The development of civic values: case study of the United States of America

This chapter describes the study as it was conducted in the United States in three public schools that differed substantially in the socioeconomic status (SES) of the students who were enrolled. The results tended to differ across the schools in line with the student composition. For example, in the two higher SES schools, the emphasis was on the development of critical inquiry and thinking skills, whereas in the lower SES school the focus was on the rudiments of getting a job and becoming a productive member of society. In addition, in the two higher SES schools, there was general congruence among principal, teacher, and student perspectives. This was not the case in the lower SES school.     

The difficulties of defining development:A case study

In the current climate of change and expansion within higher education in the UK, there are various drivers for change in the way the curriculum is designed and delivered. In the recent past, within the UK, the QAA has presented a Code of Practice with respect to HE provision for students with disabilities and changes in the legislation relating to access to higher education for students with disabilities. These developments have prompted funding councils to resource major projects relating to accessibility. Such is the complexity of terms such as 'curriculum', 'accessibility' and 'disability', that these funded projects require a multidisciplinary approach. However, questions arise as to whether the key players in these multidisciplinary projects actually fully understand each other and have a shared understanding of the terms of reference. This case study highlights some of the difficulties experienced within a multidisciplinary team that did not ensure a shared conception of the complexities of the change management project in which it was engaged. What comes to the foreground is the problematic concept of academic development and how it is understood outside of its own community.     

The paradox of civic education in non-liberal democracies: the case of Israel

Israeli society has a long reputation of being intolerant and violent. In this study we chose to look into the role of the education policy in Israel and to ask why do civic education programmes fail in implanting more seeds of tolerance and democratic values within the society. The first part of the study presents the subordination of the civic education programmes to the needs of the ethno-national agenda in the early years of the state of Israel, accomplished mainly by marginalizing the field of civics both in terms of contents and instruction hours. Then, we argue that since the 1980s, after the Israeli leadership was exposed to the problematic consequences of the lack of education to democratic values, all the initiatives to promote such agenda collided with the strong non-liberal character of the state which prevented any progress toward a more democratic orientation. We present the nature of this collision by using three levels of analysis: structural, policy making and policy implementation. We conclude by arguing that only a process of real liberalization of the state of Israel has the potential to liberate the education system from the paradoxes inherent to it.     

Two views of education: Promoting civic and moral values in Cambodia schools

This paper discusses the Cambodian government's attempt to promote civic and moral values in Cambodia schools through the subject “Civics and Morals”. The paper argues that the tensions and challenges associated with civic and moral education are linked to a fundamental difference between the traditional view of education in Cambodia, and the modern view of education promoted by the Cambodian government and external donor agencies. It is further argued that policymakers need to promote the effective teaching and learning of civic and moral values with the support of the local community and religious institutions in Cambodia.     

The development of civics values: an overview

This chapter lays out the research questions that guided the study and the methods used to conduct the study. The study was conducted in 17 secondary schools in six countries: Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United States. The first research question related to the school's policies with respect to civics education. The second question inquired into the nature and extent of the curriculum activities that were provided for the purpose of promoting civics education. The third question asked how key stakeholders perceived the nature and impact of the implemented curriculum. The fourth question concerned the similarities and differences across schools within each society with regard to each of the first three questions. Interviews and observations provided the primary data used to address the questions.     

公民共和主义:平教总会公民教育的思想特色

晏阳初对共和主义的理解是公民都担负起国家社会的各种责任,共同民主治理国家社会,这可谓之公民共和主义。中华平民教育促进会总会在定县的公民教育研究与实验是以这种公民共和主义理念为指导的。对责任意识与能力培养的强调是定县公民教育实验的核心。坚持以人为本原则的公民教育自我创造是其富有成效的根本原因。     

The values and virtues promoted in the proposed seventh course of study in civic education: implications for democratic citizenship and democratic citizenship education in Korea

Citizenship education in South Korea has entered a new era in terms of the course of study. The seventh course of study in civic education introduces the conception of civic virtue for school education. The identification of the ten civic virtues is a remarkable first attempt in the history of the course of study. This study, which assumes that civic virtue must be a key concept in civic education, welcomes the idea of civic virtue, since it can act as a solvent on the citizen knowledge-oriented approach of citizenship education. Nevertheless, there are some problems with the identification of the civic values and virtues, and this study argues that those civic virtues selected for the school curriculum are mostly not civic, nor clearly vital to a liberal democracy.     

Collegiate influences on the civic values of undergraduate students in the US revisited

Even though colleges have long attempted to promote civic-mindedness among students, recently there have been strong calls for a return and rededication to this mission. Given the many social and political changes that have occurred since Pascarella et al. (J High Educ 59(4):412–437, 1988) in Higher education: Handbook of theory and research, study, the purpose of the present investigation was to extend their established line of inquiry by examining college’s influence on the civic values held by a more recent cohort of students. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we analyzed a sample obtained from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, a nationally representative panel study of college students administered by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, which sample includes 12,738 undergraduate students from 106 four-year universities. Our findings mostly confirmed our theoretic conceptualization of collegiate influences on the civic values of students. As expected, those values were positively associated with students’ involvement in diverse activities. Institutional impacts, however, disappeared, except for structural diversity. University administrators and educators might find these results informative when developing institutional policies and practices to prepare students for good citizenship in the global society.     

A study on the tacit knowledge of university faculty: a case study in Taiwan

The tacit knowledge of university faculty might take roots deep down in their own cognition system and influence their ways of thinking and reasoning. This study aims at (1) the exploration of the characteristics of university professors’ tacit knowledge in Taiwan and (2) the disentangling of the factors underlying its development. Drawn from the data collected by qualitative observations and analyses, this study concludes: (1) In general, Taiwanese professors are of strong motives for self-fulfillment to be social elites and to pursue excellence form the backbone of the academic career. (2) The inner factors relating to faculty’s tacit knowledge include a high level of intelligence and analysis ability, the consciousness of being elite, the strong motives of constant pursuit of accomplishments, and the self-adaptation to the campus culture. (3) Its outer factors contributing to the faculty’s tacit knowledge include the peer consensus and competition pressure on campus, and the expectations of being a professional and a role model stereotyped by the society. Finally, several suggestions are provided for the cultivation of wide and open tacit knowledge so that the university faculty’s profession can be upgraded and more social responsibility can be shouldered.     

Missed opportunities: the IEA’s study of civic education and civic education in post‐communist countries

This article argues that the opportunity in Phase I of the IEA’s Civic Education Study to include the new democracies’ experiences of citizenship education have not been sufficiently exploited. ‘Borrowing’ citizenship education from abroad and citizenship education for ‘civil society’ have been chosen as examples of problems in the new democracies which have not been exploited. The final section focuses on the question of why new and recurring problems in citizenship education, which occurred in post‐communist Europe, have not been identified, described or analysed in the IEA’s publication New paradigms and new recurring paradoxes in education for citizenship: an international comparison. The paper also points to some of the circumstances that seem to have had an impact on which problems were analysed in the study and which problems were largely ignored.     

A comparative study of computer and mobile-assisted pronunciation training: The case of university students in Taiwan

Education and Information Technologies - English pronunciation training for real-world communication tasks is crucial in EFL learning because it is essential to learners’ listening...     

The development of higher education in Taiwan

Taiwan had been ruled by Japan for fifty-one years before the end of World War II. The island's higher education was established during that period, mainly to support Japan's policies of colonization and expansion. When Taiwan was restored to China in 1945, the Japanese system of education was replaced by that of modern China, which followed the American prototype after 1922. American impact on the island's higher education has been substantial since then. However, there are some unique features in Taiwan's higher education. Centralized administration and college entrance examinations are two examples.     

Faculty research behaviour and career incentives: The case of Taiwan

This paper aims at exploring how faculty research behaviour changes before, during, and after promotion. Testing research hypotheses generated from behavioral reinforcement theory and an alternative claim on the learning effect of familiarity with publishing norms, the study collects career history data and longitudinal records on faculty research performance to fill literature gaps. The main findings include: (1) behavioral reinforcement theory receives support; (2) among different field groups, the research behaviour change curve of the natural sciences and engineering faculty best fits the theory; (3) different levels of anticipated promotion rewards have different effects for motivating subjects to publish.     

Cohort differences in the development of civic engagement during adolescence

Investigating whether changing societal circumstances have altered the development of civic engagement, this study compared developmental changes from mid- to late adolescence (i.e., age 15–18) across two cohorts of representative Swiss samples (born in 1991, N = 1258, M_{age T1} = 15.30, 54% female, 33% migration background representing diverse ethnicities; born in 2000, N = 930, M_{age T1} = 15.32, 51% female; 33% migration background). Findings from latent multigroup models revealed similar levels in attitudes about social justice in both cohorts, remaining stable over time. Adolescents reported lower levels of political efficacy and informal helping in the cohort born in 2000. Both aspects slightly increased during adolescence. Informal helping had a steeper increase in the 1991 compared to the 2000 cohort, suggesting developmental differences between cohorts.     

A case study of an affective education course in Taiwan

The purpose of this study was to identify the components of a framework for affective education implementation based on a positive psychology approach. A fifth grade class of 31 students in a public rural elementary school in Taiwan participated in a 13-week long affective education course that consisted of six units: Self-discovery, Love and Gratitude, Empathy, Emotions, Optimism, and Hope. Storytelling and interdisciplinary instruction were utilized as two primary teaching strategies. Constructivist grounded theory case study was used as a qualitative methodological approach and four data sources including participant observations, field notes, artifacts, and self-assessment were collected. A framework for affective education implementation that emerged from the data consisted of three levels: the classroom in/out level, the school/family level, and the society/culture level. Findings on the components of a framework for affective education implementation are presented and discussed.     

Quality development in university administration: A case study

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the decision-making styles of department chairs employed by three public institutions in Jordan. A total of 95 department chairs participated in the study by completing the General Decision-Making Styles survey. The results indicated that department chairs under study have the rational decision-making style as their primary style (following a systematic approach to evaluate options and arrive at one optimal solution) and the dependent style as their backup style (consult with others in the organization when making important decisions). Moreover, there were no significant differences between decision-making styles and the proposed demographic variables (faculty and experience). Finally, several recommendations were suggested for the field of study.