Education & Pedagogy

This brochure provides summaries of 23 exemplary, research, and curriculum projects known as the Vocational Improvement Program that share three concerns: meeting needs of underserved students, sex fairness, and excellence in vocational education. The 14 exemplary projects focus on vocational exploration and skill building in marine and related occupations for the handicapped, solar energy training, Hispanic vocational exploration, career and occupational awareness, ownership skills for seniors in vocational-technical schools, sex equity in counseling and vocational education, career exploration, energy conservation skills, carpentry and building maintenance curriculum for special education, exploring careers, inservice training for handicapped, encouraging Comprehensive Employment and Training Act/Vocational Education linkages, life career plan, and bilingual vocational training. Seven research projects deal with shop theory curriculum development using audiovisual aids with special needs students, training vocational teacher trainers, developing curriculum-based skill assessment instruments, vocational agriculture, developing occupational task structures and training time standards for cooperative vocational education, school climate, and Greater New Haven training needs. The two curriculum projects concern two curriculum revision programs. Names, addresses, and phone numbers of program directors are provided. (YLBN)

Rural teachers face difficulties (lower salaries, inadequate facilities, isolated living, scant inservice training, and inadequate housing) not found in urban school districts, and most have not been prepared for rural life and teaching by their teacher education programs. Specialized training for rural teachers is practically non-existent; most teacher training programs prepare teachers for urban schools. Higher education institutions should understand the unique weaknesses inherent in many rural schools and communities. Teacher training programs should support rural teachers with adequate preservice education and continuing inservice education throughout the teacher's careers. Teacher education programs should provide a rural education specialty and should establish relationships with rural schools, so student teachers can be trained in rural school districts. The programs should also support the development of curriculum materials that enhance the picture of rural life. Institutions of higher education can apply these ideas inexpensively by supporting state rural education associations, encouraging frequent college-rural meetings, holding workshops and conferences for rural educators only, supporting teacher exchanges, offering advanced degree programs to rural educators, encouraging students who want to student teach in rural communities, permitting students to teach experimental minicourses in rural schools, and providing lists of prospective rural teachers to superintendents in small communities. (SB)

These 10 papers represent an application of a philosophical theory to resolving a particular problem in adult education or an example of how some of these problems can be examined philosophically. Chapter 1 addresses the myth of the philosophy of adult education. Chapter 2 reports a survey of professors of adult education to determine why they neglect to do research in the area of the philosophy of adult education. In chapter 3 four ways of justifying ethical studies in adult education are discussed. Chapter 4 considers existential consequences of mandatory continuing education. Three evaluation problems in adult education are analyzed in chapter 5: are adult education evaluations of programs or learners?, can evaluations be shown to be valid?, and can evaluation be used to improve adult education programs? Chapter 6 explains the existential concept of evaluation. The focus of chapter 7 is the concept of human rights as applied to discussion of needs in program planning. Chapter 8 is a philosophical defense for education of the older adult. Chapter 9 summarized Llessur Nosdunk's theory of alienation as related to adult education. Discussion in chapter 10 focuses on the "is-ought-is" problem of the objective in adult education. (YLB)

Distance education--adult independent study by correspondence--is provided in South Australia by the Open College of Further Education. The Open College provides mainly postsecondary continuing vocational education and technical training, often leading to certificates or diplomas. In addition, the Open College has links with institutions of higher education through which students may take graduate and inservice teacher training courses. The Open College is part of the Department of Further Education network of colleges, and shares faculty and teaching materials with other network colleges. Open College was started at the beginning of the 1970s and grew with the decade. Thousands of students have taken courses, and more than 32,000 have graduated. The college serves not only the rural population, but also many metropolitan students who find it difficult to attend regular continuing education classes because of work or home schedules, commuting costs, or personal preference for independent study. Students who have taken distance education courses have responded with very positive comments about their experiences. (The Open College publishes a student newspaper, a copy of which is included in this document.) (KC)

Background: Teaching sexuality education to support young people's sexual development and overall sexual health is both needed and supported. Data continue to highlight the high rates of teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections, among young people in the United States as well as the overwhelming public support for sexuality education instruction. In support of the implementation of the National Sexuality Education Standards, the current effort focuses on better preparing teachers to deliver sexuality education. Methods: An expert panel was convened by the Future of Sex Education Initiative to develop teacher-preparation standards for sexuality education. Their task was to develop standards and indicators that addressed the unique elements intrinsic to sexuality education instruction. Results: Seven standards and associated indicators were developed that address professional disposition, diversity and equity, content knowledge, legal and professional ethics, planning, implementation, and assessment. Conclusions: The "National Teacher-Preparation Standards for Sexuality Education" represent an unprecedented unified effort to enable prospective health education teachers to become competent in teaching methodology, theory, practice of pedagogy, content, and skills, specific to sexuality education. Higher education will play a key role in ensuring the success of these standards.

Globalisation and the evolution of the knowledge-based economy have caused dramatic worldwide changes in the character and functions of education, particularly higher education. In the search for global competitiveness, many emerging economies have begun to expand their higher education systems, which has significantly affected the relationship between higher education and graduate employment. Recently, international comparative studies have suggested that increasing enrolment in higher education does not always promote upward social mobility, and can intensify inequality in education. This article critically examines the impact of the expansion of higher education in East Asia on graduate employment and social mobility in the context of an increasingly globalising economy and changing labour market needs. The article discusses emerging trends in the Greater China region, with a particular focus on Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Taipei, and argues that the massification of higher education has not necessarily led to more occupational opportunities for youth or opportunities for upward social movement, particularly since the significant changes in the global labour market after the 2008 global financial crisis. On the contrary, the intensification of "positional competition" among college graduates seems to reflect growing social inequality.

The Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates that all children who are eligible for special education services receive an individualized education program (IEP). Adapted physical education (APE) professionals who teach physical education to children with disabilities are challenged with how to best collect and monitor student performance data in order to report student IEP goal progress. The purpose of this article is to inform APE professionals about effective methods for using tablets to more efficiently monitor physical education IEP goal performance and progress. More specifically, the article will describe the development and implementation of electronic data collection worksheets on tablets. The customization and implementation of these worksheets on tablets allows APE teachers to easily collect student performance data. Analysis and justification of student learning in a variety of settings with technology reduces the challenges of meeting diverse student needs and caseloads often encountered by APE teachers. Electronic data tracking on tablets is well worth the time and effort because it will ultimately result in more effective compliance, instruction and student learning.

Calls for complementing, modifying and 'decolonising' the conceptualisation and implementation of Diversity Education (e.g. "multicultural, intercultural, and/or social justice education") are currently being heard in the 'West'. This paper explores some of the characteristics and benefits of "Chinese Minzu Education" as a potential addition to the field. Our starting point is that Chinese education is often misrepresented and that knowledge about diversity in China (which includes, amongst others, minority groups and Han people), and especially about how people are educated for and through it, is scarce and negatively evaluated in the 'West'. Taking a university specialising in Minzu studies as a case study (which should not be generalized to other Minzu institutions), we problematise formal and informal aspects of Minzu education that could be inspiring to, e.g. interculturalists and multiculturalists in 'Western' education. Fieldwork notes, student interviews about Minzu education and models of Minzu Diversity Learning co-constructed by Minzu students, illustrate the characteristics of Minzu education in higher education. The paper ends on a call for exploring other 'unknown' perspectives on diversity in education emerging from the so-called peripheries of the 'West'.

This paper examines the dominant approach to entrepreneurship education in the South African education system regarding the crisis of youth unemployment. It draws on the case of the public-school sector, in conjunction with the technical vocational education and training (TVET) subsector of the post-school education sector. The comparison of the entrepreneurship education sector plan for public schools with the discourse on TVET reform shows that entrepreneurship education similarly follows the 'skills perspective' with a dominant focus on the formal economy, which is informed by a human-capital based and productivist approach to education. The authors argue that this understanding of entrepreneurship education employs a too narrow perspective on youth unemployment as it overlooks individual capabilities and agency and can contribute to an experience of youth unemployment as individual failure. The authors expand this argument by suggesting a critical entrepreneurship education approach, which is outlined based on two programmes at primary-school and post-school education (TVET) level in a poor urban area. The authors argue that a critical entrepreneurship education approach contributes to learning for capabilities, social justice and democratic citizenship.

This article offers a critical discursive analysis of the Israeli Ministry of Education's renewed interest in vocational education. This analysis reveals three discursive practices for promoting vocational education among key participants in the field: the rhetorical transition from 'vocational education' to 'technological education'; the disregard for the tracking involved in vocational education; the government's refusal to collect or publish statistics on the ethnic and class composition of vocational schools; and a dual discourse that refers to vocational education students as 'at-risk youth' whose needs are minimal, to guarantee them a 'routine' life ('being a person') based on the morality of low expectations. Technological education, is described as populated by students who are the elite of excellence, promising them a rich life, an open future, and the acquisition of 'tomorrow's professions.' Against this background, we proffer the term 'separatist biopolitics' to characterise the contemporary vocational education policy in Israel. Separatist biopolitics, offering divergent positive results ('the good life') to disadvantaged students (vocational education students) and elitist students (technological education students), is a tool for population management. The concept of separatist biopolitics also proposes adopting a critical reading of the vocational education policy to promote the consideration of alternative educational solutions.

This study explores "Strengthen Moral Education for Cultivating People" ("Li De Shu Ren") in China from the perspectives of concepts and policies. "Strengthen Moral Education" ("Li De") is identified as the "developing great virtue" ("Ming Da De"), "obeying social morality" ("Shou Gong De"), and "keeping personal morals" ("Yan Si De"). "Cultivate People" ("Shu Ren") includes the moral education, intellectual education, sports education, aesthetic education, and labor education. Policy implementation and advancement is divided into three stages: Policy launch period (2006-2012), policy improvement period (2013-2017), the period of full implementation of policies (2017 to present). Policy suggestions on "Strengthen Moral Education and Cultivate People" ("Li De Shu Ren") are offered, including building a multi-agent coordinated all-staff education system, building an organically integrated whole-process education system, building an all-round education system guided by values, and building the evaluation system of cultivating people by virtue.

Projects such as Education North, a pilot project for community involvement in education conducted by the Alberta government, can be successful in geographically and culturally isolated communities where social, cultural, and political conflicts affect education. Between 1979 and 1982, Education North operated local education societies in six northern Alberta communities in an attempt to improve school-community relations, improve education, and increase community involvement in educational decision-making. The moderately successful program is only one of several possible strategies for building school-community relationships. Strategies vary in their relation to the formal education system, their focus on programs or projects, and their external control; and all have advantages and disadvantages. Possible strategies include community schools, which serve people of all ages; local control of education, in which all educational decisions are made by the local community; curriculum development resource centers, which bridge the gap between the community and the imported curriculum; consulting and facilitating, in which the superordinate organization provides consultants; community development, in which goals are achieved by the group; and adult education, which rectifies educational inequalities. The strategy selected for a particular community should closely match the community type. (SB)

Eleven recent reports related to excellence in education were examined, and their implications for vocational education were interpreted. Commonalities and differences among the studies were identified, and a selection of these was developed further with major emphases on teaching and learning. Topics were selected according to their immediacy and relevance for vocational education. The analyses of these studies highlighted the need for improvement of education in the public school system, concentrating on high schools. The most effective strategy was the improvement of teaching. Problems in the teaching profession and ways to differentiate and reward good teaching were identified. Needs were found for better teacher recruitment and retention, improved preservice education, technological and professional updating of teachers in the field, teacher recognition, equity and equality in teacher education, and certification. Specific recommendations addressed improvement of instruction through incorporating basic academic skills in vocational education curricula, implementing competency-based instruction in the vocational classroom, and using time-on-task research. Attracting a different caliber of student to teacher education programs, adding more years of study to preservice programs, and modifying teacher certification were considered as possible and necessary steps to improve the future classroom teacher. (YLB)

This fourth edition of a review and synthesis of agricultural education research concentrates on the period from 1978 to 1984. The review covers research published in papers and bulletins, compilations of abstracts, proceedings of regional and national agricultural education research meetings, material in the ERIC database, masters' theses, and doctoral dissertations. Criteria for selection include the extent to which findings are generalizable, saliency of the research, and importance of the research question to agricultural education trends and issues. The document covers these aspects of agricultural education: (1) vocational-technical agricultural programs, encompassing curriculum and instruction, student organizations, supervised occupational experience, summer programs, and student recruitment, retention, placement, and followup; (2) personnel preparation, including teacher education programs, methods, and organizations; (3) instructional materials and technology, focusing on microcomputer applications; (4) professionalism, discussing master teachers, morale and satisfaction, and teacher retention; (5) relationships with publics, including public perceptions and program promotion; (6) international agricultural education; and (7) extension education. A summary section highlights areas for future research and the need for a national research agenda. An extensive bibliography of the cited studies concludes the document. (SK)

Summaries of environmental education (EE) research studies conducted during the 12-year period 1971-1982 are presented in this seven-chapter publication. These chapters are: (1) "Environmental Education Research, 1971-1982--Overview" (by Louis Iozzi); (2) "Environmental Education Research Related to Ecological Foundations" (by Thomas Marcinkowski), which includes 39 studies dealing with attributes of and educational resources for ecological literacy; (3) "Environmental Education Research Related to the Affective Domain" (by Lisa Specca and Louis Iozzi); (4) "Environmental Education Research Related to Issue Awareness" (by Randall Wiesenmayer, Maureen Murrin, and Audrey Tomera), examining only studies that explored cognitive aspects of public awareness about environmental issues; (5) "Environmental Education Research Related to Issue Investigation and Evaluation Skills" (by Peter Bastardo, Arthur Edwards, and Louis Iozzi); (6) "Environmental Education Research Related to Environmental Action Skills" (by Jody Hines and Harold Hungerford), examining studies dealing with the development and applications of the skills necessary for individuals to take responsible environmental action; and (7) "Environmental Education Research Related to Teacher Training" (by R. Ben Peyton), which includes the analysis of 19 relevant studies. (JN)