Educational research for innovation and quality in education: a report of the Asia-Pacific Educational Research Association (APERA) conference 2008

This is a report of the Asia-Pacific Educational Research Association (APERA) 2008 conference, held at the National Institute of Education, Singapore (NIE), from 26 to 28 November 2008.     

Making educational development and change sustainable: Insights from complexity theory

This article considers the challenge of sustainable change and development in education from the perspective of complexity theory. Complexity theory’s concept of emergence implies that, given a significant degree of complexity in a particular environment, new properties and behaviours emerge that are not necessarily contained in the essence of the constituent elements, or easily able to be predicted from a knowledge of initial conditions. These concepts of emergent phenomena from a critical mass, associated with notions of lock-in, path dependence, and inertial momentum, contribute to a perspective on continuity and change that indicates what conditions might need to be in place for the emergence of sustainable, positive, system-wide change and development in education.     

学生创新精神和创新能力培养的研究与实践

高等教育新的教育目标,就是实施素质教育,培养和造就我国适应21世纪需要的一代新人．而培养大学生创新精神和创新能力则是实施这一目标的重要途径。通过指导学生参加全国大学生“挑战杯”课外学术科技作品大赛的实践．对大学生创新精神和创新能力的培养方法进行探索,是培养大学生创新精神与提高大学生创新能力的有效途径。     

教育生态学视野下看沉浸式大学英语教学的开展

沉浸式教学始于加拿大,并在美国取得了很大的发展。近年来,在中国各地也纷纷兴起了沉浸式英语教学,本文依据教育生态学理论对我国高校沉浸式英语教学开展的现状和策略进行了分析。     

Policy development and educational research: The Hungarian experience

Conclusions The interaction between research and politics is weakly structured in Hungarian higher education. Functions and roles are unclear, persons participating often change or combine different roles. The emergence of modern higher education politics in Hungary catalyzes the differentiation, professionalization and institutionalization of experts, advisers and consultants. National reform commissions provide a good framework to work out these roles. The small size of the country and the limitations of its academic resources, however, make this progress gradual and controversial.     

Policy development and educational research: The Hungarian experience

Heather Eggins (ed) Women as Leaders and Managers in Higher Education Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press, July 1997. ISBN 0335 19879 1 Price: hb £45.00 pb £16.99 160 pp     

论人的现代化与可持续发展的关系

可持续发展问题是由人引发、由人提出、由人来解决的 ,解决的目的也是为人。只有人逐步地走向现代化 ,可持续发展才能实现。要把人的现代化战略与可持续发展的战略紧密结合 ,使我国走向繁荣和发展。     

Action research and collaborative research: their specific contributions to professional development

The increasing complexity of the teaching profession calls for engaged professionals in their professional development. This article claims that participative types of research contribute differently to professional development. Its intent is to explore the different contributions action research and collaborative research bring. One action research and one collaborative research have been conducted involving school personnel. They have been assessed mid‐course with regard to various components of professional development, including the learning taking place, changes made to professional practices and development of the collective competencies. Group interviews were conducted and each participant produced a written summary. The results show that participants’ individual competencies are strengthened, as well as collective competencies emerging such as the development of a common vocabulary and a shared vision about the school’s mission and mathematics curriculum. Learning is more relational in the action research project, and more connected to knowledge in the collaborative research project. Tensions are also present. They deal with the need to come up with concrete results, the urgency of action, the need to be open to the unknown, a tacit agreement to expose one’s vulnerability to others, the need for interdependence and for accountability. In conclusion, researchers identify their own sources of tensions and recognize that those types of research are important situations of learning.     

教育生态视野下高校学生管理工作方法研究

高校学生管理工作是高校育人工作的一部分。当前,高校学生具有他们自身的特点,他们对于社会教育的需求也发生了重大改变,传统的学生管理工作方法已经不能够适应当前高校学生管理工作的要求。因此,创新学生管理方式方法势在必行。结合当前高校学生的特点,立足于教育生态学的视野,探索高校学生管理的新途径、新方法。     

人类教育文化的生成与发展前景

文章从人与自然互动的场域这一侧面,探讨人类教育文化的生成与发展前景,认为：人与自然的矛盾运动是人类教育活动的基本动力。“自然·文化·人”多向互动与教育文化发展中的冲突,需要提升并充实“和谐教育”的理念,使科学与人文共融,进而走向实践智慧的人生之路,让知识与智慧相互嵌入,科学与艺术结成深层的伴侣。最终达到生命、人生和生态文明美的境界。     

教育生态学视野下小学班主任专业发展研究

当前,教师专业发展的研究正深入推进。小学班主任专业发展已成为学术界研究的热点。小学班主任在基础教育管理中起着中流砥柱的地位,小学班主任专业发展是时代的呼唤,是基础教育的应然诉求。因此,文章从教育生态学观点,就目前小学班主任专业发展的现状进行教育生态学分析,并在此基点提出相应对策,促进小学班主任专业发展,提升小学班主任专业发展的生命体验和价值。     

The impact of development education and education for sustainable development interventions: a synthesis of the research

The Sustainable Development Goals set out by the United Nations advocate that all learners will have the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development. Development education, education for sustainable development and global citizenship education are deliberate educational interventions, which all address global justice and sustainability issues. Current research continues to expand our understanding of the field, but there are no recent reviews of the literature addressing the impact of these educational interventions. The objective of this paper is, therefore, to examine the impact of intentional development education, education for sustainable development and global citizenship education. We reviewed 243 abstracts against specific inclusion criteria: 127 from Scopus, 101 from ERIC, and 15 from EBSCO. Of those abstracts, 99 met inclusion criteria and underwent double review, which excluded further studies. Of the final 44 papers included for review, 26 focused on education for sustainable development or environmental educational themes, 12 were global orientated in content, either through development education or global citizenship, and six were intercultural educational interventions. In this paper, we provide an overview of measures of assessment of learning used, review the evidence of the impact on learners, and address some methodological and pedagogical questions arising from the review.     

From marginality to the mainstream: learning from action research for sustainable development

Education for sustainable development establishes the need for change within education; in particular, teacher education is recognised as a priority for reorientation towards sustainability needs. The Ubuntu Network is an action research programme, focusing on supporting teacher educators to explore the integration of development education and education for sustainable development into their programmes and professional practice in Ireland. From 2006 to 2008, 22 action research projects were implemented within nine post-primary teacher education programmes in Ireland and collectively published in an e-book. A systematic review of these projects was undertaken to identify emerging themes with a view to informing future work of the Ubuntu Network, and to guide the practice of mainstreaming education for sustainable development. These themes are described in this paper and demonstrate an evolution of pedagogical approaches, centring on ethical values and identity work.