SOCIAL JUSTICE, EDUCATION AND SCHOOLING: SOME PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES

ABSTRACT:  Social justice is a key concept in current education policy and practice. It is, however, a problematic one in its application to schooling. This paper begins with a critique of the account of social justice offered by Gewirtz followed by an alternative philosophical notion based on the perfect world argument and the just society where equality is to the fore. This leads on to an exploration of what it is to be an educated citizen, consideration of the just school and discussion of the place of the school as an instrument for attaining social justice. The conclusion draws attention to the importance of the policy web as a way of developing coherent and unified policy designed to achieve social justice for all.     

应试教育、素质教育与学生的社会评价

对应试教育、素质教育与教育发展阶段的关系以及社会对学生评价的性质进行一些理论上的探讨。     

WHITE COMPLICITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE EDUCATION: CAN ONE BE CULPABLE WITHOUT BEING LIABLE?

A bstract .  In part of an ongoing study of white complicity, moral responsibility, and moral agency in social justice education, Barbara Applebaum asks in this essay what model or models of moral responsibility can help white students recognize their white complicity and which models of moral responsibility obscure such acknowledgment. To address this question, she explores the concept of white complicity and its relation to racism and raises some compelling conceptual and pedagogical questions. Then she reviews a recent analysis of the concept of "complicity" and shows it to be inadequate as a foundation for white complicity. Finally, Applebaum describes Iris Marion Young's conception of a Social Connection Model of Responsibility and shows it to be capable not only of elucidating white complicity but also, when incorporated in social justice pedagogy, of diminishing denials of white complicity by white students.     

EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL SERVICE

Employing humanities religious studies resources, a special curriculum was designed to complement established social science offerings in advocating better understanding and acceptance of persons suffering from long‐term mental disorders. A private denominational university formed the background, and the professor's family consumer viewpoint further shaped the syllabus.

The educational vision sought first to expose misinformation and describe recent brain research indicating a biological cause for serious mental illness; next, cultural stigma was studied in reference to selected literary and sacred texts.

Titles of other appropriate readings—as well as audio‐visual resources—are provided. Positive and negative student response to the course as a whole suggest the value of an envisioned advocacy, as did post‐classroom learner activities in both the 1991 class and its 1992 repeat.

The instructor lists recommendations for those who may wish to venture similar efforts in the subject.     

SCHOOL CHOICE, EQUITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE: THE CASE FOR MORE CONTROL

ABSTRACT:  This paper focuses on school choice and the extent to which admissions to publicly-funded secondary schools in England address issues of equity and social justice. It argues that schools with responsibility for their own admissions are more likely than others to act in their own self interest by 'selecting in' or 'creaming' particular pupils and 'selecting out' others. Given this, it is argued that individual schools should not be responsible for admissions. Instead, admissions should be the responsibility of a local authority (or non-partisan body); this body should make decisions about who should be allocated to which school on the basis of the expressed wishes of the parents, and the admissions criteria of the school in question. Admissions criteria should be objective, clear and fair and the admissions system itself should address issues of equity and social justice. It is argued that systems where there are some 'controls' on the choice process should be facilitated to address equity and social justice considerations which can benefit individuals and communities.     

教育经济学和教育发展的挑战

美国经济学家通过国民生产总值及工人工资的增加,揭示了教育在经济发展中的重要作用.[1]他们的研究在现代社会学科中确立了一门新的经济与教育的交叉学科--教育经济学,并在过去40年中引起经济学界对教育与经济发展的因果关系的兴趣,也推动不同学科重新诠释教育的作用.当然,在不同的社会里采用不同的研究方法进行研究,会有不同的结论.例如寇恩和安帝斯(Cohn & Addison)发现,上百个分析发达国家正规教育的收益率的研究都报告了正相关的结果[2],因此学者们和政界对增加正规教育的投资持积极态度;但对成人教育培训的报告并无规律可循.在发展中国家,对不同层次教育的回报率所作的数据分析,结果却各不相同.学者们试图说明教育投资在不同的社会和经济形态下对发展的影响,但是还没有形成一个被广泛认可的理论.[3]这是极其富有挑战性的研究工作,也是人类对社会发展的理性探索.     

A CHANGING EUROPE: CHALLENGES FOR HIGHER EDUCATION RESEARCH

The subject of the 1990 Brussels CHER annual meeting is introduced and analysed in relation to the themes of the papers presented by the various participants. Significantly, the freeing of higher education in eastern Europe from the rigours of Communism, democratic centralism, and command economies have come about while the higher education systems of the West have been strengthening their commitment to the market principle (voluntarily and/or imposed from without). The resulting situation is significant, mutually reinforcing, and ambiguous. It offers great opportunities, both East and West, for the further development of higher education research as a distinct field even while it is accentuating the precariousness of the other so‐called value sciences. Certainly a major opportunity comes from the fact that higher education researchers and their supporting institutions are being increasingly called upon to aid their respective governments in the understanding and the possible application of the higher education strategies and methods of other climes. The meeting has suggested markers for a future research agenda, and it has helped integrate the various methodological and technical perspectives as well as the insights of participants representing both East and West.     

中国义务教育财政面临的挑战与教育转移支付

自 1 98 5年开始的义务教育财政改革是以分权化和经费来源多样化为主要特征的。这一改革取得了很大的成功 ,也在一定程度上导致了不同地区之间教育质量的日益不平衡以及贫困地区公共教育资源不足。这使得建立一个切实的、经常性的政府间转移支付制度成为必要。本研究利用 1 997年和 1 999年县级数据研究了 90年代后期教育资源的使用状况和教育投入的地区间不平衡。在此基础上对分权化财政系统中政府间转移支付的作用进行了综述 ,并进一步探讨了在中国建立经常性的、切实的义务教育政府间财政转移支付的有关问题     

GERONTOLOGY AND SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION: LEARNING ACTIVITIES FOR ELIMINATING NEGATIVE STEREOTYPES

In recent years, gerontologists have pointed to the ever increasing number of older persons in American society. Implicit in these increasing numbers is the need to educate all segments of society about the problems faced by the elderly. While public schools alone cannot be held responsible for this task, it is believed that schools provide an ideal forum for developing learning activities. Schools can help increase student awareness and knowledge concerning these problems.

One of the most chronic problems faced by the elderly is that of negative stereotypes. After reviewing the literature, we suggest that social studies provides an ideal curriculum area for developing strategies that allow students to examine personal stereotypes concerning the elderly as well as possible sources of these stereotypes.

Given the hypothesis that various print and electronic media are guilty of creating or reinforcing stereotypes, students can gather information about the physical and behavioral characteristics of the elderly as portrayed on television and in magazines. Data can be gathered from regular entertainment programs and commercials on television and print advertisements in magazines. As a result of these activities, students can evaluate the media's role in perpetrating stereotypes of the elderly. In addition, we suggest strategies for allowing students to interact with the elderly in the community as a means of negating existing stereotypes.     

AGREED SYLLABI AND UN-AGREED VALUES: RELIGIOUS EDUCATION AND MISSED OPPORTUNITIES FOR FOSTERING SOCIAL COHESION

ABSTRACT:  Religious education (RE) has often found itself at the centre of debates about education's role in promoting social cohesion in contemporary multi-religious societies. The paper considers RE's relationship to religious plurality within the broader context of politics of curriculum and debates on pluralism. Drawing upon the recent works on the history of religion and using the teaching of the histories and cultures of Muslims in RE as a case study, it argues that RE has yet to fulfill its potential in this regard. The paper examines reasons for this and recommends alternative approaches to content which may help RE rise to the challenges posed above.     

COLLABORATIONS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHER EDUCATION: CHALLENGES AND PROMISE

Abstract

This article describes the reflective process used by a group of early childhood faculty members to study national standards in order to improve their teacher education program. The standards studied included those from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC), National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) and the Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children (DEC/ECE). The reflective process and study resulted in changes in field experiences, course requirements and activities and assisted in state and national accreditation.