Multicultural Visions of Globalization: Constructing Educational Perspectives From the East and the West

The thesis of this essay is that globalization is a phenomenon that humankind must be educated for understanding as a process of global evolution. The new world evolving is being defined as requiring a new sense of collective cooperation amongst the peoples of the Earth, if we are to continue to exist on the planet. Educators are in the midst of and have an important role to play in this social and conscious evolution. One of our challenges is to explore the theoretical foundations for framing a new global education agenda. The assertion is that the theories of global, social, and conscious evolution of 20^th century intellectuals and visionaries such as India’s Sri Ghose Aurobindo (1872-1950) and France’s Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) provide the foundation from which to construct a new global educational perspective.     

A philosophical analysis of David Orr��s theory of ecological literacy: biophilia, ecojustice and moral education in school learning communities

In his writings, David Orr claims that the US is in an “ecological crisis” and that this stems from a crisis of education. He outlines a theory of ecological literacy, a mode by which we better learn the ecology of the Earth and live in a sustainable manner. While emphasizing a shock doctrine, the diagnosis of “crisis” may be correct, but it is short-lived for children and adults of the world. In this philosophical analysis of Orr’s theory, it is argued that we move beyond the perspective of crisis. By extending Orr’s ecological literacy with biophilia and ecojustice and by recognizing the importance of experience-in-learning, science education is envisioned to incorporate values and morals within a longer term ideology of educational reform.     

Unpacking the CRT in Negotiating White Science

In this forum, we summarize CRT’s origins, tenets common to most CRT writings, and CRT’s evolution. We discuss Yerrick’s article Negotiating White Science with respect to certain CRT premises. Specifically, we use the CRT tenet of racism as emphasized in first- and second-generation CRT and CRT elements liberal racial ideology and voices of color to critically examine Yerrick’s propositions.     

An Easy and Well-Ordered Way to Learn: Schooling at Home in Louisa May Alcott’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">Eight Cousins</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Jack and Jill</Emphasis>

Louisa May Alcott’s juvenile fiction is often focused on aspects of children’s lives that were also topics of reform in nineteenth century America. In Jack and Jill and Eight Cousins, Alcott presents an idealized picture of child-centered learning, building on three central principals: (1) Good teachers are sympathetic and understanding of children; (2) Every child needs to be healthy in order to learn; and (3) Children should be allowed to explore their world through self-directed, active learning. The ideal educational environment that she describes has much in common with the theories of John Dewey that would emerge some years later; using Dewey’s writings can give further insight into Alcott’s fiction. In this article, I argue that Alcott sees the world from the perspective of her young characters, and describes it in a way that simultaneously connects to her young readers and gives adults insight into the child’s world.     

Understanding Imaginative Thinking During Childhood: Sociocultural Conceptions of Creativity and Imaginative Thought

Understanding imagination as both a cognitive and affective endeavor is crucial in order for educators to promote creative and imaginative thinking in informal and formal learning environments. It is the primary aim of this paper to develop the theoretical discussion of Vygotsky’s writings on young children’s imaginative abilities launched by Gajdamaschko (Teach Educ 16(1):13–22, 2005) and Lindqvist (Res J 15(2&3):245–251, 2003). This paper illustrates Vygotsky’s writings on the cognitive processes involved in children’s imagination and creativity and concludes with a discussion focused on the components of an educational environment that can either support or stifle children’s imaginative abilities. It is through this continuing discussion that, as researchers, we hope to extend and challenge current conceptions of the role of imaginative thinking in early education.     

Cooperation Through Movement Education and Children’s Literature

This article demonstrates evidence-based practice that integrates movement education with children’s literature, in order to promote cooperation among Bengali kindergarteners, from an urban public school in Midwestern USA. First, the authors argue the need for this integration based on limitations of previous scholarship. Second, authors present their developmentally and culturally appropriate conceptual framework based on Bhavnagri and Samuel’s research, along with the theory of cooperation and schema development. Third, children’s understanding of cooperation concepts (helping, turn taking, sharing, dividing labor, negotiating, coordinating, exchanging information, and perspective taking) embedded in literature are analyzed. Concomitantly, children demonstrated same cooperation sub-skills during four movement activities related to the stories. Fourth, authors reflect that cooperation was successful because activities met Johnson and Johnson’s guidelines of high social interactions, high emotional involvement, and effective communication. Finally, the authors recommend that integration of cooperation and movement education is beneficial for educational programs in diverse settings.     

Technologies of disciplinary power in action: The norm of the ‘Good student’

We have completed a piece of research into the process of production of speech on the part of students as regards their idea of ‘the good student’, taking social postmodern theories as a conceptual reference and within the university context. The study tries to show how disciplinary technologies are a major influence in the make-up of particular types of students. It is an exploration of the discourses used by students reflecting their vision of university, teaching and learning. The aim is to understand their reasoning by means of the view they have of academic activity and life. Starting from Michael Foucault’s thoughts on power relations in the context of educational practices we present a plan of discourse analysis based on accounts made by the students themselves.     

Market Movements and the Dispossessed: Race,Identity, and Subaltern Agency among Black Women Voucher Advocates

Critical educational researchers in the United States and elsewhere are missing something essential in their inattention to considerable support among Black urban women for market-based educational reforms, including vouchers. While the educational left has engaged in important empirical and theoretical work demonstrating the particularly negative impact of educational marketization on the disenfranchised, not enough attention has been paid to the crucial role the educationally dispossessed have actually played in building these otherwise conservative reforms. Engaging with Michael Apple’s arguments concerning processes of identity formation within conservative movement-making, we can begin to conceptualize the importance of subaltern groups in market-based educational reforms. Yet ethnographic work conducted with Black voucher mothers, school officials, and community leaders in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, shows that this subaltern process of conservative formation does not always occur in the manner theorized by Apple and his colleague Anita Oliver, in which ideologically relatively unformed parents and families are “pushed” to the Right by an intransigent state. Although the conceptual tools they provide are the foundation of our ability to imagine a more compelling theorization of dynamics and social actors in Milwaukee, significant conceptual—not to mention empirical—work remains to be done. In this essay I renovate Apple and Oliver’s arguments concerning conservative modernization in order to make them more resonant with the processes of race, gender, subaltern identity formation and agency evident in my ethnographic field research with low-income African-American women choosing vouchers for their families in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Aided by critical, feminist, and post-structural theorists both within and outside educational disciplines I assess the utility and limitations of Apple and Oliver’s framework in explaining the mobilization around ‘parental choice’ and vouchers in Milwaukee. Based on my conceptual and empirical findings, I retheorize pro-voucher African-American politicians, community leaders, and poor and working class women (and their families) as representative of a subaltern ‘third force’ in conservative formation. Their tactical investments in fleeting conservative alliances and subject positions, I argue, are likely to play an increasingly significant role in educational and social reform both in the United States and elsewhere. Thomas C. Pedroni is an assistant professor of secondary social studies methods, educational foundations, curriculum theory, and qualitative research methodology at Utah State University. His recent research has centered on issues of identity formation and subaltern agency among urban low-income predominantly African-American and Latino parents within otherwise largely conservative coalitions for publicly financed private school vouchers. His research interests also include the development of composite critical and post-structural approaches in educational theory and research, the identification of persistent exclusionary power/knowledge regimes in state-level educational reforms, and the analysis of the increasing colonization of the global educational sphere by neo-liberal and managerial forms.     

Emerging beliefs frustrate ecological literacy and meaning-making for students

In their treatise, Mitchell and Mueller extend David Orr’s notions of ecological literacy (2005) to include biophilia (Wilson 1984) and ecojustice (Mueller 2009). In his writings, David Orr claims that the US is in an “ecological crisis” and that this stems from a crisis of education. The authors outline Orr’s theory of ecological literacy as a lens to understand Earth’s ecology in view of long-term survival. In their philosophical analysis of Orr’s theory, Mitchell and Mueller argue that we move beyond the “shock doctrine” perspective of environmental crisis. By extending Orr’s concept of ecological literacy to include biophilia and ecojustice, and by recognizing the importance of experience-in-learning, the authors envision science education as a means to incorporate values and morals within a sustainable ideology of educational reform. Through this forum, I reflect on the doxastic logic and certain moral and social epistemological concepts that may subsequently impact student understanding of ecojustice, biophilia, and moral education. In addition, I assert the need to examine myriad complexities of assisting learners to become ecologically literate at the conceptual and procedural level (Bybee in Achieving scientific literacy: from purposes to practices, Heinemann Educational Books, Portsmouth, 1997), including what Kegan (In over our heads: the mental demands of modern life, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1994) refers to as “Third Order” and “Fourth Order” thinking: notions of meaning-construction or meaning-organizational capacity to understand good stewardship of the Earth’s environment. Learners who are still in the process of developing reflective and metacognitive skills “cannot have internal conversation about what is actual versus what is possible, because no ‘self’ is yet organized that can put these two categories together” (p. 34). Mitchell and Mueller indicate that middle school learners should undergo a transformation in order to reflect critically about the environment with a view toward determining critical truths about the world. However, if this audience lacks “selective, interpretive, executive, construing capacities” (Kegan in In over our heads: The mental demands of modern life, 1994, p. 29), assimilating the notions of ecojustice and biophia may be problematic.     

Nurturing Relationships And Honouring Responsibilities: A Pacific Perspective

This essay contributes a Pacific Islands perspective to the global discussion of “Living Together: Education and Intercultural Dialogue”. Through poetry and prose, this essay traces the impact of the Tongan concept of vaa (values/valued relationships) on learning and language. By invoking UNESCO’s mandate to build peace through education, the concept of vaa is shown to be a key to promoting peace. The challenges and prospects of nurturing peace through international cooperation in education are discussed with examples drawn from the Pacific. Specifically, Tonga’s social and linguistic histories provide avenues for interpreting Pacific educational ideals in relation to Western concepts of knowing and learning. Reflection on cultural literacy in the Pacific context raises deeper questions about the role of educators when working interculturally. Lessons to be learned include the oft-quoted maxim that educators must first learn about their own culture before learning about others’, and before imposing their own pedagogies and curricula on others’ education systems.     

Metacognition and Self-Regulation in James,Piaget, and Vygotsky

This article investigates the intertwined constructs of metacognition and self-regulation as they emerge in the works and theories of James, Piaget, and Vygotsky. To coordinate this exploration, we use an interpretive framework based on the relation of subject and object. In this framework, James’s perspective on metacognition and self-regulation is aligned with the Self, Piaget’s with the other and object, and Vygotsky’s with the medium or agency of language. We explore how metacognition and self-regulation function within the realm of human behavior and development as described in the works of each of these theorists. Key questions or issues that emerge for current research are outlined, and the limitations and benefits of each theorist’s perspective vis-à-vis metacognition and self-regulation are discussed.     

Professional Responsibility – An Issue for Higher Education?

The aim of this article is to shed light on some aspects of professional responsibility by investigating students’ visions of future work and notions of professional responsibility. The data is based on interviews with samples of freshmen in three educational programmes at the University of Oslo in Norway. The data has been analysed in relation to two thesis claimed by Steven Brint: “The rise of a utilitarian ethos” in higher education and the movement from “social trustee professionalism” to “expert professionalism”. The findings show that the students in our sample do not think of higher education primarily as a means to get credentials that will be useful in the labour marked. An intellectual interest in the discipline is the most prevalent reason for the students’ educational choices. Furthermore our findings support an orientation towards “expert professionalism” rather than “social trustee professionalism”. But, embedded in the perspective of an expert there is an emphasis on ethical knowledge, moral and/or societal responsibility and the wish to do good for others. However, the students’ sense of responsibility seems to be restricted to certain “localism” of their specific occupation. Based on the findings we argue that the students reveal a moral awareness that should be taken seriously by the educational institution in order to foster critical rationality and professional commitments.     

School–Parent Partnerships in Singapore

In an era of rapid global economic and social change, educational institutions like schools and universities are struggling to keep their curricula and programs relevant. Singapore’s schools are no exception, especially when education is viewed as the essential element for maintaining the nation’s global competitiveness in ways that are totally disproportionate to its size. The current shift from an ‘efficiency-’ to an ‘ability-’ driven paradigm in education, however, is increasing uncertainty and raising the stakes in an already pressurized system where schools, educators and students constantly compete for top academic awards and rewards. The concept of “partnership” in Singapore education is a significant, relatively new, trend that has caught on among local schools only since the late-1990s, with the focus on creating better “total” learning environments for students. This paper analyses the challenges of matching rhetoric with professional practice with regard to school–home partnerships in Singapore, and concludes that the key to authentic collaboration lies in the mutual appreciation and valuing of diversity as well as a deep sense of shared responsibility by all parties concerned.     

Cultural Diversity as Resistance to Neoliberal Globalization: The Emergence of a Global Movement and Convention

While there have been numerous discussions of the impact on educational services made by trade liberalization through the World Trade Organization (WTO), this study looks at the emergence of global resistance to the commodification of culture through the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) within the WTO. In line with the Council of Europe Declaration on Cultural Diversity in 2000 and the UNESCO Declaration on Cultural Diversity in 2001, a global movement has been fighting for a legally binding global convention on cultural diversity under the auspices of UNESCO. The author examines how ‘cultural diversity’ is defined by various groups and nations. She also discusses the potential implications of such a global convention on cultural diversity for ‘cognitive justice’, that is, for affirming the validity of diverse knowledge systems over against the dominance of neoliberal ideology. Finally, she argues that the leading definition of cultural diversity, contrary to its stated intention, actually serves to re-assert the cultural hegemony of the North rather than benefit subjugated knowledges of the South.

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Zusammenfassung KULTURELLE VERSCHIEDENHEIT ALS WIDERSTAND GEGEN DIE NEOLIBERALE GLOBALISIERUNG: DIE ENTSTEHUNG EINER GLOBALEN BEWEGUNG UND üBEREINKUNFT – W?hrend es zahlreiche Diskussionen über die Wirkung der Dienstleistungen im Bildungsbereich gegeben hat, welche durch die Liberalisierung des Handels seitens der Welthandelsorganisation (WTO) erzielt worden sind, wirft diese Untersuchung einen Blick auf die Herausbildung eines weltweiten Widerstandes gegen die Instrumentalisierung der Kultur durch das General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) innerhalb der WTO. In einer Linie mit der Erkl?rung über kulturelle Vielfalt des Europarates im Jahre 2000 und der Allgemeinen Erkl?rung zur kulturellen Vielfalt der UNESCO im Jahre 2001 k?mpft seitdem eine weltweite Bewegung für eine gesetzlich bindende weltweite übereinkunft zur kulturellen Vielfalt unter der Aufsicht der UNESCO. Die Autorin untersucht, wie ,kulturelle Vielfalt‘ von verschiedenen Gruppen und Nationen definiert wird. Sie diskutiert auch die m?glichen Implikationen einer solchen weltweiten übereinkunft über kulturelle Vielfalt für ,kognitive Gerechtigkeit‘, d. h. dafür, die Gültigkeit unterschiedlicher Wissenssysteme gegen die Vorherrschaft der neoliberalen Ideologie zu best?tigen. Zum Schluss stellt sie dar, dass die g?ngige Definition der kulturellen Vielfalt im Gegensatz zu ihrer eigentlichen Absicht tats?chlich eher dazu dient, die kulturelle Hegemonie des Nordens erneut zur Geltung zu bringen, anstatt das unterdrückte Wissen des Südens zu begünstigen.

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Resumen LA DIVERSIDAD CULTURAL COMO RESISTENCIA FRENTE A LA GLOBALIZACIóN NEOLIBERAL: EL SURGIMIENTO DE UN MOVIMIENTO Y CONVENCIóN GLOBAL – Mientras ya se han realizado numerosos debates sobre el impacto que la liberalización del comercio a través de la Organización Mundial del Comercio (OMC) tiene sobre los servicios de educación, este estudio enfoca el surgimiento de una resistencia global contra la mercantilización de la cultura a través del Acuerdo General sobre el Comercio de Servicios (GATS) dentro de la OMC. De conformidad con la Declaración sobre Diversidad Cultural del Consejo de Europa de 2000 y la Declaración universal de la UNESCO sobre la diversidad cultural de 2001, un movimiento global ha estado luchando por una convención global y vinculante sobre la diversidad cultural, bajo los auspicios de la UNESCO. La autora analiza cómo diferentes grupos y naciones definen la ‘diversidad cultural’. También describe los posibles efectos que una tal convención global sobre diversidad cultural podría tener sobre una ‘justicia congitiva’, al afirmar la validez de diferentes sistemas de conocimiento por encima de la dominación de una ideología neoliberal. Al finalizar, la autora argumenta que, contrariamente a su intención declarada, la definición más difundida de diversidad cultural en realidad se presta más a una reafirmación de la hegemonía del Norte que al beneficio de los conocimientos subyugados del Sur.

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Résumé LA DIVERSITé CULTURELLE COMME RéSISTANCE à LA GLOBALISATION NEO-LIBéRALE : L’éMERGENCE D’UN MOUVEMENT ET D’UN ACCORD GLOBAL – Alors qu’il y a eu de nombreuses discussions sur l’impact des services éducatifs réalisés par la libéralisation du commerce par l’Organisation Mondiale du Commerce (OMC), cette étude se tourne vers l’émergence de la résistance globale à l’uniformisation de la culture à travers l’Accord Général sur le commerce et les services (AGCS) au sein de l’OMC. En accord avec la Déclaration du Conseil de l’Europe sur la Diversité Culturelle en 2000 et la Déclaration de l’UNESCO sur la Diversité Culturelle en 2001, un mouvement global a combattu pour un accord global légalement obligatoire sur la diversité culturelle sous les auspices de l’UNESCO. L’auteur examine comment la ‘diversité culturelle’ est définie par des groupes et des nations variés. Elle discute également des implications potentielles d’un tel accord global sur la diversité culturelle pour la ‘justice cognitive’, c’est-à-dire pour l’affirmation plus forte de la validité des divers systèmes de connaissance face à la domination de l’idéo- logie néo-libérale. Enfin, elle soutient que la définition phare de la diversité culturelle, contrairement à son intention affirmée, sert en réalité à réaffirmer l’hégémonie culturelle du Nord, plut?t qu’elle ne bénéficie aux savoirs subordonnés du Sud.

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The author: Jennifer Chan-Tibergien is Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Studies, Faculty of Education, as well as a Faculty Associate in the Center for Research in Women’s Studies and Gender Relations and in the Centre for Japanese Research at the University of British Columbia, Canada. She is currently a Visiting Scholar in the Reischauer Institute for Japanese Studies at Harvard University. Contact address: Reischauer Institute for Japanese Studies, Harvard University, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. E-mail: chan7@fas.harvard. edu; jentiber@interchange.ubc.ca.     

Feyerabend revisited: Epistemological anarchy and disciplined eclecticism in educational research

Discussion between the adherents of various orientations within educational research has often generated more heat than light. A pervasive analogy drawn in these discussions has been between the philosophy of science and educational research. In this paper I explore the value of several influential perspectives within twentieth century philosophy of science as means of understanding what researchers in education do, and why. I suggest that Paul Feyerabend’s ‘anything goes’ epistemological perspective has much to offer in supporting rich educational research. If positivist standards of validity and reliability are no longer considered appropriate for some forms of educational research, however, new standards for justification and representation, explicitly stated within the research, will be necessary.     

Educational Visions from Two Continents: What Tagore adds to the Deweyan perspective

In this global village, it is relevant to look at two educational visionaries from two continents, John Dewey and Rabindranath Tagore. Dewey observed that the modern individual was depersonalized by the industrial and commercial culture. He, thus, envisioned a new individual who would find fulfillment in maximum individuality within maximum community, which was embodied in his democratic concept and educational philosophy. Tagore's educational vision was based on India's traditional philosophy of harmony and fullness. It focused on self‐realization within the context of international education. This article compares the educational visions of Dewey and Tagore and demonstrates that Tagore's international educational perspective adds to Dewey's concepts of social individual and democracy and that their perspectives have implications for contemporary education.     

Planning films that teach

Conclusion The viewing of an educational film anf the recall of this viewing should constitute a satisfying learning experience so that the film’s message will be incorporated into a useful store of vicarious experience and remembered facts. Such learning is most likely to occur when those who write, direct, and edit a film have a clear understanding of the nature of the film’s audience and of what the film is expected to do to this audience. Knowing these things and to present his subject matter in the most interesting and satisfying manner possible. Here a long-time writer of educational films and television programs presents some thoughtful ideas on the design of instructional films for specific cudiences. Ralph R. White is a scenario writer with the Army Pictorial Center.     

Community and inquiry: journey of a science teacher

In this case study, we examine a teacher’s journey, including reflections on teaching science, everyday classroom interaction, and their intertwined relationship. The teacher’s reflections include an awareness of being “a White middle-class born and raised teacher teaching other peoples’ children.” This awareness was enacted in the science classroom and emerges through approaches to inquiry. Our interest in Ms. Cook’s journey grew out of discussions, including both informal and semi-structured interviews, in two research projects over a three-year period. Our interest was further piqued as we analyzed videotaped classroom interaction during science lessons and discovered connections between Ms. Cook’s reflections and classroom interaction. In this article, we illustrate ways that her journey emerges as a conscientization. This, at least in part, shapes classroom interaction, which then again shapes her conscientization in a recursive, dynamic relationship. We examine her reflections on her “hegemonic (cultural and socio–economic) practices” and consider how these reflections help her reconsider such practices through analysis of classroom interaction. Analyses lead us to considering the importance of inquiry within this classroom community.