Are boys discriminated in Swedish high schools?

Girls typically have higher grades than boys in school and recent research suggests that part of this gender difference may be due to discrimination of boys in grading. We rigorously test this in a field experiment where a random sample of the same tests in the Swedish language is subject to blind and non-blind grading. The non-blind test score is on average 15% lower for boys than for girls. Blind grading lowers the average grades with 13%, indicating that personal ties and/or grade inflation are important in non-blind grading. But we find no evidence of discrimination against boys in grading. The point estimate of the discrimination effect is close to zero with a 95% confidence interval of ±4.5% of the average non-blind grade.     

Danish majority children's reasoning about exclusion based on gender and ethnicity

This study investigated 282 eight- to twelve-year-old Danish majority children's judgments and justifications of exclusion based on gender and ethnicity (i.e., Danish majority children and ethnic-minority children of a Muslim background). Children's judgments and reasoning varied with the perpetrator of the exclusion and the social identity of the target. Children assessed exclusion based on ethnicity as less acceptable than exclusion based on gender and used more moral reasoning for the former than the latter. Children judged it less acceptable for a teacher than a child to exclude a child protagonist. Children were sensitive to status, judging it less acceptable to exclude a less powerful group member. The findings are discussed in relation to intergroup relations in Denmark.     

Trigger videos on the Web: Impact of audiovisual design

Audiovisual design might impact emotional responses, as studies from the 1970s and 1980s on movie and television content show. Given today's abundant presence of web‐based videos, this study investigates whether audiovisual design will impact web‐video content in a similar way. The study is motivated by the potential influence of video‐evoked emotional responses to related activities in a web‐based learning environment. To examine this, a video scene was designed that follows the concept of an educational trigger video. A trigger video aims to evoking affective responses in viewers with respect to a social problem situation. An experiment was conducted that explored whether the manipulation of two audiovisual design variables—shot length and camera height—of a web trigger video affects how the problem situation and the characters are perceived. The results showed that audiovisual design did impact these video‐related tasks.     

Preschool‐Age Problem Behavior and Teacher–Child Conflict in School: Direct and Moderation Effects by Preschool Organization

The hypothesis was tested that the new open‐group Norwegian day‐care centers would more than traditionally organized centers negatively affect (a) current and (b) future teacher–child relationships, and (c) the developmental legacy of preschool problem behavior. The focus was on eight hundred and fifty 4‐year‐olds from 153 centers who were followed up in first grade. Results of this natural quasi‐experiment revealed that children from open‐group centers (a) experienced less teacher–child closeness in preschool and (b) more teacher–child conflict in first grade, and (c) that high levels of preschool problem behavior forecast especially high levels of future teacher–child conflict, but only for children from open‐group centers. Results highlight the importance of spatial and social organization of day care and their translational implications.     

Using concept maps to elicit and study student teachers’ perceptions about inclusive education: a Tanzanian experience

In this study, concept map activities were used to trigger group discussions about inclusive education, with a focus on learners with disabilities. The participants were 226 Tanzanian student teachers. This article reports and discusses how the maps were analysed and what they indicate about the students’ thinking about certain aspects of inclusive education. The results also indicate that concept mapping as an activity in teacher education may be useful and engaging for students. It may help them to organise knowledge and make them aware of their own and others’ understanding of inclusive education practices. An analysis of concept maps constructed by student teachers may also help lecturers to identify views, misconceptions, knowledge gaps and insights about inclusion in education settings.     

Wie die Türken in unsere Köpfe kamen. Das Türkei-Bild in der deutschen Pädagogik zwischen 1820 und 1930

The article reconstructs the image of Turkey and the Turks that German education portrayed between 1820 and 1930. The analysis is based on educational periodicals and reference works from the historical eras of the German Confederation, the German Empire and the First World War, tracing the way old stereotypes persisted and new stereotypes arose. The study especially focuses on the opinions of German educationalists about schools in Turkey, Turkish women, Islam, the question of whether Turkey was part of Europe, and last not least on whether Ottoman educational policies were appropriate. Closely following the historical sources, the article shows how the opinions of German educationists changed according to the shift of Germany’s geopolitical interests, how their outlook went hand in hand with the views of the general press, and how they gradually came to a professional self-concept that contrasted ‘their’ educational system with what they believed was a ‘backward’ system in Turkey. At the same time they began to develop an interest in doing professional work in Turkey. The article can also be regarded as a contribution to the history of educational thinking in Germany in the course of the nineteenth century.     

An emerging donor in education and development: A case study of China in Cameroon

This paper analyzes China's new approaches of education aid to Africa through a case study of Cameroon. China's cooperation has been characterized by different discourses and different historic relationships with recipient countries than those of traditional donors. Sino-African policies have gone through different stages, each connected to wider political and economic realities. Currently, a broadening of China's engagement with Africa can be noticed through increasing aid packages and the inclusion of African countries other than those that had traditionally been close to China. Cameroon has been one of the countries that have had a relatively extended cooperation with China. Four types of Chinese education aid to Africa are illustrated by this paper: (i) Confucius Institutes, which are providing language and culture-related training in host countries; (ii) longer term scholarships and short-term training for Africans in China; (iii) school construction; and (iv) stand-alone education projects. By analyzing how these three different types of aid are taking place in Cameroon, various and apparently contradictory strategies and discourses materialize.     

The Role of Diverse Institutions in Framing Adult Learning Systems

This article considers the role of diverse institutions in framing adult learning systems. The focus is on institutional characteristics and configurations in different countries and their potential impact on the extent of adult learning, as well as on inequalities in access to adult learning. Typologies of education and training systems as well as labour market and welfare systems are introduced in relation to specific particularities relevant to adult learning. An emphasis is placed on how institutions that are interwoven into several systems are relevant to adult learning. This is then considered and elaborated in the context of post-Socialist countries in order to highlight important nuances that are relevant to adult learning and skill formation systems.