Education for Diversity in a Multisexual Society: Negotiating the contradictions of contemporary discourse

In spite of recent significant changes to the National Curriculum in England and Wales, including the introduction of personal, social and health education and citizenship, the subjects of sexuality and sexual identity remain virtually untouched in English primary and secondary schools. While diversity of sexual orientation is acknowledged in new government guidance on sex and relationship education, it receives no explicit recognition elsewhere in the curriculum. In this article, the author examines the current social, political and legal context within which this curriculum is situated, and its often contradictory intersections with popular culture. Drawing on current research into sexuality, gender construction and heteronormative forces in education, the author outlines a complex and contradictory network of forces which simultaneously exploit and undermine non-heterosexual lifestyles and relationships, and examines the way in which these discourses permeate both the school and wider society. The author considers ways in which these intersections and contradictions might be used as a means of challenging compulsory heterosexuality within and beyond the school.     

Evidence-based decision making or a tunnel vision effect? TIMSS,problem definition and policy change in Israeli mathematics education

ABSTRACT

This study examines the influence of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 1999 results on mathematics education policy in Israel. Analyzing various documents, the study shows how these results transformed policymakers’ discourse regarding mathematics education. In order to achieve improvement in Israel’s ranking, the middle school mathematics curriculum was aligned with the TIMSS test. Following this change, the scores of Israeli students rose considerably in TIMSS 2011. Parallel results from Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Israeli internal standardized tests, however, do not show comparable improvement in mathematics achievement. High school matriculation data for the same period of time show a decline in the percentage of students who took the most advanced mathematics courses. Furthermore, none of these data sources show any noticeable reduction in social inequality in mathematics achievement. On the basis of theoretical insights from political science, it is argued that international tests influence the way educational problems are framed and defined. Thus, instead of enriching educational decision-making processes, these tests can create a tunnel vision effect that restricts policymakers’ attention to ‘problems’ and ‘solutions’ defined by the tests themselves.     

The contribution of primary school teachers to curriculum planning and development in Iraq

ABSTRACT

This article describes the role of primary school teachers in Iraq in connection with curriculum change and development. It identifies the ways in which professional teachers have been faced with increased central control and concludes by responding directly to the Ministry of Education. A survey involving interviews and question‐ naires was conducted with primary school teachers of different school location, age, gender, experience, qualifications and subjects taught, and in various school locations. Headteachers and education officials were also interviewed to establish the degree of involvement of primary teachers in their curriculum planning process.     

Orthodox education in Russian schools: an ideological choice

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to examine the ideological, political and social implications of the preference for orientating the public school curriculum in Russia towards Orthodox education. In some regions of the Russian Federation, Orthodox preferences increased by 20% over 4 years, and the indices reflecting enchurchment in the Russian regions are consistently lower than in the Moscow region, especially in rural areas. The confusion of Russian moral and patriotic traditions with Orthodox values and the ideological partnership between the public school authorities and the Orthodox organisations could explain the growth in Orthodox preferences. Although most teachers of the Orthodox curriculum, and most of the parents who choose it for their children, are not practising members of the church, Orthodox education implemented in public schools could result in an outcome opposite to the goals of the Orthodox curriculum.     

思政课课程感知比较研究——基于粤澳中小学生的调查分析

通过调查粤澳11 097名中小学生发现,广东中小学生思政课课程感知和各维度感知水平显著优于澳门,且在“课程目标”“课程内容”维度差距最为突出。性别差异为女生显著优于男生;年级差异大体为小学四至六年级优于初中各年级;曾在香港就读对课程感知有消极影响,在内地就读则有积极影响。父母文化程度大体与课程感知呈正相关。基于此,要继续完善澳门思政课课程建设,加强广东思政课课程实施督导;提高男生思政课课程学习兴趣;引导初中生重视国家事务,实现思政课的情感目标;提高粤澳姐妹学校互动频率,鼓励澳门中小学生到内地就读或交换。     

Out of Harmony on the Cherokee Boundary: Clinics,culture and the sex ed curriculum

Based upon fieldwork on the Cherokee Boundary in the USA during the mid-1990s, the author explores why a community that supported a teen health clinic and whose high school curriculum met the state standards for sexuality education continued to have a teen pregnancy rate that was one of the highest in western North Carolina. In the process, this study examines the conflicting views about adolescent sexuality, particularly teen pregnancy and homosexuality, held by Cherokee progressives and traditionalists as well as the resulting contradictory approaches to sex education within a community that values harmony. Arguing that the tribe's education policies worked at cross-purposes, the author details the mismatch between the school's sex education curriculum and health clinic vis-à-vis students' sexual interests, knowledge, and behaviors. Difficulties in integrating native culture and an absence of communication further inhibited the policies' effectiveness. Paradoxically, by avoiding the disharmonious issue of sexuality education, the community has become further out of harmony.     

Reporting to parents: Science in the context of the total primary curriculum

What is written in reports to parents can provide insight into the perceptions of teachers of the various areas of the primary school curriculum. This paper reports the first stage of a research project focussing on reports as a guide to teachers' views of the relative importance of, and desired student outcomes in, key areas of the curriculum. Teacher comments in the end-of-the-year reports in one primary school were analysed. Specializations: science education, teacher education. Specializations: science education, teacher education.     

Implementing the National Curriculum at Key Stage 2

Abstract

Since 1989, the Portuguese education system has undergone curricular reform which has introduced deep structural changes to the subject of physical education (PE). PE has become a compulsory and examinable subject within the ‘core curriculum’ of all school years (1 st to 12th grade). National curricular plans for basic and secondary education have also been introduced. This paper provides a view of the political options which have underpinned the present curricular project of PE in Portugal and compares practices in that country with those in Belgium. The analysis first describes the ‘curriculum as text’ before focusing attention on the ‘curriculum as action’. The analysis explores the nature of teachers’, pupils’ and parents’ beliefs, values and attitudes that together mediate the curriculum as text, help define contexts of PE, and influence public and political attitudes towards the subject. The paper points to the importance of both researchers and teachers for the development of effective teaching and learning in PE.     

The Effect of the Sunship Earth Program on Knowledge and Attitude Development

ABSTRACT:

The influence of the earth education program, Sunship Earth, on ecological knowledge and environmental attitudes was examined. It was found that students who attended the Sunship Earth program increased their ecological knowledge significantly. Participation in the Sunship Earth program did not result in more positive environmental attitudes. Part of the success of the Sunship Earth program is attributed to the setting in which it occurs and the techniques used to develop ecological concepts. The need for more opportunities for teachers to develop skills in environmental education and to participate in environmental education curriculum development that would link extension education more firmly to the school curriculum is discussed.     

Pupils in Control: Sex Talk as an Educational Resource

Education for citizenship is now recommended for all primary schools. Whilst primary teachers have long covered social and moral education, they have been less likely to cover teaching about community and political literacy (including the discussion of topical, controversial issues). This paper reports research findings on current practice and identifies key areas for discussion. It argues that there is great scope for enriching and enlivening the primary curriculum through the introduction of education for citizenship, by extending current practice in social and moral education and incorporating the newer themes of community and political literacy into existing teaching.     

Environment in the science curriculum: The politics of change in the Pan-Canadian science curriculum development process

This paper draws on the experience of the Pan-Canadian science curriculum development process as an instance of the more general problem of integrating science and environmental education. It problematizes the issue of incorporation of social and environmental dimensions within the science curriculum in terms of both policy and practice. The agenda of environmental education, as eco-philosophical and eco-political, provides a radically different base from which to explore the impact of change on science teachers and schools. Thus, the very idea of environmental education as an educational policy goal must be examined in light of conflicting agendas of science and environmental education. This paper argues that transforming structures and processes of school science to enable different teacher and student roles involves closing the gap between curriculum (policy) development and professional development as well as reconceptualizing science education, but from more overtly open moral value and political perspectives than have been considered in the literature of science education.     

The Convitti Scuola della Rinascita (the Boarding Schools of Rebirth): an innovative pedagogy for democracy in post-war Italy (1945–1955)

Abstract

In 1945, Italian society was in crisis. Twenty years of fascism and the aerial bombing and military offensives of the Second World War had left the civilian population suffering and the nation in need of reinvention. In this difficult context, certain anti-fascist intellectuals devised the interesting pedagogical experiment of the 11 Convitti Scuola della Rinascita (Boarding Schools of Rebirth) for adult learners, mainly those who had been partisans engaged in the Italian resistance during the war. This article reconstructs the birth of the Convitti within the general framework of education, war and reconstruction. It investigates the arduous search for and development of an adult education curriculum – outside the traditional models – suited to the ethical and political reconstruction of students. Finally, it situates the Convitti and their demise amidst the dilemmas that affected both the ruling classes and the teachers called to redefine their role in a newly democratic Italy.     

Core competences and scientific literacy: the recent reform of the school science curriculum in China

ABSTRACT

China initiated a new round of science curriculum reform in 2017. Using the tripartite curriculum framework (including policy, programmatic, and classroom curriculum), we introduce and analyse China’s policy curriculum and programmatic curriculum for science in primary school and senior high school, and describe the potential problems hindering the translation of these curricula into the classroom curriculum. We first identify the multiple aims of different stakeholders in science education, some of which influence the science policy curriculum. Then, we present the major changes in how the programmatic curriculum meets the policy curriculum. However, due to extracurricular factors, the current science curriculum reform may not unfold as expected. We end with a discussion of the three major characteristics of the revision process of science curriculum standards in China, some of which might inform the global community of science education.     

Explanation and metaphor: Some empirical questions in science education

This paper examines how science education becomes institutionalized in Third World countries using Malaysia as a case study. The findings shows that the development of science education in Malaysia has been greatly influenced by international trends and the country's socio‐political development. Science gained a place in the school curriculum in the midst of British colonial rule. The strong colonial influence on school science continued throughout the early independence period but, in the 1980s, external influences on science education came from both Western and Islamic countries. In each of the historical periods, external world cultural forces interacted with internal socio‐political forces resulting in a national science curriculum which is in accord with world cultural rules but at the same time quite indigenous in character. This study also suggests that while each nation‐state aspires to develop an indigenous form of science education that would best suit the national context, the outcome tends to be more universalistic than particularistic due to global influences.     

Lesbian and gay teachers and sex/uality education policy enactment in schools

ABSTRACT

This paper examines lesbian and gay teachers’ identities and experiences in schools in the context of school policies relating to homophobia and to sex and sexuality education. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 12 lesbian and gay teachers working in English and Welsh schools, and using the concept of ‘policy enactment’, I analyse the ways in which school policies around homo/bi/transphobic bullying and sex/uality education and their enactment are perceived by lesbian and gay teachers. The article examines teachers’ personal experiences in relation to sexuality in school, and then broadens out into related issues for pupils and a discussion of the varied approaches to sex and relationships education in the schools. I argue that the enactment of these policies is not straightforward, and that they could be better supported by a more inclusive and comprehensive sexuality education curriculum.     

Education for pupils with profound disabilities: Issues of policy,curriculum, teaching methods,and evaluation

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses some issues in the education of pupils who have profound disabilities. Following an examination of policy and curriculum issues, we review recent research on teaching methods. In particular, we look critically at the concepts and methods of behavioural psychology and its influence in this field of education. We then examine the issue of evaluation of educational outcomes using illustrations from current research at a special school for adolescents with profound disabilities. Finally, we suggest some directions for future research which place the education of persons who have profound disabilities clearly within the mainstream of educational thinking and research endeavour.     

Managing Sex Education Controversy Deep in the Heart of Texas: A Case Study of the North East Independent School District (NEISD)

Abstract

Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE), one of the key evidence-based strategies in our programmatic toolbox to address adolescent pregnancy and birth rates, remains a politically-charged issue countrywide. Though there is some funding available at the federal level, there are no national policies mandating the provision of sex education; as such, most decision-making occurs at the state or even the local level. Consequently, the provision of sex education and the quality and comprehensiveness of curricula used to do so are highly variable across the country, and are heavily influenced by the level of support or resistance in communities. This paper analyzes the experience of institutionalizing an evidence-based sex education in a large suburban school district in San Antonio, Texas, a socially conservative context. Understanding the politics of sex education is key to developing effective policies and strategies to ensure quality sex education programs are provided in public schools. However, there are no published papers documenting specific experiences with resistance to sex education in local communities in the USA. Given this, the strategies employed by opponents and the response by district officials can be informative for other school settings in the USA and around the world.

Abbreviations: AFLA: Adolescent Family Life Act; CHAMPSS: Choosing And Maintaining effective Programs for Sex education in Schools Model; CSE: Comprehensive sexuality education; DTL/RTL: Draw the Line/Respect the Line; HSAE: Human Sexuality and Abstinence Education, the middle school sex education curriculum in NEISD prior to 2008; NEISD: North East Independent School District; SAFA: San Antonio Family Association; SHAC: School health advisory council; STI: Sexually transmitted infection; TEC: Texas Education Code; TPIA: Texas Public Information Act; USA: United States of America; UTHSC: University of Texas Health Science Center     

‘Challenge and support’: the role of the critical friend in continuing professional development

Abstract

In this paper, the writer, a senior teacher in a comprehensive school, describes his role as a critical friend to two teachers who were undertaking self‐initiated action research projects as part of a school‐based, award‐bearing curriculum development scheme offered in conjunction with the local higher education institute (HEI). He concludes that such a relationship, in providing both challenge and support for colleagues who are attempting to improve practice, is a powerful vehicle for the professional development of teachers and has a positive impact on whole‐school development.     

Challenges to primary education

Summary

The above examples are but a few ideas which may stimulate teachers and children to develop other activities that have an educational benefit and which motivate children in design and technology and physical education. They will not replace core teaching and learning in physical education and design and technology but should form an integral part of the overall school curriculum. Sound planning and curriculum development strategies should, we believe, allow the inclusion of such activities in the curriculum of the primary school.     

Books,Teachers, and Committees‐‐a Comparative Essay on Authority in Science Education

Summaries

English

In this essay, Professor Peter Fensham examines the respective roles of books, teachers and committees as source and authority of scientific information in the context of school science education. In his comparative analysis of recent curriculum development trends in the USA, England and Australia, he detects significant differences in what is accepted in the different countries as ‘authority about science knowledge’ and argues that these differences emerge from the different historical, political and economic development of the three apparently similar countries.