Developing citizens and communities through youth environmental action

Although several studies have examined learning outcomes of environmental action experiences for youth, little is known about the aims motivating practitioners to involve youth in action creating positive environmental and social change, nor how practitioners perceive success. This research explored through phenomenological interviews practitioners’ purposes for using an environmental action approach. Practitioners in this inquiry, who engaged youth in action addressing a range of environmental issues in varied programmatic and community contexts in the US, expressed multifaceted aims motivating their educational practice. Interpretation of practitioners’ stories with respect to their purposes and perceptions of success contributed to a conceptual framework relating environmental action to the development of citizens and sustainable communities. Whereas others have described the stages and learning outcomes of environmental action, this inquiry illustrates the potential of environmental action for concurrently realizing individual and community level impacts.     

Teacher education programmes delivered at a distance: An examination of distance student perceptions

Recent technological developments have greatly influenced the ways American universities deliver educational course offerings to students at a distance. The perception of pre-service teachers in distance education programmes is germane to the planning and delivery of distance education courses in teacher education departments in the future. The results of this American study revealed a differing perception between male and female students in the area of course structure, student/teacher interaction, overall course satisfaction and peer interaction. As a result of this study, recommendations are provided for teacher preparation programmes to improve distance education course offerings for prospective teachers in the USA and implications for educators involved in teacher preparation internationally.     

Ironies and Limitations of Educational Leadership for Social Justice: A Call to Social Justice Educators

In this article that reviews this special issue, we identify 5 ironies and limitations of educational leadership for social justice: (a) the meaning of inclusive practice, (b) the intersection of identity and difference, (c) the emphasis given to student achievement, (d) the lack of policy and practice coherence, and (e) the separation of superheroes from critical collaborative leadership. Although we discuss each issue separately, these conceptions are interrelated and intersecting. We conclude with a call to educators for social justice to change their work in several fundamental ways.     

A “Library School:” Building a Collaborative Preschool-Library Partnership to Support Whole Family Engagement

Early Childhood Education Journal - Preschools and public libraries are natural partners in that they share similarities in their support for early learning and family engagement for the young...     

Teaching ‘community engagement’ in engineering education for international development: Integration of an interdisciplinary social work curriculum

This article reviews the literature on challenges faced by engineering faculty in educating their students on community-engaged, sustainable technical solutions in developing countries. We review a number of approaches to increasing teaching modules on social and community components of international development education, from adding capstone courses and educational track seminars to integrating content from other disciplines, particularly the social sciences. After summarising recent pedagogical strategies to increase content on community-focused development, we present a case study of how one engineering programme incorporates social work students and faculty to infuse strategies for community engagement in designing and implementing student-led global engineering development projects. We outline how this interdisciplinary pedagogical approach teaches students from the two disciplines to work together in addressing power balances, economic and social issues and overall sustainability of international development projects.     

Parental perceptions of gender differences in child technology use and cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is a major health concern for today's youth and a pervasive stressor for adolescents and their families. This study offers qualitative insights into how parents perceive their children's technology use and engagement in cyberbullying based on gender. Eight focus groups were conducted with 48 parents of adolescents ages 10–17. Findings indicated parents perceived their children overuse technology and lack awareness of what cyberbullying is. Specific to gender, parents suggested their daughters use technology for social connection, and parents were more concerned about their daughter's technology use than their son's, which they believed was related to specific interests. In response to cyberbullying scenarios, parents encouraged females but not males to socialize with peers. This is the first qualitative study to obtain an in-depth understanding of the ways in which parents perceive and socialize their children in regard to technology use and cyberbullying scenarios. These results may help school systems, school psychologists, researchers, and parents gain awareness of the gender-stereotypical socialization process that unfolds in parental monitoring of technology use and cyberbullying situations. We conclude by offering suggestions for how school systems and personnel might intervene.