Thinking/acting locally/globally: Western science and environmental education in a global knowledge economy

This paper critically appraises a number of approaches to 'thinking globally' in environmental education, with particular reference to popular assumptions about the universal applicability of Western science. Although the transnational character of many environmental issues demands that we 'think globally', I argue that the contribution of Western science to understanding and resolving environmental problems might be enhanced by seeing it as one among many local knowledge traditions. The production of a 'global knowledge economy' in/for environmental education can then be understood as creating transnational 'spaces' in which local knowledge traditions can be performed together, rather than as creating a 'common market' in which representations of local knowledge must be translated into (or exchanged for) the terms of a universal discourse.     

Engineering education - finding the centre or 'back to the future'

In this paper I attempt to list the body of knowledge and skills which future young engineers will need and how such knowledge and skills can best be transferred to students during the engineering education process. The educational environment should stimulate students and encourage them to develop the capacity for lifelong learning as a preparation for tackling the unknown problems which will occur in future decades. The formation of an engineer should comprise both education and practice. Some of the problems facing higher education today are discussed and some ideas for cross-border harmonization of engineering education are given. Finally, there is a brief comparison of today's current ideas on engineering study programmes and the course that I followed more than 50 years ago.     

Philosophical education and cultural relevance: discipline-affirmation in the context of the knowledge economy

The following paper proposes a discipline-affirming response to the challenge facing higher education in the context of the knowledge economy. It resists the drive to reduce the value of a humanities based education to the mere production of skills and instead affirms the substantial body of knowledge of specific disciplines. It uses as its model the degree programme in Philosophical Studies at Newcastle University in order to show how a discipline-affirming approach to learning has the advantage of not only developing and making students aware of educational skills that can contribute to the knowledge economy, but doing so without downgrading the worth of the knowledge and concepts of the students' discipline. The aim of the present paper is to demonstrate that a learner involved in a personalised, object-based project will not view the acquisition of knowledge as merely a means to an end and also be able to communicate the value of the knowledge gained to laypeople.     

Technological Risk,Scientific Advice and Public 'Education': Groping for an adequate language in the case of GM foods

Knowledge is central to both education and sustainability. This article examines a current example of rapid shifts in knowledge and perceptions in education and learning about sustainability in civil society. Through the lens of the public outcry and policy crisis over genetically modified foods in the UK, it points to some major recurring difficulties with policy models of 'public education' used in cases of technological risk. These reveal entrenched policy presumptions that the general public is ignorant about scientific matters and that this ignorance can simply be addressed by better communication. It notes the challenges to these models that have been presented in particular by a group of environmental social scientists in rethinking the politics of GM food in the context of sustainability. It proposes that the term 'ignorance' is one that needs to be applied to the task of risk assessment as much as to the public, and that more inclusive styles of decision making on risk issues are not only more democratic but also more scientifically robust. With innovation occurring at an ever increasing rate, the understanding and management of technological risk will continue to become more important. The knowledge, learning and education involved will be key survival skills if we are to implement sustainability.     

Popular knowledge and academic knowledge in the Brasilian peasants' struggle for land

This article discusses the inter-relationship between popular knowledge and academic knowledge in the context of mathematics education. The author, based on her field research with groups from the Brazilian Landless People's Movement, analysed the political dimensions of an education project which seeks to investigate the traditions, practices and mathematical concepts of a subordinated social group. She then goes on to analyse the pedagogical work which was developed in order for the group to be able to interpret and decode its knowledge; to acquire the knowledge produced by academic mathematics; and to establish comparisons between its knowledge and academic knowledge, thus being able to analyse the power relations involved in the use of both these kinds of knowledge.     

Citizenship,citizenship education,and the state in China in a global age

Citizenship and citizenship education change during periods of social transition, such as globalization. As globalists have argued, while globalization undermines the state, local institutions, values, cultures, and identities, it also facilitates liberal democracy and a common consumer culture. Citizenship education is urged to respond to globalization and its impact on both global and local communities. In reality, virtually no nation state adopts merely global citizenship; rather, they adopt frameworks of multileveled/multidimensional citizenship. With particular reference to citizenship education in the People's Republic of China (PRC), this paper challenges globalists' views for over‐exaggerating the domination of global forces over domestic ones. In particular, the paper examines the complicated struggles associated with the reconfiguration of the PRC's socialist citizenship and citizenship education that have occurred in response to social changes, including globalization. The paper explains the role of the PRC's state in such reconfiguration and offers a new framework that regards citizenship education as being based on different players' sociopolitical selections from a multileveled polity.     

Governmentality and the Sociology of Education: Media,educational policy and the politics of resentment

This paper argues that theorizations of the state which are sensitive to both its durability and its permeability, and theorizations which can account for the massive interconnections between local and global forces as well as different material and discursive sites are missing from contemporary work in the sociology of education. Drawing on Foucault's notion of 'governmentality' as a key resource for addressing this impasse, the authors highlight the constant fabrication of racial identity through the production of the pure space of racial origins or 'resentment'—the process of defining one's identity through the negation of the other. This dynamic, the article maintains, now informs key discourses both in popular culture and education. The authors conclude that these processes operate in tandem in the prosecution of the politics of racial exclusion in our times, informing key policy debates, including those around affirmative action and bilingual education.     

Democracy,Citizenship and Extra-musical Learning in Two Chinese Communities: Hong Kong and Taiwan

This paper presents a comparative study of extra-musical learning in the music classes of the schools of Hong Kong and Taiwan, where education is geared towards democracy and citizenship at a time of unstable national identity for both communities. Taiwan has been undergoing a process of indigenisation since 1945, whilst Hong Kong's sovereignty was returned to the People's Republic of China after 1 July 1997. This paper argues that the transmission of extra-musical learning is essentially a response to the particular needs of these two Chinese historical-social contexts, which require their music curricula to be securely grounded in the ideology of a culturally based education for 'citizenship'. Despite different approaches to western-based musical knowledge in schools, Hong Kong and Taiwan attempt to promote a sense of national identity and an essentially Confucian set of moral values as a central goal of school music education. The promotion of ethno-cultural nationalism in Taiwan's music education is regarded as a democratic goal for the Taiwanese state, though in practice, the educational systems of both Taiwan and Hong Kong are coloured by the global context.     

Whose knowledge,whose values? the contribution of local knowledge to education policy processes: a case study of research development initiatives in the small state of Saint Lucia

This paper draws upon a case study of education in the small Caribbean state of Saint Lucia (population 154,000) to examine how local knowledge and values can influence the education policy process. It is argued that recent research development initiatives have strengthened the ability of Saint Lucia to mediate international education agendas to suit its distinctive ‘social ecology’ and circumstances as a small state. Saint Lucians, it is argued, are reconceptualizing educational research in ways that better reflect the society's Kwéyòl‐majority culture, oral traditions and postcolonial context. The boundaries of educational research are therefore being stretched to incorporate local knowledge and values and multiple modes of meaning‐making. The paper argues that increased recognition of the epistemological issues and cultural values that are at the heart of efforts to strengthen research capacity can play a crucial role in democratizing the education policy process and educational research itself.     

Viewing international students as state stimulus potential: current perceptions and future possibilities

In this difficult economic climate state policy makers are increasingly focused on higher education as an economic development tool. Many rust belt states are looking to transform themselves from a state dependent on manufacturing and agriculture to a more diverse knowledge based economy. Many nations use higher education as a catalyst for economic development but rarely has it been viewed as a more local state or province based initiative. Therefore, one often overlooked component of an integrated economic strategy is encouraging more international students to attend college in a particular state, as an economic development tool. International students not only add significantly to the local economy through direct expenditures, but enrich the experiences of domestic students. In addition, many international students remain in the community in which they were educated, adding a global dimension to existing firms, or in many cases, establishing a new entrepreneurial venture. As competition for students intensifies, and states look to find solutions to supplement their growing budget deficits, many more will be looking to promote their public universities to increase international student enrollment. Yet little is known about the perceptions of the two groups, international students and domestic students, who will be most directly impacted by the economic and public policy issues. Understanding the perceptions of international students is crucial to developing an effective marketing plan, while views of domestic students are also important as they shape the experiences of international students and influence public policy. The current study utilised a survey of more than 800 students to measure current students' perceptions in the following three areas: the state economy, impact of international students, and public policy and international students. Results suggest that domestic students are concerned about the state's economic future, have a positive perception of the economic benefits of international students, and support policies to increase international student enrollment. International students have more positive views of globalization and the positive economic impact of internationalization of education. In addition, international students have a positive perception of their experiences in the state, although many do not, at this time plan to stay in the state after graduation.     

Economic globalization,politico‐cultural identity and university autonomy: the struggle of Tsinghua University in China

A great deal of research has addressed the tension between economic globalization and local cultural identity, and the tension between convergence in global policy objectives and divergence in local practices, but research has not explored the impact of the complex interactions between these tensions on an individual university, especially in relation to university autonomy. This paper attempts to bridge this gap. Based on a case study of Tsinghua University in China, this paper explores the university's role in three interrelated processes: the incorporation of international experience into higher education, in order to respond to economic globalization; the reinforcement of political education, as a means of preserving the state‐prescribed cultural identity; and the quest for autonomy, to facilitate the university's move towards world‐class status. Tensions raised by the interaction of these processes will also be discussed. This paper concludes by applying the concept of ‘glocalization’—i.e., ‘thinking and acting both globally and locally’—as a means of understanding the complex interrelations of global, national, and local factors that inform the translation of global imperatives into local realities in the context of Tsinghua.     

Futuristic Metropolis or Second-rate Port? Adult education in Hong Kong before and after 1997

Despite China's assurances about 'one country, two systems', adult education in Hong Kong is in for some big changes. This paper maps the present adult education landscape, reviews research, posits four scenarios concerning the future and identifies challenges to be faced by adult educators in Hong Kong after 1997. Returning Hong Kong to the bosom of a Maoist, MarxistLeninist state is not necessarily good news for Marxist adult educators. Functionalist orthodoxy will be permitted but those committed to Marxist (critical, emancipatory) approaches to adult education will be in jeopardy because of laws about subversion. Adult education is shaped by the context in which it occurs and what happens to critical adult educators in Hong Kong after 1997 will signal the extent to which ''one country, two systems'' is reality or illusion.     

Virtue Epistemology and the Philosophy of Education

This article initially provides a brief overview of virtue epistemology; it thereafter considers some possible ramifications of this branch of the theory of knowledge for the philosophy of education. The main features of three different manifestations of virtue epistemology are first explained. Importantly, it is then maintained that developments in virtue epistemology may offer the resources to critique aspects of the debate between Hirst and Carr about how the philosophy of education ought to be carried out and by whom. Wilfred Carr's position—that educational practitioners have privileged access to philosophical knowledge about teaching practice—will in particular be questioned. It will be argued that Carr's view rests on a form of epistemology, internalism, which places unreasonably narrow restrictions upon the range of actors and ways, in which philosophical knowledge of and/or for education might be achieved. In declaring that practical wisdom regarding teaching is ‘entirely dependent’ on practitioner reflection, Carr not only radically deviates from Aristotle's notion of practical wisdom, he also, in effect, renders redundant all philosophical research about education that is not initiated by teachers in this manner. It is concluded that Aristotle's general approach to acquiring information and knowledge about the world might yet still offer a foundation for a more comprehensive philosophy of education; one that makes clear that the professional testimony and reflection of teachers, observation of teaching practice, and already existing educational philosophy, theory and policy can all be perceived as potentially valuable sources of philosophical knowledge of and for education.     

Knowledge Assessment of Food Safety Managers in Utah and Its Implications on the Exam and Instruction

ABSTRACT: Food Safety Manager's Certification is offered through a state‐local Extension partnership in Utah using an online course management system. Exams and course materials were created by an Extension Specialist at Utah State Univ. Extension Agents provide exam and curriculum facilitation in each county. This form of distance education enables access for students in all 29 Utah counties. All 454 students (Jan 2008–Mar 2009) successfully passed the food safety managers exam in 1 or 2 attempts and received certification. Twenty‐nine percent of those taking the exam received certification without accessing any of the course materials. The overall passing exam score mean was 82%. When combining both passing and failing exam attempts, the students' mean was 79%. The students' mean of the lower 25% was only 65%. When evaluating the 7 food safety knowledge domains, students' means were highest in personal hygiene and lowest in facility, equipment, and layout. The lower 25% of students failed to score 70% in 6 of 7 food safety knowledge domains. The English course materials were provided in 3 options where students could select 1 or more: online, textbook, and DVD. For students who chose to access educational materials 67% used online learning, 40% textbooks, and 10% DVDs as part of their study options. Extension Agent feedback on Hispanic students enrolled in the program indicates a need for Spanish language study materials. Overall, the Utah Food Safety Managers program demonstrates a successful state‐local Food Science Extension approach to distance education, online curricula, and the use of computers to facilitate testing and learning.     

Academia and community action: actionaid,a community-based united kingdom parents' project

A fundamental challenge for research in the twenty-first century may necessitate consideration of the extent to which the goals and aspirations of research includes a renewed commitment to combining the knowledge and experience of the research community, the educational practitioner community and local communities. A cohesive triangular alliance is conceptualised, which takes account of the epistemological variation in these triple communities. The challenge is to forge collaborative relationships with links that provide support for new constructions of knowledge, rather than chains that may act as a restriction to innovatory and potentially constructive connections. This article investigates the potential for fresh links between the ‘community triangle’ of research, education and local communities with reference to ‘Actionaid’, a case study of a community-based parents' project, arising in conjunction with a doctoral study, combining the writer's academic and research knowledge, community based knowledge, education practitioner knowledge as well as her cultural knowledge and understanding as an African Caribbean woman. In describing this study the researcher will draw attention to questions surrounding ‘positionality’ and professionalism, in particular their impact on the development of knowledge formulations, which encompass methodological, professional and community credibility across the three communities     

A New Disciplinarity: Communities of knowledge,learning and practice

The welcome new attention paid to subject teaching should have bridged the old divide between pedagogical and disciplinary research. But this paper argues that the focus on subject, rather than disciplinary communities is part of the commodification of higher education; that what is needed to re-energise both teachers and students is an inclusive new model of disciplinary education based on an engaged community's processes and practices. Each discipline, it is proposed, will model differently its practices, knowledge creation and dissemination, its writing, its community. The model may change received ideas about the focus and central concerns of the discipline, and in modelling disciplinary learning will change teaching and assessment. The model will be discipline specific and, as such, will resist generic and imposed 'skills and outcomes' frameworks. Evolving out of practice, rather than an external agenda, it should link disciplinary and pedagogical research so that they are mutually informing and transforming.     

Outcomes‐based Education in South African Curricular Reform: a response to Jonathan Jansen

An ‘outcomes‐based education’ (OBE) underlies South Africa's proposed new Curriculum 2005, one of the current government's initiatives to address the legacy of apartheid education. This response to Jonathan Jansen's critical analysis of OBE (Cambridge Journal of Education, 1998, 28, pp. 321‐331) contextualises the shift to an outcomes‐based education within an epistemological framework, drawing on Ryle's distinction between propositional and procedural knowledge. Curriculum 2005 as currently conceived lays a disproportionally heavy emphasis on procedural knowledge. The paper proposes that a less radical version of OBE, in which teachers integrate thoughtfully propositional, procedural and dispositional knowledge, will better address apartheid education's legacy     

Federal,Professional, and Public Struggles Over the School Curriculum

At the 2005 meeting of the American Educational Research Association in Montreal, I was among a group of scholars invited to discuss the state of curriculum studies. Other discussants included Michael Apple, Beverly Gordon, Craig Kridel, Janet Miller, and the organiser of the session, Barry Franklin. All of us concurred that the influence of curriculum studies in the United States is waning, even though the field has much to offer in present considerations of the knowledge that schools should teach; how it should be organised and distributed; and who, in a culture that aspires to democracy, should decide these issues. We differed in how we explained the field's shrinking influence and the action that might be taken to enhance its influence. What follows is my contribution to the discussion—a case of the United States. Read comparatively, it may shed light on struggles over curriculum in other locales. Wherever education is pursued on a societal scale, the administrative support of the state is required, yet the state's role is always problematic because it will entail not only administrative means but substantive goals (Dewey, 1935/1940). Accordingly, a persistent question will centre on the circumstances in which the state subordinates education to nationalistic or narrowly individualistic purposes that circumscribe human connections at home and abroad and the circumstances in which the state supports education that liberates individual capacities for human betterment because one's personal fate is linked inextricably to the fates of one's neighbours. This kind of question, particular and comparative, locates inquiry about the proper role of the state in education in inquiry about the present character of a society and the character to which it aspires. As Dewey (1916/1944) noted, education's purpose "has no definite meaning until we define the kind of society we have in mind" (p. 97).     

Towards an environmental education without scientific knowledge: an attempt to create an action model based on children's experiences,emotions and perceptions about their environment

The paper presents an alternative approach to environmental education which focuses on children's ideas and action rather than scientific knowledge. The approach is based on children's willingness and ability to act and participate in their community and environment. The paper contributes to the development of an alternative pedagogical proposition for environmental education that is inspired by critical education. The proposed action model has emerged from a one‐year qualitative, participatory research in a pilot primary school in Athens, with the active engagement of 60 children, aged 9–12. The action model describes a path from denial of action to willingness for action. It can be used to encourage children to become involved in their environment and community and to feel strong and confident to act.     

Why ontology matters to reviewing environmental education research

This paper responds to a keynote paper presented by William Scott at the 2007 World Environmental Education Congress held in Durban, South Africa. The keynote address reviewed 30 years of environmental education research. In this response to William Scott's paper I contemplate the way in which environmental education research may enable reflexivity in modernity and develop knowledge that can serve as cultural mediator between individual and society. Through emphasizing ontology, I consider the reality of global knowledge production in relation to the way in which ontology may influence the reasons how and why we come to do particular forms of research, providing an ontological reference for the ever‐expanding pluralism that characterizes the field of environmental education research. The paper comments on various aspects of the Scott paper, but presents an argument for not only valuing pluralism, methodological experimentation and ‘reaching out’, but for embracing the cosmopolitan implications of wider ontological referents of environmental concerns in environmental education research. The paper argues that research in environmental education ought to become ontologically defensible at both local and global scales.