Reconstruction versus transformation: Post-war education and the struggle for gender equity in Sierra Leone

In post-war contexts, education is widely regarded as essential not only for civic reconciliation, but also as a key force for gender equity. In Sierra Leone, however, despite enhanced educational opportunities for girls, much of the emphasis on post-war educational reconstruction is unlikely to rectify gender inequities that remain entrenched within mainstream schooling and in the broader social context. Yet the capacity of education to contribute to gender-based change has not been entirely muted. Several women's associations are supporting girls’ education as integral to economic and political actions aimed at challenging the hegemony of patriarchy and gendered violence. What remains to be seen is whether these discrete efforts can foster a women's movement capable of altering the structures of patriarchal power in Sierra Leone.     

Never Again: The Impact of Learning About the Holocaust on Civic Outcomes

Abstract

Preparing students to be effective citizens is a longstanding goal of public education. Historical content provides illustrative opportunities for civic learning. Teaching about the Holocaust exemplifies this approach. Employing an experimental research design with 865 secondary school students, we analyze effects on civic outcomes from learning about the Holocaust through a school-sponsored trip to a Holocaust museum. We find that lessons about the Holocaust increase students’ support for civil liberties and deepen historical content knowledge, but decrease religious tolerance. High school students and those from college-educated households drive increases in support for civil liberties, and these students are more likely to donate to human rights causes as a result of the intervention. Middle school students and those from less-educated households drive the negative religious tolerance effect. These findings suggest that history lessons can produce meaningful impacts on civic educational outcomes. However, a stronger educational foundation that comes with engaging with challenging political issues may be a vital prerequisite to avoid undesirable consequences.     

Reframing success: participatory impacts of storytelling in a PAR collaborative with Latinx middle school students

ABSTRACT

This article examines the participatory impact of a storytelling project on a small group of Latinx English learners in a sixth grade classroom. The storytelling project unexpectedly emerged as a positive ripple effect from a Participatory Action Research (PAR) initiative to foster civic empowerment among middle school students in an English Language Development classroom in Northern California during the 2014–2015 academic year. As the university researcher and classroom teacher worked together on the PAR project, they came to understand the importance of storytelling for this group of students and agreed to create a safe classroom space with appropriate instructional support for the students to develop and write their stories in English. Although the PAR project failed to produce an Action Plan based on students’ research findings, the storytelling ripple effect from the PAR initiative had a transformative impact on the students as they constructed counter-stories to dominant discourses that marginalize and dehumanize Latinx immigrant students and their families. Through the process of writing and reading their stories aloud in English, the Latinx English learners successfully positioned themselves as resilient, hard-working students who are fully capable of participating in civic programs, projects, or debates with their native English-speaking peers.     

Beyond school inclusion: secondary school and preparing for labour market inclusion for young people with disabilities in Spain

Research analysing good practices in the area of labour market inclusion for people with disabilities shows that the role of the secondary school is fundamental in improving employment opportunities. The aim of this article is to analyse to what extent secondary education in Spain prepares young people with learning difficulties for later inclusion in society and the labour market. Results from studies into good practices in secondary education have established which educational characteristics to take into account for pupils' transition to working life and the need for the school to lead this process. We contrast these results with the current situation in Spain by comprehensively analysing how current secondary education is facing up to the challenges of labour market inclusion for young people with disabilities. Following this, we propose guidelines for the improvement of educational practices in secondary education so as to foster opportunities for labour market participation, from an inclusive viewpoint, for young people with learning disabilities.     

WTO与中国教育

我国加入WTO之后，机遇与困难同在，姚战与希望并存。本深刻阐述了我们必须以更加积极的态度，抓住加入WTO的机遇，利用教育国际化的有利时机，把我国教育改革与发展提高到一个新的更高的水平。只要我们抓住机遇，迎接挑战，积极采取有效的对策与措施，就能取得主动地位，推动我国教育事业的迅猛发展。     

Shaping the Education Policy Dialogue

In this article we draw upon case studies of interdistrict integration programs in Omaha, Nebraska, and the Tinsley program in the region south of San Francisco to examine how race and space intersect to influence implementation of these programs. We discuss the origins of these programs, the challenges in implementing them, and the ongoing political tensions that have surrounded them. Our case studies of the two metro areas involved interviews with stakeholders, as well as document and secondary data analysis, and geospatial mapping. Based on our analyses, we conclude that civic capacity must be mobilized so that broad, regional, cross-sector policies can be adopted in the pursuit of educational equity.     

对目前公民教育问题及公民精神人格构建的思考

公民教育是帮助人们了解公民属性与权利责任的教育。目前我国公民教育中存在的主要问题是,公民教育观念相当薄弱,公民教育的内容比较狭窄,公民教育的效能远不能令人满意。要有力改变公民教育与公民素质的落后,关键是要在重视公民教育的前提下,选择好公民教育的科学思路,在调整好公民教育内容的同时,结合国民教育的人格培养来一体性地构建好公民的精神人格,以健全的公民精神人格来产生健全的公民精神。公民精神人格的构建,包括培养公民的理性能力、公民的理想及价值观与道德准则、公民的情感意志、公民的知识视野等四个方面的主要教育价值要点。     

Teacher professional leadership in support of teacher professional development

Counteracting perceptions of teaching as a profession with a flat career trajectory may require professional leadership opportunities for experienced teachers that differ substantively from those typically available. This evaluation study investigated the results of a professional development initiative for subject specialist teachers seconded to a leadership role in their curriculum areas. Interview and survey data supported teacher growth in subject expertise and leadership capacity attributed to the opportunities provided by the new teacher-leadership role. The findings of this study indicate expanded leadership roles may further develop experienced professionals while simultaneously supporting teacher knowledge during a period of embedding educational reform.     

高校高等教育工作的若干思考

以人为本，搞好高校教师思想教育工作，就是以教师为本，尊重教师的人格尊严、教师的根本利益、教师的理想追求，促进教师全面发展，发挥教师积极作用，实现教师人生价值。为此，要促进高校教师思想教育观念的突破与更新、思想教育核心内容的把握与拓展、思想教育运作的完善与创新、思想教育目标的反思与明确、思想教育机制的改革与强化。     

Theatre and drama education and populism: The ensemble ‘family’ as a space for dialogic empathy and civic care

This article, understanding populism as an essentially undemocratic ideology, argues that the pro-social theatre education approach of ensemble pedagogy can offer a model of educational practice which counters these anti-democratic rhetorics by creating a shared space for the enactment of empathetic discourse. Via an ethnography of the UK Shakespeare Schools Foundation festival project, the notion of the theatre education ensemble ‘family’ as a model of civic caring is offered as an alternative, feminist ‘care perspective’ on civic and political rhetorics, in contrast to the patriarchal ‘justice perspectives’ which facilitate the reductive anti-democratic rhetorics of populism. Thus, this article concludes that ensemble approaches to theatre education, viewed through this feminist pedagogy lens, hold rich potential for developing learners’ capacity to resist populism and act in socially hopeful ways.     

Cross-Racial Interaction Among Undergraduates: Some Consequences, Causes, and Patterns

This study utilized a national longitudinal data set of college students to examine the educational relevance of cross-racial interaction and how campuses can best structure such opportunities. The general pattern of findings suggests that cross-racial interaction has positive effects on students' intellectual, social, and civic development. The results show that institutions could enhance such experiences by enrolling larger proportions of students of color and by offering students more opportunities to live and work part-time on campus. While these findings apply uniformly to white students, the frequency of cross-racial interaction does not always follow an expected path of steady gains for students of color as the student body becomes increasingly more diverse. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Reproducing vulnerability: a Bourdieuian analysis of readers who struggle in neoliberal times

The neoliberal agenda promotes education as a route toward success in university and career. However, a neoliberal economy requires large numbers of workers willing to accept low-paying, dead-end jobs. The students most likely to take these jobs are those who have struggled with literacy and so schools must, in Bourdieu’s terms, re/produce, vulnerable readers. This paper tracks the ways in which the neoliberal economy depends on these readers and how schools participate in this process of re/production: from educational policy, to instructional context, to reader identity. In contrast, from a radical democratic viewpoint, the primary goal of schooling is civic engagement and such engagement is bolstered by universal literacy. The paper concludes with alternatives in the realms of policy and classroom practice that are more likely to support teachers and students and foster radical democratic views.     

“For millions of people,this is real trauma”: A pedagogy of political trauma in the wake of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election

To explore how teachers navigated the days after the 2016 U.S. presidential election, we conducted a national, anonymous questionnaire. In this paper, we focus specifically on those participants who reported what we conceptualize as students' political trauma. Drawing on participants' responses, we outline a pedagogy to respond to this political trauma that includes: 1) attending to students' emotions; 2) emphasizing civic knowledge; and 3) developing students’ critical consciousness and activism. We argue that these three domains collectively create opportunities to work toward the democratic and emancipatory purposes of education in the wake of politically traumatic events.     

Inclusion and exclusion within a policy of national integration: refugee education in Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp

This article explores the impact of global policy shifts toward ‘national integration’ on schooling for refugee youth in Kenya. Based on interviews and classroom observations in Kakuma Refugee Camp, we theorize that integration manifests in a multidirectional, hierarchical manner as few refugees integrate “up” into government schools, while most integrate “down” into segregated camp schools. We examine how youth interpret and navigate these oppositional paths, imbued with assumptions about quality and status. We argue that global policy can foster structures for physical integration; however, social integration, integrally connected to protection and opportunity, depends on local strategies and practices, encompassing formal decisions about adapting policy, as well as embedded beliefs about the purposes of educating refugees and their long-term inclusion in host societies. This study responds to calls for deeper sociological attention to education and global migration, as states expand educational opportunities for refugee populations while negotiating educational rights amongst citizens.     

Employability pathways for young adults: lived experiences of learners and practitioners in Youth Guarantee programmes

ABSTRACT

Until today, thousands of young adults still dropout of school with no or low qualifications and experience difficulties in entering the labour market. The European Commission offers funding and opportunities for young adults to enter employability enhancing training, often organised under its flagship initiative ‘The Youth Guarantee’. The aim of these programmes is to make young adults a work, training or educational offer within four months of their start into this initiative.

In this paper, we critically explore the concept of employability and focus on the roles of both the young adults undergoing training interventions, but also of practitioners whose work is ideally embedded within the local context of the labour market and the economy. We were interested in the participation experiences by both groups to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of these programmes. Evidence from interviews demonstrated that learners and practitioners were generally satisfied with the interventions, although individualised support was preferred over group-based activities. Working with stakeholders was strongly recommended for this target group who tends to experience cumulative disadvantages. Long-term follow-up of participants’ destinations will provide better evidence on the effectiveness of these programmes.     

康茨坦茨方法及其启示

道德教育对于提高公民道德水平具有重要意义。康茨坦茨困境讨论方法是道德教育中的一种创新,它把案例教学的方法应用于道德教育中,实现了道德知识和道德能力的完美结合。本文对康茨坦茨困境讨论方法进行了全面的介绍,旨在为我们全面实施《公民道德建设实施纲要》、提高道德教育的实效性,提高道德能力以及为创新学校的道德教学方法和考核方法提供一定的参考。     

Should Anger Be Encouraged in the Classroom? Political Education,Closed‐Mindedness,and Civic Epiphany

In light of recent political developments in Western democracies, several political commentators and theorists have argued that encouraging anger in citizens may contribute to social justice and should therefore constitute an aim of civic education. In this article, Douglas Yacek investigates these claims in depth. In doing so, he expands on previous work on the political and educational significance of anger — particularly by critical and “agonistic” theorists of civic education — in two distinct ways. First, Yacek explores the psychological costs and benefits of cultivating student anger. Second, he examines the potential cultural effects of anger in Western democratic societies. While sympathetic to the defenses of anger that have been recently offered in political and educational theory, Yacek concludes that we should be cautious about embracing anger in civic education. In particular, he argues that anger involves serious psychological risk, may exacerbate the social problems that it sets out to solve, and can lead to a disposition of adversarial and politically counterproductive closed‐mindedness. In the closing sections, Yacek suggests that experiences he calls “civic epiphanies” are central to cultivating a politically beneficial form of open‐mindedness, and argues that such experiences should therefore be encouraged in civic education.     

Rethinking civic education in the age of biotechnology

In this paper, I first examine the three justifications most often provided for differentiating, discounting, or even disclaiming the present generation's moral responsibility to future generations. I then discuss ideological critiques of, and educational solutions to, the complicity of formal educational institutions in propagating these justifications. Finally, I inquire into the ethical postulates by which prefigurative democratic civic and citizenship education could facilitate civic engagement in deliberating about intergenerational relations. I argue that, by challenging such hegemonic cultural values as atomistic individualism, contractual social relations, the pursuit of progress, and the sharp division between ethics and epistemology, prefigurative civic education serves as the first step toward egalitarian intergenerational relations.     

Learning to (Dis)Engage? The Socialising Experiences of Young People Living in Areas of Socio-Economic Disadvantage

ABSTRACT

Young people are increasingly required to demonstrate civic engagement in their communities and help deliver the aspirations of localism and Big Society. Using an ecological systems approach this paper explores the experiences of different groups of young people living in areas of socio-economic disadvantage. Using volunteering as an example of civic engagement it is shown that barriers and motivators for young people stem from within the micro, meso, exo and macrosystems, and that these interact with each other, and with bio-psychological factors within individuals, to bring about differential opportunities and outcomes for young people. Through examining the experiences of three different groups of young people placed within socio-economically disadvantaged communities, considerable variation in levels of civic engagement are identified and it is suggested that some young people's lived experiences are resulting in decisions to civically disengage. It is argued that young people need to benefit from genuine opportunities to develop self-efficacy if they are to respond to the demands of Big Society aspirations for localised decision-making.     

MOOCs in teacher education: institutional and pedagogical change?

We study the implementation of a MOOC initiative which involved two distinct teacher education institutions at HEIs, and where the implementation was led by a governmental body. Our aim was to see in what ways this initiative changed the teacher education involved, in terms of institutional organisation and pedagogics. Based on interviews with stakeholders from the government and from the two HEIs, we found that the process of implementing and piloting the MOOC faced various sorts of resistance. Our study might serve as a contribution to researchers and practitioners involved in development and running MOOCs as cross institutional initiatives, in that it addresses the diversity of challenges new study models are facing within HEIs. It may also be of interest to teacher education departments responsible for continuing education programs, since it demonstrates the opportunities that comes with a MOOC to provide larger groups of in-service teachers with new educational possibilities.