Why do children not play in nearby nature? Results from a Norwegian survey

Based on a nationwide Norwegian survey among 3160 parents of children aged 6–12 years, this article identifies and discusses barriers for children’s engagement with nearby nature. A set of social factors related to time pressure are evaluated as more significant barriers than environmental factors such as accessibility, safety and landscape quality. Children’s free play in nearby nature does not seem to be an alternative to a target-orientated and time-scheduled everyday life. Instead, parents give themselves, other adults and public institutions more responsibility to stimulate increased nature contact. Despite strong traditions in outdoor life and good accessibility to nearby nature, social and cultural trends seem to influence children’s engagement with nature in the same way in ‘Green Norway’ as it does in many other European countries. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of policy and promotion according to nature management and adults’ roles.     

Pure ethnic gaps in educational attainment and school to work transitions: When do they arise?

This article decomposes the observed gaps in educational attainment and school-to-work transitions in Belgium between grandchildren of natives and of women of “non-Western” nationality into (i) differences in observed family endowments and (ii) a residual “pure ethnic gap”. It innovates by explicitly taking delays in educational attainment into account, by identifying the moments at which the pure ethnic gaps arise, by disentangling the decision to continue schooling at the end of a school year from the achievement within a particular grade, and by integrating the language spoken at home among observed family endowments. The pure ethnic gap in educational attainment is found to be small if delays are neglected, but substantial if not and for school-to-work transitions. It is shown that more than 20% of the pure ethnic gap in graduating from secondary school without delay originates in tenth grade. Language usage explains only part of the gap in school-to-work transitions for low educated.     

Who am I? Why am I here? and Where do I come from? Responding to philosophical picturebooks

ABSTRACT

This article gives a brief overview of reader response theory before sharing the views of some nine-year-old children working collaboratively as part of a community of readers. Prior to responding to some philosophical picturebooks the children talked about what they thought philosophy was, they then shared their thoughts on some of the very questions of existence to include: Who am I? Why am I here? Where did I come from? and Where will I go to? Their initial thoughts and responses were followed by detailed reading, thinking and responding to one specific picturebook, Die Schopfung (The Creation) by F.K. Waechter.     

How and what knowledge do universities and academics transfer to industry in African low-income countries? Evidence from the stage of university-industry linkages in Mozambique

Drawing from the Mozambican case, this paper addresses the stage of university-industry linkages (UILs) in Sub-Saharan Africa, from the perspective of universities. The paper examines the kind of knowledge universities transfer to industry, the knowledge channels used, the incentives and barriers faced, including influencing contextual conditions. The findings suggest that UILs in Mozambique weak and informal, and that academics engage with companies mainly through DUI-innovation model and exchange of embodied knowledge, particularly ideas in informal meetings, internship/employment for students, consultancies for academics, rather than through disembodied knowledge, such as patents and technology prototypes, embedded in R&D and STI-innovation model.     

Why do not more prisoners participate in adult education? An analysis of barriers to education in Norwegian prisons

International Review of Education - From a lifelong learning perspective, education during incarceration is crucial for prisoners’ rehabilitation. This article describes the authors’...     

Why do Chinese postgraduates struggle with critical thinking? Some clues from the higher education curriculum in China

There has been a good deal of research into the problems Chinese postgraduate students studying in English-speaking universities face with regard to critical thinking. This project is an attempt to tackle this issue from a new perspective. It aims to explore how a unique aspect of the university curriculum in China – the so-called ‘four treasures’ (four compulsory modules of political thought taken by all Chinese undergraduate students: ‘The Fundamentals of Marxism’; ‘Maoism and Chinese Characteristic Socialism’; ‘The Outline of Modern Chinese History’; and ‘Moral Thoughts, Legal and Civic Education’) – influence Chinese students in terms of their political and cultural values. It will trace the emergence of this programme and offer a content analysis of the curriculum. The study also uses focus groups to investigate how the Chinese postgraduate students regard their undergraduate courses in China. This article will argue that the higher education curriculum in China, which is heavily regulated by the state, has become one of the main obstacles preventing Chinese undergraduate students from developing independent and critical thinking, particularly in the arts, humanities and social sciences.     

What can policy makers do to encourage integration of information and communications technology? evidence from the irish school system

Abstract

While most countries have invested heavily in information and communications technology (ICT) in education in recent years, the progress with integration of ICT into the teaching of other subjects has often been disappointing. How to encourage integration remains a serious question for policy makers and teacher educators. This article proposes some answers to that question, based on examination of data from the Irish school system. It suggests that ICT integration is associated with two kinds of teacher professional development: postgraduate ICT courses, and short in-service courses focused on specific integrated uses of ICT. The data reveal a strong association between the use of ICT in the school and the ICT usage of the school principal. Finally, it calls into question the use of pilot projects as the agents of change.     

Does participatory action learning make a difference? Perspectives of effective learning tools and indicators from the conservation cropping group in north Queensland,Australia

Abstract

In Australia, the introduction of extension approaches based on adult learning, action learning and action research theory has resulted in a turn around in the way in which Research, Development and Extension (RD&E) agencies operate. These approaches are being used particularly in projects involving farmer groups to improve decision‐making skills of both fanners and extension agents and have become common agendas of funding bodies and agencies that support such projects. However, the questions remain concerning both funding bodies and extension agencies: ‘Does participatory action learning (PAL) make a difference? And is it more effective than traditional models of extension for improving the adoption of sustainable farming practices? This paper presents the results from evaluating the learning occurring within an on‐going conservation cropping farmer group using PAL. The results illustrate real‐world evidence to suggest that participatory action learning and other action research based approaches make a difference in improving the effectiveness of group learning compared to more traditional extension approaches. Qualities of and indicators for effective learning can be developed from empirical research as well as common concepts drawn from theories of learning. In addition, the use of qualitative evaluation methods (eg. convergent interviewing) and ‘soft’ systems approaches, are useful for traditionally perceived ‘difficult‐to‐measure’ advances in learning. The overall finding is that PAL was both feasible and rewarding.     

How do different cognitive and linguistic variables contribute to reading in Arabic? A cross-sectional study from first to sixth grade

The contribution of linguistic and cognitive variables to reading processes might vary depending on the particularities of the languages studied. This view is thought to be particularly true for Arabic which is a diglossic language and has particular orthographic and morpho-syntactic systems. This cross-sectional study examined the contribution of phonological, orthographic, morphological, semantic, syntactic, visual perception, rapid automatic naming and phonological working memory abilities to decoding and fluency (the two components of reading). The results, obtained from 1305 native Arabic-speaking children in first–sixth grade, were analyzed using path models. The analysis revealed that memory and orthographic knowledge contributed to both components of reading, while phonological awareness contributed mainly to decoding and rapid automatic naming contributed to fluency. The contribution of morphology to the two components, which appeared already in the first grade, was weak and inconsistent. Finally, the results showed that visual perception, semantics, and syntax predicted neither decoding nor fluency. The data presented here suggest that reading development in Arabic differs from other languages, a finding that might explain certain difficulties in reading acquisition in Arabic. The results are discussed in the light of previous findings in the literature and the specific features of Arabic.     

The competency-based approach to curriculum reform in five African countries: What can we learn from the 2008–2009 evaluation?

This is a critical reflection on the results of a study that the French International Center for Pedagogical Studies (CIEP) piloted in 2008–2009 in five sub-Saharan African countries which were implementing curriculum reforms adopting the “competency-based approach”. The article refers to a seminar on this process and the ideas expressed by various participants. Then, based on the cases, and focusing on issues that arose during the implementation, it considers more general questions about how to ensure that curricular reforms succeed.     

Why do we need to employ Bayesian statistics and how can we employ it in studies of moral education?: With practical guidelines to use JASP for educators and researchers

In this article, we discuss the benefits of Bayesian statistics and how to utilize them in studies of moral education. To demonstrate concrete examples of the applications of Bayesian statistics to studies of moral education, we reanalyzed two data sets previously collected: one small data set collected from a moral educational intervention experiment, and one big data set from a large-scale Defining Issues Test-2 survey (DIT). The results suggest that Bayesian analysis of data sets collected from moral educational studies can provide additional useful statistical information, particularly that associated with the strength of evidence supporting alternative hypotheses, which has not been provided by the classical frequentist approach focusing on P-values. Finally, we introduce several practical guidelines pertaining to how to utilize Bayesian statistics, including the utilization of newly developed free statistical software, Jeffrey’s Amazing Statistics Program (JASP), and thresholding based on Bayes Factors (BF), to scholars in the field of moral education.     

Why do All the Study Abroad Students Look Alike? Applying an Integrated Student Choice Model to Explore Differences in the Factors that Influence White and Minority Students’ Intent to Study Abroad

Despite substantial efforts across postsecondary education to increase minority participation in study abroad, the homogeneity of study abroad participants remains largely unchanged (Dessoff in Int Educ 15(2):20–27, 2006; Shih in , 2009). This study applies an adaptation of an integrated student choice model (Perna in Higher education: Handbook of theory and research, 2006; Salisbury et al. in Research in Higher Education 50:119–143, 2009) to identify differences between white and minority (African-American, Hispanic, and Asian-American) students across measures of human, financial, social, and cultural capital previously shown to influence aspirations to study abroad (Salisbury et al.). Analysis of data from 6,828 students at 53 institutions participating in the Wabash National Study on Liberal Arts Education suggests numerous differences between racial groups with considerable implications for institutions, scholars, and policymakers.