Expressions of Liberal Justice? Examining the Aims of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for Education

This paper analyzes the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for education, which sets benchmarks for member states to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong opportunities for all” by the year 2030. I examine ways in which the underlying philosophical rationale for the targets invokes a liberal social justice tradition along the lines of four rationales: equal distribution, just recognition, moralism, and utilitarianism. An analysis of the SDG education targets along each of these views is followed by a discussion of some of the challenges and contradictions inherent in applying a liberal social justice rationale to the achievement of education for all in a global setting. From this analysis, I suggest that while liberalism has provided a compelling rationale to harness public and political will around the claims of equality and democracy in the West, it has not proved adequate to informing the emergence of the kinds of education needed for social and economic justice and transformation on a global scale. Education scholars may well consider an epistemological “shift” that informs a vision of society and human nature reflective of the interconnectedness of a complex world-wide community.     

On Teacher＇s Ideal Way of Teaching under the Background of Basic Education Curriculum Reform

在基础教育课程改革的过程中,通过唤醒教师的心灵,使教师寻求到一种本真的教学方式,并在志同道合的共同体中得到完善和提高,是实现基础教育课程改革目标的重要途径之一。     

The Effects of ‘Falling Rolls’ on the 16–19 Curriculum

This article offers a critique of the concept of ownership central to contemporary theorising about professional development in education. The theorising was tested against data from a national programme of professional development projects for 185 primary headteachers, in which a strong sense of ownership had been embedded. In four areas, i.e. the focus of the projects, funding priorities, capacity building and impact on pupils, the theory appeared to be paradoxical. The concluding discussion examines some explanations for the paradoxes, including the possibility that theorising has developed ahead of empirical data and that pragmatism has high salience for headteachers.     

John Wilson’s confused ‘Perspectives on the Philosophy of Education’

In his ‘Perspectives on the Philosophy of Education’ John Wilson laments the confusion that surrounds the current state of the philosophy of education. Unlike other branches of philosophy, he claims, it is not clear what the philosophy of education is about, and a snapshot of current work in the field reveals its lack of coherence. To remedy this he advocates starting ‘from scratch’: the philosophy of education is to be understood as a discipline concerned with the logic of value judgements and focused on questions of learning. While the present paper acknowledges the extent of Wilson’s contribution to the field, it draws attention to the confusion in the position that he holds, and shows that his assessment of the current state of the philosophy of education is both inaccurate and politically blinkered. In the process, the paper challenges his account of the philosophy of education as a branch of philosophy and offers a more coherent characterisation.     

Education in the interregnum: an evaluation of Zygmunt Bauman’s liquid-turn writing on education

In his liquid-turn writings, Zygmunt Bauman has come to identify liquid modernity as a period of interregnum. Education has a central role to play within the contemporary interregnum by opening up a new public sphere for dialogue. However, the processes of liquefaction manifest themselves in conditions that severely limit a person’s ability to exercise their human agency. Bauman provides no indication of how the educators can escape the processes that limit agency, nor does he explain how educators can combat the seductive consumerism that students need to overcome before they can engage in a reconstruction of the public sphere.     

Development of the Physical Educators’ Judgments about Inclusion Instrument for Japanese Physical Education Majors and an Analysis of their Judgments

The purpose of this study was to assess the validity and reliability of the Physical Educators’ Judgments about Inclusion (PEJI) survey for analysing the judgments of Japanese (361 male, 170 female) physical education teacher education majors. A secondary purpose was to examine group differences in judgments as a function of gender and past experiences. Data were collected and psychometrical properties of the PEJI were assessed using a maximum-likelihood extraction method. Confirmatory factor analysis resulted in salient loadings for all items on three hypothesised dimensions, resulting in 47% explained variance for measuring judgments about: Inclusion versus Exclusion, Acceptance of Students with Disabilities, and Perceived Training Needs. Supported by the three interpretable factors that emerged, construct validity evidence is presented. Although most of the physical education teacher education majors sampled had yet to teach students with disabilities, they had formed preliminary judgments about doing so.     

Freedom’s Children: A Gender Perspective on the Education of the Learner-Citizen

Drawing on Ulrich Beck’s theory of “freedom’s children”, the present contribution examines contemporary concerns about educating young people for citizenship as well as educating them about citizenship. Under the first theme, the author focuses on the citizen as learner, highlighting some of the gender- and class-related inequalities that are typically associated with individualisation. Under the second theme, she looks at the learner as citizen in view of the fact that citizenship education courses often prepare learners for a gender-divided world – even though the processes of individualisation have themselves significantly reshaped contemporary gender relations. In light of current challenges facing citizenship education, the study concludes by reflecting on gender-related dimensions of individualisation and their implications for democracy and the learner-citizen.

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Zusammenfassung DIE KINDER DER FREIHEIT: EINE GESCHLECHTSBEZOGENE PERSPEKTIVE AUF DIE BILDUNG DES LERNENDEN BüRGERS – Indem er sich auf Ulrich Becks Theorie der ,,Kinder der Freiheit“ stützt, untersucht der vorliegende Beitrag zeitgen?ssische Bemühungen, junge Menschen sowohl zur Staatsbürgerschaft hin zu erziehen als auch sie über die Staatsbürgerschaft zu belehren. Unter der ersten überschrift konzentriert sich die Autorin auf den Bürger als Lernenden, indem sie einige der geschlechts- und klassenspezifischen Ungleichheiten betont, die typischerweise mit der Individualisierung verbunden werden. Unter der zweiten überschrift wirft sie einen Blick auf den Lernenden als Bürger, und zwar unter Berücksichtigung der Tatsache, dass Lernende in Kursen für staatsbürgerliche Erziehung h?ufig auf eine Welt vorbereitet werden, die nach Geschlechtern getrennt ist – auch wenn die Prozesse der Individualisierung ihrerseits die gegenw?rtigen Beziehungen zwischen den Geschlechtern in bedeutender Weise umgeformt haben. Im Licht aktueller Herausforderungen, mit denen die staatsbürgerliche Erziehung konfrontiert ist, schlie?t die Untersuchung, indem sie über die geschlechtspezifischen Ausma?e der Individualisierung und ihre Implikationen für die Demokratie sowie den Bürger als Lernenden reflektiert.

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Resumen HIJOS DE LA LIBERTAD: LA PERSPECTIVA DE GéNERO EN LA EDUCACIóN DE LOS CIUDADANOS – Haciendo referencia a la teoría de Ulrich Beck contenida en su libro Hijos de la libertad, esta contribución examina asuntos de relevancia actual relacionados con la educación de las personas jóvenes para la ciudadanía y sobre la ciudadanía. Bajo el primer aspecto, la autora se concentra en el ciudadano como alumno, realzando algunas de las desigualdades de género y de clases, típicamente relacionadas con la individualización. Bajo el segundo aspecto, la autora enfoca al alumno como ciudadano, en vista del hecho de que los cursos sobre ciudadanía muchas veces preparan a los educandos para un mundo dividido en géneros, pese a que los procesos de individualización les hayan deparado unas relaciones entre los géneros sustancialmente remodeladas. A la luz de los retos que actualmente debe afrontar la educación ciudadana, el estudio termina con una reflexión sobre las dimensiones de la individualización en cuanto a su relación con los géneros y a los efectos que pueden tener para la democracia y los ciudadanos en formación.

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Résumé LES ENFANTS DE LA LIBERTé : UNE PERSPECTIVE SEXUELLE SUR L’éDUCATION DE L’ APPRENANT-CITOYEN – Partant de la théorie d’Ulrich Beck sur les ? enfants de la liberté ?, la présente contribution examine les préoccupations contemporaines à propos de l’éducation des jeunes gens à la citoyenneté et autour de la citoyenneté. Quant au premier thème, l’auteur se concentre sur le citoyen en tant qu’apprenant, mettant sur le devant de la scène certaines des inégalités relatives aux différences de sexe et de classes sociales qui sont associées de fa?on typique à l’individualisation. Avec le deuxième thème, elle se tourne vers l’apprenant en tant que citoyen eu égard au fait que les cours d’éducation à la citoyenneté préparent souvent les apprenants à un monde divisé en sexes différents – même si les processus d’individualisation ont eux-mêmes refa?onné significativement les relations contemporaines en matière de différences sexuelles. Au vu des défis actuels face à l’éducation à la citoyenneté, l’étude conclut sur une réflexion sur les dimensions relatives à la différence de sexe de l’individualisation et leurs implications pour la démocratie et l’apprenant citoyen.

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The author: Madeleine Arnot received her MA from Edinburgh University and PhD from the Open University. She is Professor in Sociology of Education and is Professorial Fellow at Jesus College at Cambridge University. She has acted as a gender expert for the Council of Europe, an international consultant for the UNESCO Education for All: Gender Monitoring Project and on equal opportunities policies. Her work has involved projects on women and citizenship, pupil consultation, gender-education policy and refugee and asylum-seeker children’s education. Contact address: Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, 184 Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2PQ, UK. E-mail: mma1000@cam.ac.uk.     

Effects of the use of raised line drawings on blind people’s cognition

The creation of inclusive schools is no simple process as it implies huge changes that might generate resistance and fears, which can undermine the process of change. Quite often the changes in the legislation do not correspond to changes in the conceptions and/or practices of the actors involved in the process. As such, it is important to study what is happening in schools and to understand how they are managing to implement the political changes and overcome the tensions and difficulties they face. This is a comparative case study, aimed at describing five mainstream school teachers, their beliefs and practices, and how these are related to other schooling conditions. This study raises some questions, namely about the importance of an adequate regular school teacher support and an adequate education.     

What Are the Goals of Kindergarten? Teachers’ Beliefs and Their Perceptions of the Beliefs of Parents and of Agents of the Education System

Research Findings: The study examined the beliefs of kindergarten teachers (K-teachers) regarding the goals of kindergarten. We asked K-teachers to reflect on their own beliefs, their understanding of parents’ beliefs, and their understanding of the beliefs that guide agents of the education system. We further examined differences between K-teachers based on the type of kindergarten in which they worked (religious or secular) and the socioeconomic status of children’s families (middle-high or middle-low). A total of 120 K-teachers responded to closed questionnaires, and 12 teachers also participated in a semistructured interview. The results revealed an incongruence between K-teachers’ perspectives and their understanding of the positions of parents and of agents of the education system. K-teachers evaluated fostering children’s positive self-esteem as the most important goal and promoting literacy and mathematics skills as the least important. They believed, however, that parents and agents of the education system regard children’s advancement in literacy and mathematics skills as the most important goal. Practice or Policy: Recognizing this incongruence facilitates understanding of the rationale behind K-teachers’ actions and their relationships with parents and professional partners. It enables identification of topics that need to be addressed by the professional education community in order to create a dialogue among K-teachers, families, and policymakers.     

Being a Stranger and the Strangeness of Being: Joseph Conrad’s ‘The secret sharer’ as an allegory of being in education

Abstract

Joseph Conrad’s ‘The secret sharer’ has often been associated with what can be called initiation stories. However, in this article I argue that Conrad’s text is more than that. It can, I suggest, be read as an allegory of the inaccessibility to reveal the essence of being in command, being in education, and also the inaccessibility of the essence of the meaning of the text itself. It keeps its secret by allegorically staging alternative readings. This inaccessibility gives rise to a feeling of strangeness, of the uncanny, that must be faced in order to pass through the initiation into the unknown that all the possible allegorical meanings of the text produce. In other words, ‘The secret sharer’ has an educational value that goes beyond the act of merely using it to exemplify a certain type of initiation. In this way I connect Conrad’s text to the themes of strangeness and the stranger and show how they mutually can involve a reading of education and literature as two distinct discourses of learning.     

A historical reconsideration of the work of the National Society for the Study of Education’s Committee on Curriculum-Making

Historical representations of the National Society for the Study of Education’s Committee on Curriculum-Making typically recount that the purpose of the committee was to assemble representatives from competing curriculum camps to achieve consensus on curriculum principles, depict the committee’s work as important, cast doubt on the consensus the committee achieved, overlook the principles proposed by the committee and ignore its call for deliberation. A historical reconstruction of the committee’s work in the USA during the 1920s reveals that the purpose of the committee changed from reviewing research to prescribing techniques and finally to proposing general curriculum principles, with the aim of fostering deliberation among curriculum workers. A review of the US curriculum literature reveals that, after some initial attention, the Twenty-Sixth Yearbook fell into relative obscurity, but was rediscovered in the 1960s. A new analysis of the committee members’ supplementary statements argues that the committee indeed achieved consensus on foundational curriculum principles. As a historical document, the yearbook represents the coalescence of curriculum development as a professional field in the USA during in the 1920s. As a repository of professional knowledge, the General Statement remains pertinent to curriculum reform in the twenty-first century.     

Philosophically Rooted Educational Authenticity as a Normative Ideal for Education: Is the International Baccalaureate’s Primary Years Programme an example of an authentic curriculum?

Whereas the importance of authenticity in relation to educational contexts has been highlighted, educational authenticity (EA) has mainly referred to a real-life/world convergence or the notion of teacher authenticity, implying that authenticity can be taught and learnt. This view, however, has largely overlooked philosophical considerations so that the semantic and ontological vagueness surrounding authenticity has generated an uneven dialectic between the term’s potential significance and its actual relevance for the educational field. This article aims to move closer towards an understanding of philosophically grounded EA as a normative ideal for education. It discusses three contemporary philosophical models of authenticity and how they relate to the multicultural dimension of the International Baccalaureate’s Primary Years Programme. I will argue that by extrapolating common features of these theories, EA bears significant potential for contemporary education as it combines the importance of civic engagement, preparation for political involvement, and co-construction of knowledge and offers a fresh rationale for student involvement in curriculum planning.     

Assessing the Implicit Curriculum in Social Work Education: Heterogeneity of Students’ Experiences and Impact on Professional Empowerment

The implicit curriculum, which refers to a student’s learning environment, has been described as an essential feature of an integrated professional social work curriculum. Very little is known, however, about the heterogeneity of students’ experiences with the implicit curriculum, how this heterogeneity may be distributed across groups of students, and how it may impact students’ professional empowerment. This study used latent profile analysis to identify groups of students based on their experiences with the implicit curriculum in school and field contexts, and it examined differences between profile groups on measures of professional empowerment. Study participants (n = 534) were undergraduate and graduate students of a large school of social work in the northeast. Results revealed that four groups of students could be identified based on their experiences with the implicit curriculum: students who experienced (a) positive school and field environments, (b) positive school but negative field environments, (c) negative school but positive field environments, and (d) negative school and field environments. Profile groups differed significantly on measures of professional empowerment. Implications and directions for future work are discussed.     

Effects of the Problem-Posing Approach on Students’ Problem Solving Skills and Metacognitive Awareness in Science Education

Research in Science Education - The interrelationship between mathematics and science education has frequently been emphasized, and common goals and approaches have often been adopted between...     

The 'Gender Dimension' of both the 'Narrow' and 'Broad' Curriculum in UK Higher Education: Do women lose out in both?

This article draws on data from a qualitative research study undertaken in an old UK university. The main aim of the study was to measure the impact of gender issues on the university campus, an important part of which was the issue of the curriculum. Individuals were found to operate either a 'narrow' or 'broad' definition of the term 'curriculum'. In either case, there was found to be a 'gender dimension' involved. In male-dominated disciplines a 'narrow' definition of the term 'curriculum' was predominantly in use-appropriate discipline content and an unproblematic body of knowledge, which is to be transferred to students largely by lecturing. The difficulties to be overcome in order to undertake a gender-sensitive evaluation of the curriculum in these departments stemmed from the evaluations of the staff of what the problem was and where it was located. In disciplines that accepted a broader definition, which included the 'informal' curriculum, the gendered division of labour in the domestic sphere was repeated in the university, with the result that the division 'rational/emotional' became an aspect of the masculine/feminine divide. Men as well as women felt that men were less inclined to undertake the emotion work involved in supporting student learning. In this male-dominated society, 'emotion work' such as the pastoral support of students remained virtually invisible, and went largely unrewarded.