Exploring the role of religion and spirituality in the development of purpose: case studies of purposeful youth

This study investigated the role of spirituality and religion in supporting purpose during adolescence. Two case studies of adolescents who were coded as purposeful in the religious and/or spiritual domain as part of a larger study at the Stanford Centre on Adolescence were analysed and discussed. The results showed religion and spirituality as overlapping domains with authenticity to self as expressed though spirituality as a distinguishing factor between the two cases. Authenticity fosters one of the key elements of purpose – meaningfulness to the self – but only if done with equal attention to the world beyond the self.     

Rural youth out-migration and education: challenges to aspirations discourse in mobile modernity

ABSTRACT

We argue here that critical educational scholarship is crucial to developing educational analysis attuned to the nuances of place, mobility, and change in rural locations. Critical sociological analysis, we argue, can also nuance and complicate simplistic portrayals of rural communities and their social, economic, and cultural character. Two central narratives in rural education today relate first, to the economic and social problems faced by challenged ‘left behind’ communities faced by depopulation and restructuring, and second, ‘boomtown’ communities that experience rapid infusions of wealth and population. We offer two linked case studies from Australia and Canada that draw on what we call a rural sociological imagination to interrogate how education is framed in contemporary convergences of history and biography in rural locations. These framings complicate and even confound meritocratic and human capital assumptions that underpin contemporary educational policy discourse, particularly as it relates to rural education.     

Case studies of integrated pedagogy in vocational education: A three-tier approach to empowering vulnerable youth in urban Cambodia

This paper starts with the real-life issues pertaining to the educational, economic and socio-cultural vulnerability of young Cambodians; and the latter in turn has called for greater integrated stance in vocational education. A multiple-case study of nine educational NGOs located in four cities was conducted, whereby what constitutes an integrated pedagogy of vocational education is explored and, accordingly, a context-appropriate three-tier approach to empowering vulnerable youth is developed. I argue that the young people's vulnerability in urban Cambodia could not be overcome, unless vocational education has a more positive effect on their employment and empowerment.     

Congregating to create for social change: urban youth media production and sense of community

This case study explored how adolescents were empowered through afterschool media production activities and, in the process, re-imagined themselves as active and engaged citizens within their community. Through analyzing interviews, participant observations, and media artifacts of 14 participants (aged 15–19) over a period of 18 months, three main themes emerged from the triangulation of data: (1) sociocultural capital through group ownership; (2) safe space for creative expression; and (3) developing a sense of community with diverse voices. These young people exercised their collective voice toward pro-social actions by writing and producing their stories and showcasing their works at community screenings. They hoped that their videos would promote individual and community transformations. Building on youth development, community psychology, and media literacy frameworks, this article discusses educational implications like advocating for the power of youth media production to bridge participants personal and private artistry to public and political statements.     

构建职教师资培养体系的现实之需、发展掣肘及实现路径

新职业教育法的出台将建立健全职业教育教师培养培训体系的任务提到前所未有的国家高度。目前,我国职业教育教师培养体系难以满足职业教育教师的专业化发展需求及技术技能人才规格提升带来的内在需求。通过梳理我国这类教师培养培训体系的架构,可以发现其存在职教师资培养体系的布局尚未定型、项目化职教师资培养体系的桎梏难以打破、培养职教教师职业能力的制度化环境有待完善等关键堵点。最后探寻破局之策,包括：以“标准组合拳”的形式为师资培养提供实践性依据;打破资源孤岛,建立互通互融的多元协同培育模式;完善职教教师培训政策保障与协调机制等。     

我国网络职业教育资源的现状分析及发展策略

我国网络职业教育在物质基础和信息资源等方面已有一定基础，但在技术和人才资源上还比较薄弱，信息化管理相关程序资源应用还比较少，因此建议采取以资源建设带动资源整合、以资源研究带动资源发展的机制来促进我国网络职业教育资源建设的发展。     

Multiple Service Use: The impact of consistency in service quality for vulnerable youth

Little is known about the way in which variations in service quality influence outcomes when youth are clients of more than one service system. This article reports on a study of 1,210 adolescents (aged 13–17 years), half were concurrent clients of two or more services and half were not involved in two or more services. Youth completed a self-report questionnaire administered by a trained interviewer. It was hypothesized that youth reporting two positive service experiences would report lower risks, higher resilience, and better outcomes than youth reporting inconsistent or two negative service experiences and that their resilience, risks, and outcomes would be similar to those of youth not involved in two or more services. MANCOVA was used to determine the relationship among service quality and resilience, risk, and outcomes with four covariates that assessed family and neighborhood environments, history of abuse and neglect, and chronic need. Results indicate that service quality had an effect on resilience, risks, and outcomes. These relationships were mediated quite strongly by the influence of the risks youth faced in their neighborhoods and to a lesser extent by the other three covariates. Of the three dependent variables, risk appeared to be the most consistently influenced by all the covariates, and it also differentiated service experience groups. Results point to the importance of services developing strategies to effectively address risks confronted by youth and also to ensure that when more than one service is involved with youth, consistency in service delivery is achieved.     

对高校青年理想信念教育的探索

信念是高校青年的重要精神支柱.做好理想信念教育,对于传播社会主义核心价值理念,确立科学的世界现、人生现和价值观具有重要意义.当代高校“80后”、“90后”青年(包括青年教师与大学生)理想信念受文化背景的影响,经历了与社会整体的主流价值观统一、分离和相对独立的发展过程,要进一步确立并巩固青年一代崇高的理想信念,就必须切实加强社会主义核心价值观教育,做到“四个始终坚持”、落实“四项结合”,重点加强大学精神教育.     

Engaging youth in public lands monitoring: opportunities for enhancing ecological literacy and environmental stewardship

Abstract

The US Forest Service has a long history of youth conservation education. We investigated U.S. Forest Service citizen science programs that involve secondary school students in field collection of monitoring data to understand (1) how the programs integrated science and environmental education and (2) whether these programs advance ecological literacy and environmental stewardship. We conducted semi-structured interviews with the program leads, teachers, and students. Program leads and students said programs produced reliable data and met monitoring and other U.S. Forest Service stewardship objectives. Although these programs varied in design and objectives, our findings suggest these programs were incorporating both science and environmental education, and there is some indication they are creating ecological literacy among participants. Students exhibited environmental stewardship to some degree as a result of all programs, but the extent of this is tied to programs’ objectives and design.     

Negotiating tensions between the high-performing and socially just college: A consideration of the discursive construction of youth in English college governing boards

The English further education (FE) sector caters for young learners who are regularly defined as at risk due to a range of economic and social challenges, as transitions from youth to adulthood become more protracted, and inequalities amongst young people and between generations persist and deepen. At a time when policy places increasing responsibilities on governors and leaders to balance college performance and cost-effectiveness against FE’s long-standing social justice mission, this article analyses how this tension plays out through the discursive construction of young learners by two English college governing boards. We use a critical discourse analysis approach to connect how young learners are ‘talked into being’ through the micro-level processes of governing within the wider context in which college governing operates. We argue that, despite a wider drive for governors to interact with learners, their understanding of learners is dominated by data, through which young learners in particular are constituted as a risk rather than at risk. We explore the discursive constructions of young learners that ensue in this data-dominated context, and the social practices governing boards use to manage the risks posed by young learners. We highlight the different positionings of governors and college senior managers within these constitutive practices, arguing that the ways young learners are discursively constructed is revealing of a central tension in college governing practices—that between the high-performing and the socially just college.     

Sociocultural anchors for incorporating sustainability in youth movements: Comparison among secular,religious, and ultraorthodox movements

Abstract

In Israel, youth movements (YMs) comprise a main agent for nonformal education of youth and a youth-engagement framework in which civic engagement can be expanded to address environmental challenges. A major source of sociocultural diversity among YMs is their religious identity, based on the categorizations of secular, religious, and ultraorthodox. We compared, among these groups, the environmental literacy (EL) characteristics of “young-guides” and YM-leaders’ perspectives of sustainability in relation to their YM. Differences among groups were found in the young-guides’ EL: members of secular YMs demonstrated greater EL and openness to including pro-environmental activities within their YM. “Judaism as a platform for addressing sustainability” emerged as a major theme from leaders’ interviews. Implications for meaningful incorporation of sustainability and EE within the groups are discussed.     

Trauma-informed sexuality education: recognising the rights and resilience of youth

Experiences of maltreatment during childhood and the emergence of sexuality during adolescence are both critical developmental issues that intersect in meaningful ways, yet the two are often isolated from each other in practice. Despite the prevalence of childhood maltreatment, sexuality education does not accommodate young people with trauma histories. This results in curricula and content that ignore the particular needs and experiences of a proportion of students in sexuality education classrooms. Trauma interventions commit a similar oversight by neglecting the prospects for positive, growth-promoting sexual experiences and relationships among young people who have been abused. The failure to account for young people's resilience in the sexual domain results in treatment approaches that emphasise sexual risks (e.g. revictimisation) and problem behaviours to the exclusion of guidance in cultivating positive sexualities. Consequently, many forms of sexuality education and maltreatment interventions may be of limited effectiveness and relevance in promoting the future sexual well-being of young people with histories of trauma. To redress this gap, we advocate for trauma-informed sexuality education, an approach that acknowledges past experiences of abuse, the promise of resilience, and young people's right to positive sexualities.     

Learning (abroad) mobility in the European Union: A comparison of youth in and out of higher education

In the European Union (EU) context, learning abroad mobility (LAM) also includes non-formal learning activities. Young people can participate in LAM whether they are in tertiary education or not. Nevertheless, studies focusing on the participation of out-of-higher-education (Out-HE) youth in LAM are often scarce. The current study aims to explore the role of several sociodemographic factors in participation in LAM among Out-HE youth, based on the analysis of a large-scale survey conducted across EU member countries. Findings show that Out-HE youth is less likely to participate in LAM than the youth in higher education as expected. However, some socioeconomic factors, such as gender and age, play different roles among Out-HE youth and the youth in higher education in old (EU15) and new member countries (NMS) of the EU.     

New understandings of communities and ourselves: community-based participatory research with Alaska Native and Lower 48 youth

In the summer of 2014, students from universities in the contiguous United States (Lower 48) and Inupiat youth from Alaska carried out a pilot project as participants/co-researchers in a process called Intergenerational Dialog, Exchange, and Action (IDEA). This action-oriented, community-based, and participatory research method was first developed in 2008, as a platform for structuring dialog between adults, Elders and youth within a community, and for extending resonant ideas emerging from these discussions through Photovoice and digital storytelling amongst youth participants. This pilot study was designed to investigate the feasibility and potential of university students from the Lower 48 and Indigenous youth from Alaska to carry out the IDEA process together as co-researchers. The results of the pilot suggest that it is both possible and meaningful for IDEA to be conducted by a team of youth co-researchers. We found that participation in IDEA expanded the perspectives of youth co-researchers from both Alaska and the Lower 48 in parallel, yet different ways. Exploring the strengths of older community members, being exposed to different ways of living and being, and having opportunities to reflect on and build narratives around these ideas, allowed all the co-researchers to develop a new understanding of their own communities and their roles and responsibilities within them. This paper shares youth co-researcher reflections of the process and the ways in which the process prompted these new perspectives about themselves, their respective communities and their roles within them.     

社区教育课程资源开发研究——以大榭开发区为例

课程资源是形成社区教育课程的因素来源和实施条件。以社区、村、相关企事业单位为个案,研究特定地域社区教育课程资源的内涵、鉴别标准、存在形态与分布情况,通过建立强有力的人力资源支持系统,开发知识拓展类、技能类、生活类和可"开放"类课程资源,对构建和谐社会、推进社区教育具有积极的意义。     

Participation in adult education for community development: a critical discourse analysis of Training for Transformation

Participation has become so central to adult education for community development that even the World Bank supports participatory programming. This article analyses how participation is conceptualised in Training for Transformation (TfT), a Freirean-inspired curriculum used in international community development settings. TfT seeks to equip learners ‘to understand and take action in their world’, partly by shaping the curriculum itself. Using critical discourse analysis (CDA) of the TfT curriculum, three interviews, and published TfT case studies, the study explores what kinds of involvement and control educators and curriculum developers intend in TfT. CDA elucidates who is included in the training and how practitioners position themselves vis-a-vis learners and other audiences. TfT implementation highlights the dialectic between idealised community participation and decision making in educational programming, and educators’ need and desire to develop curricular content. Specifically, within Freire’s early philosophy and the TfT curriculum, there is a tension between exploratory, participatory learning pedagogy rooted in dialogue, and animators’ intention to teach certain content and relay particular ideologies. This study highlights potential contradictions and complications in adult education for community development participatory discourses, and underscores the need for practitioners to consider what genuine participation entails and how best to cultivate it.     

职业教育分类考试内容和方法设计：现状、问题与对策

基于对800份职业教育分类考试考纲和考题的质性分析,发现目前各省的职业教育分类考试主要是“理论考试+技能考试”,但考试命名和内容设计有所区别。职业适应性测试的内容主要包括专业领域基础知识、职业素养与认知、生活工作常识、通用技能,但不同学校对于内容的组合和选择逻辑存在一定差异。未来职教高考应根据行动能力水平的测评要求设计考试方法,基于专业通用能力和学校特色来设计职业适应性测试,并且要积极探索人工智能在技能评价中的应用。     

高职院校环境教育教学体系的构建与实践

有效的环境教育对于解决环境问题,促进人、自然、社会的和谐和可持续发展具有重大意义。高职院校在环境教育事业的发展中起着至关重要的作用。针对地方经济的特点和发展要求,探索构建高职院校环境教育教学体系,调整教育教学内容,开展公共环境教育和专业特色环境教育,主动服务地方经济“绿色发展”,必将对提高受教育者的环境素养和环境意识产生深远影响。     

Vocational education and training for sustainability in South Africa: The role of public and private provision

Written in the twilight of the Mbeki Presidency, this paper considers the role that skills development has in the sustainability of the South African political–economic project. It explores some of the disarticulations of public policy and argues that these both undermine public sector delivery and open up opportunities for private provision to be, under certain circumstances, more responsive to the challenges of national development. We argue that there is a possibility that the state could work more smartly with both sets of providers. Crucially, however, this would necessitate working more smartly within itself. This was a major plank of the Mbeki strategy but it has failed conspicuously with regard to the Education–Labour relationship. Whether a new President can achieve a radical reworking of this relationship may be an important indicator of the viability of any new development project.