Catholic women teachers and Scottish education in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

Catholics remained outside the Scottish educational system until 1918. The Church preferred mixed‐sex infant schools and either single‐sex schools or separate departments. In small towns and rural areas the schools were mixed‐sex. Women were considered naturally best suited to teach infants and girls, but even in boys' schools, female assistants were increasingly employed in the later Victorian period. Female religious orders were crucial for developing Catholic education in larger urban centres, but by 1918 only 4% of Scotland's Catholic schoolteachers were members of religious orders. Lay women quickly became numerically predominant in elementary education and were key to implementing the Church's strategy to enhance the respectability of a largely immigrant community through separate schools. It is the contention here that the part played by lay women in Catholic schooling needs to be considered to reflect more widely on the place of women in Scottish education.     

Universities,medical education and women: Birmingham in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

Examining the evolution of medical education for women in a major city, this paper details the combination of private and public initiative, and the role of nonconformist denominational networks in Birmingham, one of the largest industrial and commercial centres of the British Empire. From the 1880s women gradually gained access to both higher education and professional training in medicine. This was necessarily underpinned by the growth of school science for girls. In this, the role of the new endowed and proprietary schools for girls was very significant in Birmingham but that of the School Board and LEA was also important, not least in demonstrating class and gendered attitudes in education and medicine. In theory from the 1880s and 1890s it was possible even for girls from elementary schools to proceed by way of scholarship both to secondary school and to university. Such educational opportunities expanded in early twentieth-century Birmingham yet always remained slimmer for girls. From 1900 the new university ostensibly gave equal rights to women in medical education as in all other studies. The university itself had grown out of local interests and patronage and saw itself as serving the local community. Birmingham’s liberal leaders believed in scientific education and social reform, including greater equality between the sexes, although contemporary cultural and social currents could militate against such high aspirations. Nevertheless, the university did take a lead in opening up medicine to women, allowing participation in professional life, for some at the highest levels, and serving the local city and regional community.     

Languages,script and national identity: struggles over linguistic heterogeneity in Switzerland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

For centuries, Switzerland has been a multilingual country (which currently has no less than four official languages.) Furthermore, one of those languages, German, is characterised by bigraphism (i.e. the coexistence of two different type styles). This article discusses the role played by language and writing systems in the great educational scheme that was designed to create a shared national identity among Swiss people – despite the friction caused by cantonal and local idiosyncrasies, different cultural backgrounds, and deep-rooted traditions. It focuses on the timespan from the mid-nineteenth century to the end of the First World War, a period during which nation-states were formed all over Europe. The findings show how language and writing systems were intertwined with local, cantonal and national identities in a state (Switzerland) that had no uniform national language. It was through the use of language and writing that ideas of ‘us’ (herein, the Swiss) and ‘others’ (herein, the non-Swiss) were constructed, disseminated and perpetuated.     

Blurring boundaries, distant companions: non-kin female caregivers for children in colonial India (nineteenth and twentieth centuries)

This paper examines the history of child-care by non-kin, “non-family” members and their representations in colonial India. It focuses primarily on Bengal and relies on several genres of literary documents. Bengal harboured the seat of the British imperial capital in the city of Calcutta until 1911 and its culture was shaped in unique ways compared with other Indian cities. Based on a reading of select literary documents such as European advice manuals and Bengali personal narratives, the paper argues that the relationship between caregivers and children in colonial households attests to the building of new ties and deep ambiguous, multi-dimensional relationships with non-kin members thereby revealing the plasticity of Indian families where sociocultural boundaries were blurred and intimate relationships forged. Beginning with the literary representation of a wet-nurse in Mahasweta Devi's short story Breast-Giver, the paper delves into the world of European and Indian accounts to recuperate the history of the caregivers. It demonstrates that despite the emphasis of recent scholars that the construction of a respectable middle-class identity was based on a sharp distinction from lower social groups, such as working women and prostitutes, the history of child-care by hired domestics reveals the sharing of a common world by different caste-class groups and the interpenetration of the two domains of culture.     

Education as Citizenship: Appropriating a new social space

This article presents a reflection on teaching and curriculum which promotes citizenship education and raises the issue of the purpose of higher education. I embrace a concept of education as action and reflection upon a world in order to change it - or as bell hooks calls it, education as a practice of freedom. I argue for the need to conceptualise students first as citizens, then as employable graduates. My experience involved a shift in focus from what is taught and an emphasis on examinations and essays, to how and what students learn and the process of learning. The article argues, however, that teaching and learning which attempts to balance tensions between values of the market-place and values of education as a practice of citizenship requires more than better teaching and assessment: it requires broader institutional support to be truly effective.     

Patriotism and Democratic Citizenship Education in South Africa: On the (im) possibility of reconciliation and nation building

In this article, I shall evaluate critically the democratic citizenship education project in South Africa to ascertain whether the patriotic sentiments expressed in the Manifesto on Values, Education and Democracy (2001) are in conflict with the achievement of reconciliation and nation building (specifically peace and friendship) after decades of apartheid rule. My first argument is that, although it seems as if the teaching of patriotism through the Department of Education's democratic citizenship agenda in South African schools is a laudable initiative that can contribute toward establishing a definitive break with our apartheid past, the expression of blind patriotic sentiments (such as pledging allegiance to one's country and its citizens only) as articulated in the Manifesto can potentially marginalise others (immigrant communities) as the country endeavours to build its fledgling democracy. My second argument is that the intended democratic form of patriotism of the Department of Education can possibly be undermined by cultivating a culture of 'safe expression', which could slow down the country's quest for reconciliation and nation building.     

多元文化境遇中的公民资格观与公民教育观——加拿大公民教育实践探析

加拿大作为多民族和多元文化的马赛克国度,在公民教育中秉承自由主义的多元文化主义公民资格观——差异的公民资格以及国家认同与族群认同并重的公民教育观,并将此理念贯彻落实在公民教育的实践中,通过公民教育实现了国家认同与族群身份的有机统一。对于同样面临多元文化和民族差异问题的中国来说,加拿大的公民教育理念及实践具有一定的参考和借鉴意义。     

以互联网为平台加强青年的爱国主义教育

以互联网为平台加强青年的爱国主义教育,具体讲,教育对象上突出针对性,针对少数民族青年、海归青年、经济困难青年做好帮扶引导;内容选材上开展大量调研和数据分析,根据青年喜好确定教育内容;呈现方式上与时俱进,推行爱国主义教育的数字化、网络化、全媒体化。     

Privatization and Commercialization of Public Education: Consequences for Citizenship and Citizenship Education

My purpose is to examine and evaluate the implementation of market ideology and practices in education through the prism of both modern democratic theory and the discourse of rights. I examine the essence and defining characteristics of public schooling in modern democratic theory, explore the democratic purposes of education, and the unique mission of public schools. I also analyze the vision of public schooling that surfaces from the discourse of human rights and children’s rights, examining relevant UN declarations and conventions. I then proceed to discuss some major manifestations of markets in education, question their congruence with the democratic vision of public schooling, and examine their consequences for both citizenship and citizenship education. My conclusion is that markets in education, and the formulation of education policies and practices through decision-making processes dominated by business and parents, are not necessarily fashioned in the best interest of a democratic society.     

论公民教育在高校德育教学中的基础性

为了加强高校德育效果,公民教育的基础地位需要强化。原因在于：第一,从教学目的看,将要全面进入社会生活的大学生首先要成为合格的公民,这是高校德育必须达到的底限目标;第二,“自下而上”的对话式教学理念是公民教育的长处,它可以化解学生对传统说教方式的抵触情绪;第三,公民教育对独立思考能力的强调适应大学生的心智状态,以智育手段提高德育效果有助于大学生有效养成健康的公民心态。     

公民身份与公民教育的社会理论解读

公民身份是公民教育活动的出发点和旨归,公民教育是养成和塑造公民身份的有效途径,二者密不可分。对于公民身份与公民教育的研究,涉及诸多社会学科,需要一种综合性、跨学科的理论工具来整合各个学科的资源。社会理论或许是讨论公民身份与公民教育的理想平台。在社会理论的视野中,公民身份需要宽泛的理解,公民教育应涉及全球化视角、批判性认知、多元化内涵、制度化保障等诸多方面。     

Education and religion in Iran: The inclusiveness of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) textbooks

The focus of this paper is religion and education with particular reference to EFL (English as a Foreign Language) textbooks. The writers of this paper aim to raise the awareness of research community, educators, and teachers regarding the interconnectedness of religion and education. In the first phase of the study, the researchers scanned a series of secondary-level Iranian EFL textbooks prescribed by the Iranian Ministry of Education to determine religious concepts in the form of linear and/or non linear content. The next phase of research was the analysis of the content to determine the level of inclusiveness of the textbooks in terms of culture and religion. These textbooks were also analyzed to determine whether the propagation of religious content was overt or covert. Finally the impact of religious content in textbooks was discussed with reference to identity and nation building.     

新时代坚持爱国精神的若干思考——以《新时代爱国主义教育实施纲要》为例

爱国主义教育是一种生动的集体责任感,也是全国人民最纯洁、最朴素的情感目标,更是中华民族伟大复兴的精神核心。践行社会主义核心价值观,弘扬爱国主义精神,涵养青少年学生的爱国主义情怀,重中之重就是必须把爱国主义教育作为永恒主题。各学校要加强青少年学生的思想政治教育,大力培养新时代立德树人的骨干教师队伍,着力培养新时代民族复兴大任的时代新人,要用生动形象的爱国主义教育,扬爱国之情、担爱国之责、立强国之志、育爱国之才,把《新时代爱国主义教育实施纲要》落到实处,将心之所系、情之所归的爱国之情融入到生活的一言一行之中,推动爱国主义教育这堂"必修课"遍地生根发芽,在爱国教育滋养的旗帜下开出民族花,结出爱国果。     

High school textbooks in turkey from teachers’ and students’ perspectives: The case of history textbooks

This study investigates how teachers and students assess the textbooks they use in history courses at the high school level in Turkey. Through a survey questionnaire, teachers and students were asked their perceptions of the textbooks. Then a sub-sample of the teachers and students were interviewed to collect more in-depth data on their assessment of the textbooks. The results indicated that the textbooks assist the teacher in instructional planning and in preparing exams, and help the students deal with the content. However, both teachers and students point to problems in textbooks in terms of their physical aspects, content presentation and organization, language, teaching and learning aids, and their impact on students. The textbooks focus mostly on transmission of knowledge, and they are found ineffective in leading students to read the information with interest and develop an understanding of the content area. They are found ineffective in developing students’ thinking skills and positive attitudes toward the subject.     

Imagining the Antiracist State: Representations of racism in Canadian history textbooks

This paper examines how knowledge about racism has been represented in high school Canadian history textbooks authorized by the Province of Ontario during the 1960s and after the year 2000. I argue that even though historical racisms have increasingly made their way into Canadian history textbooks as valid and important topics of study, the idea of racism continues to be understood largely within a prejudice/discrimination framework that reduces racism to irrational and individualized problems of thought, behaviour, and assumption. Moreover, through multiple techniques of containment, racism is imagined to exist within temporal and spatial locations, events, or incidents that are represented as either foreign to Canada or aberrations within Canada. The combined effect is to depict the space of Canada as one largely antithetical to racism.