Is self-assessment in religious education unique?

This paper addresses the question: is self-assessment in religious education unique? It first presents an overview of some challenges for assessment from subject differences, and then reviews the generic literature on self-assessment. It builds on earlier empirical research on self-assessment in religious education, carried out in an English state secondary school; this was used to propose a variant of self-assessment which is tailored to the demands of religious education – reflexive self-assessment. Its implications for more general understandings of the relationship between subject pedagogy and self-assessment are discussed, especially the recognition of values not only in religious education but in other subjects too, reinforcing the need to develop subject-specific variants of self-assessment that reflect the breadth of learning outcomes.     

Learning in Encounter and Addressing Normativity in Religious Education Faculties/Programs

Abstract

Working with normative considerations is an important part of empirical research in religious education (RE) and in the formation of practical theologians, in general, and of religious educators in RE faculties/programs, in particular. What does sufficient reflection on normativity look like in teaching religious educators? From a practical theological perspective, directions for working with normativity in RE faculties/programs are provided and discussed. These directions entail pedagogical and theological reflection on the levels of four layers of normativity: (1) discourse in religious practice, (2) the professional theory of practice, (3) the academic theory of practice, and (4) the metatheoretical foundation of observations of and research in practices. The author illustrates the argument with a discussion of the concept of learning in encounter.     

Funds of Knowledge: An investigation of coherence within the literature

Two decades ago academics based at the University of Arizona brought the anthropological concept of Funds of Knowledge into the educational realm, providing a new conceptual framework to counter deficit theorizing of Latino students and their families. The growing body of literature evidences the belief and hope of academics in the potential of Funds of Knowledge to advance social justice and facilitate long-awaited breakthroughs in multicultural education practice.This paper provides an overview and analysis of Funds of Knowledge literature, addressing two key questions: What is the current scope of settings for Funds of Knowledge research? What do writers mean when they talk about Funds of Knowledge? Findings of differences in definitions indicate their contested nature. The review recommends clear articulation by researchers of the definition employed. Key questions arising from studies are presented and implications for multicultural education practice and teacher education are discussed.     

Young people's comparisons of cross-gender and same-gender bullying in British secondary schools

Background: Data-based decision-making in education often focuses on the use of summative assessment data in order to bring about improvements in student achievement. However, many other sources of evidence are available across a wide range of indicators. There is potential for school leaders, teachers and students to use these diverse sources more fully to support their work on a range of school improvement goals.

Purpose and sources of evidence: To explore data-based decision-making for school improvement, this theoretical paper discusses recent research and literature from different areas of data use in education. These areas include the use of formative assessment data, educational research study findings and ‘big data’. In particular, the discussion focuses on how school leaders and teachers can use different sources of data to improve the quality of education.

Main argument: Based on the literature reviewed, an iterative model of data use for school improvement is described, consisting of defining goals for data use, collecting different types of data or evidence (e.g. formal data, informal data, research evidence and ‘big data’), sense-making, taking improvement actions and evaluation. Drawing on the literature, research insights are discussed for each of these components, as well as identification of the research gaps that still exist. It is noted that the process of data use does not happen in isolation: data use is influenced by system, organisation and team/individual level factors.

Conclusions: When it comes to using data to improve the quality of teaching and learning, it is evident that some of the most important enablers and barriers include data literacy and leadership. However, what is less well understood is how we can promote the enablers and remove the barriers to unlock, more fully, the potential of data use. Only then can data use lead to sustainable school improvement.     

Adult stakeholder perceptions of 4th grade participation in children’s forest environmental education programming

An environmental education (EE) consortium located in the pacific northwest United States coalesced an external evaluation team to research its K-5 EE programming. The purpose of this article is to describe one phase of this program evaluation process including the exploration of adult stakeholder perceptions of EE programming accessed by 4th grade children. The author highlights the goals of the consortium and the context for the program evaluation, and the relevant literature addressing adult perspectives on EE is reviewed. The study framing, method, and qualitative results are reported. Findings suggest that adult stakeholders perceived positive impacts from 4th grade participation in EE, though the programming was viewed as being most beneficial to children coming from economically disadvantaged families. Implications for EE practice and research are discussed.     

A Review of: “Practical Theology: On Earth as It Is in Heaven”

The nature of adult religious education has been expanding in recent years, requiring adult religious educators to be more flexible and expansive in their practice. This article describes how the traditional “expert” role of the educator can no longer be the only role or image of an adult religious educator; rather, to be a good adult educator requires that one be more of a learning consultant, operating within a matrix or kaleidoscope of roles.     

Re-conceptualizing adult education’s monolithic behaviourist interpretation: toward a new understanding of radical behaviourism

The philosophy of radical behaviourism remains misunderstood within the field of adult education. Contributing to this trend is the field’s homogeneous behaviourist interpretation, which attributes methodological behaviourism’s principles to radical behaviourism. The guiding principles and assumptions of radical behaviourism are examined to highlight distinctions between the two philosophies. Significant differences are found in positions on private events, reductionism, mechanism, operationalism, and logical positivism. Examples of critical misunderstandings in adult education literature are detailed. The philosophy’s impact on adult education is discussed in three areas: instructional design, adult career and technical education, and human resource development. Recent advances in behaviour analytic research and practice are then presented to demonstrate its continued relevance to adult education. It is argued that a re-conceptualization of behaviourism is needed to position radical behaviourism as a unique adult education philosophy.     

Integrating Religion and Spirituality Into Counselor Education: Barriers and Strategies

Despite a professionally recognized need for training in religion/spirituality, literature indicates that religious and spirituality issues continue to be inconsistently addressed in counselor education. Ten experts were asked to identify potential barriers to integrating religion and spirituality into counselor education and indicate strategies for overcoming these obstacles. Barriers included a lack of information and a lack of personal interest or relevance, and strategies included continuing education, heightened awareness of self and others, and curriculum‐specific recommendations. Implications for counselor training and recommendations for future research are discussed.     

Measuring confessionality by the outcomes? Islamic religious education in the Finnish school system

Confessionality is a term which is seldom defined but often used. One of its meanings is enhancing the religiosity of pupils. In Finland, pupils are provided with religious education in their own religion. Does this produce more religious young people than a neutral or multi-religious education would produce? Interviews with 15–16-year-old Muslim pupils at three different Finnish comprehensive schools are examined in order to answer this question. The young Muslims themselves usually regarded their families as the most important factor in their religious identity, although they also acknowledged and valued the impact of school. For them, knowledge of Islam was an important asset. Some peer group influence could also be detected, although the interviewees stressed the fact that their faith was a matter of individual choice. Islamic religious education certainly provides an arena for developing religious attitudes and models of behaviour, but other factors determine whether these models are received or not. The focus of defining the degree of confessionality should be shifted from the outcomes to the process of teaching, and in particular the question as to whether the religious education class can be seen as a safe space for every pupil.     

Can explanations in children's books help teachers foster reason‐based understandings in religious education in primary schools?

There are concerns about the quality of religious education teaching in England and a national framework for religious education has been developed to give the subject a firmer basis. This basis comprises knowledge, skills and understanding that involves thinking about and with reasons. Teachers of young children cannot be experts in all subjects. Novices and those with weak subject knowledge must often teach religious education. Such teachers tend to avoid reason‐based understanding as they are unsure of it themselves. Textbooks on religious education are common in the primary classroom. The question is: could they help novices and non‐specialist teachers in religious education foster this kind of understanding in their teaching? If so, here is a potentially simple and inexpensive contribution to the solution of a widespread problem. This study examined children's textbooks in religious education and found that the answer is not simple. Some books give themselves entirely to the transmission of facts. Others may foster various kinds of understanding but these understandings may not be of the desired kind. Some implications for the development of religious education teaching skills are discussed.     

Training for Interreligious Classroom Teaching: An Empirical Study

Interreligious education should support cultural and religious diversity in the classroom by inviting new perspectives. Four contexts are important in this regard, as follows: auto-interpretation of one’s own religious tradition, auto-interpretation of foreign traditions, allo-interpretation of one's own religious tradition, and allo-interpretation of foreign traditions. Previous empirical research in the Netherlands has indicated that interreligious learning is not possible in the classroom. However, this study investigated interreligious education from the teaching perspective by conducting an exercise among twenty-four religious and worldview teachers. Specifically, a combination of student teachers, schoolteachers, and teacher trainers took part in a secondary school workshop before answering interview questions. Most participants discussed their own or foreign traditions using auto-interpretation. However, approximately half of all teacher trainers discussed their own traditions using allo-interpretation, although none discussed foreign traditions from the same perspective. In addition, student teachers reached the highest level of interreligious learning available in this study by using multiple perspectives to promote inquiry and engage in productive debate. Although interreligious education is problematic at multiple teaching levels, these results indicate that interreligious teaching practices may be improved through increased training.     

成人教育与学习参与障碍研究述评与展望

通过整理近年来国内外的相关文献,对当前成人教育与学习参与障碍的研究成果进行系统的总结与归纳。重点对成人教育与学习参与障碍的内涵、情境障碍、机构障碍、心理障碍与信息障碍进行梳理,最后从成人教育与学习参与障碍未来本土化理论体系的建构与多元化研究方法的采用方面进行展望。     

论教会幼儿教育对中国幼儿教育近代化的影响

在华的外国教会幼儿教育作为特定的历史产物,在新中国成立后结柬了它的历史命运.考察教会幼儿教育在中国的发展历程,分析其在中国幼儿教育近代化的过程中所起到的推动作用以及阻碍问题,探讨中国幼儿教育在近代化进程中对教会幼儿教育的突破有现实意义.     

西方大学男女同校制的开端与意义

1837年,美国中西部俄亥俄州的奥柏林学院首次招收了四名女生,标志着西方传统大学之门向妇女开放.但是从严格意义上而言,高等教育即便是在男女同校的体制下,却仍然长期实行男女隔离的教育.西方社会男尊女卑的宗教传统以及当时生物学上的某些谬论的误导是阻碍西方大学实施男女同校制教育的主导原因,但是随着西方社会风气的不断开化以及其它的经济、政治等因素的作用,女性进入传统大学和男性接受同等的高等教育的现实条件不断成熟,历史的潮流必将还女性包括受教育权利在内的一切平等的社会权利.     

Parents as adult learners in family-centered early education

Several concepts from the adult learning literature are described that relate to working with parents of young children who are deaf. It is proposed that an adult learner perspective makes an important contribution to the family-centered philosophy and knowledge base that guide the development of practice in early intervention. Three areas are discussed: the context for adult learning, that is, the life situation of adults, including their social roles and responsibilities and experience; learning related to transitions in the adult life cycle; and transformative learning, which examines the ways people make changes in how they understand their experience. Implications for practice in early childhood education are presented.     

Theories in Practice: School-to-Work Transitions-for-Youth With Mild Disabilities

Systematic research into the school-to-work (STW) transition of young people with mild disabilities, a relatively new emphasis in education, has produced a wealth of information about factors associated with adult employment. Further, legislative mandates and recent educational reforms related to transition and access to the general curriculum have generated useful policy discussions about how schools can best support young people with disabilities to overcome documented barriers to work. However, theoretical perspectives embedded in and generated from research, policy, and practice on STW transitions of young people with disabilities are rarely discussed. The intent of this article is fourfold: (a) to summarize current research and models of practice on STW transition within the field of special education, (b) to identify implicit yet infrequently named theories in our research and practice, (c) to make connections to STW theories outside special education, and (d) to suggest how emerging perspectives can shape future research.     

Reflection literacy: A multilevel perspective on the challenges of using reflections in higher education through a comprehensive literature review

It is well established that the use of reflections influences and supports learning in important ways. However, student-learning, teacher-pedagogical, institutional, and sociocultural factors can hinder initiatives to promote student reflection in universities. This literature review aims to provide an overview of the challenges of encouraging reflection in higher education through a multilevel perspective. Based on the analysis of 66 selected empirical and non-empirical articles, the results show that there is a reciprocal relationship between barriers that occur at the macro and micro levels. In addition, it is found that reflection literacy is necessary at all four levels to overcome the barriers identified. The multilevel framework is proposed as a model for coordinating institutional efforts to address the challenges of reflection and upon which a shared discourse can be developed by key stakeholders who are interested in promoting reflective practice in higher education.