Understanding pickleball as a new leisure pursuit among older adults

For older adults, participating in leisure activities has psychosocial benefits, increases social interactions, and promotes well-being. Among various leisure activities, pickleball is an activity that fosters positive social interaction and health benefits in older adults. Pickleball is regarded as one of the fastest growing sports in the USA, and it is reported to be popular among people of all ages, especially among older adults. The purpose of this study was to gather demographic details of older pickleball participants and elucidate the psychosocial benefits of playing the sport, such as life satisfaction, optimism, and social integration. To this end, we gathered information from 153 older adults who competed in pickleball tournaments. Multivariate analysis of variance and Hotelling’s T² test were used to compare the differences that emerged in experiential factors such as life satisfaction, optimism, and social integration among the different demographic characteristics. The results showed that life satisfaction was significantly different among the following three age groups: 50–59 years, 60–69 years, and ≥70 years. Results of Hotelling’s T² test showed a significant difference in social integration between male and female participants. The test also revealed a significant difference in terms of life satisfaction between retired and employed participants. The results suggest that playing pickleball can be an enriching leisure activity for retirees and may help them cope with the transition that retirement typically entails.     

闲暇·闲暇教育与素质教育

随着社会的进步,生产力的飞速发展,导致人的劳动工作时间缩短,人们生活方式和价值观念的改变,闲暇时间的占有和利用日益引起人们的关注,闲暇教育也就应运而生,这为提高人的素质,全面推进素质教育提供了良好的条件,因此,闲暇教育、素质教育已成为人们关注和研究的重要课题之一。本拟就以马克思关于人的全面发展及教育价值观为理论基础,对闲暇、闲暇教育在促进学生整体素质的提高和发展方面作些探讨。     

Lifelong education for older adults in Malta: Current trends and future visions

With European demographic developments causing a decline of the available workforce in the foreseeable future and the unsustainability of dominant pay-as-you-go pension systems (where contributions from the current workforce sustain pensioners), governments need to come up with strategies to deal with this upcoming challenge and to adjust their policies. Based on a study carried out between September 2009 and May 2010, this article evaluates the policies guiding late-life education in Malta, as well as the local plethora of learning opportunities for older adult education, and participation rates. The Maltese government is committed to supporting the inclusion of older persons (aged 60+) in lifelong education policies and programmes, to the extent that local studies have uncovered a recent rise in the overall participation of older adults in formal, non-formal and informal areas of learning. While the present and future prospects for late-life education in Malta seem promising, a critical scrutiny of present ideologies and trends finds the field to be no more than seductive rhetoric. Though the coordination of late-life education in Malta does result in various social benefits to older learners and Maltese society in general, it also occurs within five intersecting lines of inequality ?C namely an economic rationale, elitism, gender bias, the urban-rural divide and third ageism. This article ends by proposing policy recommendations for the future of late-life education.     

闲暇教育刍议

针对职中生闲暇活动内容单调、形式单一的现状，探讨如何对职中生进行闲暇教育与指导活动休闲。     

The response of higher education to older adults: A federal perspective

This article examines and describes the responses of higher education institutions in meeting the needs of older people. Specifically, the article describes the concern of the Federal Council on the Aging for increased educational offerings for older people at American universities and colleges. It provides an overview of the demographic factors creating a graying society, discusses the challenge that aging presents to higher education, and cites, with examples, steps to be taken by higher education institutions to directly or indirectly benefit older persons.     

关于我国实施闲暇教育的初步构想

随着现代技术的广泛运用，人们劳动时间的不断缩短，闲暇时间不断增加，闲暇教育日益成为我国关注的一个课题。本从迫切性，可能性以及目标与策略几方面对我国实施闲暇教育作了一些初步的构想。     

当代中国休闲文化及其教育探索

休闲文化是一个世界性的潮流,当代中国随着经济建设的发展也逐渐开始了休闲的历程。休闲文化的本质是追求自由和生命活力,休闲教育需要在全社会分阶段、分层次开展。休闲文化及其教育需要建立在经济基础上,也需要伦理规范和法律监督。     

高校休闲教育现状及改革思路

通过高校具有特色的体育课程,以及阅读书籍的类型来分析其中的休闲知识和休闲技能对大学生休闲教育是否产生影响,以及产生怎样的影响加以论述,提出大学生社团建设、大学生社会实践中的有关教育时大学生休闲意识的培养,及一系列志愿活动可以通过创造性的休闲方式来完善休闲教育.     

素质教育视野下的大学休闲教育

素质教育的目的在于促进学生的全面发展,学会健康、文明的休闲乃素质教育题中应有之义。休闲是需要教育和引导的,国外的休闲教育已有100多年的历史,我国高校的休闲教育尚处于起步阶段,存在很多亟待解决的问题,应从促进学生素质的和谐发展出发,开展我国的大学休闲教育。     

Identifying and responding to needs in education

Do educators know what children need? Most of the school curriculum is supported by the assumption that educators and policymakers do indeed know what children need, and the curriculum is designed to satisfy these inferred needs. In trying to meet inferred needs, however, we often neglect the expressed needs of our students. Sometimes, of course, we rightly fear that expressed needs are mere momentary desires and that they should be curbed and replaced by the important needs we have already identified. But often, by ignoring expressed needs, we sacrifice opportunities to develop individual talents, intrinsic motivation, and the joys of learning. In this article, I explore the nature of needs and ways in which schools might better identify and respond to them. I start with a brief discussion of care ethics because it, in contrast to the dominant ethics of justice, gives attention to needs before moving on to matters of justice.     

Special needs students in higher education

The topic in this paper is how former special needs students with academic competence from upper secondary school succeed in education on a higher level. The study concentrates on students who at their start in upper secondary education were registered with problems of concentration, difficulties in reading, writing or mathematics. The main part of this paper will base on qualitative interviews with nine former special needs students. Seven out of the nine informants were registered with reading and writing difficulties. However, it is also possible to compare these informants with longitudinal data from a larger group of students who have been followed prospectively since spring 1996. Theoretically the study is based on life course research with special emphasis on social transitions. In transitional processes between different educational arenas gatekeepers＇often play important roles. This study will examine how such gatekeepers, e.g. teachers, may facilitate or obstruct these transitions for a vulnerable group like former special needs students.     

Participation in learning and wellbeing among older adults

The objective of this research was to identify the effects of participation in learning on the subjective wellbeing of older adults. Data were from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), a large-scale, nationally representative survey of those aged 50 and above. The survey contains several wellbeing measures and information on three types of learning: formal courses, music/arts/evening classes and gym/exercise classes. Multiple regression analyses were applied to the change in wellbeing outcomes between two survey waves. The key finding was that music, arts and evening classes were significantly associated with changes in each of the measures of subjective wellbeing. Formal courses and gym/exercise classes were not significantly associated with wellbeing, after controlling for other factors.     

电视媒介中的闲暇教育现状思考

人们闲暇时间的增多,使闲暇教育有了更广阔的发展空间,同时闲暇教育也是终身教育的重要途径之一.电视媒介是闲暇教育的主要阵地,它有着受众广,覆盖面大的优点,利于节目中教育元素的传播和闲暇教育活动的开展.但电视媒介在商业利益驱使下,闲暇教育得不到更充分的发展,这就需要政府、电视工作者、教育部门,乃至全社会都来共同促进闲暇教育的发展.     

基于社会需求的工程教育教学流程探析

我国工业转型升级对工程教育提出了新的要求。基于社会需求分析,运用流程再造理论,对工程教育教学流程的环节进行分析,梳理了存在的主要问题,针对这些问题从三个方面给出了对策建议。     

Elective home education and special educational needs

This paper reviews the literature on home education with reference to special educational needs (SEN). A rapid expansion in home educating families is noted. Parents present a variety of reasons for this, including those with concerns about the provision for their child's SEN.
In one Local Education Authority (LEA), data were obtained through questionnaires from 65 families when they first registered their children for home education. In addition, 12 families, who had been home educating their children for more than 2 years, were interviewed about their experiences. Many of the children involved had SEN, but most of the parents and children expressed satisfaction with their present arrangements. However, there was often a feeling expressed that they would have preferred their children to have attended school, if their special needs could have been met. Implications for education services policy and schools' practice are discussed.     

The dangers of corruption in special needs education

This article is based on the text of the Gulliford Lecture given by Professor Harry Daniels at the University of Birmingham in October 2005. Professor Daniels takes, as his starting point, Ron Gulliford's assertion that teachers need to learn from their experience of trying to teach children who are 'hard to teach'. He goes on to look at the process of categorisation, which he identifies as a sociocultural and highly context-dependent process. Harry Daniels explores the pressures in favour of categorisation experienced by parents and professionals alike and notes some of the uses to which categorisations of learners are put. In concluding his article, Harry Daniels contrasts the current rhetoric about the personalisation of learning with the kinds of 'simplistic protocols or magic answers' that are often assumed to follow from categorisation. He argues that glib responses like these run counter to the reflective and dialogic principles established by Ron Gulliford and colleagues two decades ago.     

和谐教育呼唤人文与科学的融合

教育作为一种培养人的活动,必须满足人的整体发展需要。但是我国现代专业化教育、人文与科学分离,造成了学生的片面发展和生活的不完整,因此发展和谐教育,促进人文与科学的融合刻不容缓。本文主要从和谐教育的内涵、不和谐的教育现状、人文与科学融合的途径等方面进行分析和探讨。     

Special needs education in light of the inclusion principle: an exploratory study of special needs education practice in Belarusian and Norwegian preschools

The purpose of this study is to investigate possible practical consequences of the ideological principle of inclusion. In this article, we investigate, compare and discuss how employees of Norwegian and Belarusian preschools perceive their own, and their preschools’, special needs education practices related to children with language difficulties. This study has a qualitative case design. The investigation contains 10 semistructured interviews of five employees from five preschools in each country. The analysis of the empirical material shows that the interviews primarily revolve around two topics: competence and sense of mastery and self-understanding. Among the staff of the Norwegian preschools, perceptions of a relatively low average competence, unsatisfactory guidance from external professionals and a low sense of mastery are prevalent. The informants from Belarusian preschools perceive a high and more specialised competence, available special needs education competence and a high degree of sense of mastery. Despite different situations and contexts, this study suggests that the preschool sector in both countries face the same challenge; how preschools can implement a form of inclusive educational practice, without at the same time relinquishing valuable special needs education competence.