“A miniature League of Nations”: inquiry into the social origins of the International School, 1924–1930

Today, the International School of Geneva is known as the world’s oldest and largest private international school, having opened in 1924 under the name “International School”. Many schools have attempted to foster an international environment in a general sense; this school is the first to claim an inter-national identity with reference to a specific political ideology. In this article, I argue that neither student statistics, nor official discourse, nor the individual experience of consecrated School founders can account for this claim. After careful analysis of different forms of capital invested in the School, its founding no longer appears to be a simple response to a "need" or a "demand" but a complex process of social distinction.     

An entry into a creative,rhizomatic narrative inquiry into young people’s identity construction

Located in a larger study that attempted to challenge taken-for-granted or homogenizing assumptions about constructions of adolescent identity and to interrogate radically the process of qualitative research in this field [O’ Grady, G. (2012). “Constructing Identities with Young People using Creative Rhizomatic Narrative.” PhD Thesis. Queen’s University Belfast], the paper picks up the narrative of the research journey at a moment of meeting with Kim Etherington, Professor of Narrative Research at the University of Bristol. It opens with the conversation that ensued and my introduction to the figure of the rhizome [Deleuze, G., and F. Guattari. ([1987] 2004). A thousand plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Translated by B. Massumi. London: Continuum, 8) which, alongside other poststructuralist ideas, I subsequently used to conceptualize and frame the inquiry. In grappling with the questions posed in our conversation, I hope to make visible three interweaving themes in this paper: My difficulties initially in ‘inhabiting’ the philosophical positions I took up in this creative narrative inquiry; my growing commitment to a form of narrative inquiry that challenges inherited dominant understandings of subjectivity and research methodologies and finally, my encounters with ‘otherness’ in the construction of self/other as a thematic thread that interwove all the narratives of the young people in the larger study.     

What kind of citizenship for whom? The ‘refugee crisis’ and the European Union’s conceptions of citizenship

The European Union (EU) plays a dominant role in coordinating the responses to the massive inflow of refugee-migrants into Europe; consequently, the conceptions of citizenship and future integration which are embedded in its policies are significant. We explore and analyse the key EU education policy documents that refer to immigrants to identify the forms of citizenship attributed to various types of incomers by the EU. Our analysis demonstrates that the EU’s conception of refugee-migrants is more closely affiliated with the notion of ‘Global citizens’ rather than with that of ‘European citizens’. Furthermore, we suggest that the EU distinguishes and navigates between various migratory flows, namely internal-European, desired external-European and undesired external-European (refugee-migrants), each associated with a distinctive conception of citizenship as well as with related policy discourses. In the light of the migratory flows into Europe, the particularistic conceptions of citizenship shaping the EU’s educational policy carry considerable implications for the future integration of refugee-migrants in Europe.     

The ‘Civic-minded’ Professional? An exploration through Hannah Arendt’s ‘vita activa’

Recent reform initiatives calling for ‘civic’ (‘public-good’ or ‘democratic’) professionalism can be seen as a response to the widely reported decline in public trust in the professions and an attempt to partially remedy this problem through a more publically engaged professionalism. The author draws on the political philosophy of Hannah Arendt, identifying the strong, albeit in the professionalism literature rarely acknowledged, affinities between civic professionalism and her concept of action as (collective) freedom through public deliberation. Using the three modalities of the active life that Arendt discusses in The Human Condition (labour, work and action) as analytical tools, the author suggests that changing conditions in the public sector have led to professional life increasingly taking on the forms of labour and work, at the expense of action. The implications of these developments are highlighted before the author proceeds to show that a professional life oriented strongly towards action is consistent with ‘civic’ professionalism based on community engagement. Some of the main approaches traditionally taken to promote a civic orientation among university students are noted; the article concludes with a discussion of how the specific concepts underlying Arendtian action can be put to work in university pedagogies to intentionally promote the public ‘civic-minded professional’.     

Advancing opportunities for children’s informal STEM learning transfer through parent–child narrative reflection

This study examined whether families’ conversational reflections after a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)-related experience in a museum promoted learning transfer. 63 children (M = 6.93 years; 30 girls; 57% White, 17.5% Latinx, 8% Asian, 5% African American, 9.5% mixed, 3% missing race/ethnicity) and their parents received an engineering demonstration, engaged in a building activity, and either recorded a photo-narrative reflection about their building experience or not at the museum. Thirty-six of these families completed a building activity with different materials weeks later at home, and the majority (77%) evidenced learning transfer of the building principle demonstrated at the museum. Those who participated in the photo-narrative reflection at the museum also showed learning transfer by talking more about STEM during the home building activity.     

The Future of the Academy: Who’s Looking for Whom?

Individuals seeking academic employment opportunities often do so by exploring hiring announcements that are advertised online through Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, American Society of Criminology, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Because limited educational resources and budget constraints can impact hiring decisions that are made at institutions of higher learning over time, it is important for candidates to consider exactly what employers are looking for in prospective professionals and to see how they measure up to the demands brought on by academic job searches. Using quantitative content analyses of recent job postings on popular academic job search websites, this study explores recent trends in the hiring of criminology and criminal justice professionals, paying particular attention to exactly which positions are being sought after by colleges and universities and how the presence of online technology has changed hiring trends within our field.     

What role of education for youth? Discourse within the European Union’s Structured Dialogue

Abstract

Within the EU, answers and responses to detected issues and problems facing young people are regularly searched for within and through education and learning. The EU’s Structured Dialogue on youth is one of the consultation-based policy processes where education is often suggested as a solution and a highly relevant field of action helping to improve youth’s status and life. Using Foucauldian discourse analysis, this paper examines discourse about education present in selected policy texts and statements of various stakeholders and individuals active within the EU’s Structured Dialogue on youth. As an example, the first two phases of the fifth cycle of that dialogue are considered and examined, exploring perceptions of the dialogue and education and their role. The paper aims to explore the underlying political rationalities of education via which the field is governed and programmable realities created, while young people’s specific role and conduct is suggested and framed.     

Different battlegrounds,similar concerns? The ‘history wars’ and the teaching of history in Australia and England

Debates about the purpose and content of history education in schools have been prevalent in most Westernised democratic nations over the last 30 years. Under discussion are essential questions concerning national identity/ies, competing narratives and the aims of history education. The impact of ‘history wars’ has been felt within both Australia and England, as conservative commentators – including politicians and historians – have raised concerns about the depth and effectiveness of history education and have sought to make significant changes to the history curriculum for schools. This analysis examines the history wars in Australia and England, exploring the view that history education has been in danger and/or crisis and examining the curricular implications of a move toward greater recognition of national narratives. It raises some essential tensions that remain regarding two aspects of history teaching in both nations: (1) historiography and (2) chronological understanding.     

The impact of significant others’ actual appraisals on children’s self-perceptions: What about Cooley’s assumption for children?

The aim of this paper was to study the construction of children’s self-perception relying on Cooley’s hypothesis. More precisely, we were interested in the mediation effect of significant others’ actual appraisal on self-perception by the perception of others’ actual appraisal (i.e., reflected appraisal). First, we argued that this mediation effect would occur in the domains where children have feedback from significant others (here teacher or parents). Second, we took into account two measures of reflected appraisal: reflected appraisal assessed in a classic fashion and appraisal social support assessed with Harter’s scale (1985b). We argued that reflected appraisal assessed in a classic fashion would be a better mediator of the effect of actual appraisal on self-perception by reflected appraisal in comparison to appraisal social support. In order to test these hypotheses, we conducted a study with 126 children (age 8–9), 106 parents and six teachers. The results, taken as a whole, support these hypotheses.     

It’s Not the Book,It’s Not the Author,It’s the Award: The Lambda Literary Award and the Case for Strategic Essentialism

On September 16, 2009, the Lambda Literary Foundation (LLF) released a statement revising their eligibility guidelines for the Lambda Literary Award, the most prestigious citation offered for LGBT books and authors. This criteria, which demands that an author must self-identify as a member of the LGBT family of writers, has been met with considerable disapproval within the field of children’s and young adult literature, with critics decrying the decision as unfair and essentialist. By arguing for the deployment of strategic essentialism as a discourse of resistance and by working to complicate discussions of essentialism within the field of children’s and young adult literature, the author of this article confronts the condemnation levied at the Lambda Literary Foundation and makes the case for the necessity of establishing the “Lammys” as an “insider-only” citation.     

The characteristics of China’s compulsory education funding policy change, 1986–2006

China’s Compulsory Education Law, determining the development of compulsory education, was first promulgated in 1986 and then amended in 2006. It has been a symbolic milestone in the history of Chinese education. During two decades, there have been totally 8 influential reforms in compulsory education funding policy. From the viewpoint of practical analysis and value analysis about policy changes, China’ s compulsory education funding policy is still in a state of dramatic changes and mixed changes, which shows some disadvantages. __________ Translated from Jiaoyu Lilun Yu Shijian 教育理论与实践 (Theory and Practice of Education), 2006, 27(3): 37–40     

Race,culture, and pluralism: The evolution of Dewey’s vision for a democratic curriculum

This is the second of four essays discussing John Dewey's short essay, ‘Education as engineering’. Dewey's views are remarkably timely against the background of recent discussions about the role of evidence in educational practice and a call for research that tells us ‘what works’. Dewey's view is nuanced and helps one to see what one should and should not expect from an engineering approach to education. However, Dewey pays little attention to the role of normative judgement in engineering and does not address the question of whether engineering in education might be fundamentally different from engineering in other domains. This paper provides some suggestions for how one may want to articulate this difference and argues that it is important to bear in mind that there are differences between the building of bridges and the ‘building’ of human beings.