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Professor Pan Maoyuan is a distinguished educationist on higher education in China. This anthology includes Pan's representative essays at different times, which are independent from but have logical connections with one another. Some essays focus on elaborating the basic rules of education and its application, and probing the key features of the teaching principle during the teaching process of higher education. Meanwhile, some essays are mainly about the practice of higher education, including a profound exploration of the serious theoretical and practical problems during different periods in China's higher education developments so as to find out scientific and feasible ideas as well as measures to solve the problems. Readers would get a better understanding of higher education research in China and get more acquainted with the country's higher education development over the past few decades. Readers would also obtain valuable insight by comparing China with the development of higher education system in other countries.

In the twenty years since Ray Land and Erik Meyer published their first paper on Threshold Concepts, there has been a steady stream of papers mulling over their original suggestions that learning, far from proceeding in an orderly fashion, is instead a process of struggle – perhaps alienation and confusion – that puts students in a troublesome liminal ‘in-between'state. As their understanding develops, liminality gives way to transformational insight whereby a whole field of study comes, often quite abruptly, into focus. There is a gain but often also a loss: in this new world, old certainties, assumptions and even aspects of our identity can be left by the wayside. Threshold Concepts in the Moment is the sixth collection in the series on the subject of Threshold Concepts, following the 8th Biennial Conference held in 2021, anchored at London's UCL but running online across the world. Its contributors, who range from ‘old hands'to new members of the community finding their feet, mull over the insights of the threshold concepts framework in higher education, scrutinise their own fields of study, explore the implications of liminality for pedagogy and becoming professional practitioners, and consider the broad implications for pedagogy of factoring in the troublesomeness of knowledge and learning.

The ideas and papers in this volume primarily showcase the work of a group of new scholars who will lead the next generation of educational practise and inquiry. While the topics explored are critical issues, the ways in which these new scholars have chosen to address them illustrates the diversity of voice, venue and value that has led them to present their work. Education and what it means has entered a new era in which the primary focus on education for the sake of education is strained. An educational free-for-all, in the sense of a no-holds-barred fight, seems in place as competition for market share, effective branding exercises and movement towards a client-based delivery of educational services (on demand as demanded) has been fuelled and compounded by litigation, accreditation, transfer credits and matters of patents, copyrights, ownership and monopoly. The link between education and financial well-being has been co-opted as the key to personal success. Unfortunately, the degree pursuit, often called the “paper chase” has become competitive for learners seeking scholarships, awards and entry into graduate school. This transition indicates movement from becoming well educated to employability potential paralleling much institutional retooling and sustenance of enhanced reputation and fiscal viability.

This book provides a detailed overview of current or recent research exploring a wide range of ideas, theories, and practices around written text production. European researchers from a broad range of disciplines brought together under the European Research Network on Learning to Write Effectively were instructed to contribute short papers summarising their current activity. The papers are grouped around the four main themes. The first deals with issues around the development of basic ('low-level') writing skills, mainly in the early years of education. The second section focuses directly on issues around the teaching and learning of writing. This is divided into five parts that describe: evaluations of different forms of writing instruction, research exploring the processes by which writers learn, methods of text assessment in educational contexts, research exploring the effects of various learner and teacher variables on the development of writing skill, and conceptions of and variation in educational text genres. The third section reports research exploring effective document design. The final section has a main focus on tools for exploring the writing process.

This edited collection is an eclectic and provocative volume taken from presentations that reflect the scholarship of the inaugural AQR/ DPR Down Under conference that was held in Cairns in 2011 in Australia. This was a ground-breaking conference that brought together scholars, researchers and practitioners from across Australia, UK, Japan, Italy, Finland, New Zealand, Luxembourg, South Africa, Vietnam, Malaysia, Tanzania and Mexico.The theme of the conference represented at the conference and in this volume was that of: Politicizing Qualitative Research. Delegates presented papers that sought to challenge research practices that too often can delegitimize Other ways of knowing.Confronting, disrupting and resisting the epistemological ‘common sense'way of doing research within the academy can be a risky business and is often a fraught and contested endeavor. However, as the papers in this volume illustrate, contestation promises opportunities for re-perceiving, re-interpreting, and productively disrupting the orthodoxies of disciplinarity.—‘Many thanks to Ignacio Rojas whose patient assistance and expertise as an artist in designing the cover proved invaluable in bringing this book to print.'

This is a book full of ideas for introducing real world problems into mathematics classrooms and assisting teachers and students to benefit from the experience. Taken as a whole these contributions provide a rich resource for mathematics teachers and their students that is readily available in a single volume. Nowadays there is a universal emphasis on teaching for understanding, motivating students to learn mathematics and using real world problems to improve the mathematics experience of school students. However, using real world problems in mathematics classrooms places extra demands on teachers in terms of extra-mathematical knowledge e. g. knowledge of the area of applications, and pedagogical knowledge. Care must also be taken to avoid overly complex situations and applications. Papers in this collection offer a practical perspective on these issues, and more. While many papers offer specific well worked out lesson type ideas, others concentrate on the teacher knowledge needed to introduce real world applications of mathematics into the classroom. We are confident that mathematics teachers who read the book will find a myriad of ways to introduce the material into their classrooms whether in ways suggested by the contributing authors or in their own ways, perhaps through mini-projects or extended projects or practical sessions or enquiry based learning. We are happy if they do!

Navigating in Educational Contexts: Identities and Cultures in Dialogue includes selected papers from the 2009 Biennial Conference of the International Study Association on Teachers and Teaching (ISATT), held at the University of Lapland in Finland. This volume contains keynote addresses and papers based on the thematic presentations held at the conference: Identity, context and marginality, Professional development and learning, Context and teaching, and ICT in teaching and learning. The articles open perspectives to the challenges in. education and point to the need for dialogue between different racial, cultural, social and gender groups. The articles benefit educators, teacher educators and policy makers aiming to enhance equity and equality. Insights into teachers'professional and personal knowledge are combined with wider social, cultural and global issues, and through experiences of learning both in Real Life and Second Life. There are many inspiring and promising ideas and approaches of how to promote quality teaching and learning. Under network-based education the topics of ICT skills and experiences, models of ICT integration, virtual reality and a simulation-based learning and online tutoring are being described and assessed.

Major advances in creating linear measures in education and the social sciences, particularly in regard to Rasch measurement, have occurred in the past 15 years, along with major advances in computer power. These have been combined so that the Rasch Unidimensional Measurement Model (RUMM) and the WINSTEPS computer programs now do statistical calculations and produce graphical outputs with very fast switching times. These programs help researchers produce unidimensional, linear scales from which valid inferences can be made by calculating person measures and item difficulties on the same linear scale, with supporting evidence. These computer programs are now available to all Learning Environment researchers. This book includes 13 Learning Environment research papers using Rasch measurement applied at the forefront of education with an international flavour.The contents of the papers relate to: (1) high stakes numeracy testing in Western Australia; (2) early English literacy in New South Wales; (3) the Indonesian Scholastic Aptitude Test; (4) validity in Learning Environment investigations; (5) factors influencing the take-up of Physics in Singapore; (6) state-wide authentic assessment for Years 11-12; (7) talented and gifted student perceptions of the learning environment; (8) disorganisation in the classroom; (9) psychological services in learning environments; (10) English teaching assistant roles in Hong Kong; (11) learning Japanese as a second language; (12) engagement in classroom learning; and (13) early cognitive development in children.

In Belonging: Rethinking Inclusive Practices to Support Well-Being and Identity, issues related to inclusive education and belonging across a range of education contexts from early childhood to tertiary education are examined and matters related to participation, policy and theory, and identity and well-being are explored. Individual chapters, which are drawn from papers presented at The Inclusive Education Summit held at the University of Canterbury, 2016, canvass a variety of topics including pedagogy, sexuality, theory, policy and practice. These topics are explored from the authors'varying perspectives as practitioners, academics and lay-persons and also from varying international perspectives including New Zealand, South Africa and Australia. Contributors are: Keith Ballard, Henrietta Bollinger, Hera Cook, Michael Gafffney, Annie Guerin, Fiona Henderson, Leechin Heng, Kate McAnelly, Trish McMenamin, Be Pannell, Christine Rietveld, Marie Turner, Ben Whitburn, Julie White, and Melanie Wong.

This volume presents the “state-of-the-art” of Nordic research on mathematics education within four broadly defined areas:the study and design of mathematics teaching in classroomsthe identity and education of mathematics teachersthe use of new technology in mathematics educationmeanings and challenges of providing mathematical education to all citizens in modern societies. It provides the reader with insights into research done not only by scholars from the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Iceland), but also by colleagues from the rest of Europe—and even other parts of the world.While the principal research questions addressed are universal in nature, their investigation in concrete contexts will inevitably relate to more contingent issues and conditions. This book offers both in-depth view into the reality of mathematics teaching in the settings studied by the authors, syntheses by world renowned scholars of current problems and methods within each of the four areas, and cross-links to studies done in different countries, as represented both by this book and by the wealth of referenced literature it draws upon. Each of the book's four sections therefore provides rich material for studies within the corresponding areas, for the beginner as well as for the expert.The chapters of the book result from the work of the fifth Nordic congress in research on mathematics education, which was held in Copenhagen in April 2008. It includes 32 full research papers, 8 agendas and reports from discussions in working groups, and 22 short communications.

This book argues for the essential use of drawing as a tool for science teaching and learning. The authors are working in schools, universities, and continual science learning (CSL) settings around the world. They have written of their experiences using a variety of prompts to encourage people to take pen to paper and draw their thinking—sometimes direct observation and in other instances, their memories. The result is a collection of research and essays that offer theory, techniques, outcomes, and models for the reader.Young children have provided evidence of the perceptions that they have accumulated from families and the media before they reach classrooms. Secondary students describe their ideas of chemistry and physics. Teacher educators use drawings to consider the progress of their undergraduates'understanding of science teaching and even their moral/ethical responses to teaching about climate change. Museum visitors have drawn their understanding of the physics of how exhibit sounds are transmitted. A physician explains how the history of drawing has been a critical tool to medical education and doctor-patient communications. Each chapter contains samples, insights, and where applicable, analysis techniques.The chapters in this book should be helpful to researchers and teachers alike, across the teaching and learning continuum. The sections are divided by the kinds of activities for which drawing has historically been used in science education:- An instance of observation (Audubon, Linnaeus);- A process (how plants grow over time, what happens when chemicals combine);- Conceptions of what science is and who does it;- Images of identity development in science teaching and learning.

The Teaching Writing series publishes user-friendly writing guides penned by authors with publishing records in their subject matter. Infused with multidisciplinary examples, humor, and a healthy dose of irreverence, Fallon helps emerging researchers successfully navigate the intellectual and emotional challenges of writing quantitative research reports. After reinforcing foundations in methodology, statistics, and writing in the first section of the book, emerging researchers work through a series of questions to construct their research report. The final section contains sample papers generated by undergraduates illustrating three major forms of quantitative research—primary data collection, secondary data analysis, and content analysis. Writing up Quantitative Research in the Social and Behavioral Sciences is appropriate for research methods classes in communication, criminology or criminal justice, economics, education, political science, psychological science, social work, and sociology. Individual students and novice researchers can also read the book as a supplement to any course or research experience that requires writing up quantitative data.

Literacy learning continues to be central to schooling, and is currently of major concern to educators, policy developers, and members of the public alike. However, the proliferation of communication channels in this digital era requires a fundamental re-thinking of the nature of literacy and the pedagogy of literacy teaching and teacher education. This text brings together papers by experts in teacher education, literacy, and information technology to help chart a way forward in this complex area. Because of their background in teacher education, the authors are realistic about what is appropriate and feasible—they do not just jump on a technology bandwagon—but they are also able to provide extended examples of how to embed technology in the practice of teacher education.

The governance of education in many countries and regions of the world is currently in transition, challenging histories, remaking subjectivities and shaping possible futures. This book provides an up to date analysis and discussion of the cutting edge theme of educational governance from an international comparative perspective. The volume explores the landscape of ‘educational governance'in its broadest sense; considering new forms of steering, leadership and management, assessment and evaluation, teaching and learning, knowledge creation and the realities and possibilities for different forms of political engagement. The new spatial dynamics of education are explored in institutional settings such as schools and universities and via professional groupings such as teachers, administrators and leaders.The chapters in this book are based on the best peer reviewed papers and keynote speeches, which were delivered at the XXVI Conference of the Comparative Education Society in Europe (CESE) in June 2014 in Freiburg, Germany. Comparative Education is uniquely situated to explore the emerging dynamics of educational governance within changing and newly emerging educational spaces because it provides the opportunity to learn more about different local, national or regional educational processes and trajectories and to share knowledge about the logics, ideologies and impacts of different techniques and regimes of governance across Europe and beyond.Hans-Georg Kotthoff is Professor of Comparative Education and School Pedagogy at the University of Education Freiburg, Germany, and President of the Comparative Education Society in Europe (CESE) since 2012.Eleftherios Klerides is Lecturer in Comparative Education and History of Education at the University of Cyprus and the Secretary-Treasurer of the Comparative Education Society in Europe (CESE).

This edited volume gives explicit attention to the influence of gender, feminism, and queer theory in self-study of teacher education practices. It builds on the self-study community's interest in social justice that has mostly been focused on race, ethnicity, gender, disability, and power, as well as broad conceptions that include multiculturalism and ways of knowing. This is the time to examine gender both because our community is growing and because of the reconceptualization of issues of gender, feminism, and queer theory in teacher education. This collection of papers provides a space for members of the self-study field, from founders to welcomed new members, along with the general community of teacher educators to problematize these issues through a variety of theoretical lenses. As always with self-study the impetus of the research is on the improvement of individual practice. Readers will find innovative approaches and insights into their own work as teacher educators.

Measuring competencies acquired over the course of higher education is an area of research that largely has been neglected. This deficit can be attributed to the complexity of academic competencies since the variety of institutions, programs, occupational fields and job requirements render it difficult to define and even harder to measure outcomes. Thus, assessing the preconditions for and effects of competency development is a challenge methodologically. In this book, a comprehensive review of the international state of research on modeling and measuring competencies in higher education across several academic disciplines is presented, along with an evaluation of the field's strengths and weaknesses. Renowned experts share insight into the most important recent research projects and point out controversies and challenges. Competencies are regarded as context-specific dispositions acquired and required to cope successfully with domain-specific situations and tasks. However, the range of these dispositions is controversial. Should only cognitive facets be included or is it important to consider attitudes as well? Insufficient response rates and panel attrition are further challenges, as are the limitations of paper-and-pencil approaches to the complex measurement of higher education outcomes. Thus, this book may serve as a platform for the exchange of research experiences and perspectives and hopefully will instigate improvements in research into higher education.

It is impossible to discuss economics, development or education in a world-wide context without considering the effects of markets or globalization on these issues that have such an impact on humanity. Neoliberalism has had profound consequences for education worldwide, particularly in the developing world. The chapters in this volume include both case studies for specific countries as well as reflections on economic and educational priorities in a globalized world. How development aid is delivered, provisioned and under what conditions is debated in several chapters. Similarly, development as well as poverty are conceived in multi-dimensionalities depending on the context. In addition, the issue of what quality education has come to mean in a globalized age is also addressed. The contrast between discourses of humanistic approaches to education and those of neoliberalism as propounded by the World Bank informs discussions throughout the volume. The collection of papers in Economics, Aid and Education: Implications for Development provides a roadmap for policy makers in developing countries as well as for comparativists to the key issues and challenges of globalization, marketization and internationalization of education in a period of economic crisis. This book explores the contributions of globalization and the roadmaps developed as vehicles for societal transformation. Contributors from all parts of the globe discuss the expanding role of the World Bank's market reforms in education in developing countries. In a detailed and practical way, the authors question false assumptions of education aid and underline the challenges of funding gaps related to development in education.

The concept of the “Creative University” signals that higher education stands at the center of the creative economy indicating the growing significance of intellectual capital and innovation for economic growth and cultural development. Increasingly economic activity is socialised through new media and depends on immaterial and digital goods. This immaterial economy includes new international labour markets that demand analytic skills, global competencies and an understanding of markets in tradeable knowledges. Delivery modes in education are being reshaped. Global cultures are spreading in the form of knowledge and research networks. Openness, networking, cross-border people movement, flows of ideas, capital and scholars are changing the conditions of imagining and producing creative work. The economic aspect of creativity refers to the production of new ideas, aesthetic forms, scholarship, original works of art and cultural products, as well as scientific inventions and technological innovations. It embraces both open source communication as well as commercial intellectual property. This collection explores these ideas as the basis for a new development agenda for universities. The chapters that form this edited book are a selection of papers given at an international conference held called The Creative University held at the University of Waikato on 15-17 August 2102. This conference investigated all the aspects of education in (and as) the creative economy.

There is no single answer to the question: what are human rights? The answer depends on whom you ask. Several of the papers presented at Fourteenth World Congress of Comparative Education held at Bog

What competences do young citizens need to be considered as active and engaged in the context of a modern Europe? In 2011 an invited research symposium of leading civic and political educators, social scientists and educational administrators from Europe met in Hannover, Germany to consider this key concern facing Europe today. In examining the above question the symposium addressed two significant issues: 1. Identify key competencies required for active citizenship of young people in Europe of the future. 2. Translate those competencies to school-based activities in the form of curricular and pedagogical strategies. The group addressed these questions through discussion in the symposium and through previously prepared papers. Subsequently the group participated in a modified Delphi Technique to identify the key competences and the final competences are presented in this book. The chapters of this book represent the contribution of the participants before, during and after the symposium with opportunities for review and reflection. Murray Print and Dirk Lange are professors from the University of Sydney and Leibniz University of Hannover respectively and are national leaders in civics and citizenship education in their respective countries. They have brought together a group of leading European civic and citizenship educators from different academic fields to explore the key issue and to identify the competences for young people to become active and engaged European citizens.

DPR Down Under Volume 2 draws together a spirited collection of papers presented at the Australian Discourse Power and Resistance conference held in Darwin 2012. The volume of work addresses and seeks to contextualise the problematic question “What counts as ‘good'research and who decides?” Each chapter in this volume, written from differing theoretical and methodological positions articulates a notion of what could be considered as being ‘good'research and is, in some way involved in speaking a truth back to power. The chapters invite the reader to rethink and reconsider the inherently political, critical and subversive nature of research from a range of critical investigations.

Little exposure and few opportunities for practice are two main drawbacks for learners in instructional contexts. These problems are intensified when dealing with face-threatening acts such as refusals, as learners are not fully capable of expressing their meanings and miscommunication is a likely by-product. The present volume aims at exploring factors and production of refusals in different instructional settings by means of ten original papers which address key questions dealing with the speech act of refusals. The relevance of the volume lies in the individual contributions which embrace innovative perspectives on refusals in order to provide an excellent contribution to this field of enquiry. The book is an obligatory reading for researchers and students interested in the field of interlanguage pragmatics, who will benefit from the range of educational contexts in which refusals are investigated.

This collection of papers by a group of Chinese educational administrators came about through a graduate study program that facilitated comparisons of educational practices from other cultures against the backdrop of globalization. Collaborative international programs allow contrast and comparisons of practices, policies and educational principles but are not without barriers faced by candidates which can include but are not limited to culture shock and communication and language adjustments. Comparisons of international educational institutions are telling when examined through transfer credit policies, degree recognition, institutional accreditation and the value of academic credits in a globalized educational marketplace. China and Chinese educators recognize that movement and take it most seriously as demonstrated by the group of educational ambassadors who have contributed a variety of perspectives and interests to this volume. They are a new wave of thinkers whose studies embrace their native culture and open minds to alternative ways of understanding and acting on rapidly changing educational circumstances for learners, teachers and administrators.

Young people have to make their own way in the world; they have to give meaning to and find meaning in their lives. This is the field of religious education, which is provided by parents, religious leaders, or teachers of religion and worldviews. One of the most important challenges is to educate children in their own religion, emphasizing that religion's tolerant and peaceful side and to teach children about the beliefs of other traditions. An even more important challenge is to teach them to live together in peace and justice. This volume deals with religious education in Christianity and Islam in specific countries. Scholars in religious education need to know more about the ways in which Muslims and Christians perceive and practice their respective forms of religious education and explore methods that help young people develop their religious identity in accordance with their tradition—and also meet with comrades from other traditions, as the two young Gambian and Dutch women shown on the cover do.This volume explores the field of Christian and Islamic education. Muslim and Christian scholars from Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, Indonesia, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands describe various aspects of religious education at school, at home, in the mosque and church, via the media and in peer groups. The papers were presented and discussed at an authors'conference at VU University Amsterdam, organized in close collaboration between the staff of its Centre of Islamic Theology and other scholars in religious education, and the Islamic Universities League in Cairo. The authors describe actual processes of education, reflect on religious identity formation and respect for other people and the influences from home, school, mosque, and church, the media and “the street.”

These collected papers are critical reflections about the rapid digitalization of discourse and culture. This disruptive change in communicative interaction has swept rapidly through major universities, nation states, learned disciplines, leading businesses, and government agencies during the past decade. To commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Center for Digital Discourse and Culture (CDDC) at Virginia Tech, which has been a pioneering leader for many of these changes in university settings, the contributors to this volume examine the transformative implications of digitalizing discourse and culture inside and outside of the academic arena. These technologies of digitalization have created new communities of users, which are highly engaged with their new communicative possibilities, informational content, and discursive forms. Few have asked what these changes will mean, and many of the most important voices engaged in debates about this critical transformation are gathered here in this volume. Each author in his or her own way considers what accepting digital discourse and informational culture now means for contemporary economies, governments, and societies.

This edited volume, based on papers presented at the World Congress of Comparative Education (Istanbul, 2010), presents research examining pre-service teacher education, in-service teacher development, and the politics of teachers'work in a variety of geographical regions, including Asia, Africa, Eurasia, Europe, Latin America, and North America. More specifically, the chapters examine the situations, activities, and education of teachers in the societal contexts of Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, France, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, Ireland, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Scotland, Spain, Turkey, and the United States. The authors address a variety of important questions related to a group of employees who are key actors in determining the quality of education: How can pre-service teacher education best be organized for different purposes in various settings? What kinds of activities should be organized and who should be involved in in-service professional development to promote teacher capacity and commitment to perform their roles in classrooms and communities? What kinds of incentives can motivate teachers'engagement with various aspects of their work? How do certain educational policies and reforms promote the professionalization or the deprofessionalization and proletarianization of teaching? What are the opportunities and constraints for teachers as they seek to operate within themicro-politics of schools and the macro-politics of society? The book thus contributes to refining our understanding of the critical theoretical issues in the field of comparative and international education as well as calling attention to dynamics that should be considered in developing and implementing as well as critiquing and resisting educational policies in varying contexts.

This groundbreaking book examines why the majority of Australian school leavers want to go to university and have resisted government attempts to promote alternative forms of tertiary education. The New Inheritors explores differences in young people's understanding of the purpose of university and their reasons for wanting to enrol. The book reveals that although there has been a general shift in values towards the utilitarian perspective, there is still significant support for the traditional liberal idea of university education as a cultural experience. This support is concentrated in well-educated families, regardless of their financial resources, but there is a substantial number of young people from less well-educated families who have absorbed the liberal perspective. The book begins with an extensive and unique overview of changes in Australian federal government tertiary education policy and changes in the public discourse on education. This overview provides a framework against which differences among today's students are examined in detail. Drawing on a study of over 200 secondary school students from diverse backgrounds The New Inheritors records their attitudes to university - including access, fees and the role of government—and explores how these are formed by their family backgrounds and influenced by public policy on education. The New Inheritors uncovers the complexity of young people's attitudes, and what processes occur in the forming and reforming of those attitudes to university and what young people really want from university education. Dr Madeleine Mattarozzi Laming is a Lecturer in Education at Australian Catholic University. She has given numerous conference papers on transition from school to university and teaching students from diverse backgrounds. In 2011 she received an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Citation for an outstanding contribution to student learning, particularly at the first year.

In this careful articulation of science, the editors provide an intellectual marriage of Indigenous science and science education in the African context as a way of revising schooling and education. They define science broadly to include both the science of the natural/physical/biological and the ‘science of the social'. It is noted that the current policy direction of African education continues to be a subject of intense intellectual discussion. Science education is very much at the heart of much current debates about reforming African schooling. Among the ways to counter-vision contemporary African education this book points to how we promote Indigenous science education to improve upon African science and technology development in general. The book also notes a long-standing push to re-examine local cultural resource knowings in order to appreciate and understand the nature, content and context of Indigenous knowledge science as a starting foundation for promoting African science and technology studies in general. It is argued that these interests and concerns are not mutually exclusive of each other but as a matter of fact interwoven and interdependent. The breadth of coverage of the collection reflect papers in science, Indigeneity, identity and knowledge production and the possibilities of creating a truly African-centred education. It is argued that such extensive coverage will engage and excite readers on the path of what has been termed ‘African educational recovery'. While the book is careful in avoiding stale debates about the ‘Eurocentricity of Western scientific knowledge'and the positing of ‘Eurocentric science'as the only science worthy of engagement, it nonetheless caution against constructing a binary between Indigenous/local science and knowledges and Western ‘scientific'knowledge. After all, Western scientific knowledge is itself a form of local knowledge, born out of a particular social and historical context. Engaging science in a more global context will bring to the fore critical questions of how we create spaces for the study of Indigenous science knowledge in our schools. How is Indigenous science to be read, understood and theorized? And, how do educators gather/collect and interpret Indigenous science knowledges for the purposes of teaching young learners. These are critical questions for contemporary African education?

Key Works in Critical Pedagogy: Joe L. Kincheloe comprises sixteen papers written within a twenty-year period in which Kincheloe inspired legions of educators with his incisive analyses of education. Kincheloe was a prolific thinker and writer who produced an enormous number of books and chapters and journal articles. In a career cut short by his untimely death, Kincheloe led the way with an approach to research and pedagogy that incorporated multiperspectival approaches that examined a wide range of topics including schooling, cultural studies, research bricolage, kinderculture, Christotainment, and capitalism. In these works Kincheloe used accessible, elegantly produced language to capture his emotional yet scholarly ways of engaging with the world. He was a champion of the disenfranchised and his writing consistently examined social life from the perspective of participants who were often treated harshly because of their marginalization. The articles in this book were selected to encompass Kincheloe's impressive scholarly career and to draw attention to the necessity for educators to take a critical stance with respect to the enactment of education to reproduce disadvantage. Among the theoretical frameworks included in the works are critical pedagogy, research, hermeneutics, phenomenology, cultural studies, and post-formal thought.Key Works in Critical Pedagogy is a comprehensive introduction to the scholarly contributions of one of the foremost educational researchers of our time. The selected chapters and associated scholarly review essays constitute a reference resource for researchers, educators, students of education—and all of those with an interest in adopting a deeper view of ways in which policies and practices shape education and social life to produce privilege and disadvantage simultaneously in ways that are often hidden from view. The critical perspective that permeates these works constitute ways of thinking and being in the world that others can adopt as a framework for analyzing their engagement in education as researchers, teacher educators, policymakers, students, parents of students, and members of the community at large. Responding to each of Kincheloe's chapters is a scholar/teacher who is intimately familiar with the works, theories, and epistemologies of this unique scholar.

Within higher education, world-class universities are regarded as elite research universities and play a critical role in developing human resources and generating new knowledge in the context of a knowledge-based economy. Governments around the world have made the operation of their universities at the cutting edge of intellectual and scientific development their policy priority; and top universities make every effort to compete at this global stage.“Paths to A World-Class University” provides insights into recent and ongoing experiences of building world-class universities, both at a national level and at an institutional level. It collects fifteen essays, most of which originated from papers presented at “The Third International Conference on World-Class Universities”, held in November 2009 in Shanghai, China, and organised by the Center for World-Class Universities of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Divided into two parts, the book: - focuses on the role of world-class universities in national systems; and- looks at institutional experiences and lessons in building world-class universities.This book not only represents a contribution to the ongoing discussion on the topic of building world-class universities, but can be seen a continuation of the previous two volumes on this topic - “World-Class Universities and Ranking: Aiming beyond Status” and “The World-Class University as Part of a New Higher Education Paradigm: From Institutional Qualities to Systemic Excellence”. All three books will be useful reading for students and academics in higher education generally, in addition to policy makers and informed practitioners.

Digital technologies permeate our lives. We use them to communicate, research, process, record, and for entertainment. They influence the way we interact in the world, the way we live. Digital technologies also offer the potential to transform the nature of the learning process in mathematics. The learning environment, the types of tasks learners can engage with, and the nature of that engagement differs from working in other environments. The Internet, for instance, presents greater scope for child-centered, inquiry-based learning. Dynamic geometry software and GoogleEarth offer interactive ways of exploring shape, position and space that is not possible with the pencil-and-paper medium.This book provides insights into how mathematical understanding emerged for primary-aged children (5-13 years) when they investigated mathematical tasks through digital media. It considers learning theories that are frequently used in mathematics education, and situates a contemporary interpretive approach within those perspectives. A key purpose was to provide some practical tasks for teachers/teacher educators to incorporate digital technologies into their mathematics programmes, tasks that have been used successfully for learning.This is a significant reference book for primary-school teacher education and a valuable resource for all schools teaching at that age.

This rich array of case scenarios both illuminates and elaborates the meaning of inclusion in today's schools and tomorrow's visions. Twenty-five stories from parents, teachers, school principals, and specialists highlight the kind of experiential knowledge that won't be found in typical research reports and district documents about inclusive education. What happens to real people—students and their families—doesn't always resemble policies that can look so good on paper. This book makes a wonderful contribution to better understandings of the challenges of inclusion as well as the commitments positioned alongside values in order to meet those challenges. There are brave and spirited people in these pages—not the least of whom are the children themselves. Professor Luanna H. Meyer, PhD Director, Jessie Hetherington Centre for Educational Research Victoria University, New Zealand This is a book on inclusive education that leaves you with hope and ideas for action. It takes a very difficult and highly charged topic and demonstrates that it is possible to see both the trees and the forest. Michael Fullan Professor Emeritus OISE/University of Toronto We are reminded in the commentaries parents share in this book of how their passionate commitment to good education and their ideas make inclusion work. The case-study approach reveals the critical importance of their, and many other perspectives in finding solutions to what are so often dismissed as irresolveable dilemmas. They aren't, and this book models exactly the kinds of conversations we need in schools across the country to challenge all of us to stay the course. It's a must-read for anyone who wants to make diversity and inclusion a reality in public education today. Michael Bach Executive Vice-President Canadian Association for Community Living'

This book presents an international perspective on examining and putting into practice new innovations in science education. The chapters are organized into three parts, each of which addresses a key area in science education research. Part I of this book (Students'conceptual understanding of science) addresses issues related to the identification of students'science concepts, and the influence of everyday understandings on the construction of science concepts. Part II (Making science concepts plausible for students) addresses the pedagogical concerns of teachers in making science ideas plausible and logical for their students. Part III (Science teacher learning) reports on science teacher learning in Australia and Hong Kong. The focus is on the interaction between research and implementation, or how theory can be realized in classroom practice, with contributions from both non-Western and non-English-speaking contexts and Western and English speaking countries. Taken together, the papers have a common focus on the relationship or integration of theory and practice in science education. They demonstrate a concern to address education reform directions, putting into practice recommendations from science education research, and improving the quality of science education.The contributors of this book come from seven different areas around the world. These contributions have been essential in making the discussions in this book multi-perspective and relevant to an international audience, thus allowing it to emerge to join the international discourse on improving science education. The studies reported in this book provide insights for future research addressing science education reform directions, students'learning needs and different classroom contexts.

This book draws together many previously published articles and book chapters produced by the author over the past 20 years of work in the field of indigenous education. However, rather than just being a compilation of a series of papers, this book is a record of the development of an indigenous approach towards large-scale, theory-based education reform that is now being implemented, in two different forms, in almost half of the secondary schools in New Zealand. Fundamental to this theorising is the understanding, identified by Paulo Freire over forty years ago, that answers to the conditions oppressed peoples find themselves in is not to be found in the language or understandings of the oppressors. Rather, it is to be found in those of the oppressed. This realisation has been confirmed by the examples in this book. The first is seen where it is identified how researching in Maori contexts needs to be conducted dialogically within the world view and understandings of Maori people. Secondly, dialogue in its widest sense is crucial for developing a means whereby Maori students are able to participate successfully in education.The book details how researching the impact of colonization on his mother's Maori family enabled the author to develop a means of researching within indigenous, Maori contexts. It then details how the lessons learnt here appealed as being a means by which the marginalization of Maori students in mainstream, public school classrooms could be re-theorised, and how schools and education systems could be reorganised so as to support indigenous students to be successful learners.

This book aims to present how emergent media penetrate all fields of human cultural activity. The content of this volume reflects theoretical and practical discussions on cultural issues influenced by increased adoption of information and communication technologies. New media and Web 2.0 raise increasing attention of academics from wide range of disciplines. Papers, included in this volume, cover a coherent choice of topics selected with respect to the actual state of inter-disciplinary debate on emerging media.

Writing Qualitative Research on Practice brings together key authors in the field of qualitative research to critique current trends and expand discourse about the challenges and practices of writing qualitative research. This book is located in the context of professional practice and the practice world. It scopes and maps the broad horizons of qualitative research on practice and explores writing in major qualitative research traditions. A key issue addressed in writing qualitative research, particularly the narrative forms, is finding a way to write that encapsulates the goals and genre of the research project. Writing is presented as a process and journey and also a way of thinking and creating knowledge. Within research, writing is an essential expression of the research frame of reference and a key element of the research genre. This book explores writing for a range of publications including books, chapters, theses and papers for journals. The practical and accessible style of this book makes it an invaluable resource for postgraduate research students, teachers and supervisors and scholars of qualitative research.

The themes of the different papers in this book are related to five major areas of research. First, the book presents the work on a large-scale assessment in vocational and occupational education and training. Reason was the work of Frank Achtenhagen and his colleagues on the preparation of a VET-PISA which started in 2004 which has now become more and more a concrete program. The contributions to this part of the book contain a project description and profound presentations and discussions of measurement and evaluation problems. It reflects also the work of Achtenhagen with respect to item response theory, measurement and testing. The second part of this book presents a unique endeavour of promoting VET research: The Swiss Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (OPET) initiated a program of Leading Houses of VET which are dedicated to different important research topics. This program might serve as example for comparable approaches in other countries. The third part highlights central issues of research on learning processes, curriculum theory and the use of technology. Here the work of Achtenhagen on competence-profile modelling, competence measurement and instructional and curriculum designing is touched. The fourth part stresses social and emotional learning as important aspects of VET learning. The fifth part considers the political and institutional dimensions of VET research which have to be taken into account when an international large-scale assessment of VET shall be getting started. Achtenhagen's work on learning at work, leaning in economics and learning under the conditions of institutional modelling are discussed. The whole book is a collection of central issues around a field that is not yet taken enough into consideration in educational research, but pushed and supported by Frank Achtenhagen: VET research. He belongs to the founding fathers of it, and this is why precisely the book reflects new trends and new concepts with respect to the question “What can we, educational psychologists and educational researchers, learn from a rich and central research field.”

This book adds a new perspective to existing research methodology literature on analyzing social interactions in the classroom. Not only does this book introduce multiple research methodologies for analyzing classroom interactions but it also demonstrates these methodologies at work in different empirical research studies. The authors of this book are all internationally well recognized for their research work on the social life of classrooms, and now, for the first time, they provide concrete accounts of the ways in which the theories and methodologies they have chosen to guide their research work function in action. These'black boxes'or'tacit knowledge'of conducting different types of analyses on classroom interaction have seldom been opened up in such a concrete way in the existing research literature. This book is an edited collection of papers introducing strands of research on classroom interaction whose logic of inquiry illuminate different approaches, analyses, and interpretations of social interactions and discourses in contemporary classroom settings. The methodological approaches discussed draw on studies of language and discourse, ethnography, as well as on sociological, psychological, and domain-specific analyses. In recognizing the complexity and challenges in mapping out the complex research territory focusing on classroom interactions, the prime goal of the book is to build a complimentary context for discussion of the ways in which different approaches to classroom interaction are realized and how they produce different analyses because of their purpose, conceptual framework, and methodological choice. The illumination of diverse approaches to classroom interaction and discourse is believed to demonstrate the potential and challenges each strand of research is likely to bring towards understanding the psychological, social and cultural life of the classroom and how these mediate the situated practice of teaching and learning in today's schooling. This book is targeted towards researchers and graduate students working within the field of social sciences, education and psychology. It also makes an excellent text for courses in research methodology, education, and related fields.

What is most strikingly new about the transcultural is its sudden ubiquity. Following in the wake of previous concepts in cultural and literary studies such as creolization, hybridity, and syncretism, and signalling a family relationship to terms such as transnationality, translocality, and transmigration, ‘transcultural'terminology has unobtrusively but powerfully edged its way into contemporary theoretical and critical discourse. The four sections of this volume denote major areas where ‘transcultural'questions and problematics have come to the fore: theories of culture and literature that have sought to account for the complexity of culture in a world increasingly characterized by globalization, transnationalization, and interdependence; realities of individual and collective life-worlds shaped by the ubiquity of phenomena and experiences relating to transnational connections and the blurring of cultural boundaries; fictions in literature and other media that explore these realities, negotiate the fuzzy edges of ‘ethnic'or ‘national'cultures, and participate in the creation of transnational public spheres as well as transcultural imaginations and memories; and, finally, pedagogy and didactics, where earlier models of teaching ‘other'cultures are faced with the challenge of coming to terms with cultural complexity both in what is being taught and in the people it is taught to, and where ‘target cultures'have become elusive. The idea of ‘locating'culture and literature exclusively in the context of ethnicities or nations is rapidly losing plausibility throughout an ‘English-speaking world'that has long since been multi- rather than monolingual. Exploring the prospects and contours of ‘Transcultural English Studies'thus reflects a set of common challenges and predicaments that in recent years have increasingly moved centre stage not only in the New Literatures in English, but also in British and American studies.

This book considers the place and value of knowledge in contemporary society. “Knowledge” is not a self-evident concept: both its denotations and connotations are historically situated. Since the Enlightenment, knowledge has been a matter of discovery through effort, and “knowledge for its own sake” a taken-for-granted ideal underwriting progressive education as a process which not only taught “for” and “about” something, but also ennobled the soul. While this ideal has not been explicitly rejected, in recent decades there has been a tacit move away from a strong emphasis on its centrality, even in Higher Education. The authors address the values that inform knowledge production in its present forms, and seek to identify social and cultural factors that support these values.Against the background of increasingly restrictive conditions of academic work, the first section of this volume offers incisive critiques of Higher Education, with examples drawn from Australia and New Zealand. The second group of chapters considers how academics have viewed, and have tried to adapt to, present circumstances. The third section comprises papers that consider epistemological issues in the generation and promulgation of knowledge. The chapters in this volume are indicative of the work that needs to be done so that we can come to comprehend – and perhaps try and improve – our relationship to learning and knowledge in the 21st Century.This timely book will be of particular interest to workers in higher education; it should also inform and challenge all those who have concerns for the future of the intellectual life of our civilization.

Following the warm reception given to The Idea of Education, a volume of papers in this same Rodopi Series, a second conference around similar themes was held at Oxford University and this book is the result. This edited book provides the reader with a fairly representative, coherent and cohesive statement of the 2003 Oxford conference. Quoting the Chancellor of Paris University with regretting that “in the old days … lectures were more frequent … but now the time taken for lectures is being spent in meeting and discussions” our keynote Frank McMahon made the profound observation that some of the issues around education have been with us for a surprisingly long time. Notwithstanding the longevity of some questions concerning education, this book details and examines contemporary educational practice and theory and as such it is a very important work.

The 10 papers in this volume examine university and pre-university education in the 14th to 16th centuries in Germany, Italy, France, and England. Topics covered include the recruitment and support of students, studying abroad, social status, careers of graduates, university rituals, the profession of schoolmaster, and the relation of the studia to the crown. Contributors include William J. Courtenay, Rainer Chr. Schwinges, Klaus Wriedt, Frank Rexroth, Darleen Pryds, Helmut G. Walther, Thomas Sullivan, O.S.B., Martin Kintzinger, Jo Ann Hoeppner Moran Cruz, and Jürgen Miethke.

Mathematics plays an important role in today's world and is used in daily life more than is often appreciated. Mathematical literacy denotes the competence to deal with the mathematical issues of life in modern society. The underlying purpose of this book is to support the development of rich understandings and practices of how an education for mathematical literacy can be realised. The collected works, emerging from several educational systems, offer a fresh perspective on mathematical literacy and the chapters include practical examples that teachers, pre-service teachers, and teacher educators might adapt to their own needs.

Neoliberal theory on higher education highlights the challenges faced by academics in the'new times'of academia. Quality-improvement programs and academic accountability mechanisms have been advocated, but the profession's precariousness and stress make early career researchers especially vulnerable. The highly competitive funding environment and increased non-research duties put academics'time and dedication at risk. Early career academics can enhance Sub-Saharan African educational research by contributing effectively to contextually relevant research, collaborating with regional colleagues, and pursuing international collaboration and financing. However, more research is needed to understand the experiences of the new generation of academics and their responses to new performativity criteria. Contributors are: Ikechi Agbugba, Wiets Botes, Darrell de Klerk, Alan Felix, Claire Gaillard, Dean Langeveldt, Bheki Mngomezulu, Thembeka Myende, Amasa Ndofirepi, Ntombikayise Nkosi, Felix Okoye, June Palmer, Doniwen Pietersen, Percy Sepeng, Kevin Teise, Victor Teise and Yusef Waghid.

This book is about Yau Yan Wong's experiences as a teacher-researcher in practicing, teaching, and researching mindfulness practice in Thailand over the past 13 years. After learning from several Buddhist masters from different wisdom traditions, she introduced mindfulness practice to the students and teachers in an international school to nurture a healthier and more compassionate culture within the community. This book includes Wong's years of research findings on the benefits of mindfulness on child development, such as better focus, higher emotional intelligence, psychological resilience, and more. It also includes many short mindfulness practices and heuristics for teachers and parents to promote their emotional well-being and that of others in their daily lives.

Through her use of the scholarly personal narrative and braided essay form, McGowan weaves strands of rhetoric with creative writing, navigating complex themes with academic rigor and emotional introspection. Her blend of equal parts humor, gravitas, and scholarship invites readers to explore the complexities of being a woman in a male-dominated world while looking at how writers might use coping mechanisms and transgressive workarounds, from code-switching to storytelling. With critical analyses of feminist discourse and a roadmap for navigating the ever-evolving landscape of gender politics, the essays in this book challenge us to rethink traditional thinking about gender and equality. Writing is Revision is a call to action, an ode to the power of the written word for anyone interested in feminism and literature.

This book charts a comprehensive account of girls'education in postcolonial Pakistan, and argues that the problem of girls'education in rural areas needs to be situated in the construction of knowledge, the practice of power relations, and the contested processes of truth production. Drawing on theories of Foucault's governmentality, postcolonialism and feminism, the author explores the context of Pakistan as a postcolonial Islamic nation-state, examines the British colonial legacies of governing institutions, discourses of gender and education, and development of girls'education policy and practices. The book contributes to the development of the analytical framework of postcolonial Islamic governmentality and uses the framework to analyse the research data, and education policy texts and discourses.

A Philosophy for Education: A Study in Aesthetic Rationality supports an argument for the crucial role of the aesthetic in a humanist education. It is structured around the philosophy of Giambattista Vico (1668–1744) who saw the poetic imagination as the first language through which humankind makes sense of its place within the world with myths and symbolic ritual. This is the search for the truth of identity and, ultimately, requires a self that examines its own experiences. That examination is the work of an aesthetic rationality that responds to life's contradictions through the use of metaphor: An historical perspective, ranging from the Renaissance, through the Romantic Movement, to Phenomenology, identifies the major characteristics of an aesthetic rationality, and concludes with recommendations for the school curriculum.

This book unpicks how the growing role of technology, particularly tools designed to solve real-world problems, impacts thinking and expression. Mind-bending AI-generated fact, fiction, art and music challenge the boundaries of machine capability and human consciousness. Quantum physics views consciousness as self-observation reliant on language and thinking. Now machines implement life routines, there is a need for better human thinkers and communicators for tackling issues, like climate change and overpopulation. World Thinking Studies show decline in language and thinking, with one-third of adults lacking them for life needs. Technology reduces direct talk – essential for thought. A 2024 Mental State of the Year study finds Britain the world's second most miserable place, only slightly more cheerful than Uzbekistan, showing inability to think through and solve problems. The subjects discussed in this book are processes, for applying technology successfully; practices, to determine how to implement technology support for thinking, communication, and collaboration; performance, in terms of student technology experiences; and predictions, to outline and analyse current technology trends.

Education is about human flourishing and explores meaning, purpose and values. As a holistic and integral practice for developing sustained attention and concentration, education is profoundly antithetical to the market and it is not a technological domain. The combination of markets and technology in the pursuit of efficiency destroys the potential of education to help societies nurture well-being. This book dives deeply into the overlapping crises of education today. The author draws on decades of experience and many disciplines to celebrate the spirit of education and to frame it as a gift.