Birth and a vision: lamaze childbirth education in kenya, East Africa

Lamaze Certified Childbirth Education was an unknown entity in Kenya, East Africa, just a few years ago. Today, programs are firmly established in two leading private hospitals in Nairobi and gaining credibility in the region's medical community. Prepared childbirth is finding its place in the lives of the rapidly urbanizing African society. Implementation of Lamaze techniques in antenatal programs serving women outside the private sector is taking place as Kenyan midwives work toward their certification as Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educators.     

Rhetoric as a way of knowing

Islam represents one of the world's major rhetorical patterns, claiming nearly half a billion adherents from northern Africa to Indonesia. And yet, Islamic rhetoric has received relatively little scholarly attention in the West. Language differences and historical animosities dating back to the Crusades help explain this deficiency. Typifying the Judeo‐Christian view of Islam, Dante placed the Prophet Mohammed among the lower circles of Hell, with other “sowers of scandal and of schism.” Even as late as 1893, a Christian leader stood before an international conference of the world's religions and described the Middle East as “a desert of Mohammedan superstition and bigotry.”     

The lived experience of knowing in childbirth

Research on knowing in childbirth has largely been a quantitative process. The purpose of this study was to understand the ways first-time mothers learn about birth. A phenomenological approach, using a feminist view, was used to analyze two in-depth interviews and journals to understand nine first-time expectant mothers' experiences of knowing in childbirth. The findings demonstrated a range of knowledge that contributed to issues of control and conflict. The participants also described an increased dependency on their mothers and a lack of their own intuition contiguous to the birth process. These findings contribute understanding to how expectant mothers know birth, suggesting that their knowing does not diminish conflict surrounding the event and may even exacerbate it when not combined with learning skills to manage conflict. Childbirth educators may want to include instruction on negotiating power differential in relationships encountered during childbirth in order to strengthen a first-time mother's ability to receive the care she wants. Educators may also want to assess the expectant mother's view of birth and her expectations for birth. Schools of nursing should consider the inclusion of women-centered care curricula at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The mothers' responses in this study clearly reveal that the politics surrounding birthing remain in place and must be removed in order to provide a supportive environment for normal birth.     

Ways of constructing classroom meaning: two stories about knowing and seeing

The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity. (One is unable to notice something‐because it is always before one's eyes.). . .And this means: we fail to be struck by what, once seen, is most striking and most powerful. (Wittgenstein 1951/1979)     

移动教育:教育发展的新方向

对移动教育的研究起于20世纪末,现在移动教育已经成为远程教育与数字化学习领域的一个研究热点.文章介绍了移动教育的定义、特点,解析了移动教育系统的基本构架,分析了当前移动教育的两种方式,最后讨论了在当前情况下实施移动教育存在的问题.     

Aboriginal identity in education settings: privileging our stories as a way of deconstructing the past and re-imagining the future

From Aboriginal Australian perspectives and experiences, Aunty Judi Wickes and Marnee Shay bring a cross-generational, critical race analysis of Aboriginal identities and how they are implicated in the schooling experiences of Aboriginal young people. Using autoethnography, Aunty Judi and Marnee discuss their educational experiences in the Australian education systems from primary schooling experiences to university settings. These narratives bring forth the dominant discourses that continue to subjugate and subordinate Aboriginal Australians and Aboriginal Australian identities in Education settings. The paper distinguishes the narratives of two Aboriginal women and how on-going colonial and racialised constructions of Aboriginal identity continue to impact upon the educational experiences of Aboriginal peoples and consequently the engagement of Aboriginal young people in school settings. Moreover, we will use the process of critical self-reflection to re-imagine educational approaches to reconstruct our own experiences and consider what changes might improve the outcomes of Indigenous young people for future generations.     

Confidentiality in childbirth education

Protecting the confidentiality of the personal information that childbirth educators receive from their clients is crucial. Without this respect for privacy, educators will not be able to get the information essential to meeting their objectives. Childbirth educators who work in schools may come under federal law that protects individual student records (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA). Childbirth educators who are employed in a health-care facility may come under federal law that protects individual health information (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA). All childbirth educators must be thoughtful advocates of the rights to privacy and self-determination of expectant parents.     

Localised politics in language education: untold stories

This study explores the political impact on English-language education in the historical context of Vietnam in the 1980–1990 period. Based on data collected from three participants’ narratives concerning their experience of learning English, the study indicates that English-language education, at that time, embraced a wide range of political dimensions specific to the geopolitics of Vietnam. The political factors include learners’ family background, mainstream concepts in the local community, materials for teaching and learning, ideologies of language teaching, historical events and socio-political discourses. These factors constituted three layers of politics embedded in English-language education in Vietnam. The findings of the study provide new insights into the themes pertaining to politics in English-language education, which are often associated with the spread of English as a global language. From an educational history perspective, the study makes a contribution to understanding and developing second-language education in relation to local geopolitics.     

灌输:必不可少的道德教育方法

学校道德教育中之所以出现不少弊端 ,并不是灌输方法本身的问题 ,而是由于指导思想及方法论上的错误或是对灌输理解的简单化、狭义化和使用上的绝对化、片面化的结果。应着重分析灌输式道德教育方法的内涵、特点 ,并依据其实施的必要性 ,提出具体的实施策略。     

Traveling with MI education in a turbulent sea: stories of South Korea

The purpose of this paper is to explore ways in which multiple intelligences (MI) theory has been disseminated in search of its meaning, effectiveness and possibilities over the last decade in Korea. There have been a great number of Korean practitioners who have properly applied an ideal of MI theory in their local context. Western readers will be informed of how actively these educators participate in the grass‐roots reform process. A traditional or teacher‐based image of Oriental education culture may have to be redefined, at least in the current Korean educational context. In doing so, the authors reviewed related literature and research articles written by Korean scholars and practitioners as well as conducting in‐depth and focus‐group interviews nationwide to represent voices of Korean MI educators at school level. There has been substantive evidence that most students guided by MI instruction demonstrated better achievement in several subject areas; students typically labeled low achievers in traditional classrooms became better self‐regulated learners, showing higher self‐esteem. Finally, the Korean research community experienced the emergence of a new collaborative research culture in which MI educators are fully acknowledged as curriculum designers and researchers able to gain insight into culturally appropriate classroom practices. The authors end this paper reflecting on a future hope that the Korean research community will continue, both critically and collaboratively, to examine MI theory to make it more applicable in establishing culturally relevant pedagogical insights.     

The problematic relationship between knowing how and knowing that in secondary art education

This article explores and attempts to rectify current conceptual confusion found in secondary art education in the UK between procedural knowledge or ‘knowing how’ and declarative knowledge or ‘knowing that’. The paper argues that current practice confuses procedural knowledge with declarative knowledge. A corollary is that assessment evidence for ‘knowing how’, which is shown or demonstrated, is confused with assessment evidence for ‘knowing that’, which requires spoken or written forms of reporting. The confusion is replicated in the national examination, the General Certificate of Secondary Education, taken by students at the age of 16. The article traces this confusion to three dualisms: the Cartesian dualisms of mind and body, an individual mind and the distributed mind of culture, and the more recent mind‐in‐brain hemisphere dualism. The article advocates a Wittgensteinian embodied, socio‐cultural view of mind as a way of solving the current conceptual confusion that prevails in art education in the UK.     

Success stories: aspirational myth in the education of adults

Understanding the influences upon curriculum formation is an ongoing challenge for adult educators. This discussion describes one approach to curriculum analysis—the aspirational myth—based on the notion that instructors and learners co‐construct an idealized identity representing the end point of learning. The aspirational myth is described with reference to an empirical case study of a training programme, and implications for teaching and research discussed.     

Implementing coteaching in childbirth education classes

In response to the article "Innovative Service: Quality Perinatal Nursing Education Through Coteaching" [Journal of Perinatal Education, 8(4), 27-35], the author of this column conducts an interview with two Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educators who share their experiences as coteachers.     

Revisiting the classics in childbirth education

In celebration of Lamaze International's 50th anniversary, reviewers share their thoughts on some classic Lamaze resource materials and how their content relates to today's viewpoints on birth and childbirth education. Although some of the material may be outdated, all of the resources offer timeless insights as well as a unique view on the history of childbirth education. The following topics are addressed: past cultural views of birth; advocacy for change in birth practices; Lamaze method; pioneers in childbirth; importance of childbirth education; and birth advocacy.     

Contemporary dilemmas in american childbirth education: findings from a comparative ethnographic study

In this article, we examine key dilemmas childbirth educators experienced as they made crucial decisions about the content and format of their classes in the current U.S. maternity-care context. This ethnographic study demonstrates that childbirth education is a cultural phenomenon with deeply embedded values regarding the nature and importance of information, scientific evidence, and consumer choice. Articulating how culture shapes the presentation, content, and format of childbirth classes is an important step in understanding and increasing the relevance of this experience for birthing women.     

Spirituality in the academy: reclaiming from the margins and evoking a transformative way of knowing the world

In this paper, the author's first and foremost objective is to render the answer to the following question: Why is spirituality marginalized in the academy? The author searches for the answer to this question in the terrain of knowledge production and worldviews that permeate the Western academy. The author examines the landscape of the neo‐colonial academy and delineates the conditions that restrict the spaces for spirituality. The author's second objective is to explore possible answers to the following question: How would centering spirituality transform our ways of knowing? The author attempts to answer this question by providing some preliminary ideas on the question of epistemology, methodology and methods in a spiritually based inquiry. The author concludes that this journey is endless and this paper is just a stepping stone to the discussion revolving around the integration and centering of spirituality within the academy.     

Introducing emergency preparedness in childbirth education classes

In the wake of recent natural and man-made disasters and emergency situations, pregnant women are especially vulnerable. The authors of this column encourage childbirth educators to include disaster preparedness instruction and emergency childbirth techniques in their class content.     

综合课程:现代大学通识教育之路

通识教育的内涵已从前科技时代对古典人文修养和百科全书式学者的追求 ,转化为塑造科技发达时代的合格公民 ,从而使现代大学通识教育的实施途径发生了相应变化。新兴起的跨学科综合研究型课程模式在一定程度上避免了科学主义与人文主义两种文化的对立倾向 ,成为当今大学实施通识教育的有力途径。     

The work of women teachers in primary literacy education: knowing and doing

This paper provides a retrospective account of three decades of my work as a literacy educator and researcher. Taking key insights from feminist sociologist, Dorothy Smith, including women's standpoint, the everyday world as problematic, institutional capture, a sociology for the people, I revisit my research on literacy, poverty and schooling. I argue that understanding better the effects of what we do in educational institutions, through collaborative research with teachers, can lead us to generate positive alternative equity‐driven practices.