Education & Pedagogy

Postdigital education has become a major subject receiving attention and consideration from various perspectives. For instance, there are crucial issues revolving around the meaning of "postdigital" in the context of education with regard to its implications for educational research and practice and its impact on the learning spaces of higher education, among other issues. However, the focus has been on education in general without any specific focus on rural higher education. Thus, the need to consider rural higher education in the era of postdigital education is pivotal, especially considering its peculiar nature. Hence, this study explores the transformation of rural higher education to fit into the postdigital era through the use of a review method. Relevant literature was reviewed from which themes were generated in the presentation of findings. The findings of the study show, among others, that there are misconceptions regarding the postdigital era and postdigital education--technologies taking over the entire teaching and learning spaces. However, the study also showed that, for rural higher education in the postdigital era, hybridity is pivotal. The study recommends, among other things, that policies promoting hybridity and discouraging the notion of technologies taking over the entire teaching and learning spaces should be made and implemented.

Higher education in the correctional environment is endorsed globally as the most effective tool for rehabilitation. Studies from the Global North have researched correctional education and its accessibility, but few of those have focused specifically on incarcerated women's access to tertiary education online. Even fewer consider this topic within the context of the Global South. This study aimed to address that gap by providing a holistic perspective of South African women's experiences of e-learning and distance higher education while incarcerated. As a qualitative research study utilising feminist narrative inquiry, the lived experiences of seven women incarcerated in the largest correctional facility in South Africa are uncovered through narrative analysis. The findings describe women's pathways towards obtaining an education online, the challenges they encountered, and the role support played in their completing a tertiary degree through distance education. Ultimately, the findings reveal that online higher education moves beyond student rehabilitation, to enhance the overall well-being of these students and enable them to cultivate empathic relationships with their peers, which in turn fosters further education opportunities for incarcerated women in South Africa. [Note: The correct publication year for this issue is 2023.]

European higher education is awash with educational reform initiatives that purport to transform universities into better-managed higher quality organizations that more directly contribute to national development. This exploratory study examines patterns of research discourse in higher education in Europe. We argue that these patterns are changing in the direction of greater isomorphism with globally favored models of the university. First, we show some global trends that reveal the rise of "world class universities" and "higher education and development" discourse. Next, we analyze discursive shifts in European higher education research publications in the period between 1990 and 2009. Our initial analysis of these publications shows changes in the expected direction: we find a growing emphasis on management, organization, and quality and less emphasis on student access to higher education, an earlier equity concern. We propose further research to see whether higher education has become a more consolidated research field over time, perhaps suggesting an erosion of the historical legacies that often informed higher education systems and universities in Europe. Lastly, we briefly reflect on the implications of influential world models on comparative studies of higher education.

Learning involves conceptual frameworks embedded in worldviews and values. The overarching problematic of Aboriginal post-secondary education is complex and multifaceted. Normative and institutional forces as well as the credentialing and certification agenda of post-secondary education limit the degree to which Aboriginal education at any level can simply go its own way. To what degree and in what ways should Aboriginal post-secondary education differ from mainstream post-secondary education--and can it? The "parity paradox" (Paquette & Fallon, 2010, p. xii) prevails in post-secondary as in lower-level education. Education that purports to be meaningfully "Aboriginal" must fulfill two seemingly opposing purposes: provide education that is grounded in Aboriginal cultures but also provide a reasonable degree of parity with the content and quality of mainstream education. In short, Aboriginal post-secondary education is situated at the nexus of colliding epistemic universes of hugely unequal power. What can and should be Aboriginal in Aboriginal post-secondary education? What is the Canadian experience to date in that respect--with particular focus on the British Columbia case example--and what can be learned from it?

This paper reflects upon international arts education action and relative local in-action. The first half of the paper provides a brief narrative of the World Alliance for Arts Education's advocacy work and the development of the UNESCO Seoul Agenda: Goals for the development of arts education. The second half of the paper highlights a dance education research project in New Zealand that relates to strategies and actions noted within the Seoul Agenda. This dance education research reveals both the power and impotence of policies and events such as the Seoul Agenda and International Arts Education Week. The research reveals that when you step off the global stage and turn to your own backyard, reality strikes hard. Arts education is valued, yet relatively few teachers, fewer schools and even fewer governments are actually willing to fully realise the potential of arts education. Arts education for all the rhetoric lacks commitment and investment. Using dance education as a lens, this research examines what teachers in New Zealand are doing in their classrooms and what this means for local communities, teachers, schools, teacher education institutions, advocacy and support organisations, then provides suggestions so that dance and other arts can fulfil their potential.

Many educators view the process of education as transformative. This transformation is important in all classrooms, but it takes on added importance in prison classrooms. The education that inmates receive in prison can mean the difference between the doorway of freedom with a productive future and the revolving door of recidivism. For many prison educators, this transformative and liberating education process takes the form of democratic citizenship education. This article draws on interviews with five instructors from Ball State University's Department of Extended Education as well as the teaching experiences of the author. Although the subjects taught by these individuals range from computer science to English to anthropology, their approaches and views of transformation through democratic citizen education were very similar. By addressing the societal inequality that is reflected in prisons, these educators are themselves acting as engaged citizens. They show the twin ideas of awareness and action required of all citizens. These educators promote citizenship education in their classrooms by creating safe, democratic spaces that are dependent on sharing power with their students. Finally, they seek to transform their students into active, aware, and engaged citizens by fostering critical thinking skills, encouraging debate, and applying course lessons to the lives of their students.

This guide on cooperative education is designed to assist the beginning teacher-coordinator with the resource material he/she will need and to provide experienced teacher-coordinators and administrators with a ready reference on current procedures and practices. General information contained in the first section includes philosophy, objectives, and advantages of cooperative vocational education; definition, philosophy, and goals and objectives of general cooperative education; and advantages of general cooperative education to the community, employer, students, and school. Section 2 discusses the teacher-coordinator and his/her activities. A brief history of general cooperative education in Louisiana is presented in the next section. Section 4 covers these topics related to starting a program: cooperation with other schools and agencies, providing occupational education to meet changing needs, occupations covered in the program, initial survey, program promotion, pitfalls to avoid, sample letter to employers, and example policy statement. The final section considers student selection and suggests records and reports to be maintained on each cooperative student. It also contains a sample list of general cooperative education policies and a listing of minimum standards for (Louisiana) State approval in reimbursed programs of vocational education. Twenty pages of sample forms for a general cooperative education program are appended. (YLB)

This paper considers impact of federal legislation on conduct of vocational consumer and homemaking programs with a focus on relationships among the American Home Economics Association (AHEA), home economics, and federal vocational education legislation. Chapter 1 overviews AHEA and discusses interrelationships between it and the home economics profession. Chapter 2 describes changes in the vocational home economics program brought about by the Vocational Education Act of 1963 and Vocational Education Amendments of 1968. Impact of the Education Amendments of 1976 on consumer and homemaking education programs is detailed. Specific concerns are program planning and accountability. Several components of the new education law are summarized that directly affect programs: definition of Consumer and Homemaking Education, sex equity programs, youth programs, and inservice education. Chapter 3 addresses federal support for home economics-focused youth organizations and their different roles in implementing vocational education. A chart summarizes selected aspects of 4-H and Future Homemakers of America. Focus of Chapter 4 is federal funding of programs related to consumer/homemaking education. An eight-page chart shows public law, administering federal agency, program objectives, target populations, and estimated FY1978 funding. Implications for the mandated National Institute of Education study are also considered. (YLB)

These proceedings of a conference on research in the field of adult education contain the texts of 40 conference papers and 4 symposia. Included among the areas examined in the individual reports are the following: education participation scale factor structure and correlates for 12,000 learners, a comparative analysis of adult education research in North America and Britain, a system for selecting models and ordering research, a proposed framework for examining continuing professional education and behavior change, issues in the methodology of participation research, development of a new measure of locus of control orientation in adults, a systems analysis model for optimizing learning environments for adult learners, soft data in adult learning and development research, agendas of research needs as stimulators of research, and writing histories of adult education. The symposia address the following issues: adult education research and development in the United Kingdom and the United States; critical examination of the history of adult education; application of modern testing theories to problems in adult education; and a review of the principles, practices, and philosophy of community adult education. (MN)

This report contains prepared statements and discussion, made before the House Committee on Education and Labor Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education, on current problems and future developments in teacher education. Members of the Committee present at the hearing were representatives Simon (chairman), Weiss, Bailey, and Coleman. Witnesses before the committee were: (1) Sharon Porter Robinson of the National Education Association; (2) a panel, representing the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, composed of Dean Corrigan of Texas A & M University, Gwen Baker of Bank Street College, New York City, Mary Christian of Hampton Institute, Virginia, Judith Lanier of Michigan State University, and Nancy Quisenberry of Southern Illinois University; (3) Marva Collins, West Side Prep, Illinois; (4) Vincent Reed, Assistant Secretary of Education for Elementary and Secondary Education; (5) Milton Goldberg, Acting Director, National Institute of Education; (6) Thurmond Daniel, former teacher; and (7) a panel representing the American Federation of Teachers, composed of Myrna Cooper of the New York Teachers Center, New York City, Ronald Spruill of Baltimore Public Schools, and Paulette Bell of District of Columbia Public Schools. (FG)

The report examines Illinois mandates affecting special education, as part of a five part study to eliminate unnecessary or unproductive mandates and increase local decision making, while still safeguarding equal educational opportunity. The first section outlines the major study assumptions, mandate questions, and research methodology. Legislative histories of both state and federal special education are reviewed. The next section, the main part of the document, examines five major questions (sample subtopics in parentheses): Should there be a mandate for special education? (arguments concerning costs and benefits, uncontrollable programs, and social consciousness); Who should be served by special education? (ages, categories, expulsion, and suspension); What special education services should be provided? (continuum of program options, least restrictive environment); Who should be responsible for providing special education services? (joint agreements, state board of education); and How should the state regulate its interest in special education? (class size, age range groupings, due process, individualized education programs). Findings and conclusions offered include that the mandate for special education reflects a compelling state interest in equal opportunity; that clarification is needed for the concept of related services; and that the State Board of Education's current regulations and procedures are in need of immediate simplification. Recommendations are made for increasing local decision making and reducing paperwork requirements. (CL)

This report prepared by the Policy Analysis and Legislation Staff of the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, for the Congress, discusses the status of vocational education using statistical information, state evaluations, and audits, and reports compliance and quality of vocational education programs in selected states. The general provisions of state vocational programs, their basic grant structure, and a review of state program improvement and supportive services are provided. In addition, the states' programs for the disadvantaged and for consumer and homemaking education are reviewed. Presented next are the general provisions of national vocational programs along with an overview of programs of national significance, bilingual vocational training, and the emergency assistance program for remodeling and renovation of vocational education facilities. Then a discussion of the Appalachian Regional Development Commission (ARDC) is provided. Twenty enrollment tables and 12 funding tables are appended. It is reported that total enrollment in vocational education at all levels reached a record of 17 million with expenditures at $6.5 billion in fiscal year 1979. (BPB)

This publication presents facts and figures describing various aspects of the Israeli education system in recent years. It highlights those reforms and innovative programs that have begun to be implemented, noting that the success of these programs will be assessed in the years to come. The present publication includes information about additional important fields of activity, such as legislation in the field of education, informal education, higher education, and educational research in Israel. It also offers an update and expansion of existing educational subjects, such as reforms and new programs, organization of studies and schedule of hours, attendance and drop-out rates, and public expenditure on education. Textual and factual descriptions have been combined with tables and graphs in the publication. Following an introduction, the publication is divided into the following eight sections: (1) "Educational Policy and Programs"; (2) "Structure of the Educational System; Administrative Structure of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport"; (3) "Education Expenditure"; (4) "The Educational Process"; (5) "Higher Education"; (6) "Informal Education"; (7) "Education Research and International Exchange"; and (8) "The Development of Education--Facts and Figures." (BT)

Despite comprising the largest minority in rural settings, the literature to date largely subsumes African American rural students into a broader set of Black and African American students, with a primarily urban focus. This volume focuses on the higher education pathways of rural African American students and highlights their experiences in US colleges and universities. Addressing the fact that rural students have higher high school graduation rates than their urban peers but are less likely to take paths towards higher education, the authors identify research needs, areas of concerns, and strategies to encourage and sustain greater postsecondary participation among African Americans from rural settings. Contributors to the volume address the meaning of race and place, cultural capital, gender dynamics, gifted education, college choice, teacher and education leader preparation, campus programming and the role of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, with specific reference to African American rural students, to pin down a clear picture of the barriers and drivers of their higher education journeys. [Individual chapters are indexed in ERIC.]

These proceedings contain papers of the 6th International Baltic Symposium on Science and Technology Education (BalticSTE2025) held in Šiauliai, Lithuania, June 16-19, 2025. This collection of BalticSTE25 articles presents 13 scientific articles and an introductory article on the topic of natural science and technology education. The articles cover a wide range of topics, from curriculum renewal and competency-based education to advanced methodologies, such as metacognitive strategies, application of artificial intelligence, or multimodal teaching methods. Attention is also paid to the aspects of inclusion, integration of sustainability themes, and the role of leadership in the context of educational change. The published articles were submitted by researchers from Lithuania, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Italy, India, South Africa, France, Greece, Finland, Estonia, and the United States. Keynote speakers include Paolo Bussotti , Muammer Çalik, Katarzyna Potyrala, Stamatios Papadakis, Lukáš Richterek, and Gražina Šmitiene. This collection can serve as a valuable resource for educational researchers, educational practitioners, and policymakers seeking sound, evidence-based decisions and sustainable educational development. [Individual papers are indexed in ERIC.]