Didactics and professional practice in preservice teacher education: A comparison of the situations in France and Québec

The authors analyze the role and function of didactics in preservice teacher education as presented in official texts from the ministries of education of Québec and France. They identify the conceptions these texts convey about the ties between didactics and professional education and demonstrate the vulnerable and limited position of didactics in teacher education. In concluding, adopting a comparative approach, they highlight several convergent features of the two systems of teacher education as well as marked differences relating to training in didactics.     

Deconfessionalising RE in Québec and Flanders: a comparative study

Inspired by the comparative method for RE as outlined by Bråten, this article elaborates on some similarities and differences between the present RE system in Flanders (Belgium) and the past RE system in Québec (Canada). After a brief outline of the societal level, the focus will be on the institutional level, where international, national and sub-national legislation will be examined. In addition, attention will be given to informal processes on the societal sub-national level, and especially to the debates with regard to the deconfessionalisation of RE in Flanders on one hand, and the debates on this issue in Québec on the other. This comparison will not only reveal important similarities, but also significant differences. Interestingly, it seems to be the case that especially these differences, and the particularities of the Flemish educational system, make the deconfessionalisation in Flanders even more complicated and difficult – but therefore not less urgent – than in Québec.     

The professional stance of ethics and religious culture teachers in Québec

In September 2008, a new Ethics and Religious Culture programme was implemented in Québec’s elementary and secondary schools. One of the main pedagogical challenges of this new course has been the requirement that teachers adopt a professional stance of impartiality. Teachers must refrain from sharing their points of view, so as not to influence students as they develop their own positions. This paper deals with the requirements related to this new professional stance, namely that teachers maintain a critical distance from their own convictions and values, respect the student’s freedom of conscience and religion to avoid any indoctrination, and play the role of a cultural mediator. This new requirement has not gone over without question. For instance, some educators believe that, in the name of authenticity, it is preferable for teachers to freely express their own beliefs, thus ensuring a transparent relationship with students. For others, as teachers are in position of authority in the classroom, it is very important that students feel free to develop their own personal viewpoint on ethical and religious questions without being unduly influenced. This article examines these different issues.     

The role of education in nineteenth‐century doctrines of political economy

Human Characteristics and School Learning. By B. S. Bloom. Pp. 284. New York. McGraw‐Hill, 1976. £8.20.

Child Language, Learning and Linguistics. By David Crystal. Pp. 106. London: Edward Arnold, 1976. £4.25. Paper £1.95.

Schools Council Working Paper No. 60: Examinations at 18+—The N and F Studies. Pp. 272. London: Evans/Methuen Educational, 1978. £4.50.

In and Out of School (The ROSLA Community Education Project). By R. White &; D. Brockington. London: RKP, 1978. 200pp. Hardback £4.50, Paperback £2.25.

County Grammar School: A History of Ludlow Grammar School Through Eight Centuries Against its Local Background. By David J. Lloyd, 1977.

Adolescence and Youth in Prospect. Edited by John P. Hill and Franz J. Monks. Pp. 216. IPC Science and Technology Press, Ltd., Guildford; 1977. £6.80.

Resource‐Based Learning. By N. Beswick. Pp.xiv+264. Heinemann, London, 1977. £6.50.

Instead of Education. Ways to help people do things better. By John Holt. Pp. 252. Penguin Books, 1977. 8op.

Philosophical foundations for the curriculum. By Allen Brent, pp. 233. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1978. £7.50 hardback, £3.50 paperback.

The Politics of Curriculum Change. By Tony Becher and Stuart Maclure. Pp. 192. London: Hutchinson, 1978, £2.95.

Power and the Curriculum: Issues in Curriculum Studies. Edited by Colin Richards. Pp. 170. Driffield: Nafferton Books. 1978. £2.95.

The Nineteenth Century Woman: Her Cultural and Physical World, Edited by Sara Delamont and Lorna Duffin. Pp. 213. London: Croom Helm 1978: £7.50.

The training of teachers in England and Wales 1800—1975. By H. C. Dent. Pp. viii, 163. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1977. Paperback £2.35.

American Education: An Introduction to Social and Political Aspects. By Joel Spring. Pp. vi, 234. New York and London: Longman, 1978: £4.50.     

Towards a ‘critical cultural political economy’ account of the globalising of education

This paper outlines the basis of an alternative theoretical approach to the study of the globalisation of ‘education’ – a Critical, Cultural Political Economy of Education (CCPEE) approach. Our purpose here is to bring this body of concepts – critical, cultural, political, economy – into our interrogation of globalising projects and processes within what we will refer to as the ‘education ensemble’ as the topic of enquiry, whose authoritative, allocative, ideational and feeling structures, properties and practices, emerge from and play into global economic, political and cultural processes In the first half of the paper we introduce and develop the concepts that will underpin our approach. In the second half of the paper we explore the explanatory potential and epistemic gain of a CCPEE approach by examining the different manifestations of the relationship between globalisation as a political, cultural and economic project and an education ensemble. We conclude by reflecting on the possibilities this perspective offers.     

The internationalization of in-service teacher training in Québec cégeps and their foreign partners: An institutional perspective

Through a case study of Québec??s general and vocational colleges (cégeps), this article analyzes the role that institutions play in internationalizing the in-service training they provide to their teachers, and explains how partnerships with educational institutions in developing countries contribute to this process. Data from a questionnaire completed by 39 cégeps show that cégeps sustain internationalized in-service teacher training through teacher mobility, international cooperation, and training activities. Teacher mobility and international cooperation support efforts to establish partnerships with foreign institutions. The relationships that cégeps have with developing countries are changing: international cooperation, associated with a ??selling?? relationship, is decreasing, while teacher mobility, associated with a ??gelling?? approach, is increasing. Finally, the consistency between cégep activities and the government??s strategies is explained by considering the community of interest composed of cégeps, the government of Québec, and Cégep International.     

The adjustment of national education systems to a knowledge‐based economy: a new approach

In his article ‘Globalisation, the Learning Society, and Comparative Education’, Peter Jarvis recommends lifelong learning in the period of globalisation as a topic ripe for scholarly research. In particular, he argues for the examination of the extent of lifelong learning around the world and its relation to different levels of employment. This article contributes to this line of inquiry by analysing how education policies facilitate adjustment to economic change and examining how advanced industrialised countries (AICs) compare in their promotion. Principal component analysis is used to construct indices for education systems that reflect these two objectives, and the results reveal considerable cross‐national variation. The Nordic countries appear well‐positioned to cope with changed skill needs. A closer look at the cases of Denmark and Italy portrays how a national education system can facilitate or hinder adaptation, respectively.     

Ethics education seen through the lens of Habermas’s conception of practical reason: the Québec Education Program

This paper examines the Québec Education Program (QEP), particularly the new course in ethics and religious culture (ERC), in the light of Habermas’s conception of the moral and ethical uses of practical reason. Habermas’s discursive theory of morality is used to assess the program’s understanding of what it means to be competent in moral matters. Specifically, the paper considers whether or not the program limits the exercise of practical reason to its purely pragmatic form, and the extent to which the program takes into account the intersection between the subjective and social world of learners. The Québec program serves as a context for thinking about the level(s) of practical reason an ethics education program ought to cultivate in learners.     

The political economy of ‘open regionalism’ and education in small (and micro) states: the construction of the Caribbean Educational Policy Space in CARICOM

In this era of amplified regionalisation, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean's (ECLAC) conceptualisation of ‘open regionalism’ is pertinent to examine the role of regional governance mechanisms in constructing what I call the Caribbean Educational Policy Space. With the aid of a latent content analysis of policy documents that focuses on the current wave of regionalism within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries, I argue that open regionalism is the instrument that facilitates the expansion of education into a regional tradable commodity that is embedded and linked to the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME). I suggest that open regionalism can be further finessed to consider the modalities that make the operationalising of the integrative project possible. In essence, open regionalism is used as a governance framework by CARICOM's states to enact national educational reform. I conclude by arguing that open regionalism is an approach that is driven by the knowledge-based economy, premised upon innovation and inventiveness, which facilitates regional entry into hemispheric relations, and focused on the deepening global relations.     

The education of British prisoners of war in German captivity, 1939‐1945

The cause of popular education has obtained a footing from which it cannot be driven and even should opposition be directed against your schools by those who suspect them of being too Protestant in their tendency, the parties so opposing must yield to the current in favour of general education whilst they seek to alter the channel through which its blessings are to flow.

(Edwin Wallbridge, 1841)

     

The making of the dull,deficient and backward pupil in British elementary education 1870–1914

Abstract

Michel Foucault's concept of normalisation is taken as a basis to explore the factors involved in the identification of dull, deficient and backward pupils in British Elementary Education between 1870 and 1914. Normalisation consists of the five processes of comparison, differentiation, hierarchisation, homogenisation and exclusion. These processes operate through dividing practices which distribute groups socially and are supported in this work by scientific ideas. In this instance, the norm of the intellect is the basis of the dividing practices. The empirical focus opens with an examination of the main features of Elementary education. It then moves to consider the deliberations of the Royal Commission on the Blind, Deaf and Dumb, etc (1889) and those of the Departmental Committee on Defective and Epileptic Children (1898). The analysis concludes with a consideration of the consequences of the Elementary Education (Defective and Epileptic Children) Act, 1899, and its effects up until 1914.     

The innovation of Ontario full-day kindergarten educator teams: have they reproduced the split systems of care and education?

This study investigated the implementation of a full-day kindergarten programme in Ontario, Canada. Key to the implementation of this programme has been a new kind of educator team consisting of a certified teacher and a registered early childhood educator and a complementary partnership in which each team member contributes equally. Our research examined team members’ perceptions and practices related to their roles and responsibilities. Findings suggest that the care work for which early childhood educators are disproportionally responsible is accorded less value and status than the work of educating children. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the care/education split, the social reproduction of care work and social inequities.     

Towards a political ecology of education: the educational politics of scale in southern Pará, Brazil

Social movements have initiated both academic programs and disciplines. I present ethnographic data that I gathered during 17 months of fieldwork with the Brazilian Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) in southeastern Pará, Brazil, to explore the MST’s role in creating agroecological education opportunities. My analysis highlights three factors in southeastern Pará that initiate environmental education opportunities. First, activist professors are key players, serving as mediators between the state and social movements. Second, recurring events incubate environmental educational institutions and degree programs. Third, by collaborating with institutionalized education, movements are able to develop their own radical educational spaces. These three factors result in a gradual anti-neoliberal transformation in southeastern Pará’s rural educational opportunities. I develop a theoretical perspective of the political ecology of education to understand the relations between these three factors and educational change. By drawing attention to the educational politics of scale, I help advance theories of environmental education in a neoliberal age.     

The west,the rest and the knowledge economy: a game worth playing?

The unprecedented geopolitical and economic shifts across the world have triggered much debate over the re-thinking of internationalisation of higher education (IoHE). This article discusses how a deeper understanding of the knowledge economy paradigm contributes to re-thinking IoHE, and how it reshapes the relations between the west and the rest in the international education industry. In the global knowledge race, the rules are set by the knowledge economy agenda, but these rules could be changed through appropriate IoHE strategies. The knowledge economy promotes a predominantly western-oriented knowledge paradigm, and IoHE contributes to its dissemination. For this reason, it is important to consider how the western theoretical underpinnings of IoHE and the knowledge economy are transformed and integrated in a given local context and if this game is worth playing.     

The politics of environmental education: a case‐study

ABSTRACT

The ‘Environment and School Initiatives’ (ENSI) project is an OECD curriculum development project based on a ‘process model’. Eleven OECD countries, excluding the UK, participated in Phase 1 (1986‐8). The author carried out a comparative analysis of case‐studies of this phase, then sought to gain government support for the participation of UK schools in the second phase of ENSI. This article tells the story of his efforts and the responses they met with. The narrative describes and analyses the complex roles and positions taken by government departments, charitable foundations and multinational companies. The negative outcome for the future of the project in England and Wales indicated that the British government were more interested in the construction of politically symbolic acts which publicly signify concern for the environment than with the promotion of effective and educationally worthwhile pedagogies for environmental education.     

The function of individualized education programmes in special education: a discussion of premises∗

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on the construction and implementation of written individual plans for teaching students in special education. Experiences from a number of countries are given, and from these experiences two premises for planning teaching are deduced: one regarding the link between diagnosis and instruction and one regarding teacher planning. The premises are discussed in some detail and consequences for individual planning in special education are formulated.