Challenging the concept of ethical literacy within Education for Sustainable Development (ESD): storytelling as a method within sustainability didactics

Ethical literacy seems to be used, within Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), in various ways, some more general and others morally specific, emphasising individuals’ responsibility. The overarching aim of this paper is to present some prerequisites for the development of narrative methods that focus on the vision of a good society without compromising individual integrity. Is it possible to develop ESD in a ways that highlight global challenges with a focus on justice and equity without either, as within post-political romanticism, pretending that social sustainability is a non-controversial ethical goal, or, as within liberal individualistic approaches, claiming that no one may escape from the demands of action competence, which, it is claimed, paves the way for making social sustainability a reality? With reference to some threads in narrative theory and by an analysis of six children’s books, this paper critically and constructively examines storytelling as one method to inspire young people to reflect upon what a good society and a good world might be, to catch sight of visions of a sustainable world and of the differences between how things are and how things could be – a method that may also preserve respect for individuals’ integrity.     

Drawing relationally for an ethnography of practice

ABSTRACT

Education ethnographies show that observing bodies, objects and settings can illuminate previously hidden learning practices but the relational characteristics of these practices presents methodological challenges for conventional qualitative analyses. Using an example from an ethnographic study of everyday learning, I show how methods from art (specifically researcher-created drawings) can address some of these challenges. I use the concept of ‘epistemic objects’ to theorise drawings as analysis, and to show that rather than being a process of deconstruction, this analysis is constantly bringing knowledge into being. With original interdisciplinary insights from art/social science, this article problematises art in sociomaterial research and offers direction for relational analyses.     

The challenge to professionals of using social media: teachers in England negotiating personal-professional identities

Social media are a group of technologies such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn which offer people chances to interact with one another in new ways. Teachers, like other members of society, do not all use social media. Some avoid, some experiment with and others embrace social media enthusiastically. As a means of communication available to everyone in modern society, social media is challenging teachers, as other professionals in society, to decide whether to engage with these tools and, if so, on what basis – as an individual (personally), or as a teacher (professionally). Although teachers are guided by schools and codes of practice, teachers as individuals are left to decide whether and how to explore social media for either their own or their students' learning. This paper analyses evidence from interviews with 12 teachers from England about their use of social media as to the challenges they experience in relation to using the media as professional teachers.. Teachers are in society’s spotlight in terms of examples of inappropriate use of social media but also under peer pressure to connect. This paper explores their agency in responding. The paper focuses on how teachers deal with tensions between their personal and professional use of social media. These tensions are not always perceived as negative and some teachers' accounts revealed a unity in their identities when using social media. The paper reflects on the implications of such teachers' identities in relation to the future of social media use in education.     

To perceive and to be perceived: challenges of ethnography in elite schools

Drawing on a larger study on “Gender practices and violence between peers: the stakes of mixed-sex education”, this paper examines the methodological challenges specific to carrying out ethnography in an elite high school. The researcher’s subjective experience in the field reveals the power dynamics at play in the elite setting. We also examine how interdisciplinary collective analysis of the observation journals unveils less-examined challenges to conceptualization in the research process. We call for the heuristic value when contradiction and subjectivity are acknowledged and implicated both in the field and data analysis, which leads us to articulate different social identities in the elite school environment.     

Touching the challenge: Embodied solutions enabling humanistic moral education

One of the main educational challenges we still face today—more than ever—is the humanistic challenge, namely how to promote humanistic moral values, how to strengthen in students the motivation to be morally active, and especially how to help them recognize the other as a human subject. I adopt Nel Noddings’ approach of relational ethics of care as a solution to the problem of motivation. I elaborate on her approach while presenting the concept of the embodied human subject posited by Merleau-Ponty as an additional channel for communication and empathy between people. The embodied subjectivity serves also as a solution for the problem of recognition. I offer some practical recommendations that apply Merleau-Ponty’s analysis to the practice of moral education.     

Reflections on teaching research ethics in education for international postgraduate students in the UK

Research ethics in education is a challenging topic to teach and to learn. As the staff and student body in UK higher education and elsewhere diversifies, the challenges increase as shared reference points diminish. My teaching reflections focus on a key tension explored in this article: how the imperative of internationalising the curriculum conflicts with hegemonic codes of conduct regarding research ethics that seem resistant to change. The framework of threshold concepts is applied to the teaching and learning of research ethics in education not, as is usual, to identify such concepts, but to draw attention to the critical role of the intersection between learner and curriculum and how institutional expectations need to be re-appraised.     

《计算机基础》课上机考试成绩的模糊评价及实现

以〈计算机基础〉课考试系统为例,介绍了评价学生考试成绩的Fuzzy模型,列出了评价的步骤,并用VB语言加以实现,给出了部分源代码.     

关于市场竞争环境下高职"内功"的修炼——对办高职的几点思考

随着我国社会主义市场经济体制的不断完善,教育战线尤其是高职教育的改革面临巨大考验.认清形势,辨明方向,从容应对,谋求稳步发展就显得尤为重要.本文从市场竞争的角度,阐述了对高职院校创建学习型组织、办学决策以及校园文化等一些重要问题的思考.     

基于使用的语言理论模型述评

通过对基于使用的语言理论模型的述评,阐述了语言知识的获得与语言的使用有着密不可分的关系,说明该理论模型对于具体语言现象有一定的解释力,同时指出了它所面临的来自其他认知研究领域的挑战。     

‘Measuring Up’? Assessment and students with disabilities in the modern university

In this article, I ask how university students with disabilities negotiate with staff arrangements for alternative assessment practices. I draw on three case studies using a personal pronoun perspective to challenge the conventional view that educational policy and teaching practice are forms of rational action. I demonstrate how the lives of students and staff are typically characterised by unexpected events, disorder, emotion and prejudice. The analytic perspective offered here establishes how meanings, intentions and different viewpoints and alliances emerge as social actors work to create specific faculty and institution cultures. The case studies also reveal what does and what does not work – some of the obstacles – and what needs to be done if we are serious about equity and inclusive education. They include practical assistance in recognising the specific requirements of students with disabilities and how to design alternative assessment for students with specific ‘conditions’. I argue that professional development and specific techniques in curriculum design are needed. Some staff also require help in recognising their policy and legal obligations. A cultural change which identifies and challenges prejudice is a larger task if universities are to become places in which equal opportunity principles and inclusive education are present and actively practised.     

Leadership in higher education: examining the narratives of research managers from multiple lenses

This study explores the narratives behind how academics in formal leadership positions perceive their roles as leaders and their leadership development. Fifteen leaders in their varying capacities as managers of research in their universities participated to illustrate the complexities and challenges associated with their roles. Using narrative and discourse analysis, multiple lenses (“what”, “how” and “why”) were used to analyse the participants' narratives. This study then explores the impact of the leaders' perceptions on their teaching, research and graduate supervision roles. Results indicate that research managers' narratives replicate those of the storied lives of leaders with constructed images. The study concludes with some implications for policy and practice as well as suggesting the use of multiple-lens analysis as a tool for narrative inquiry.     

对中小学教科书循环使用的几点思考

中小学教科书循环使用问题,在广泛热议了若干年后,终于出台了教育部、财政部联合发布的《关于全面实施农村义务教育教科书免费提供和做好部分教科书循环使用工作的意见》。但目前的循环使用仍然是局部的,有限的,全面实施中小学教科书循环使用还有很长的路要走,还有很多问题需要思考、研究,如循环使用后学生学习模式、教师教学模式、学业评价模式如何改革,教科书蕴涵的文化情结问题如何解决,出版行业如何面对由此引起的挑战,教科书循环使用管理工作如何做深、做细等等。唯有深入分析、跟踪研究、切实解决这些问题,才能推动教科书循环使用成为一项长远的、利国利民的教育制度。     

Advantages and Challenges of Using Physics Curricula as a Model for Reforming an Undergraduate Biology Course

We report on the development of a life sciences curriculum, targeted to undergraduate students, which was modeled after a commercially available physics curriculum and based on aspects of how people learn. Our paper describes the collaborative development process and necessary modifications required to apply a physics pedagogical model in a life sciences context. While some approaches were easily adapted, others provided significant challenges. Among these challenges were: representations of energy, introducing definitions, the placement of Scientists’ Ideas, and the replicability of data. In modifying the curriculum to address these challenges, we have come to see them as speaking to deeper differences between the disciplines, namely that introductory physics—for example, Newton''s laws, magnetism, light—is a science of pairwise interaction, while introductory biology—for example, photosynthesis, evolution, cycling of matter in ecosystems—is a science of linked processes, and we suggest that this is how the two disciplines are presented in introductory classes. We illustrate this tension through an analysis of our adaptations of the physics curriculum for instruction on the cycling of matter and energy; we show that modifications of the physics curriculum to address the biological framework promotes strong gains in student understanding of these topics, as evidenced by analysis of student work.     

我国实施最低工资制度面临的挑战与对策

最低工资制度在我国推行的时间不长,成绩与问题并存,面临着来自理论和实践的严峻挑战。本文在分析了我国实施最低工资制度的必要性后,为进一步完善我国最低工资制度,提出了以科学发展观为指导,合理制定最低工资标准;加大执法力度,确保最低工资制度的顺利实施;特别关注农民工群体的最低工资执行状况等政策建议。     

The politics of education and the misrecognition of Wales

Abstract

This paper examines the positioning of the Welsh education system within contemporary policy debate and analysis. It begins by outlining some of the ways in which education policy and provision in Wales differs from that of its neighbour, England, and then goes on to critique how these differences have been represented in both the media and by members of the educational research community. Indeed, the paper argues that these representations constitute a form of misrecognition. It is tempting to counter this misrecognition with assertions of the superiority of the ‘Welsh way’—and certainly pronouncements of a ‘crisis’ in Welsh education appear to be as much politically-driven as evidence-based. However, such an approach would underplay the very real challenges that face Wales—challenges which are both like and unlike those facing England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The paper concludes that we need a serious engagement with national divergences across the four nations of the UK—as well as elsewhere. The case of Wales highlights the need to undertake not only comparative analysis but also relational analysis if we are to enhance our understanding of the changing politics of education.     

Challenges and opportunities in efforts towards inclusive education: reflections from India

ABSTRACT

Across the globe, the Salamanca Statement has provided the strongest impetus for drawing attention to the education of some of the most marginalised groups. In India, it has had a significant and specific impact on the provision of schooling opportunities for children with disabilities. This paper provides a critical analysis of key developments in national policies and programmes and how these have shaped provision at the classroom level. Drawing on Nancy Fraser’s conception of justice as an analytical tool, efforts towards inclusive education in India are explored through the interlinked ideas of redistribution, recognition and representation. Over the last two decades, there has been a significant increase in the numbers of children with disabilities being enrolled in schools, driven by factors including, positive legislation and the increased provision of aids and appliances, etc. However, little attention has been paid to the quality of teaching and learning, experienced by children with disabilities. Instead, efforts remain focused on assimilation into a mainstream system fraught with different challenges. Despite these issues, India is a powerful example of how the vision of inclusive education, as outlined in the Salamanca Statement, is feasible, especially if efforts build on contextual realities.     

校长在学校管理创新中的引导作用

本文在梳理了前人关于教育管理理论、创新理论及校长学理论与实践成就的基础上,对基础教育面临的挑战、中学管理的弊端,以及作为校长应如何应对挑战、进行管理创新等问题进行了研究探讨;并对中学管理创新和校长引领作用的模式和方法进行了分析论证.最后形成了既有逻辑分析、实证分析,又有操作案例支持的理论与实践相结合的成果.