Symmetric peace education and Unesco's potential for promoting it

Peace education activities, widely contrasting and often mutually inconsistent, may be understood as constituting a dialectic in which each step is based on fundamental human reaction patterns mobilized as incentives. Although neither thesis, ‘Sounding the Alarm’, nor anthithesis, ‘Identifying Causes’, is adequate on its own for building peace, each is a necessary stage in development towards the synthesis, ‘Symmetric Peace Education’. According to this concept, peace can only be achieved through co-operation between the parties threatening or threatened by each other; and the task of symmetric peace education is to bring both sides and involved neutrals together to work out a basis of common values and joint activities while protecting the identity and integrity of all participants. On the micro-level, in schools, appropriate exercises can be designed to enable pupils to learn, from their own experiences of conflict, symmetrical and constructive habits in communication. Extension to the macro-, international, level may be achieved by representative groups of educators working together without destructive confrontation to produce common peace education packages: these would be used symmetrically by mutual agreement in countries currently rearming against each other. A different approach is proposed for bringing together groups of other professional people in ‘prepared, constructive confrontations’ in order to reduce distrust and increase mutual understanding. The express purpose for the foundation of Unesco was to build peace; and by virtue of this mandate and the nature of its constitution, the organization is uniquely placed to promote symmetric peace education in the ways described.     

“Beyond Bali”: a transformative education approach for developing community resilience to violent extremism

The Bali bombings of 2002 and 2005 confronted Australia and its neighbours directly for the first time with the dangers of violent extremism. Since then, the Bali Peace Park Association (BPPA), consisting of former victims, their families and other interested parties, has been lobbying for the creation of the “Bali Peace Park” to be built on one of the bombing sites. Peace parks have been conceived as community-driven projects against violent extremism, and the planned Bali Peace Park embodies this principle. In 2012, the BPPA initiated “Beyond Bali”, an ambitious and highly relevant curriculum development project, and secured funding from the Australian Attorney General’s Department. Drawing on the expertise of a counter-terrorism expert, two university education experts and the first-hand experiences of victims and their families, the Beyond Bali curriculum package was created. Beyond Bali covers a range of topics and activities, including social science studies and ethical dilemma learning, is suitable for Years 8 and 9 students studying the Australian Curriculum, and is available for free from the BPPA: http://www.balipeacepark.com.au/beyond-bali-education-package.html. In this paper we position Beyond Bali as a transformative education resource within the fields of peace and global education and argue that it embodies UNESCO’s “learning to be” principle.     

Crafting an Occupational Identity: Learning the Precepts of Craftsmanship Through Apprenticeship

The term craftsmanship is associated with pre-industrial craft work with inferences to skilled artisanal manufacture of bespoke products. Apprenticeship learning is often perceived to be synonymous with learning craftsmanship. How then is the trait of craftsmanship through attainment of specific artisanal approaches conveyed and learnt through apprenticeship? This article presents and discusses processes imposed on and utilised by apprentices to attain precepts of artisanal approaches. The dispositional and skill elements of craftsmanship are proposed to be adopted through engagement with and development of craft and workplace specific approaches to contend with aspects of Pye’s (1968) conceptualisation of ‘workmanship of risk’ or the article’s proposed term of ‘artisanal approach of risk’.     

The concept of teaching: a reappraisal

This paper examines the concept of ‘teaching’ in early education and childcare and argues that the activity of teaching, broadly defined, concerns all adults who work in this area and occurs in all phases of the educational system. Bronfenbrenner's (1979 Bronfenbrenner U 1979 The ecology of human development: experiments by nature and design (Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press)  [Google Scholar]) ecological perspective on human development is applied to conceptualise teaching as (1) adults' attempts to extend children's current phenomenological perspectives of the world; and (2) as being based on adults' ability to capture children's momentum towards learning. The implications of current terms such as ‘practitioner’, and the ways in which ‘teaching’ in early childhood education has been conceptualised, are also discussed.     

Theory and Practice in Teacher Education

The rationales pf recent and current approaches to teacher education courses are analysed, taking as the essential element the relationship between ‘theory’ and ‘practice’ that they exemplify. Overall, each of these course approaches is unsatisfactory, as they, in various ways, divorce the theory and practice of teaching and lead to one‐sided courses for the preparation of teachers.

Rather, an analysis of ‘theory’ and ‘practice'as a dialectical unity ofopposites is proposed and outlined in its application to the acquisition of the conscious skilled practice of teaching. Thus, theory is a guide to practice and practice is a test of theory and should be built into the course process as such.

This perspective is developed in the context of teacher education and the notions of knowledge and learning implied by it are amplified. The course process that is proposed builds on the strengths of the best elements of recent and current teacher education courses, whilst attempting to build theory and practice in a coherent interrelationship.     

The role of archbishop Walsh in the resolution of the Irish University question

Abstract

This paper traces the evolution of early childhood care and education (ECCE) in Ireland over the course of the last century. Changing conceptualisations of the nature of childhood provide the context for understanding historical and contemporary approaches to ECCE. Historically, young children's care and education were treated as separate entities, with ‘care’ provided within the home and ‘education’ outside the home. However, the contemporary perspective recognises that young children's learning occurs on a continuum from birth, with care and education being interdependent. Although a distinct ECCE sector is beginning to emerge, prompted by developments at policy, practice and research level, there is considerable scope for further progress. Given ‘where we have come from’ and ‘where we are currently at’, future directions and recommendations for ECCE are elucidated.     

Progressive education and the case of a bilingual Palestinian-Arab and Jewish co-existence school in Israel

The purpose of this paper is to exemplify a ‘grass-roots’ change based on Dewey's experimental progressive education model employed in the ‘Bridge over the Valley’ bilingual school, a Palestinian-Arab and Jewish school in Israel. In order to identify the progressive ‘approach' underlying this change, the ‘method' that guided the implementation of a bilingual school, it's evaluation and then its dissemination to other schools, we used a qualitative case study method to understand whether John Dewey’s theory of education for peace was able to effect change in Palestinian-Arab and Jewish school education in Israel. The case findings describes the use of the progressive approach of education for peace in the ‘Bridge over the Valley’ bilingual school, as it is expressed in the school’s pedagogy, the implementation of the progressive method and in the accompanying discourse. Reciprocal teacher–child relations are considered an important factor to create fertile conditions for learning. The case findings contribute to our introduction of democratic education in a spatial reality. Underlying this approach stood a pedagogical method and conceptualization for conflict resolution and the opening of a space for empowering dialog for co-existence.     

Student variables in the evaluation of mediated learning environments

This paper discusses the results of the student dimension in an evaluation applied to an educational teleconferencing system in a Mexican higher education institution. Traditionally, this institution has gained prestige for its face‐to‐face programs, and students are not used to mediated or distance learning. Courses offered through this system are based on a pedagogical model which emphasises the active role of the learner. Therefore, student variables such as perceptions of the self, and self‐regulatory processes become key components in this learning environment. Conclusions here presented correspond to: (i) students’ expectations; (ii) perceptions of efficacy for self‐regulated learning, and perceptions of the course, and of the teacher's and learner's work.

Results indicate students’ expectations focus on ‘learning more than in face‐to‐face situations’, followed by ‘using technology’, and ‘having freedom and initiative’. Perceptions of efficacy for self‐regulated learning were high overall. Nevertheless, analyses of individual items indicate specific areas requiring improvement. Qualitative data on perceptions of the course, and teachers’ and learners’ work suggest that these courses are more demanding than the face‐to‐face ones they are taking. Students’ responses include attitudinal and cognitive adjustments needed for these learning environments. These results have led to improvements, which are presently being applied. The importance of considering these student variables in evaluations of mediated learning environments is discussed.     

Key issues for research in self‐directed learning

This paper consists of two parts. The first part gives an overview of two major paradigms which have influenced research in education; the positivist/empiricist and the interpretive. It is argued that research into self‐direction has been dominated by the positivist/empiricist paradigm and that, because of a fundamental incompatibility between the assumptions underlying positivism and those underlying ‘self‐direction,’ research into self‐direction has been ‘blocked.’ It is suggested that the adoption of an interpretive paradigm promises to reinvigorate and redirect research into self‐direction in learning.

The second part of the paper represents an attempt to develop a research agenda into self‐direction from an interpretive perspective; that is, one which takes account of the learner's subjective construing of the learning situation. This subjective construing includes pur elements: (1) the learner's view of learning in general; (2) the learner's view of the specific learning endeavour being researched; (3) the learner's view of assistance or direction received; and (4) the learner's view of autonomous leaming and the development of personal autonomy. It is also suggested that any adequate research into ‘self‐direction’ should ideally take account of the perspective of the facilitator or other person offering help and assistance, since learning situations depend largely on the quality of the relationship established between the learner and the ‘helper’.     

Do different routes to becoming a special educator produce different understandings of the profession and its core concepts?

There are multiple routes to becoming a special educator in Norway. In recent years, bachelor's degree programmes have offered an alternative to the traditional path in which special education coursework is taken as a part of teacher education. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether these different programmes produce different understandings of the special education profession and its core concepts. We surveyed 27 bachelor students and 36 teacher education students using open-ended questions concerning their future goals and expectations and the concepts of ‘inclusion,’ ‘learning disability,’ and ‘special educator’. Teacher education students were more likely to: (a) view inclusion from a broad perspective, emphasizing a sense of belonging and community, (b) define the concept of learning disability from a categorical perspective, and (c) perceive special educators as essentially ‘expert’ teachers for children with special needs. Bachelor’s degree students also emphasized special educators’ role in supporting individuals with special needs, yet were more likely to apply a relational perspective when describing the concept of learning disability.     

Schools and war: urgent agendas for comparative and international education

A focus on conflict and education is one of the most pressing concerns of the current times, and yet the role of education in the perpetuation, or the mitigation, of international conflict is curiously underplayed and under‐researched. This paper looks firstly at the contributions that education makes to conflict, through the reproduction of inequality and exclusion, through perpetuation of ethnic or religious divisions, through its acceptance of dominant aggressive masculinities, through selection, competition and fear, and through distorted curricular emphases on narrow cognitive areas of learning. However, the paper also outlines some ‘possibilities for hope’, such as resilient schools, the impact of peace education initiatives and the rise of global citizenship education. It is argued that comparative and international education has a highly important role in establishing patterns of educational contribution to peace or conflict, and in dissemination of research to act as a lobbying force to influence education policy and practice. The paper outlines eight priorities, including alternative international studies focusing on ‘achievement’ in peace education; cross‐cultural or longitudinal studies of impact of peace education and war education; and tracer studies of why young people join fundamentalist organisations.     

When group work leaves the classroom does group skills development also go out the window?

In moving towards what Lemke (1996) terms the ‘interactive learning paradigm’, higher education has adopted two key principles consistent with group learning technologies:

• ? learning is always mediated by and occurs through language ( Falk, 1997 ; Gee, 1997 ); and
• ? learning is distributed across a range of other people, sites, objects, technologies and time ( Gee, 1997 ).

A third and relatively recent principle to emerge on the higher education scene that seems to ‘contradict’ accepted views of group learning technologies is that:

• ? many universities now choose to offer ‘learning resources’ online.

This paper asks whether Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are ‘robust’ enough to support, sustain and address industry, employer and government calls for greater attention to group skills development in university graduates. Data features an examination of respondent feedback (n = 171) in an ‘ICT‐rich’ group work setting, and the subsequent ratings of group skills development over a 13‐week period. This discussion offers an account of learner outcomes by adopting Kirkpatrick's (1996) four levels of evaluation of learning as a classification scheme for determining learner satisfaction (Level One), the effectiveness of learning transfer (Level Two), its impact on practice (Level Three) and the appropriation of learning behaviours by participants (Level Four). The contrasting patterns of ICT use between female and male users in the data are discussed in relation to building social presence and producing social categories online. Differences reported here indicate that ICT group work is moving forward, but opportunities to challenge rather than reproduce existing learning relations and differences, remain largely unresolved.     

Case study of a TeaM challenge game—e-PBL revisited

Today’s societies place challenging demands on individuals, who are confronted with complexity in many parts of their lives. What do these demands imply for key competencies that individuals need to acquire? Defining such competencies can improve assessments of how well prepared young people and adults are for life’s challenges, as well as identify overarching goals for education systems and lifelong learning. Why are competencies so important today? The PISA 2000 results underline the importance of student engagement. PISA found strong relationships between students’ attitudes, learning strategies and performance. In addition to skills related to specific parts of the school curriculum, students need to be equipped with some general competencies to solve life’s challenges. As they progress to adulthood, they need to learn to be able to complete not just pre-rehearsed exercises, but must also be able to solve problems set in unfamiliar situations by thinking flexibly and pragmatically. PISA 2003 therefore made a first-time assessment of students’ problem-solving skills. Findings revealed that just under one in five 15-year-olds in OECD countries are ‘reflective, communicative problem solvers’ able to tackle difficult tasks and also just under one in five students have problem-solving skills that cannot even be classified as ‘basic problem solvers’. What could be the basic problem and what resolution can be sought for? There are several examples in learning theory that suggests promises which need to be revisited. Barr and Tagg [From teaching to learning. Change. November/December pp. 13–25. Retrieved June 15, 2006 from http://critical.tamucc.edu/~blalock/readings/tch2learn.htm, 1995] defined the differences of paradigms in terms of learning theory comparing the notions of ‘teaching’ and that of ‘learning’, obviously expressing preferences to the later for its more in-depth effect on the learner. One of the main learner-centric approaches providing adequate positive results is problem based learning (PBL). This paper revisits the pedagogic theory behind PBL and examines it through a practical case study of a TeaM challenge game [TeaM challenge games: http://kihivas.ini.hu] with respect to its value in teacher education. It will concentrate on issues centred around:

• Traces of use of higher order thinking skills—according to Bloom’s taxonomy.
• Pedagogic pre-assumptions (designer’s side): requirements for design and supposed impact of students and teachers.
• Assignment within teacher training (training side): as the task of setting up such game is performed within Informatics teacher training at ELTE University and games were launched into public education.
• Pedagogic realities (facilitator’s side): how the teachers at a specific participant school viewed their role, the game, its impact and pedagogic value, its role in fulfilling the National Curriculum and its benefit for students.
• Indirect impact (staff’s side): how the game has affected the whole staff at school and what impact it had of the attitude of teachers.
• Results (evaluator’s side): how the game was evaluated in several ways and what new methods it has introduced into public education.

     

Reconsidering the technologies of intellectual inquiry in curriculum design

This paper reports on the design and delivery of classroom pedagogies and students’ engagement with it in two different UK universities. Under the banner of curriculum design and Bourdieu's curriculum principles, the study set out to create modules that provided students with an interdisciplinary perspective on how the web is changing the way citizens live, interact and learn. Focusing on the idea that the web is becoming a tool of intellectual inquiry and an instrument of reproduction of knowledge inequality, the goal of this research was to transform knowledge practices by encouraging a learning habitus that relies on knowing how to learn rather than becoming ‘knowledgeable.’

The paper concludes that the Bourdieuian perspective on curriculum design still holds currency in the digital age, given that it shares an epistemology of practice similar to that advocated by a digital participatory culture. We also offer a critique to our approach, using Bourdieu's logic of practice to examine how education as a field displays (hidden) rules that students embody as their learning habitus. As students’ learning practices become doxified through their educational trajectories, learners find it difficult to engage with a curriculum that aims to diversify pedagogical structures and reflect a changing society.     

Experience is Not The Whole Story: The Integral Role of the Situation in Dewey's Democracy and Education

The central objective of Dewey's Democracy and Education is to explain ‘what is needed to live a meaningful life and how can education contribute?’ While most acquainted with Dewey's educational philosophy know that ‘experience’ plays a central role, the role of ‘situations’ may be less familiar or understood. This essay explains why ‘situation’ is inseparable from ‘experience’ and deeply important to Democracy and Education’s educational methods and rationales. First, a prefatory section explores how experience is invoked and involved in pedagogical practice, especially experience insofar as it is (a) experimental, (b) direct, and (c) social‐moral in character. The second and main section on situations follows. After a brief introduction to Dewey's special philosophical use of ‘situation’, I examine how situations are implicated in (a) student interest and motivation; (b) ‘aims’ and ‘criteria’ in problem‐solving; and (c) moral education (habits, values, and judgements). What should become abundantly clear from these examinations is that there could be no such thing as meaningful education, as Dewey understood it, without educators’ conscious, intentional, and imaginative deployment of experience and situations.     

How do you teach learning?

The question ‘How do you teach ‘learning'?’ is located within the domain of professional adult education practice and is dealt with through a series of ‘stock‐taking’ moves through the field of practice. First, we offer a high‐level overview of standard answers to the question imbedded in contemporary educational practice. Second, we examine the adult education case in particular, focussing on the peculiarly idealised role the ‘adult learner’ has come to assume in international practitioner discourse. Third, we narrow the focus sharply to present a brief case‐study of our own attempts to teach ‘learning’ within the Advanced Diploma Course for Educators of Adults at the University of Cape Town. Finally, we attempt to clarify our present assumptions about the requirements of a ‘curriculum for learning’. (1) 1. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Kenton Educational Conference, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, in November 1992.

     

Reproducing peace? A CRT analysis of Whiteness in the curriculum and teaching at a University of The UN

Peace and conflict studies (PACS) higher education is a blossoming field. Literature (both conceptual and conjectural) and research (theoretical and empirical) has proliferated in recent decades. This paper details case findings from an ethnographic study with university-based PACS educators completed at one University of The United Nations in 2015. The six-month ethnography involved document analysis, participant observation, and semi-structured interviews with 25 peace scholars and 108 postgraduate students. Data was thematically coded and analyzed using concepts from critical race/critical Whiteness studies. This paper outlines the study and explores the theme of Whiteness that emerged from data. Findings point toward the cultural reproduction of Whiteness in the faculty, pedagogy, and institution. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications concerning global equity and ‘post-structural violence’ in PACS education, as well as a call for further research into the role of peacebuilding education in broader social change.     

All welcome! Everyone belongs!: Leadership from voices seldom heard

Two basic points are made in this article:

-We must make a choice whether we ‘isolate’ people from or ‘include’ people in our communities. Including people is the only viable option.

-The key to ‘including’ people is with the very people we most often label as ‘the problems’. These ‘problem people’ can help generate answers when we learn how to listen, and when we offer genuine learning opportunities and valid partnerships with those who have been ‘missed’ and discarded.

Examples from various Frontier College programs illustrate these points and elaborate the central philosophy of the College (Student Centred Individualized Learning — SCIL), which is based on the beliefs that:

-All are welcome

-All belong

-All can learn

-All have contributions to make

The programmes are focused on ‘literacy’, which is a great deal more than reading and writing — it is about what kind of society we want. Literacy is a tool for ‘inclusion’ in communities. It is hard work, and includes love and tears, grief and joy, families and friends. It is based on the Right to Learn, and builds dignity, self esteem and choices.     

Adult numeracy and the totally pedagogised society: PIAAC and other international surveys in the context of global educational policy on lifelong learning

This paper aims to discuss the emergence, form and likely effects of international surveys of adults’ skills by locating them in the global context of policies on education and Life Long Learning (LLL). It focuses on adults’ numeracy and discusses its conceptualisation and assessment in the Project for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), which is the most recent survey. Drawing on critical theoretical resources about new forms of governance in education and transformations in the pedagogic discourse, the paper further substantiates existing critiques of global policy trends, namely that they are motivated by human capital approaches to education and LLL. In particular, we show that the apparently commonsensical appeal of evaluative instruments like PISA and PIAAC is based on a competency model of knowledge, which embodies a narrow notion of competence. Relatedly, the notional curricula promoted by such surveys potentially articulate a more radical idea of LLL, captured by Bernstein’s conception of trainability as the mode of socialisation into a Totally Pedagogised Society. The paper presents a dual approach to understanding international adult performance surveys in general—in that, besides deploying the theoretical resources already indicated, it also raises a number of methodological issues relevant to the valid interpretation of these studies’ results. Ultimately, it argues for the importance of mobilising resources from critical educational perspectives to support the development of potentially powerful knowledge like numeracy and to prevent its being reduced to a narrow competency.