The challenge of greening technologies—Environmental policy integration in Finnish technology policies

The integration of environmental principles into other policies is perceived as essential in order to combat environmental problems as efficiently as possible. Environmental policy integration in Finnish technology policies is assessed empirically by focusing on technological R&D support at all levels, from policy strategies to project funding decisions. The actors making and implementing technology policies have grasped the idea of environmental protection and environmental issues have been identified especially at the strategy level and in some technology programmes. However, the integration is not overarching and no assessment of environmental impacts is required in funding applications.     

Impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on gifted and non-gifted primary school students' well-being and motivation from a self-determination perspective

This study examined the impact of the COVID-19-induced school lockdown on need satisfaction, well-being and motivation in both gifted and non-gifted primary school students in the Netherlands. A total of 312 parents (122 from gifted children) participated. The lockdown had mainly negative effects on students' need satisfaction, well-being and motivation. However, the impact of the lockdown was less negative for gifted students. There was also a levelling effect: Before the lockdown, gifted students had lower need satisfaction, well-being and motivation than their non-gifted peers, but these differences decreased during the lockdown due to (stronger) declines in the non-gifted. Changes in non-gifted students' well-being and motivation, because of the lockdown, were negatively mediated by autonomy and relatedness with classmates. Among the gifted, this was positively mediated by competence. Only before the lockdown, the effects of giftedness on well-being and motivation were mediated by autonomy and relatedness satisfaction.     

Misconceptions,Knowledge, and Attitudes Towards the Phenomenon of Radioactivity

Science & Education - The teaching of the phenomenon of radioactivity is considered a key ingredient in the path towards developing critical thinking skills in many secondary science education...     

Contradictions in mathematical modeling with digital technologies

Education and Information Technologies - This article presents an analysis of contradictions expressed by pre-service mathematics teachers when performing two modeling tasks using their own...     

Mathematics in Secondary Psychiatric Schools: Curricular and Assessment Policies and Practices

The current study focuses on results from a national survey of special education mathematics teachers in secondary psychiatric schools. A total of 115 (33.04%) respondents completed a mail or online survey concerning school-level mathematics curriculum and assessment policies and practices. No statistically significant differences existed between respondent and nonrespondent schools on demographic variables. Results indicate a disconnect between the mathematics curriculum and state assessments. Approximately half teachers responded that their school relies on standard district or state curriculum, and the curriculum and instructional materials are aligned with assessments to a great extent. Only about 40% and 30%, respectively, reported that schools are supervised and teachers are provided professional development to facilitate the alignment of curriculum with state assessments to a great extent. Additional results and implications are discussed.     

Leading change as a professional: working across boundaries

This paper outlines an initiative, namely a leadership symposium, which developed from a chance meeting of like-minded academics, who were trying to achieve similar outcomes with their student groups; namely, to include the scholarly activity of disseminating graduates’ action-oriented projects. One group of graduates comprised a mix of healthcare professionals, the other group comprised teachers. Both were leading change projects across their professions. One group was guided by action research and the other by action learning. This paper outlines the graduates' experiences of their challenges, opportunities and learning from leading these change initiatives. Arising from the symposium exchanges, the authors focus on the unique opportunity of the event as a distinctive space for exchange of learning across professions. Findings from qualitative data collected for the symposium are supported by situated learning and existing literature.     

Organizational rhetoric in the prospectuses of elite private schools: unpacking strategies of persuasion

The way in which private schools use rhetoric in their communications offers important insights into how these organizational sites persuade audiences and leverage marketplace advantage in the context of contemporary educational platforms. Through systemic analysis of rhetorical strategies employed in 65 ‘elite’ school prospectuses in Australia, this paper contributes to understandings of the ways schools’ communications draw on broader cultural politics in order to shape meanings and interactions among organizational actors. We identify six strategies consistently used by schools to this end: identification, juxtapositioning, bolstering or self-promotion, partial reporting, self-expansion, and reframing or reversal. We argue that, in the context of marketization and privatization discourses in twenty-first-century western education, these strategies attempt to subvert potentially threatening discourses, in the process actively reproducing broader economic and social privilege and inequalities.     

The impact of structured teaching methods on the quality of education in Brazil

This paper estimates the impact of the use of structured methods on the quality of education for students in primary public school in Brazil. Structured methods encompass a range of pedagogical and managerial instruments applied in the educational system. In recent years, several municipalities in the state of São Paulo have contracted out private educational providers to implement these structured methods in their schooling systems. Their pedagogical proposal involves structuring of curriculum content, development of teacher and student textbooks, and the training and supervision of teachers and instructors. Using a difference-in-differences estimation strategy, we find that the 4th- and 8th-grade students in the municipalities with structured methods performed better in Portuguese and mathematics than did students in municipalities not exposed to these methods. We find no differences in passing rates. A robustness test supports the assumption that there is no unobserved municipal characteristics associated with proficiency changes over time that may affect the results.     

“There Are No Housewives on Star Trek ”: A Reexamination of Exit Rights for the Children of Insular Fundamentalist Parents

In this essay, Paula McAvoy addresses the problem caused by the liberal state's necessary tolerance of insular fundamentalist groups and the concern that children raised in such groups do not have a fair opportunity to evaluate their inherited beliefs. This tension comes to the fore around disagreements over schooling and requests for religious accommodation. Often, these requests are treated as straightforward dilemmas — either the state accommodates the group at the expense of the child's future interest in autonomy, or the state must use its power to coerce the group into compliance. McAvoy argues for a principled middle ground between these two views. Using William Galston's conditions for securing the right to exit (set out in his 2002 book Liberal Pluralism) and evidence from Anabaptist apostates, McAvoy shows that insular groups cannot satisfy these conditions. Consequently, when accommodation is necessary, the state must mitigate the foreseeable costs to children by enacting policies that “facilitate entrance” for those who later choose to exit.