Global citizenship education in context: teacher perceptions at an international school and a local Israeli school

We apply semi-structured interviews to conceptualise perceptions of global citizenship among teachers at an international school and teachers at a local public school in Israel, revealing discrepancies between theory and practice in global citizenship education (GCE). We find that teachers perceive global citizenship differently along three major axes: boundaries of global citizenship, practical aspects of GCE, and through the effect of Israel’s context. This study offers a comparative perspective that discerns the differing impacts of school context and student background on teacher perceptions at different kinds of schools and highlights the importance of teacher agency in GCE.     

国外残疾污名研究及对我国特殊教育的启示

越来越多的研究者认为,污名是影响弱势群体生活质量的重要因素,对残障人士也不例外。文章收集了国外有关残疾污名方面的大量研究文献,从污名的概念、形成、对残障人士的影响以及消除污名的方式等几个方面进行了综述,并探讨了当前污名研究对国内特殊教育的启示意义。     

‘It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster’: special educational needs,emotional labour and emotion work

This article presents an analysis of data collected – by semi-structured interviews and focus groups – from staff working with children with special educational needs (SEN) in England. The analysis highlighted the role of strong emotions, and how participants (unsurprisingly) experienced these differently, largely according to their position in their careers. Teachers’ emotion work and emotional labour in their day-to-day roles were common and powerful themes within the respondents’ experiences. The article identifies the significance of the study for the particular emotional qualities needed to work with children with SEN. The impact of daily demands upon staff is demonstrated, and the article goes on to reflect on the limitations of research on emotions in education. It concludes by examining the emotional characteristics that appear to be essential for a career in SEN and notes the powerful affective demands on those who work in this area.     

针对学习障碍学生的各种特殊教育观

针对学习障碍学生的特殊教育,从最初鉴别学生学习过程中的缺陷并进行矫正,到现在针对学生学习需要而进行的阶梯教育模式,经历了其自身发展的过程。     

The Inclusion Lottery: who's in and who's out? Tracking inclusion and exclusion in New South Wales government schools

The last few decades have witnessed a broad international movement towards the development of inclusive schools through targeted special education funding and resourcing policies. Student placement statistics are often used as a barometer of policy success but they may also be an indication of system change. In this paper, trends in student enrolments from the Australian state of New South Wales are considered in an effort to understand what effect inclusive education has had in this particular region of the world.     

Truly included? A literature study focusing on the social dimension of inclusion in education

Social participation of students with special educational needs (SEN) is a key issue in the inclusion debate. However, the meaning of concepts like social integration, social inclusion and social participation used in current literature is often unclear. Recently, these concepts were clarified based on preschool and primary school literature. The current study assesses the meaning of these concepts for secondary school samples and possible differences with preschool and primary school. A literature review on secondary school literature, including 19 articles, revealed large parallels, i.e. the three concepts can be used as synonyms and include the same key themes: relationships, interactions, perception of the pupil with SEN and acceptance by classmates. Although the subthemes within the key themes largely concurred, one subtheme (i.e. self-perception of social interaction) was added and three subthemes, mentioned in the scheme based on preschool and primary school, were not found.     

Enriching the subject of Greek Literature with the experience of the ‘other’: an approach that fosters citizenship education in Cyprus

This article reports on a research project that explored the potential to integrate autobiographical work emphasising personal experiences of exclusion and marginalisation into the Greek Literature curriculum followed in Greek-Cypriot schools. Given the difficulties encountered in Cyprus in promoting changes in attitudes towards diversity, we discuss the autobiographical poems of the disabled Turkish-Cypriot poet Orkun Bozkurt with the aim of strengthening efforts to foster citizenship education in Cyprus. One aspect of the study involved the analysis and comparison of Bozkurt's poems with those traditionally employed in the Greek Literature curriculum. By taking this analysis as a baseline, we designed and implemented an intervention programme that aimed at changing the attitudes of adult students towards the ‘Other’. Our findings suggest that changes in attitudes are possible, provided that traditional teaching methods and materials are enriched with alternative materials that represent typically underrepresented groups of people, and also that the teaching methods adopted encourage active involvement and critical thinking among students.     

When differences do not matter: inclusion in a Mexican primary school / Cuando las diferencias no importan: la inclusión en una escuela primaria mexicana

Studies show that disability is a cause of educational exclusion worldwide. Different countries adopt different views of the inclusion movement. Different variables seem to be associated with the success or failure of inclusion. This study takes place in a primary school located in Mexico. It aims to identify how inclusion is experienced by children with and without special needs, and the connections between inclusion and quality of life. Measures utilized were the questionnaire My Primary School from the Index for Inclusion and the Questionnaires on Assessment of Quality of Life for Children, self-report, and parents’ report. Participants are 69 regular students and 15 students with special education needs. Self-reports from regular children and proxy reports from the mothers of the special education needs students were analysed. Results indicated that there is an association between perceived inclusion and experiencing quality of life; having special needs does not impact on scores on QoL or inclusion; educational level does not impact on perceived QoL or inclusion for special education students. These results are discussed in light of a culture that appreciates diversity.     

The conflicting subject philosophies of English

Abstract

This paper argues that debating the relative possibility and desirability of past reconstruction and present interpretation cannot furnish an adequate response to questions about the character and value of history. It is also necessary to debate whether or not to acknowledge, and therefore engage with, the social and political consequences of historical enquiry, which includes taking responsibility for a relationship with its audience.