Civic education in Ethiopian schools: Adopted paradigms,instructional technology,and democratic citizenship in a multicultural context

After nearly two decades of military dictatorship, democratic civic education has been integrated into the Ethiopian school curriculum. This paper examines the policy–practice concordance in implementing the civic education curriculum based on empirical evidence generated on the philosophical underpinnings, curricular contents, pedagogical approaches, and the role of instructional technology. Data were gathered through a questionnaire survey on 179 randomly selected high school students, key informant teachers, and content analysis of students’ textbooks, teachers’ guides, and official policy documents. The findings reveal that the existing civic and ethical education curriculum is eclectic in its character blending the minimal interpretation of democratic civic education with the inclusive conception of ethno-cultural diversity relevant to multicultural societies. Nevertheless, the manner in which the TV-instruction is used in classrooms is found to hinder interactive learning that is instrumental to nurture democratic and active citizens.     

Conceptualisations of multicultural education among teachers: Implications for practice in universities and schools

This study examined teachers' conceptualisations of multicultural education (MCE) within the setting of a laboratory school affiliated with a university campus in south eastern USA. This unique setting provided the researchers with an opportunity to study multiculturalism as a whole-school construct and in terms of how universities teach multicultural education. The analysis of data collected from a school-wide survey and group interviews with teachers revealed a) the importance of how language is used in teachers' conceptualisations of MCE, b) patterns of congruence and divergence in these conceptualisations and c) the implications of these conceptualisations for the teaching of MCE in universities and its implementation as school-wide practice.     

Religious education in Russia: factors of non-religious parents’ choice

ABSTRACT

It was in 2012, when in Russian schools the subject ‘Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics’ was introduced. Parents of students are given the opportunity to choose from six different modules. Among the modules there are ‘Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture’, ‘Fundamentals of Islamic Culture’, ‘Fundamentals of Jewish Culture’, ‘Fundamentals of Buddhist Culture’, ‘Fundamentals of World Religious Cultures’, ‘Fundamentals of Secular Ethics’. However, the parents’ choice is due to a variety of objective and subjective factors. The purpose of this paper is to elicit the degree of influence of four factors on the choice of modules within the course of ‘Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics.’ To study the case, a polyethnic region of Russia – the Republic of Bashkortostan, has been chosen. In this paper, the influence of four factors will be gradually revealed: the ethnic factor, the religious factor, the urban factor, and the factor of the educational environment. Studying the influence of factors determining the choice of modules demonstrates that the choice of modules is a compromise of many parties of interest: parents, students, teachers, clergy, and educational institutions.     

家长如何成为学校教育变革的动力

学校教育改革以促进儿童的发展和幸福为宗旨，家长应该关心、支持改革，并且推动学校开展求真务实的改革。家长的教育态度对学生及教师的影响力、家长所拥有的教育咨询与选择权利使其能够成为学校教育改革的积极动力．而家长教育观念落后、家校沟通不畅成为阻碍学校教育变革的因素。有效的亲职教育和多元的家校沟通机制将能够确保家长推动学校教育变革的能量得以充分发挥。     

Creating a multicultural curriculum in Han-dominant schools: The policy and practice of ethnic solidarity education in China

In response to the recent heightened interethnic conflicts that were regarded as threatening national unity and stability, the Chinese government issued ‘ethnic solidarity education’ as a top-down, centrally administered mandate to be implemented ‘correctly’ and in a standardised way by schools throughout China. This paper examines the policy and practice of ethnic solidarity education against the broader, historical context of ethnic relations in China. Based on empirical data obtained through extensive fieldwork in selective Beijing public schools, this study concludes that ethnic solidarity education bears resemblance to multicultural education in the western educational discourse, yet retains special characteristics as an indigenous form of education in the unique Chinese context. Although various teaching and extracurricular activities involving ethnic elements are added to the school curriculum and applauded by the Chinese educators and policymakers as important signs of ethnic integration and cultural pluralism, they tend to focus on static cultural artefacts without touching upon the deeper levels of understandings on ethnicity and the majority–minority relations, and therefore cannot create a truly multicultural learning environment.     

Religious education and the feminisation of witchcraft: a study of three secondary schools in Kumasi,Ghana

This study, conducted during the summer of 2008 in Kumasi, Ghana analysed the role of religious and moral education (RME) in ameliorating the witchcraft discourse in three Ghanaian junior secondary schools. Although the syllabus acknowledges the pernicious effects of witchcraft allegations, it adopts a ‘Thou shalt not’ approach that fails to adequately grapple with the challenge. Through the use of semi-structured interviews, classroom observations and a questionnaire, pupils’ attitudes towards witchcraft were analysed. The study reveals deep-seated beliefs to the effect that women – particularly elderly females – engage in witchcraft for devious purposes. Employing the theoretical framework of Foucault’s knowledge – power symbiotic nexus, I explore the misogynous nature of the witchcraft discourse as evidenced through these responses. It is argued that RME can benefit from attending more closely to the subtle ways in which the ‘dense web’ of knowledge – power is internalised and perpetuated by pupils.     

Including multicultural education in science education: Definitions,competencies, and activities

Overall, too few science teachers are being prepared in this country, and ethnic minority students are rarely enrolling in science teacher education programs. Thus, it is particularly important that multicultural education be included in science teacher education programs. I do not believe that science teacher educators will be able to prepare significantly more minority science teachers in the near future to teach the growing number of minority students in schools. Consequently, science teacher education programs must begin producing multicultural teachers. If we do not, then millions of children will not receive an adequate science education, let alone a good one.     

Parental involvement in secondary education schools: the views of parents in Greece

The present study explores Greek parents’ views on parental educational involvement and its impact on adolescent scholastic and social development. Specifically, aspects of parental involvement such as the achieved objectives of current parent–school communication, the psychological climate dominating teacher–parent interactions and parents’ suggestions for improvement of current policies and practices are examined. Four hundred and seventy‐five parents participated in the study. Findings showed that family–school communication is believed to be insufficient in Greece, despite the fact that parents tend to: (1) regard their cooperation with teachers as determinative of adolescent academic and psychosocial development; (2) consider teachers to be friendly and caring; and (3) believe that secondary school provides some opportunities for constructive parental involvement. These paradoxes are discussed and explained as a result of radical changes in current social and educational values, principles and objectives.