Education & Pedagogy

German experience of development and modernization of the field of adult education has been outlined in the paper. Historical development of the field and its recognition as an independent level in education have been considered. The aim of the field has been defined. It has been emphasized that the names of the field in Ukraine and Germany differ. It has been found out that Germany is a federal state with decentralized system of regulation for adult education where federation, states and municipal authorities cooperate. Based on studying literary and documentary sources the competences of states for legislation and initiatives in the field of adult education have been revealed. It has been stated that there is no legal support regulating the field of adult education in Germany. Based on the data of the conducted analysis it has become possible to find out that the state policy in the field of adult education is, first of all, is aimed at providing every citizen with the right to personality development and freedom to choose education institutions. The content of federal acts related to the field of adult education in Germany has been delivered. Theoretical generalization of main aspects of the field regulation due to states adult education / continuing education acts and educational leave acts has been performed.

Faculty in agricultural teacher education programs are responsible for preparing future teachers to lead effective school-based agricultural education programs. However, agriculture teachers are having difficulty implementing supervised agricultural experience (SAE), even though they value it conceptually as a program component. In an effort to improve SAE instruction in teacher education, the American Association for Agricultural Education has adopted a guiding philosophy and competencies for teacher preparation in SAE. Using these documents, the purpose of this national descriptive study was to identify where and to what extent SAE instruction was included within agricultural teacher education curriculum and describe the level of SAE instruction occurring in agricultural teacher education programs in the United States. Findings of this study indicate that there was a broad range in the level of instruction occurring for each of these competencies among teacher education programs. These results provide a snapshot of one-moment-in-time and serve as a starting point for a conversation about how supervised agricultural experience should be taught in agricultural teacher education. It is recommended that supervised agricultural experience competencies be taught using inquiry-based or problem-solving methods guided by the experiential learning process.

Given the benefits of inclusive education on children with and without disabilities, the Division of International Special Education and Services (DISES) developed an Information Brief to acquaint the international community with effective global inclusive education practices, policies, and frameworks for engaging students with disabilities, while addressing common challenges and resource issues experienced by students and their educators. In this brief, the authors highlight specific strategies for promoting inclusive education underscored in the 2017 peer-reviewed report conducted by Anne M. Hayes and Jeanne Bulat, titled "Disabilities Inclusive Education Systems and Policies Guide for Low- and Middle-Income Countries." The purpose of the Hayes and Bulat report was to inform and guide practice for professionals and advance policies and practices for the successful implementation of effective inclusive education. The brief summarizes four of Hayes and Bulat's key strategies in the following categories: (1) International Policies and Frameworks Supporting Inclusive Education; (2) Individualized Education Programs; and (3) Teacher Training, and Adaptable Learning Environments. In addition to highlighting key aspects of the Hayes and Bulat report, this information brief shares a list of resources for additional information on international inclusive education that may be helpful to the global community.

Gender disparity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in higher education is a matter of concern across the world. Expansion of the higher education sector in the early twenty-first century in India has enabled to bring attitudinal changes in Indian families especially towards females' STEM higher education. The present study aims to understand the trend in gender parity in STEM disciplines at various levels of higher education in India through All India Survey on Higher Education, Government of India (2010-2011 to 2018-2019). The study uses the Gender Parity Index (GPI) method to calculate the status of female in STEM higher education. The results show that there is gender parity in overall disciplines at under-graduation, post-graduation, and M.Phil. levels. In STEM disciplines, enrolment of female is higher than male in biological sciences at all levels, but physical sciences show lower enrolment of female. Computer engineering, information technology, and electronics engineering have shown improvement in enrolment of female within the engineering and technology category. Gender parity is poor in mechanical engineering, civil engineering, and electrical engineering at all levels of higher education. The complex and multi-layered gender relations in wider society impact females' access to STEM higher education and employment.

Inclusive higher education policy has been central to global educational debates for many years. National and international higher education institutions face challenges related to providing equal access and guaranteeing active participation of all students in higher education. Although greater efforts have been dedicated to the issue of inclusion in pre-university education, issues related to inclusion in higher education remain in the margins. The main purpose of this study is to examine the broad discourses of inclusion in Kosovo's higher education policies. This is a discourse study that uses lexicometric analysis as a quantitative heuristic methodology and discourse analysis as a qualitative hermeneutic method. More than thirty national and institutional policy documents were analysed to uncover the meaning of inclusion discourse in Kosovo's higher education system as represented in policy documents. Findings indicate that inclusive policies can contribute towards improved outcomes for the inclusion of students with disabilities in higher education. The study concludes that there is a need to develop realistic, effective, and clear inclusive higher education policy that is supported by strategic and plan-based documents that can better ensure the enforcement of legally binding provisions for an inclusive higher education system.

There has been bi-partisan momentum to provide higher education opportunities for students who are impacted by the criminal legal system, but similar to the context of the contemporary crisis of higher education, the problem of racial inequity persists. The Alliance for Higher Education in Prison, a national multi-stakeholder network supporting quality higher education in prison, stated in their most recent report, "programs are ill-equipped to support faculty and staff in reflecting on how race, class, gender, ability, sexuality, and other identity or status markers might impact their interest in, or approach to, teaching in prison, as well as their experiences while doing so (Erzen et al., 2019)." In this spirit, this essay will address issues of racial inequity and injustice within higher education in prison programs--examining issues of faculty diversity, pedagogy, and barriers students impacted by the criminal legal system face in continuing their higher education upon release. In addressing these barriers, there is an opportunity to overcome racial inequity at a massive scale and set an example, both for higher education communities and society as a whole.

The need for special education stems from "a group of neurodevelopmental disorders that begin in childhood". Today, one of the main topics discussed with regard to the education of children with special needs is inclusive education. Inclusive education, which aims to ensure that they all receive the best quality of education, is an education model based on students' sharing experiences with their peers. The purpose of this research is to examine university students' perceptions of inclusive education through metaphor analysis. This study aims to determine how Faculty of Education students perceive the concepts of inclusive education, inclusive students, the family of inclusive student and teacher of the inclusive student. The study group consisted a total of 200 prospective teachers from different branches, including six participants from each grade level in the 2018-2019 academic year fall semester in Faculty of Education at Sivas Cumhuriyet University. 79 of the prospective teachers were male and 121 were female. The data obtained through interviews were analysed through content analysis and descriptive analysis. 12 different metaphors for inclusive education, 11 different metaphors for inclusive student, 9 different metaphors for the family of the inclusive student, and 11 different metaphors for the teacher of the inclusive student were produced.

In the last few decades, the Chinese higher education system has changed considerably from an elitist model to a massified one with public and "minban"/transnational provisions. Accordingly, this study sets out against the context of higher education expansion initiated in late 1998 to critically examine the major trends of non-state (including "minban" and transnational) higher education developments. More specifically, it discusses how "minban" higher education has transformed and why transnational higher education has evolved and become far more popular in China. Against the marketisation and privatisation of education context, this article focuses on reviewing policy change and university governance to diversify higher education provision through the market forces/non-state provision. A critical examination of the changing state-market-education relationship would enable us to appreciate the complex social, economic and political issues that the Chinese government has to tackle, especially when the country confronts the dilemma of adopting a more liberal approach in reform with the fear of excessive external influences to the political regime or a more conservative approach which would limit the country's further development. The present article contributes to a better understanding of the 'education market' formation in China.

The public impact of higher education is often associated with the research and engagement enterprises of an institution, but through its support of career readiness skills and high-impact learning experiences, general education also has the potential to impact an institution's public communities and constituency. This article reflects on general education reform at a Carnege-R1 and Community Engagement, land-grant university during a period of significant change. In response to the national discussion of general education reform, our university implemented competency-based general education while state leadership articulated its own set of expected competencies for emerging, in-demand career fields. Focused on the learning experience of students to date, this study considered to what extent general education outcomes were integrated into degree programs and whether the university has leveraged on- and off-campus partnerships to support general education learning. The author concluded that five years after implementing a model of integrated learning with its degree-granting units, the university should consider these other potential partners as stakeholders in a learning experience that can be mutually beneficial in fulfilling the public responsibility of educating the state's future employees.

A close observation in recent times has shown a steady decline of students' enrolment into business education programme especially in the colleges of education. The situation is becoming worrisome considering the social implications it has on the education industry. Thus, the study was conducted to determine strategies for boosting students' enrolment into business education programme of colleges of education in Delta State. Design of this research was descriptive survey and 118 business education lecturers in the colleges of education in Delta State participated in the survey. Data were collected with questionnaire. The results of data analysis showed that the respondents agreed that the attracting and retaining strategies considered in the study were necessary frameworks for boosting students' enrolment into business education programme. The test of hypotheses showed that irrespective of the years of work experience of the respondents, their responses did not differ significantly. This indicated that the examined attracting and retaining strategies were critical for boosting students' enrolment. It was concluded that the attracting and retaining strategies determined by the study are effective means of reversing the steady decline of students' enrolment experienced in recent years at the colleges of education in Delta State, Nigeria.

Managing the future has become one of the major focuses of global governance in education. In its current mode, education seems unable to answer the needs and interests of the market and future megatrends, such as globalisation and digitalisation. Calls for precision education to introduce the usage of digital platforms, artificial intelligence in education, and knowledge from the behavioural and life sciences are getting a foothold in widening powerful networks of strengthening global governance and EdTech business. By bringing together some of the emerging changes in education governance, in this article we argue for a new constitution of governance, precision education governance. Precision education governance combines three overlapping and strengthening lines of governance: (i) global governance of education, (ii) marketisation, privatisation and digitalisation, and (iii) behavioural and life sciences as the basis for managing the future education. In the article, we highlight the importance in bringing these so far separately studied lines together to understand how they shape the aims and outcomes of education, knowledge and understanding of human subjectivity more thoroughly than before.

Increases in STD cases in Indiana communities have led to questions about the sexual health of adolescents. School-based sex education can help teenagers adopt healthy attitudes and behaviours. Effective sex education programmes should involve learning from adolescents and young people about their health needs. Student voice, however, is generally absent in curriculum development. This study explored rural young people aged 14-18 years' perceptions of current sex education; opinions about abstinence-only-until-marriage and comprehensive sex education (CSE) curricula; and preferences for future sex education development. Focus groups and surveys were used to elicit high school students' opinions. Constant comparative approach was used for data contextualisation and theme identification. Analysis revealed participants perceive that current sex education content does not relate to them; abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education is impractical either now or later; young people frequently resist abstinence-only-until-marriage education; students want information that helps keep them safe sexually. Taken together, study findings reveal ideal sex education curricula contain relevant, relatable and reliable information. Incorporating these '3Rs' can help students better engage with and apply sex education information.

This study investigates the distance education activities of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) working in the field of education in Turkey during the COVID-19 pandemic. The distance education activities of NGOs, practices of NGOs assisting distance education, and principles adopted by NGOs in the distance education activities during the pandemic were examined in the study. In this qualitative descriptive study, the distance education activities of NGOs during the pandemic were evaluated through document analysis. The activity reports of ten NGOs for the year 2020 were analyzed as part of the document analysis. The NGOs whose activity reports were addressed were selected using maximum variation sampling, thus reports from NGOs operating in various educational areas were examined. Activity reports were subjected to content analysis using an inductive approach. According to the results, distance education activities of NGOs during the pandemic mostly focused on the creation of digital content and materials, as well as the development of online education programs. The notion of decreasing inequalities in terms of access to education has guided the majority of distant education initiatives of NGOs during the pandemic. The activities of NGOs have been especially effective in preventing digital use divide in society and providing teachers with pedagogical agility.

This report offers a comprehensive global view of future directions for teacher education. The first section discusses factors indicating the need for change. Education is seen as an agent of social change with various national approaches having common concerns and facing similar key issues to be resolved. In the second section, changes and responses in teacher education to societal concerns are considered. Among the major issues for resolution are the need for new approaches to teacher training, the career development of teachers, and the need for support services. Recruitment and selection of teachers is critically important worldwide, and the initial preparation of teachers and their continuing professional development are seen as key factors in improving education at all levels. Section 3 deals with the means of response to the need for change. Pre- and inservice training are discussed with a focus on the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to teacher education. Incentives and barriers in inservice education are considered along with different modes of inservice education. The final section discusses the importance of evaluation for program improvement, accountability, and the selection and promotion of teachers. (JD)

This report presents a strategic plan for adult education in California. It represents an ongoing and participatory initiative to define current and future needs and recommend how the adult education system can meet those needs. The proposals put forth in the plan are intended to ensure that adult education will be a self-renewing institution that continually readjusts to meet the needs of a changing society. The plan proposes that education and training providers work with business, other stakeholders, and each other to make the education of adults a priority. Fourteen proposals are presented that together provide an interlinked system for delivery of education and training to adults. These proposals have been developed with the intent of achieving multiple payoffs concerning the four goals of improving access to users, accountability, program quality and responsiveness, and planning and coordination. The report is organized in seven parts that cover the following: (1) planning for the future; (2) long-term needs for adult education; (3) today's programs and their performance; (4) focusing goals for the 21st century; (5) an image of tomorrow's adult education; (6) steps to the future; and (7) looking toward tomorrow. An 86-item bibliography is also provided. (KC)