全球化与公民教育：挑战与回应

作为现代性构成要素的公民教育从一开始就与民族和民主的观念紧密联系在一起。具有这一特征的现代公民教育伴随全球化的进展遇到诸多深层次的挑战。迎接这一挑战构成了20世纪末以来公民教育在世界范围内得到复兴和加强的一个重要背景,而对这一挑战进行恰当的理论与实践回应也正是各国公民教育理论与实践界正在积极探索的课题。在今后相当长一段时间内,如何寻求全球认同与本土认同之间的平衡将是这一恰当回应的关键。     

生活最终是指向实用的

如果把“真理是有用的”这句话理解为：真理是能指导实践取得成功的认识,那么,我们完全可以说：能指导实践取得成功的认识就是真理,即“有用就是真理”。其实,生活中人们就是这样想、这样做的。邓小平理论是“管用的”马克思主义。他的“猫论”、摸着石头过河、三个是否有利于,把人们的注意力从注重动机的正误,转变到侧重于效果的优劣,为中国由计划经济向市场经济过渡作了理论上的铺垫。中外实用思想的发展历程说明：人们奋斗所争取的一切都同他们的利益有关,生活离不开实用。实用是东西方不同世界的共同追求。     

教育管理者的伦理品格述略

教育管理者应具有真实、真情、真诚的品格。真实是决策的基础。从实际生活的调查中引出原则,为了解决实际的问题才做决策,既是唯物主义的思想路线,也是处世理事的道德原则。真情是沟通的桥梁。管理者与被管理者的联系既可通过上传下达、贯彻执行、布置会报等工作方式去实行,也可通过生活关心、家访座谈、友情联谊等感情方式去实行。无论什么方式都以真情沟通才可启开心扉,从而使交流变成互动,使隔膜变成融洽。真诚是修养的要义。管理者也是道德的载体,心载道德方可实行伦理管理,以真诚的态度对待工作,对待同事,对待下属,才可在指挥、决策、运筹的各个方面得心应手,一呼百应。     

How common is the common good? Moving beyond idealistic notions of deliberative democracy in education

Assumptions based on deliberative democratic theory have dominated scholarship of democratic citizenship within political science and educational research. However, both fields have produced scholarship that raises questions regarding the efficacy of the deliberative model of democratic education. This article presents a critical synthesis that highlights the major trends of deliberative democratic theory from the field of political science, while making connections to education specific literature. The shift, away from idealistic notions toward a model of deliberative democracy that considers identity, group interests, and power differences within society, supports similar efforts to revisit democratic theory within civic education. The article concludes with recommendations for a revised, more realistic, conceptualization of civic education.     

It takes two to tango: studying how students constitute political subjects in discourses on sustainable development

A great deal of the ongoing discussion about environmental education and education for sustainable development has to do with democracy and deliberation. Here, for example, the normative approach has been challenged. As an alternative, there is sometimes a call for a curriculum and education that is characterized by democracy, participation, and pluralism. According to this call, it is still far from clear what it actually means to create education in terms of democracy. While the debate is lively, it is not always anchored in empirical research. In this study, three students in a classroom situation talk about resources and solidarity. Using analytical tools developed from a pragmatic base, the study tries to find a methodology to reveal how people create political subjects while engaged in such a discourse. This is associated with the discussion about democracy in education, and the consequences these findings may have in respect of how education on environment and sustainable development can be staged in terms of freedom and pluralism.     

杜威的真理观述评

杜威是美国实用主义的代表人物。他提出了“真理即工具”的真理观。认为真理是人们思想和行为的一种工具,真理的真在于其有效性和实用性。杜威的真理观与传统的真理观有所不同。传统的真理观强调的是静态的符合。而杜威的真理观强调的是动态的符合。     

Dutch adolescents’ narratives about democracy: ‘I know what democracy means,but not what it means to me’

In the last decade, educational scholars have studied various aspects of adolescents’ citizenship narratives. This paper reports on a qualitative study into the narratives about democracy of 27 adolescents from an urban area in the Netherlands. The aim of the study was to gain an insight into the type of democratic engagement that Dutch adolescents develop. Fourteen vocational and 13 pre-university students were selected. Each student was interviewed twice. Narrative thematic data analysis revealed that only five students had developed a strong conception of democracy. Our findings suggest that few students had spent time developing and challenging their narratives about democracy, and that few students have developed a greater sense of democratic engagement. Our paper concludes with several suggestions for furthering the study and practice of democratic citizenship education.     

Is it ‘all about having an opinion’? Challenging the Dominance of Rationality and Cognition in Democratic Education via Research in a Gallery Setting

This article reports on findings from a research study exploring the potential for democratic learning in a gallery education project which took place in the UK in 2006–7. In doing so, it also explores a pressing issue for education today: the question of young people's democratic education in a time of political crisis in Europe. The focus of the article lies in a critique of the primacy of rational thought, cognitive skills and verbal discussion within democratic education, and an exploration of the potential role of the arts and art education in challenging this. Specifically, the article argues that there has been an affective and corporeal deficit in democratic education, and that some forms of gallery education are well placed to address this. Although the data discussed derive from a particular time and place (the UK in the latter days of a government that rigorously pursued an agenda of social and economic inclusion through both education and cultural policy), they also have relevance beyond their immediate context, illuminating the nature and dynamics of the process of democratic learning, and its aesthetic and artistic dimensions.     

(Re)Positioning the Child in the Policy/Politics of Early Childhood

How a community constructs the notion of childhood and the child is fundamentally implicated in the practices and policies of that community. This article explores the positioning of the child in historical, contemporary and emerging trends in the provision and practices of Australian early childhood education and care. It argues that if left uncontested, emerging contemporary constructions have the potential to normalise policies, practices and pedagogies derived from a commercialised view of childhood. Drawing on the experiences and practices of early childhood pedagogues and policy actors both in Australia and overseas the authors posit an alternative construction of the child as citizen and the possibility of the early childhood field as a site for the practice of democracy.