Learners and Learning in Environmental Education: A critical review of the evidence

Recent analyses of the field of environmental education research have highlighted its rapidly expanding size and increasingly diverse nature (e.g. Hart & Nolan, 1999). This article reports on a review of a particular part of this field - namely, recent empirical studies of learners and learning in primary or secondary school environmental education. The review focuses specifically on the nature and quality of the evidence generated by the work in this area. The concern with evidence is motivated by the tendency of previous reviews to focus on methodological trends more than research findings. Claims have also been made that environmental education theory and research have overlooked 'the children who are the subjects of environmental education' (Payne, 1998a, p. 20). This review contends that efforts to address such shortcomings need to be informed by a thorough and grounded understanding of what studies have, and have not, been undertaken on students and learning, and what is known, and not known, from the evidence that these studies have generated. In its methods, the review seeks to be systematic, comprehensive and analytical. Its findings are based on careful scrutiny of over 100 journal articles, books and reports, published between 1993 and 1999. It proposes that the current evidence base on learners and learning can be understood in terms of six concentrations or nodes of evidence. Three of these are well established (students' (i) environmental knowledge (ii) environmental attitudes and behaviours, and (iii) environmental learning outcomes), while three can be regarded as emerging (students' (i) perceptions of nature, (ii) experiences of learning, and (iii) influences on adults). The recent research evidence and key messages associated with each of these nodes are discussed in successive sections of the review. Overall, the review suggests that the evidence base on learners and learning, while considerable in size, is less diverse in terms of methodological and theoretical approaches than the wider environmental education research field within which it is situated. The evidence base also provides more information about students' environmental knowledge and attitudes than about their educational experiences and preferences, and more about learning outcomes than about learning processes . These characteristics, however, are not static. The research and evidence base on learners and learning is developing and changing as new foci emerge, bringing with them different methodological and conceptual approaches. The review identifies issues and challenges arising from the recent evidence on learners and learning for research users, researchers and future reviews of the field. As well as highlighting possible practical implications of the research, it makes a case for studies focused more explicitly on learning and the role learners play within this process. It also suggests a need for user reviews as well as academic reviews in the field of environmental education.     

Investing in Technical and Vocational Education: a review of the evidence [1]

ABSTRACT

This paper categorises rationales used to support investment in technical and vocational education programmes. It reviews a range of general approaches that have been pursued and comments on the different purposes which can be identified. The penultimate section reviews evidence on the cost‐effectiveness of technical and vocational education interventions. Concluding remarks summarise and comment on the consensus that appears to have emerged from experience with many different projects.

     

Education,work and earnings of Peruvian women

This study describes trends in educational attainment among women in Peru, and examines the determinants of educational attainment, labor force participation and employment, and earnings. Data were obtained from the Peruvian Living Standards Survey among a sample of 5644 women aged 20-59 years. Findings indicate that parents' educational variables had a positive and statistically significant relationship with the educational attainment of their daughters. The impact declined over time from older to younger cohorts. School reforms improved women's access to education. Education became more universal and compulsory over time. Daughters of mothers with white collar occupations had higher levels of schooling than farmers' daughters. The effects of fathers' education was larger. There was a wider gap between farmers and nonfarmers. Textbooks, teachers, and number of grades offered were the only primary school inputs that showed any clear cohort trend in their effect on years of schooling. As primary schools became more available, textbooks had a greater impact on school attainment. The impact of textbooks was larger for women than for men. The number of grades offered had a large positive effect which increased across cohorts from older to younger. Findings suggest weak effects of school reforms on women's likelihood of participating in the paid or unpaid labor force. Years of schooling had a very small and negative effect on total labor force participation. Woman's paid employment was influenced by age, education and training, household characteristics, and family's unearned income. Educational attainment had a small positive effect on participation in paid employment for younger women and no effect for older women. The average rate of return in paid employment to primary education was about 12%. Primary education had the highest rate of return. The return to job tenure was higher for younger women.     

The 'digital natives' debate: A critical review of the evidence

The idea that a new generation of students is entering the education system has excited recent attention among educators and education commentators. Termed 'digital natives' or the 'Net generation', these young people are said to have been immersed in technology all their lives, imbuing them with sophisticated technical skills and learning preferences for which traditional education is unprepared. Grand claims are being made about the nature of this generational change and about the urgent necessity for educational reform in response. A sense of impending crisis pervades this debate. However, the actual situation is far from clear. In this paper, the authors draw on the fields of education and sociology to analyse the digital natives debate. The paper presents and questions the main claims made about digital natives and analyses the nature of the debate itself. We argue that rather than being empirically and theoretically informed, the debate can be likened to an academic form of a 'moral panic'. We propose that a more measured and disinterested approach is now required to investigate 'digital natives' and their implications for education.     

Emotional Intelligence and Education: A critical review

In recent years there has been an increased interest in the role of emotional intelligence in both the academic success of students and their emotional adjustment in school. However, promotion of emotional intelligence in schools has proven a controversial pursuit, challenging as it does traditional “rationalist” views of education. Furthermore, research findings in this area have been inconsistent at best. In this article we discuss the following key questions relating to this important debate. What do we mean by emotional “intelligence”? What impact would improved emotional intelligence have on learners’ emotional health and well‐being, academic achievement, and other adaptive outcomes? Can emotional intelligence be taught? It is felt that these are the key issues for consideration in developing policy, practice, and further research in this area.     

Phonological basis in reading disability: A review and analysis of the evidence

Poor readers are known to do consistently worsethan their normal reading peers on tasks ofphonological processing. They are characterizedby their difficulties in printed wordrecognition, phonological awareness andphonological decoding. An increasing body ofevidence points to deficits in speechperception as a source of subtle but ramifyingeffects in reading impaired children andadults. These deficits may be traced to poorlycoded phonological representations. Thisarticle will attempt to explain poor readers'difficulties in phonological coding by drawingon a gestural account speech development.Implications of this approach for readingintervention will be presented.     

Education and internal migration: A review and report

In April 1981, the Education Study Group of the Development Studies Association (of Britain) held a workshop on “Education and Migration” at Liverpool University. The following seven papers form an extended summary of the proceedings, offering a general review and cases in five countries, four African and one Latin American.The broad conclusion is that the propensity to migrate from rural to urban areas tends to rise with educational attainment. However, structural factors within a society as well as changing economic circumstances can affect the relationship. The increased availability of schooling will tend to reduce the migration of the less schooled, to the presumed benefit of their home areas.     

The impact of the Prevent duty on schools: A review of the evidence

The UK has emerged as an influential global player in developing policy to counter violent extremism, and therefore it is important to consider the emerging evidence about the impact of this policy in education. The Prevent duty came into force in the UK in 2015, placing a legal responsibility on schools and teachers to implement anti-terrorist legislation and prevent young people from being drawn into extremism or radicalisation. This article reviews all of the material based on empirical studies in England involving school teachers and students published between 2015 (when the duty was introduced) and the beginning of 2019 (27 articles and reports in total), to consider the impact of the policy on schools. The key themes emerging from our analysis of this evidence base are related to (1) the ways the policy is interpreted within Islamophobic discourses, (2) the emergence of Britishness as a key feature of fundamental British values and (3) the implications of framing Prevent as a safeguarding issue. We argue that the evidence gives support to those who have been critical of the Prevent duty in schools, and that it seems to be generating a number of unintended and negative side-effects. However, the evidence also illustrates how teachers have agency in relation to the policy, and may thus be able to enact the policy in ways which reduce some of the most harmful effects.     

The impacts of institutional child sexual abuse: A rapid review of the evidence

While awareness of institutional child sexual abuse has grown in recent years, there remains limited understanding of its occurrence and outcomes as a distinct form of abuse. Drawing on research commissioned by the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, this article presents a rapid review of available evidence on the impacts of institutional abuse on victim/survivors. Literature searches identified 75 sources spanning international peer reviewed work and reports to Government that document or quantify the impacts of mostly historical child sexual abuse occurring in religious, educational, sporting and residential or out-of-home care settings. Consistent with child sexual abuse in other contexts, institutional child sexual abuse is found to be associated with numerous, pervasive and connected impacts upon the psychological, physical, social, educative and economic wellbeing of victims/survivors. Further, institutional child sexual abuse is associated with vicarious trauma at the individual, family and community level, and with impacts to the spiritual wellbeing of victims/survivors of abuse that occurs in religious settings. The identified literature suggests the trauma of institutional child sexual abuse may be exacerbated by the interplay of abuse dynamics in institutional settings, which may reduce or impede circumstances supporting disclosure, belief, support and protection from future harm. Acknowledging the limitations of the present study and the available evidence, this narrative synthesis provides insights into the complex impacts of institutional child sexual abuse.     

Social support and child maltreatment: a review of the evidence

Parents who maltreat their children have long been thought to lack support from informal and social networks. Recent writers have taken the position that this relationship is a proven, causal one, with social isolation seen as a necessary antecedent condition for the occurrence of child abuse. Concurrently, initial enthusiasm for social support as a powerful explanatory variable in other areas of psychological and health research is giving way to cautious reevaluation of the evidence. The present review was undertaken to bring into sharper focus what is now known regarding the relationship between child maltreatment and parental isolation from informal helping networks. Existing research is fraught with both conceptual and methodological problems. There is, at present, little research evidence that lack of social support plays a significant role in the etiology of physical abuse. Stronger evidence exists that neglectful parents are socially isolated, but the data are consistent with the hypothesis that this is one manifestation of the character problems of these parents. Future research must give closer attention to clearly defining social support and using reliable and valid instruments to measure it, while exploring multivariate models of child maltreatment.     

比较教育研究中的分析架构——从《香港和澳门的教育及社会》一书谈起

1999年9月,CERC出版了由马克·贝磊及拉姆齐·考主编的《香港和澳门的教育及社会：对连续性及变迁的比较》一书。该书以教育的连续性及变迁这个切中两地所面临的共同课题为主题,对两地各级教育进行了比较。全书目录如下：...     

Education and conflict: Essay review

This review essay looks at three recent publications in the emerging field of ‘education and conflict’ and explores an apparent gap between theory and practice in the field. Recent works by educationalists Lynn Davies, ‘Education and conflict: complexity and chaos’ (2004) and Tony Gallagher, ‘Education in divided societies (2004)’ are contrasted with the World Bank's 2005 ‘Reshaping the future: education and postconflict reconstruction’, and similarities between the publications are highlighted. Davies’ work uses complexity theory to illuminate the relationships between education and conflict and to establish an argument for ‘complex-adaptive schools’, which would use conflict positively to engage students in the creation of peaceful communities. Gallagher, using a number of well-developed case studies, examines the way education systems have been structured to respond to and operate in divided societies, concluding that classroom agency and flexibility are crucial. The calls, by Davies and Gallagher, for educational re-creation are explored in contrast to the World Bank's publication, which offers best practice lessons to support post-conflict educational reconstruction. The article probes these differences and points to areas where the practitioner-directed Bank publication and the more academic works do and do not intersect, attempting to indicate areas where bridges may be built.     

Functions of Metaphor in Teaching and Teacher Education: A review essay

This article reviews the pertinent research literature on metaphors in teaching and teacher education. The main purpose is to explore these metaphors as evidences of prospective and practicing teachers' reasoning about teaching, learning, and schooling. The current review is organized around the major functions of metaphor in education. In this way, it is intended to contribute to the existing scholarly research in the field of teaching and teacher education stemming largely from metaphor analysis. The present essay discusses 10 distinct functions of metaphor in education and provides illustrative studies for each function. It strongly argues for the inclusion of various educational metaphors in teacher education programs because of their functional benefits.     

A review of the evidence for a learning-disabled, hearing-impaired sub-group

Hearing-impaired students are known to encounter significant difficulty achieving appreciable levels of academic achievement. Recently, many professionals have advanced the concept that some hearing-impaired students' lag in achievement may owe to learning disabilities in addition to hearing impairment. Definitional differences, survey data and studies are discussed in an exploration of whether or not a discernible hearing-impaired-learning-disabled sub-group exists.     

Dialogic literary gatherings: A systematic review of evidence to overcome social and educational inequalities

More than a decade after publications on Dialogic Literary Gatherings in indexed peer-review journals started, a systematic review that gathered the findings was necessary to provide further insight for future educational research, practice, and policymaking. The purpose of the present systematic review was to gather the existing evidence on the social, educational, and learning impact of DLGs on children, adolescents and adults involved in different settings. It has reviewed 46 articles published between 2010 and 2021. The findings of this systematic review provide a better understanding on the DLG as educational and learning action that enables dialogue and exchange, overcoming stereotypes and cultural barriers, self-improvement through education, increasing one's self-esteem, creating a non-violent and supportive environment, bringing the community in, and taking the new learnings out, building new possible worlds in all ages and in very divers settings such as primary, secondary, high, special, and adult schools, family and community education, foster care centre for minors, and prisons. Implications of the evidence on the impact of DLG for practice and policymaking could be considered for the promotion of educational and learning actions aimed at both the improvement linguistic and reading skills and the enhancement of values that promote social cohesión.     

Philosophy and Practical Education: a review

Developing learning programmes to enhance the formation of generic skills is an international concern in education and training policy. This paper provides a broad survey of the development of generic skills policy in England from 1975 to 2002, drawing on both the economic and educational literature. It demonstrates that, despite an evident demand for generic skills in the English economy, successive waves of education and training policy intended to stimulate the supply of such skills have failed to deliver the desired results. Such failure is accounted for using a policy instruments and institutions framework. This suggests that the failure of generic skills policy can be attributed to a combination of weak policy design, the interaction of generic skills policy with other market‐led reforms of education and training in England, and broader exogenous socio‐economic trends. The paper concludes that current initiatives to develop key skills for all 16–19 learners in England are unlikely to succeed without substantial changes in the current education policy environment.     

教师教育与发展的文化历史观———学习教学》评介

本文评介了Viv Ellis,Anne Edwards 和Peter Smagorinsky 主编的《教师教育与发展的文化历史观—学习教学》。文章首先指明了该书的出版对于教师学习研究领域的意义,然后对本书的主要内容和结构进行了介绍,并且结合国内的外语教师学习研究现状进行了评论。作者希望通过本书的评介让国内的外语教师教育工作者与研究者了解社会文化理论各流派的由来与发展状况,明晰社会文化视角下教师学习研究的核心问题,进而思考如何结合中国实际开展有创新的本土化研究。