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In their first year of university, students perceive some courses as least related to their degree, and hence, show a lack of motivation in them, dedicating more time to those that they consider as more related to their degree. This leads to a decrease in students' performance in these courses, even when they have sufficient capacity to do well. Moreover, it is observed that students are not aware of their knowledge level regarding the course content and generally overestimate it. This paper presents a method to increase students' engagement in parts of the courses that are most difficult. This method was tested in one course, and the results support its effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a response to multiculturalism's reductionist and othering constructions of Black presence in Canadian early childhood research and practice. We engage in possibilities for creating movement away from multiculturalism as the primary way of responding to anti-Blackness in Canadian early childhood education. We put forward orientations that emerge when we imagine the abolition of Canadian early childhood education pedagogies and curriculum that are shaped by neoliberal multiculturalism. We organize our abolitionist praxis in relation to what kinds of stories and modes of storytelling of Black life might be needed in early childhood education in Canada. We focus our attention on three interconnected pedagogical orientations: storying abolition geographies, storying Black ecologies, and storying Black aliveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the contexts, structures and administrations of early childhood education (ECE) may differ internationally, effective pedagogical leadership remains an essential component in supporting young children's development and learning. This paper reports on a comparative study which considered ECE in two different settings, Finland and Florida, providing insight into teachers' perspectives on the characteristics of pedagogical leadership. This study sought to investigate and compare the perspectives of ECE teachers and directors in Finland and Florida via their discourses about teachers' pedagogical leadership. The goal was to provide an overview of the ECE teachers' and directors' discourses in each location, in order to allow comparison and a better understanding of the influence of aspects including locational contexts, curricular guidelines and teacher preparation on the ECE teachers' and directors' perspectives. A comparative case study design was used. The data consisted of semi-structured focus group interviews and individual interviews with ECE teachers and centre directors in Finland and in Florida. Data from the two locations were first analysed separately to identify the main discourses; secondly, discourses were compared collectively to reveal major themes. The analysis indicated a similar conceptualisation of distributed pedagogical leadership. However, differences were identified in teachers' expectations of independence in instructional decisions, and the extension of pedagogical leadership practices within and beyond the ECE centres. The analysis of discourses led to the identification of three major themes, which generated implications for teacher preparation, curriculum development and implementation, and ECE programme directions. The study enables a more comprehensible conceptualisation of teachers' pedagogical leadership as it emerged from teachers' and directors' discourses across two locations. Pedagogical leadership is recognised as an indicator of high-quality pedagogy in early childhood education and the findings highlight the need to continuously support and strengthen teachers' pedagogical leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Training teachers of learners with visual impairment (VI) emphasise instrumental skills such as curriculum adaptation and assistive technology, at times ignoring anxieties and attitudes within teachers surrounding disability. South Africa's education system faces a huge backlog in VI teacher training, which is being addressed by intensive short courses developed through the Teacher Empowerment for Disability Inclusion (TEDI) project. With only 5 days of contact, hard choices must be made regarding what teachers most need to prepare for the VI learner. The Authors felt that personal and attitudinal shifts (in teachers entirely new to VI) were pivotal. Besides 'harder' skills, trainees took part (as audience) in a daily panel discussion by four academically successful VI graduates, with experiences of both inclusive and special education. The panel strategy had five aims: i) counter stereotypes by showcasing high-achieving VI persons; ii) provide humanising, first-hand experience of VI; iii) raise and digest difficult emotions to do with VI; iv) model a sense of mutual acceptance between learners and teachers and v) add humour and lightness to difficult issues. This paper presents qualitative data on the outcomes of these aims, based on written submissions by panellists, and questionnaire and focus group material from trainees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urgency for action on climate change is regarded as the defining issue of our time. Planetary health education prepares future healthcare professionals to promote the health of the planet, including sustainable healthcare. This has potential benefits for the healthcare system, patients, community, and the environment. However, many educators are not confident in explaining and inspiring students and many deans and educational staff report challenges when integrating planetary health into education. The roadmap presented in this paper uses evidence from medical education literature to support medical schools with implementing this type of education. The roadmap can be used as a guide for educators, university leadership, and policy-makers in the design of planetary health education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) indicates that education for global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity should be embedded at all levels of curricula. In this paper, we share findings from an analysis of curriculum documents in Victoria, Australia and Québec, Canada that identified learning related to this goal and explored the potential depth of intercultural understanding (ICU) this may lead to. While we view ICU as linking directly to the SDG4 aim of developing learners’ global citizenship, we also investigated the extent to which ICU transcends the appreciation of cultural diversity or ‘other’ cultures. Our findings suggest that in both contexts, ICU could be categorised into three key dimensions: a focus on similarities and differences, a focus on reflection and self, and a focus on transformation. In addition, there was little evidence of interculturality beyond the cultures of immigrants. Given the history in both contexts, we identify that interculturality must also involve more inclusion of Indigenous cultures within the curriculum for all students to ensure transformative intercultural outcomes are maximised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper follows the perspectives and initiatives of teachers, who were directly and indirectly, involved in a school terrace gardening project co-designed with some of them. Their narratives included their perceptions regarding students working at the farm, connected initiatives within the curriculum, and any personal efforts prompted by their involvement with the farm space. Their experiences indicate the possibility of using the farm as a transformational space, helping restructure their own identity as well as pedagogical practices. Their narratives also highlight the boundaries created by disciplinary affiliations. In the absence of direct participation, conventional teaching practices seems to affect their use of the farming space and meanings derived from it. These observations are discussed in the backdrop of challenges in facilitating environmentally-oriented teacher education in the Indian scenario. The insights gleaned from the research contribute to the existing scholarship on educational approaches for social change-making and the dilemmas faced by educators in navigating disciplinary expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the ongoing socio-ecological crises, higher education institutions need curricular interventions to support students in developing the knowledge, skills, and perspectives needed to create a sustainable future. Campus farms are increasingly becoming sites for sustainability and environmental education toward this end. This paper describes the design and outcomes of a farm-situated place-based experiential learning (PBEL) intervention in two undergraduate biology courses and one environmental studies course over two academic years. We conducted a mixed-method study using pre/post-surveys and focus groups to examine the relationship between the PBEL intervention and students' sense of place and expressions of pro-environmentalism. The quantitative analysis indicated measurable shifts in students' place attachment and place-meaning scores. The qualitative findings illustrate a complex relationship between students' academic/career interests, backgrounds, and pro-environmentalism. We integrated these findings to generate a model of sustainability learning through PBEL and argue for deepening learning to encourage active participation in socio-ecological change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a two-year pedagogical, teacher-as-researcher, action research project at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Sousse, Tunisia, which investigates how the integration of the Soliya Connect Program, a facilitated dialogic online exchange programme, with a theoretical course on critical intercultural communication helped students develop critical interculturality. Despite some initial concern about the extra time commitment, students were unanimously positive about integrating the two aspects, claiming that the Connect Program helped them to develop criticality in real life, and that the online communication was much more effective because they participated with the critical perspective developed in class. The findings support the integration of theoretical and practical online components in developing students' critical intercultural communication skills, and the use of action research to inform adjustments to both components in order to improve the outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes how an action research process, centred around a professional development program for teaching critical thinking, enabled teachers in a specialised program for high-achieving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students (Solid Pathways) to develop their pedagogical practices to support student cognition. It argues that a well-structured action research approach supports and enables teachers to link theory to practice in developing their pedagogy, especially where such development implies a shift away from content and curriculum-oriented pedagogy. Principal among these mechanisms are the grounding of practice in theory, well-designed practical activities, special materials that help bridge theory and practice, and collaboration among practitioners in undertaking transformative pedagogical change. The conclusions from this study support the claim that these four key mechanisms are crucial to the implementation of a critical thinking pedagogy and describe how action research can support the advent of such mechanisms into pedagogical development programs that have the capacity to contribute to significant and sustainable change. Overall, findings suggest that where support of student cognition is the goal, pedagogical development predicated on theory and focused on independent practice in a culture of collegial collaboration and dialogue, works best to create sustainable practices of teaching for thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating theory-into-practice is an important skill for professionals to master during their university education; however, students and educators find learning and teaching about theory-into-practice challenging. To address these difficulties 'Transition Workshops' were implemented within a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy. A mixed methods evaluation was conducted using pre- and post-workshop surveys and focus groups. Qualitative findings, the focus of this paper, were that team teaching helped educators feel more confident in teaching theory-into-practice as it was more enlivening than solo teaching, it provided opportunity for professional development, it enabled better understanding of the whole curriculum, and it modelled a consolidated professional identity. Team teaching assisted students by providing them with multiple role-models. This study highlighted that some of the challenge in supporting students to learn how to integrate theory-into-practice may be addressed using team teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing interest in the potential use of educational robotics (ER) in higher education. Few studies have considered teachers' perceptions of using ER outside science and engineering. This qualitative research aims to investigate university teachers' perceived opportunities and challenges of using ER in management education from three interconnected dimensions, curriculum, pedagogy, and technological domain, by means of narrative analysis. The findings suggest the potential of using ER to develop discipline-specific knowledge and technological and transferable skills for management students. This research contributes by enriching the current conceptual discussions predicated upon teachers' perceptions as determinants of technology adoption, and ER's role in engaging students in the learning process premised on Vygotskian social constructivism. Practically, this paper provides insights into exploring the possibilities and obstacles of adopting ER in management education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preparing school teachers goes beyond equipping them with instrumental knowledge of curriculum, pedagogy, and experiences of how this can be enacted in practice. They must be prepared to understand and encompass compelling social issues of justice, equity, and sustainability. To do this they need to understand pressing environmental issues as a forerunner to incorporate sustainability into their teaching. This paper uses survey data from a sample of 136 Australian pre-service teachers to gauge their knowledge and beliefs about sustainability, as well as their level of concern and their inclination to teach about it. The results show sound levels of knowledge of the biophysical environment, knowledge about the consequences of unsustainable practices and the effects of energy use and its contribution as one cause of climate change. Some also hold misconceptions about the causes of climate change. Most prospective teachers are ready to take action to protect earth systems through personal actions, and teaching and advocating within their school community, and less likely to undertake political activities beyond the school. Results from this sample are used to set out a challenge to use the concept of powerful knowledge in tandem with everyday knowledge to improve sustainability instruction in teachers' preparation programs to capitalise on their potential to contribute to Education for Sustainable Development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on urban teacher education (UTE) programs have studied teacher candidates' (TCs) perceptions of urban communities and schooling, but have provided limited insights on how ideologies about dis/ability are entangled with race and other markers of difference, shaping TCs' learning about urban education. In this paper, we present an analysis drawn from a 2-year qualitative study that answers the following questions: What social categories of difference are present in a UTE program's curriculum? What ideologies related to dis/ability are utilized by TCs to describe urban education? We found that despite the UTE's program's strong emphasis on race and social justice, TCs not only drew from asset-based approaches but also from three interrelated ideologies of disablement to discuss students' behaviors: individualism, medical, and personal tragedy. We provide recommendations for UTE programs and research-based on an intersectional approach to teacher education that foregrounds dis/ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognising the changing landscape and financial costs, changes in the higher education sector continue to challenge the purpose and operations of universities, notably the shift towards student consumerism. Given this, what it means to be a student in contemporary higher education can evolve and would arguably have implications about the expectations of university students and staff for learning and teaching practice. To promote greater transparency of expectations, this paper develops the concept of the ideal student further with closer look into the spheres of influence that shape university students' construction of the ideal student. We draw on 23 focus groups with 105 university students to explore the key factors that contribute to how the ideal student is developed and recognised. Our findings indicate that students' construction of the ideal student is closely shaped by and rooted in their prior educational experiences, interaction with their peers and the curriculum, and perceptions of lecturers, institution and employer expectations. All these influences lead to a fluid and complex negotiation process as students navigate the meanings of being a university student. We conclude with practical implications for learning, teaching and curriculum development in higher education. The paper therefore provides a platform for key stakeholders to discuss different influencing factors as we support student transition and progression and manage their expectations of higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Psychological literacy has become influential as a concept to promote the value of a psychology degree to potential students and employers, particularly in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. This influence is based upon an assumption that the concept of psychological literacy is valid. The objective of this paper is to examine relevant literature, identifying possible issues in providing evidence of validity for the construct. Method: Messick's unified validity framework was utilised to evaluate threats to the overall construct validity of psychological literacy. Broad literature such as empirical and case studies, reports, and opinion papers were included as sources for analysis. A content analysis was conducted to determine the level of consensus for proposed psychological literacy attributes. Results: There was limited consensus for most attributes in the examined literature, which compromises construct validity according to Messick's framework. However, five terms were cited in most papers. Consolidating these terms provides a conceptualisation of psychological literacy as the ability to apply scientific principles to psychology concepts in work and personal contexts. Conclusion: Possible solutions to resolve construct validity threats are offered. Refining the concept requires further exploration of perceptions among key stakeholders such as psychology teachers, students, and employers. KEY POINTS What is already known about this topic: A substantial body of literature has been published that discusses the construct of psychological literacy, but limited research (n=7) has measured the construct. A systematic narrative review of psychological literacy detailed concerns over multiple conceptualisations in studies that measured the construct. These prior findings revealed a need to evaluate the validity of the construct. What this topic adds: School belonging partially mediates the relationship between socioemotional wellbeing and loneliness in primary school age children. The effect of school belonging on loneliness could reveal important pathways for the development of related evidence-based interventions. Effects of school belonging on loneliness can be seen as early as in primary school age, which has implications for early intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper returns to a long-standing theme in education research, the ways in which 'contextual factors impact on what schools do, as well as directly on what pupils achieve' (Lupton, 2004, 4). Drawing on a project designed to explore the early effects of reforms to national examinations, the curriculum for 14−16 year olds and school accountability measures in English secondary schools, this paper considers the perceptions and experiences of teachers currently charged with enacting these reforms specifically in the light of their situated school realities in three different settings. A case is made for a contextually sensitive approach towards policy making and policy enactment that takes account of some of the more nuanced distinctions among schools' contextual positionings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research suggests that high school students often have negative experiences with mathematics. To address this challenge, this paper shares findings of a design-based research project in which researchers and teachers developed and used a narrative approach to lesson planning in order to design lesson experiences that provide opportunities for high school students to become captivated with mathematical content ("CMLs"). The goal of this approach is to provide students positive aesthetic opportunities, such as inspiring student curiosity, while maintaining cognitive demand and coherence. Overall, students reported more positive, varied aesthetic experiences (e.g., suspense, surprise) in CMLs than in other lessons with the same teacher and students. These findings provide evidence that designing lessons as mathematical stories shows promise and can offer students more positive aesthetic experiences in mathematics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines a set of analytical perspectives grounded in affect theory for decolonising religious education. In particular, these perspectives are: recognising the role of religious feelings; examining the extent to which decolonial affective spaces can be created in the classroom; and, understanding how contemporary public discourses about multiculturalism and religious difference are affectively experienced by students and educators in their everyday lives. It is argued that these perspectives contribute to push further the uncovering of colonial legacies within contemporary religious education, especially in relation to Islamophobia. Further, it is emphasised that it is imperative for the project of decolonising religious education to pay attention to the affective dimensions of decolonisation; this implies not only interrogating the affective legacies of coloniality such as Islamophobia, but also producing decolonised affective communities in classrooms and schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pursuit of racial justice in education continues to demand research that employs critical race theory (CRT). Underscoring the importance of such scholarship, this review of K-12 literature examines the trend of racial literacy in educational research. Using an interactive and recursive systematic review of research, this paper ultimately analyzed 22 peer-reviewed articles that employed racial literacy as a theory and/or method – many connected to CRT – for the possibilities they offered in upending racial liberalism in K-12 teaching and schooling. In this review, racial literacy was categorized into themes: as a process, as disrupting white supremacy and internalized racism, and as working toward curricular transformation, intersectional analysis, and centering youth voice. We conclude by discussing ways that racial literacy research can continue to work within and beyond the academy to disrupt racial liberalism and work toward anti-racist transformation in K-12 education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We sought to design a micro-curriculum to structure supervised clinical placements for junior medical students within a variety of community-based settings of differing clinical disciplines. Given the gaps in the literature, this paper reflects on the opportunities and challenges of our design, implementation, and evaluation strategies in constructing an integrated task-based micro-curriculum for interprofessional community-based learning in year 2 of a four-year graduate entry program. The design was informed by a systems thinking framework and guided by contemporary curricular theories on self-directed and interprofessional learning. Extensive consultations with stakeholders were undertaken. Alignment with relevant national level documents and curricular frameworks was ensured. The systems thinking approach provided first, an experience of applying thinking tools for a deeper understanding of how various parts of this micro-curriculum and subsystems should be integrated. Second, applying the toolkit uncovered tension points on which leverage could optimise future enhancements. Eighteen types of health professions were recruited including 105 general practitioners and 253 healthcare practitioners from a range of disciplines. Systems thinking allows for the identification of various interacting elements within the curriculum to be considered as part of an integrated whole. Insights from this model could inform the design of similar innovative curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The professionalism of teachers through collaboration has become increasingly important in the last years. This paper describes the process of designing and validating a questionnaire for the analysis of future Primary and Pre-school teachers' collaboration patterns. The psychometric properties of the scale were obtained from the analysis of the validity of content (expert judgement and pilot test to 293 students of Primary Education and Pre-school Education at a Spanish university and from construct (factor analysis) and reliability (Cronbach Alpha), obtaining appropiate results (KMO = 0.89; CFI = 0.91; GFI = 0.95; AGFI = 0.96; SMSR = 0.05). Four factors were identified in the questionnaire on collaboration and shared professional learning: Assertiveness and personal willingness to work together, Group Cohesion, Leadership Capacity and Group Awareness. The results obtained are consistent with empirical studies carried out on the teachers' willingness towards collaboration, ongoing training and teacher professional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite decades of research to the contrary, public discourse continues to insist on the direct power of curriculum to shape student learning, rather than acknowledge the complex and situated ways that teachers and curricular materials interact to shape enacted instruction. In this paper, we use a model of curriculum enactment to illustrate the complex factors influencing this interaction between teachers and curriculum. We examine how two teachers enact two different lessons on racial history and ask whether and how this interaction led to opening or closing of opportunities for interpretation. Our analysis led us to generate three types of historical interpretations that were potentially available for discussion across these two lessons: (a) textual interpretations centred on how a particular text should be understood; (b) political interpretations centred on how history should be remembered in the present; (c) structural interpretations centred on causal explanations for racism. The results of this study suggest that developing teacher knowledge for facilitating discourse about racial history will need to be steeped in enactment and contextualized in teachers' broader identities and experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers in the US are increasingly required to use scripted curricula. Such instructional materials often reflect the overwhelming whiteness of the publishing industry through a lack of representation of authors and protagonists outside of white, middle-class normative characters. Implementation of such curricula stands in direct contrast to studies finding that culturally relevant pedagogy and curricula benefit students across racial and ethnic groups. This paper describes a qualitative analysis of the scripted Wit and Wisdom English Language Arts curriculum for grades K-8 guided by the research question: How might the curriculum reproduce a white supremacist master script? Following a quantitative analysis of racial representation across all core and supplementary texts in the curriculum, the research team used guiding questions grounded in a critical discourse and anti-racist teaching framework to qualitatively analyse teacher-facing materials at each grade level. The findings of this study indicate that whiteness is centred at every level of the curriculum in text selection and thematic grouping of texts, as well as through discursive moves in teacher-facing materials (e.g. essential questions for learning modules). Based on the findings, the research team suggests mechanisms for individual and collective efforts to resist whiteness-centred curricula at the system, school, and classroom level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The call to raise educational standards in the UK has a particular focus on the underachievement of pupils attending schools facing challenging socioeconomic circumstances. In 2017 the Education Policy Institute (UK) reported that the most disadvantaged pupils in England are on average over 2 years of learning behind non-disadvantaged pupils by the end of their secondary education. Contributing to this underachievement is the notion of 'poverty of expectation' with some teachers being unambitious in their teaching, failing to challenge their pupils to achieve at the highest levels. In primary science education this is exacerbated by the fact that non-specialist teachers commonly deliver the science curriculum. Lack of confidence and expertise in science can limit knowledge of teaching strategies and approaches required to engage and stretch pupils. The Hope Challenge Model for partnership brings together a university's Initial Teacher Education programme and urban primary schools facing challenging socio–economic circumstances. It aims to introduce trainee teachers to schools in a way that builds their confidence and nurtures more ambitious teaching for the future. This paper provides insights from an action research study designed to understand the processes and impact of the HCM (an action research cycle in itself) on primary science teaching. Early findings revealed how elements of the HCM approach support the goal of more ambitious science teaching in respect of trainees and importantly and how this rippled out to build the confidence and skills of more established school-based staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the evolving and diverse nature of post-16 computing curricula within England, this papers' primary objective was to identify the factors which influence the decision-making processes for education providers when choosing computing curricula. As a main provider of the vast array of post-16 qualifications, and due to their neglect both politically and in research, further education colleges were chosen as the subject of inquiry. Due to the focus on understanding employee perspectives, a qualitative research method was employed where semi-structured interviews were conducted with thirty-two employees from across thirteen colleges within England. These employees included computing lecturers, heads of departments, and members of senior leadership. Findings indicate the extent of the range of post-16 computing qualifications offered by colleges, in addition to identifying who the key players are for computing curricula decisions. Additionally, ten factors were identified as pivotal to influencing curricula choice, and from these factors, a model has been created classifying four central areas that should be considered regarding curriculum choice: labour market information, qualification relevance to industry needs, qualification attractiveness, and current college resources. This model should help inform education providers in making more informed computing curricula decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the teachers' collective constructions of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) and examines several gaps and ways forward in implementing the curriculum. Consistent with the participatory and self-reflexive framework of Socially Shared Inquiry, the researcher conducted focus group workshops with seven MIL teachers from select public senior high schools in the Philippines. The findings provide insights into the teachers' media experiences that correspond to their view of essential components and competencies of MIL. Institutional issues and challenges were elicited and analyzed, enabling the teachers to propose several solutions to these salient issues. These recommendations offer practical implications for the enhancement of MIL education, including the curricular reform that lends itself more to learning about media, and a needs-based professional development of MIL teachers. It is hoped that the findings would resonate with MIL researchers and practitioners in terms of examining how MIL is operationalized in various contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well documented that engineering practice is as much social as it is technical. Providing accurate course mapping and supporting teaching staff to scaffold engineering practice learning through whole of programme curriculum are key challenges. This study proposes a conceptual framework for engineering professional practice in an Australian context that is constructed through the triangulation of data collected from practitioner perspectives, literature, and reflection upon both authors' industry experiences. This employability skill development framework describes six key themes as graduate-level learning outcomes aligned to Australian accreditation requirements in a format that readily supports explicit inclusion of engineering professional practice in curriculum design. These key themes are illustrated along a continuum of personal, interpersonal, and contextual competencies and attitudes to communicate the interrelated nature of engineering employability skills. While this paper does not attempt to propose a universal framework, its potential broader relevance, future refinement, and evaluation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curriculum policy and enactment in early childhood education is a political phenomenon that plays out in particular cultural contexts. Comparative lenses to curriculum articulate locally constructed and implicit knowledge to external audiences. In doing so, global commonalities and tensions may become explicit. This paper interrogates curricular documents in Greece and New Zealand using selected questions from Joseph's (2011a) heuristic of 'curriculum as culture'. We do this through writing letters to each other that share our local knowledge and experiences and raise further questions. Although New Zealand and Greece are geographically and culturally two worlds apart, their curricular practices share certain discourses and have both been influenced by international trends. We argue that both countries' documents relate to first-order change where the policy document may not, in itself, update or change prior practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Student participation in curriculum negotiation has been widely regarded as beneficial for student engagement, motivation, and learning. Within the physical education (PE) context however, several scholars claim that these benefits are seldom realized. Interestingly, most investigations into curriculum negotiation in PE focus on teacher actions and behavior. Investigations of students' actions in curriculum negotiation are rare. Further, while much of the literature claims curriculum negotiation is potentially beneficial for student learning, few of the conceptual and analytical frameworks utilized within previous PE literature are based on explicit learning theories. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore student participation in curriculum negotiation in Norwegian PE through the lens of an explicit learning theoretical perspective. Method: A 10th grade class with 23 students (age 15–16) and an 8th grade class with 30 students (age 13–14) from 2 different schools, and their respective teachers were recruited for the project. Within these classes, participatory observation, video observations, and stimulated recall interviews were conducted to produce empirical material related to curriculum negotiation. The material then underwent qualitative thematic analysis where select parts of John Dewey's educational philosophy were used as the analytical framework. Results and discussion: With a basis in the analytical framework developed from Deweyan educational philosophy, the results show that students within the two contexts participate in both explicit and implicit forms of curriculum negotiation. Explicit curriculum negotiations to a large degree appear to be governed by the teachers and are deemed by teachers to be part of strategies for upholding Norwegian legislations and recommendations for including students in curricular decision-making. While not as easily noticeable, implicit forms of negotiations were more prominent within the explored contexts. The analysis also suggests that from a Deweyan perspective, possibilities to increase learning through curriculum negotiations occur when teachers notice, help, and guide students in their own reflective processes surrounding how to act in PE. Such pedagogical action makes implicit negotiations occurring more explicit, and explicit negotiations more intelligent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suellen Shay's work on higher education curricula foregrounds the importance of professional curricula which face inwards to disciplines and outwards to practice. This paper builds on her framing of professional curricula, distinctive in the differentiated knowledge base and the social relations which legitimate them. I extend Shay's work deeper into the internal governance structures underpinning curriculum decisions in engineering. Two dimensions of governance are explored: central control from the Faculty of Engineering over its departments; and the authority of individuals in department-level curriculum and accreditation roles over their colleagues. The empirical focus is on curricula reform towards 'graduate attributes' in engineering education, through a comparative study of eight universities in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Singapore, and Australia. The findings show that research-intensive universities are shielded from the full implications of accreditation requirements, while teaching-intensive universities are more likely to invest in developing the governance processes and systems demanded by professional bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the intellectual threads to which Suellen Shay contributed was describing the curriculum structure of professional and vocational education. This work was part of the Bernsteinian call for a return to knowledge in the curriculum. But education for vocations and professions, termed 'regions', remains a vexing problem. Turning to LCT (Semantics), Shay attempted to elevate the knowledge produced in practice to that of theoretical knowledge. Although laying the foundations she did not fully capture the complex conceptual nature of knowledge of the contextual detail central to practice. Using empirical data from an engineering curriculum, this paper develops an alternative conceptualisation of 'practical knowledge' in terms of knowledge of the contextual details of professional problems. Professions recruit theory to solve contextually emergent problems, suggesting knowledge of the material detail is the origin of reasoning, Symbolic relations do function to develop reasoning in professional problems, but material relations dictate which knowledge is relevant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What knowledge matters in health professions education is an issue of debate in the literature, foregrounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and informed by calls for students who are not only clinically competent, but also critically conscious of global health inequity. Building on this work, this paper explores what kinds of knowledge are legitimated in two health science programmes at a South African university. Thirty-four health professions teachers participated in the study. Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) Specialisation was used as an analytical framework, with Epistemic and Social Relations as coding categories. Results revealed the dominance of a knowledge code, with the social dispositions and attributes relating to the development of critical consciousness often not considered knowledge at all. Our contention is that both knowledge and social dispositions are equally important in the development of future healthcare professionals and that collaborative curriculum conversations are needed to enable them being interwoven throughout curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing competence for teamwork is a challenging task. Neverthesless, health professions training programs are asked to assure collaborative competency in their learners. Interprofessional education (IPE) programs seek tools to assess team member effectiveness and demonstrate collaborative competency. The Comprehensive Assessment of Team Member Effectiveness (CATME), originally developed for use in engineering, has been applied in various learning settings, with limited use in IPE. This paper presents validity evidence in 4 domains (content, response processes, internal structure, and relations to other variables) for the use of the CATME in a classroom-based IPE course taught with Team-Based Learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (2020a) requires all teachers to include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples', culture and history where there is scope to meaningfully do so. However, there is a general absence in Australia and internationally of understanding culturally responsive pedagogy for those perspectives in teaching Physical Education (PE). This concept paper proposes an educational framework comprising Yunkaporta's (2009) 8 Ways Aboriginal Pedagogy and the Game Sense approach (GSA) (Australian Sports Commission [ASC], 1996). for games and sport teaching in PE to move towards a culturally responsive curriculum and pedagogy. We provide an empirical argument that curricula are instruments of colonisation and explain the creation of a cultural interface through games and sport as one approach for decolonising PE. We present an opportunity to 'close the gap' between Western and Aboriginal knowledge through the purposeful design of engagement in reconciliation, respect and recognition of continuous living Aboriginal cultures. We use the game Parndo (ASC, 2000) to illustrate an example of how Yunkaporta's (2009) framework and the GSA become a solution for closing our identified gap. By proposing a culturally responsive curriculum, we focus on the importance of identity for all people and how curricula must be relevant and meaningful for all Australians. Importantly, Yunkaporta's (2009) 8 Ways is a product of 'cultural interface', co-created through dialogue between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal educators. Our findings, although not transferable to other settings, nonetheless have relevance to other countries where there is a similar move to decolonise PE curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What does it mean for curriculum to be inclusive? This paper builds upon assertions that standardised, pre-determined curriculum marginalises students. This is especially harmful for students labelled with disabilities. I argue for an alternative approach to curriculum that is more fluid and inclusive than the traditional model. Describing this approach, I call on the image of a conversation: a discourse influenced by everyone, informal, and easily responsive to constant redirection. Where this model is applicable to all students, curriculum as conversation is especially needed for students labelled with disabilities. In the first part of this paper, I provide an argument for why inclusive curriculum is beneficial for everyone and flesh out the notion of conversation. In the second half, I look at how teachers in the long-term teacher inquiry group, the Brookline Teacher Research Seminar (BTRS) successfully treated curriculum as a conversation to include their students. I demonstrate how the writings of these teachers offer an extremely helpful opus of counter-narratives on inclusive conversational curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interprofessional education (IPE) literature abounds with examples of IPE and their evaluations, invariably demonstrating improved outcomes for collaborative care. The aim of this research was to identify models of IPE in health curricula reported in the literature to clarify key characteristics of the models. Searches were conducted in Pubmed (Ebsco), CINAHL (Ebsco), Cochrane Library, PsychINFO (Ebsco), Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases for articles describing models of IPE. A total of 25 papers met the inclusion criteria. Models fell broadly into: (a) extra-curricular activities or partially integrated models (28%), and (b) integrated models, that is, models where IP activities were embedded across the whole curriculum (72%). A total of 40% of included papers presented phased models designed to incrementally develop interprofessional capability. However, major barriers exist to fully integrated interprofessional curricula: they require a major curriculum restructure, and a willingness on the part of health professionals to reconsider their professional identities. A curriculum that focuses on the patient and on ways to deliver the most appropriate personalized care is proposed. In such a curriculum, the focus can shift from profession-based care to expertise-based care that is likely to be delivered by a team of skilled health professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes congressional scholars reexamine biennial measures in their research. It argues two-year measures, while providing important insight on legislative behaviour in Congress over the past five decades, are both methodologically regressive and conceptually impractical. Not only is this measurement practice insensitive to the vibrant political life that marks American politics over the course of a two-year period, it is prone to numerous measurement shortcomings when compared against refined metrics such as annual, quarterly, and monthly data. To demonstrate these deficiencies, this paper explores the conceptual and methodological limitations of biennial measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liberal Studies (LS), a high-stakes senior secondary school subject in Hong Kong, has evoked widespread debate in recent years concerning the curriculum content about Mainland China. Highlighting the deregulated textbook policy on this subject as adopted by the Hong Kong Education Bureau (EDB), this paper compares how specific socio-political issues in Mainland China are depicted in government-published and commercially-published LS textbooks. The findings demonstrate a significant mismatch between government and commercial textbooks, as well as differing narratives about Mainland China from one commercial publication to another. The paper argues that these divergences are closely related to the EDB's current LS textbook policy, and they are reflective of the contradictions in the ongoing debate about LS and regional politics more broadly. Theoretically, this paper seeks to enrich the understanding of the notion of 'official knowledge' in critical curriculum theory, via an examination of the 'non-official' realm of knowledge production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is intended to provide a source of critical and theoretical reflection on the current mathematics educational objectives for Indigenous students in Australia, which are premised on acceptance of underlying concepts of 'equity'. It is not the intention of this paper to identify 'how' Indigenous knowledge can be positioned within mathematics curricula, as this would entail a philosophical inquiry much deeper than has been afforded thus far. The intent here is a consideration, facilitated through the lens of key concepts of Foucault, of some of the boundaries currently shaping the ways in which this positioning is being influenced in the mathematics, albeit neoliberal education context. Acknowledging the interplay between the social, and unconsciously shaped adoptions of what can be considered truth; knowledge; and therefore power, is a first step toward developing the openness of heart and mind needed to make real and transformative changes to education for future societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the school curriculum, some subjects tend to be regarded more highly than others. Various accounts have been proposed to explain this phenomenon. Most of them draw attention to the nature of different subjects and the type of knowledge that these promote. While such epistemological narratives help to illuminate the origins of the curriculum hierarchy, they are limited in their ability to point to directions for addressing it. Drawing on empirical data concerning an increasingly unpopular A level subject, namely Design and Technology, this paper exposes a number of additional factors eroding the status of lowly regarded subjects. These factors capture more tangible aspects of the issue, introducing a more practical and concrete perspective into a debate which, to date, has been largely theoretical and abstract. The paper reconceptualises the curriculum hierarchy, arguing that its perpetuation is linked to issues relating to the definition, or 'brand', of subjects. Against the backdrop of this conceptualisation, it proposes a framework which offers a complementary explanation for the existing subject hierarchy alongside tools for levelling the playing field within the curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of mid-level skills shortages and the promotion of industry–education partnerships, this article examines the case of a longstanding partnership between the pulp and paper industry and a university of technology. The partnership resulted in the development of a focused qualification. We explore the experiences and understandings of academics and students in order to examine the benefits and pitfalls of such partnerships in addressing the needs of business, higher education and the students. The results show that while the university of technology has benefitted through work placements for their students and funding for industry-seconded lecturers, the partnership’s links are weakening. The programme is unattractive to high-achieving ‘matric’ graduates and is taken as a stepping-stone to other engineering fields. The article explores why this has developed. The curriculation of qualifications that are narrowly focused on one industry may limit articulation and portability of skills between different industries by graduates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In Australia, Initial Teacher Education Institutions (ITEIs) provide undergraduate Health and Physical (HPE) programmes that meet a number of regulatory requirements, including those of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). In addition, ITEIs must also ensure programme alignment with state/territory-based jurisdictional requirements. While historically varied philosophies and practices have shaped HPE teacher education nationally, ITEIs are thus operating in an increasingly regulated environment. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report research that has critically examined the structure and content of ITEI undergraduate programmes in Australia that prepare teachers for HPE in secondary schools. Analysis at programme and unit levels was undertaken to explore programme variance, ITEI priorities and consideration of the implications that programme structure and content has for graduate secondary HPE teachers and their employers. The paper seeks to contribute to wider debates about the role of teacher education in shaping HPE curriculum futures and the challenges faced by ITEIs to navigate increasing government regulation. Methods: An audit and document analysis of 15 Australian ITEIs identified programme structures and specific units of study for the preparation of secondary HPE teachers. These programme structures were compared to those of an ITEI in Western Australia (WA), similarly preparing secondary teachers of HPE, and undertaking internal programme renewal. The WA ITEI's programme nomenclature and elements therefore provided the reference point for analysis of variation across programmes nationally. Findings: Findings show that graduate secondary HPE teachers in Australia are variously prepared, with ITEI programme structures ranging in nomenclature, breadth of content, positioning of units and the amount and placement of school-based practicums. ITEIs variously meet state, territory and federal accountability and accreditation requirements in preparing secondary HPE teachers. Programme variations may mean that graduate secondary HPE teachers have differing perspectives on HPE curriculum and pedagogy. Schools employing graduate teachers cannot assume all graduate teachers have a common outlook on or backgrounds in HPE, while meeting the graduate standards. Conclusions: The significant variation between programme structure and content at the 15 ITEIs preparing teachers for HPE in secondary schools indicates that in a heavily regulated sector, ITEIs in Australia remain critical players in shaping HPE practices across Australian schools. Further research is needed to appropriately ascertain the impact of ITEI programme variation on HPE teachers' values and professional practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a critical need for sex, sexuality and relationships education to be LGBTQI inclusive. Numerous studies, internationally and in South Africa, highlight this need but what constitutes an inclusive curriculum has not been sufficiently addressed. This paper seeks to advance this conversation by imagining a curriculum beyond compulsory heterosexuality and considers what knowledges and practices are necessary for the South African context. To do this, the authors consider the corpus of research about how sexualities are characterized in schooling generally and in the teaching of sexuality education specifically. Using the theoretical tools offered by Freire and hooks on critical consciousness, three arguments are made. First, the authors argue for the theoretical and empirical contributions of the sociology of gender and sexualities which are social constructions informed by history, social relations and power. Second, there is a need for a curriculum to recognize the intersectionality of learners and how identity knowledges shape the way that youth sexualities are understood and experienced. Finally, the teaching and learning of an LGBTQI inclusive curriculum will steer away from moralistic and didactic instruction in favor of more participatory pedagogies that acknowledge young people as agents and legitimate sexual beings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report an exploratory investigation of the types of assessment in a variety of high school subjects that best predicted subsequent success at university in those subjects. In social sciences and the humanities, internal (school-based) assessment was a better predictor of university success than external, examination-based assessment, whereas the converse was true for mathematics and the sciences. A plausible interpretation of these findings, and one that warrants further research, is that approaches to assessment that recognize differences in the knowledge structures of disciplines at the point of university transition could be a significant factor in better preparing students for success at university. There are other plausible explanations, which we also explore. If further research validates our conjecture regarding the importance of aligning the disciplinary learning and assessment, we will have identified a potentially powerful mechanism to use the motivating force of assessment to enhance learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the irruptive potentiality of language in rethinking pivotal concepts in pre-service and in-service teacher education. Drawing on Deleuze and Guattari's reconceptualization of language, we undertake a radical undoing of dominant concepts of pedagogy, curriculum, and assessment as 'order-words' that variously segment, delimit, and potentialize lines of subjectification and signification in professional learning settings. We argue for a speculative and affirmative engagement with the complex trajectories of teacher education in light of this post qualitative turn, focusing on how Deleuzoguattarian concepts decouple the act of teaching from the 'teacher' as personal subject, and resituate the event of teaching within assemblages of felt transitions and vital forces. Working through vignettes that affirm transversal alternatives for exploring how teaching 'thinks' through events, we conclude by considering ways that teaching approaches the immanent outside of language, or what Deleuze simply referred to as 'a life'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through this point-of-departure paper we aim to prompt discussion and action around redesigning university learning to help students tackle climate-related challenges in a personally and societally meaningful way. We use the lens of assessment to draw attention to how discipline areas without an explicit environmental or climate science focus can play a fundamental part in prompting climate action. We draw on the very limited number of studies to date of assessment related to climate learning and on an illustrative example of teaching and assessing leadership practices for confronting climate change to make recommendations with relevance for all curricula. We reflect on assessment tools, approaches, strategies, and good practice that not only gauge the level of learning at individual and whole cohort level but also prompt meaningful learning to take place through the way they are designed, with potential impact outside the campus walls and beyond the end of formal university study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent feedback literature suggests that the development of student feedback literacy has potential to address problems in current feedback practice. Students' feedback literacy involves developing the capacity to make the most of feedback opportunities by active involvement in feedback processes. How the development of student feedback literacy can be embedded within the undergraduate curriculum has not yet been discussed in any depth. This conceptual paper fills that gap by elaborating three key mechanisms for embedding feedback literacy within the curriculum: eliciting, processing and enacting. These are illustrated through enhanced variations of four existing practices: feedback requests, self-assessment, peer review, and curated e-portfolios. The discussion summarizes the key implications for practice and identifies the need for further empirical work investigating how students elicit, process and enact feedback in situ, and longitudinal research exploring the impact of curriculum design on the development of student feedback literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this opening contribution to the Special Issue Cultural Studies and Education: A Dialogue of Disciplines?, Guest Editors Bill Green and Andrew Hickey survey the pedagogical and disciplinary intersections of Cultural Studies and Education. Positioning an account of Cultural Studies that draws attention (back) to Cultural Studies' founding pedagogical project, Green and Hickey note that Cultural Studies has always maintained a pedagogical imperative. Attention is given to how this concern for the pedagogical translates, now, across a range of educational settings, both formal and informal. The Editors cast a distinction between the pedagogical and educational, and from this basis argue that predominant accounts of Cultural Studies' educative purpose derive from the relationship that the field has maintained with formal and institutional sites of Education. The paper then moves to survey the contributions for this issue with attention given to the conceptual and theoretical connections that run through the collection. Highlighting that emphasis is given to Cultural Studies' attendant practices and intellectual foundations, the Editors identify how Education and Cultural Studies might continue to engage in dialogue and how common intellectual threads that generate critically motivated scholarly practices might (continue to) recognize the implications of the conjuncture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curriculum initiatives with intercultural educative aims are not uncommon in many schools around the world. This paper argues that these initiatives and their classroom implementation by teachers is strongly impacted and influenced by the prevailing neoliberal context of schooling. The findings of a project working with teachers on implementing the Intercultural Understanding General Capability and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures Cross Curriculum Priority of the Australian Curriculum are used to demonstrate the specific ways in which neoliberalism has shaped and defined teachers' work. The neoliberal elements of consumption, individual responsibility, individuals being set adrift from values, surveillance and the illusion of autonomy are used to highlight teachers' approaches to understanding and implementing the curriculum elements in their science classrooms. Teachers in the study saw the potential for enacting social justice in terms of intercultural education in their classrooms but were often hampered in their efforts by prevailing neoliberal discourses influencing their own assumptions and actions, as well as those of the schools they worked in. It is only through interrogation of how neoliberalism impacts on intercultural educative aims that openings for counter-hegemonic activities can be identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]