Building civic capacity for a new century: Engaging young people in civic institutions and civil society

In a democratic society, citizens will be confronted with decision-making options that require them to be discerning about the changes that are proposed, to evaluate alternative courses of action, to develop strategies that will advance their cause and to take appropriate action. These processes are the basis for developing civic capacity. This paper explores drivers of civic capacity, including civic virtues and civic values, in order to see how civic capacity can best be developed in the nations of the Asia-Pacific region. Of particular interest is whether ”Asian values” are necessarily at odds with the underlying values of liberal democracy. Civic capacity is needed at a time of great change throughout the region, because change, and possibly even turbulence, will in all likelihood characterize the region in the future. Our future will depend on creating a civic capacity that will enable active and informed citizens to exercise agency over their social, political and economic lives. Editor’s note Address presented at the First International Conference of the Institute for Asian-Pacific Educational Development,Reflections and Explorations for Educational Development in the 21st Century: The Search for Asian Identities and Perspectives,Seoul National University, 9–10 November 2000.     

Teaching civic education for a civil, democratic society

Most countries of the world have experienced a revival in civic education in recent years. Issues of globalization, migration, national identity, citizenship, democracy, and civil society have forced them to devise, or reflect upon, some form of civic education for their schools. This is certainly the case for many countries in the Asian region. We have sought to identify appropriate pedagogy for teaching civics and citizenship in schools across the Asian region. From the literature it was possible to identify four categories of pedagogical strategies for civics and citizenship education which are applicable to the great variety of Asian schools. The categories are: 1) class-based, passive — cognitive pedagogies; 2) school-based, passive — cognitive pedagogies; 3) class-based, participative-active pedagogies; and 4) school-based, participative-active pedagogies. Some of these strategies appear more promising than others in Asian schools given that traditional, didactic teaching strategies dominate. What looks most promising include: whole school pedagogical strategies; critical thinking, particularly through group work; a variety of cooperative learning strategies including group problem-solving exercises; school-based activity learning; and the use of a technology such as CD ROMs as a resource. It is unlikely only one pedagogical strategy will prove to be singularly effective with civics. A more probable outcome will be that a combination of strategies will be most effective. Future research will provide suggestions as to the composition of that set of pedagogical strategies.     

公民道德内化探析

公民道德作为公民应遵循的基本道德规范和应具备的道德品质,具有公共性、强制性和有限度性。公民道德内化指公民在社会实践中,通过公民道德的学习、选择和认同,将其转化为自身内在的行为准则和价值目标、形成相应的公民道德素质的过程。自我意识作为公民道德内化的心理机制在公民道德内化中处于支配地位,这使得公民道德内化过程呈现出自律性与他律性、共有性和独具性、阶段性和整体性相统一的特点。     

公民共和主义:平教总会公民教育的思想特色

晏阳初对共和主义的理解是公民都担负起国家社会的各种责任,共同民主治理国家社会,这可谓之公民共和主义。中华平民教育促进会总会在定县的公民教育研究与实验是以这种公民共和主义理念为指导的。对责任意识与能力培养的强调是定县公民教育实验的核心。坚持以人为本原则的公民教育自我创造是其富有成效的根本原因。     

Effective civic education: an educational effectiveness model for explaining students' civic knowledge

In this study, a comprehensive educational effectiveness model is tested in relation to student's civic knowledge. Multilevel analysis was applied on the dataset of the IEA Civic Education Study (CIVED; Torney-Purta, Lehmann, Oswald, & Schulz, 2001 Torney-Purta, J., Lehmann, R., Oswald, H. and Schulz, W. 2001. Citizenship and education in twenty-eight countries: Civic knowledge and engagement at age fourteen, Amsterdam, The Netherlands: IEA.  [Google Scholar]), which was conducted among junior secondary-school students (age 14), their schools, and their teachers. In total, 28 countries, 4,136 classrooms, and 93,565 students were included in the analysis. The results indicated that the influences on students' civic knowledge are multilevel. Students' civic knowledge and skills were partially explained by individual characteristics, by factors related to quality and opportunities for civic learning offered by classrooms and class composition, and by factors at the national context level. We conclude that most effectiveness factors are relevant for the field of civic and citizenship education and that schooling and educational policy matter for students' success in this field.     

An empirical basis for linking social and emotional learning to academic performance

There is general agreement about the benefits of school-based social and emotional learning (SEL) interventions in relation to children and young people’s social-emotional competence, mental health, and academic achievement. However, we know little about the theorized mechanisms through which SEL leads to improved academic outcomes. The current study is the first to present an integrative model (derived from the SEL logic model) using a 3-wave (annual assessment, T1, T2, T3) longitudinal sample of 1626 (51% boys, n = 832) 9–12-year-old students (M = 9.17, SD = .31 at baseline) attending 45 elementary schools in England, drawn from a major randomized trial of a universal SEL intervention (the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies curriculum; PATHS). Using structural equation modeling that accounted for within-time covariance, data clustering, gender and prior academic attainment, we examined the temporal relations between social-emotional competence (T1), school connectedness (T2), mental health difficulties (T2), and academic attainment (T3). It was hypothesized that social-emotional competence would directly and indirectly influence academic attainment through school connectedness and mental health difficulties. Our analyses also examined whether these hypothesized relations varied as a function of intervention exposure (PATHS versus usual provision). The theorized model was partially supported. Social-emotional competence at T1 exerted a significant influence on school connectedness and mental health difficulties at T2. However, the latter was the only significant predictor and mediator of academic attainment at T3 after controlling for gender and prior academic performance. Students with greater social-emotional competence at T1 were reported to experience fewer mental health difficulties at T2, and this in turn predicted higher academic attainment at T3. Intervention exposure did not markedly influence the magnitude or statistical significance of these identified pathways. Collectively, these findings indicate some possible revisions to our current understanding regarding the role of social-emotional competence in promoting academic attainment, as its contribution appears to lay primarily in buffering the adverse effects of mental health difficulties.     

Instructional design project success factors: An empirical basis

Instructional design and development (ID) projects are undertaken every day, with project stakeholders attempting to concentrate their efforts and resources on the factors leading to a successful project. What are the factors that contribute to ID project success? Are they equally important to all stakeholders in an ID project? This article addresses these questions regarding ID project success. Using a variety of data-gathering techniques and incorporating the perspective of four stakeholder groups, this study identified twenty-three ID project success factors that were grouped into four categories. Data analysis revealed significant differences among: (a) the four stakeholder groups in terms of the importance they attached to the factors; and (b) the four success factor categories in terms of their importance to ID project success. Also, an interaction was found between stakeholder groups and success factor categories.     

嫁接模式下教师国外教学进修效果的实证分析

以嫁接模式引进国外优质教学资源具有成本低、辐射面广,便于大面积推广应用和可持续发展的特点。根据浙江省两所地方院校嫁接国外教学的实践,对教师出国进修课程教学方法的效果进行实证分析。研究表明,在以专业为单位整体嫁接国外的课程体系和教学内容的同时,有计划地派遣教师出国进修课程教学以嫁接国外的教学方法,对推进教学改革、提高教学质量具有明显效果。经过对比发现,国外大学教学最主要的特点是以学生为中心的理念和方法。     

论公民文化成长的条件

公民文化作为一种政治文化,是随着人类文明的发展而逐步形成的,公民文化的成长需要与之相适应的,诸如市场经济的完善、民主政治制度的成熟、法制的健全、公民意识的增强等一系列环境条件.     

大学:走具有特色的国际化发展道路

自20世纪90年代以来,国际化问题成为高等教育发展的核心议题之一。WTO将教育服务纳入国际贸易体系,高等教育的国际市场的竞争加剧,发展中国家高等教育的发展面临挑战。大学作为高等教育实施的主体,在加快国际化发展、融入全球范围内竞争的同时,必须推出自身教育服务的优势和品牌,走有特色的国际化发展道路,才能在国际化大潮中立于不败之地。     

The formal basis for a contextually sensitive classroom agenda

This paper [1] collects syllabuses, teacher intentions, curricula and lesson plans under a general term agenda. First it explores the ways in which agenda do and do not relate to those classroom settings for which they claim to be agenda. It is suggested that curriculum innovators legislate for the classroom on the basis of idealized schemes and systems, and that such a basis contributes to the troubles schemes encounter during implementation in the classroom. Classrooms have systems of their own—systems of interaction—and if schemes for them do not have an empirical basis in those classroom systems, the systems will distort those schemes. The main part of the paper is given over to describing some gross features of the classroom system particularly: its a-topical, formal, collaborative, unfolding, orderly, busy, instantaneous, judgemental, identity related and questioning characteristics. The last section argues for and gives examples of educational issues such as evaluation, indoctrination, and teacher competence being discussed in terms of the classroom system in which they occur.I acknowledge the helpful comments of project colleagues, collaborating teachers and W. W. Sharrock.     

宗教与社会主义社会相适应的依据

“民族、宗教无小事”，江泽民同志曾在坚持和继承我党正确的宗教政策的基础上，着眼于国际格局的新变化和改革开放的新实践，提出了“积极引导宗教与社会主义社会相适应”的科学命题，标志着马克思主义宗教观在当代中国的发展达到了一个新的阶段。这一科学命题的提出有深厚而丰富的理论依据，历史依据，实践依据。     

研究生教育国际化初探

随着现代化、全球化、信息化时代的到来,教育的国际化成了教育领域一大新兴课题,尤其是对培养高层次人才的重要领域———研究生教育来说,国际化则更为迫切和重要。针对研究生教育国际化的背景与动力、内涵与指标、策略与措施等方面做一初步的、尝试性的探索,以期推动我国研究生教育国际化进程。     

The internationalization of faculty life in China

This article examines one of China's top universities – Renmin University – and changes in faculty life linked to internationalization and the push to build world-class universities. Employing academic culture as a theoretical lens and case-study methodology, the authors highlight several significant changes, as described in semi-structured interviews with 27 Renmin faculty members. Some changes discussed include increasing reliance on international standards of scholarship, greater emphasis on faculty acquiring international experience, increased collaborations with foreign scholars and organizations, and the adoption of various pedagogical and curricular facets associated with Western universities. Serious attention is given to concerns raised by several Renmin faculty members apprehensive of certain forms of internationalization and concerned about the likelihood of Chinese universities becoming colonized by Western norms and methodologies.