the middle school level focused on increasing inclusiveness of the faculty by building knowledge. A professional development framework designed to increase inclusiveness by increasing the faculty's special education knowledge was implemented. Additionally, the education preparation programs of study were revised to integrate topics into relevant courses. Through this collaboration, a special education program of study became relevant to today's educational climate and a middle school faculty gained knowledge to increase the inclusiveness of their school. This experience was piloted in both educational institutions and is being refined for delivery in other public schools.