All Journals published by Symposium Journals

Editorial

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:49:18 GMT

Title: Editorial
Author: Bernhard T. Streitwieser
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Pages: 1-4
ABSTRACT Not available

Research on Study Abroad, Mobility, and Student Exchange in Comparative Education Scholarship

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:49:18 GMT

Title: Research on Study Abroad, Mobility, and Student Exchange in Comparative Education Scholarship
Author: BERNHARD T. STREITWIESER; EMILY LE; VAL RUST
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Pages: 5-19
ABSTRACT For many years there has been research on study abroad, student mobility and international student exchange; however in the last two decades the volume and scope of this work has increased significantly. There are now specific academic journals, a host of new books each year, expansive reports by international research organizations, and an increasing number of annual conferences that are all publishing on trends and issues related to this phenomenon. Yet surprisingly, in comparative education scholarship much of this research still appears relatively infrequently in its main journals. This article examines the seeming contradiction of, on the one hand, more student and institutional participation in worldwide international education each year and new research accompanying this trend and, on the other hand, the relative scarcity of reflection on this activity in the core comparative education journals. The article takes stock of the international education-themed research that has appeared in the past in a selection of comparative education journals, shares the editors' advice to future authors seeking to submit research on these areas, and concludes with some reflections on the future direction of scholarship in international education and comparative education.

Student Mobility and Internationalization: trends and tribulations

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:49:18 GMT

Title: Student Mobility and Internationalization: trends and tribulations
Author: JANE KNIGHT
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Pages: 20-33
ABSTRACT There is no question that internationalization, and particularly international student mobility, has transformed the higher education landscape in the last decade. It has brought diverse benefits to students, institutions, communities and countries. But there are unanticipated outcomes and risks as well. The purpose of this article is look at the complexities and current trends of student mobility and to invite reflection on some of the new developments and unintended consequences. These include granting and recognition of academic credentials; diploma and accreditation mills; collaborative programs such as joint or double degree programs and twinning and franchise arrangements; the great brain race and its implications for brain gain, brain drain, and brain train; the competitiveness agenda; status building and world rankings; regional identity and global citizenship. These macro issues often become an implicit part of the culture or environment of international education without being questioned. Focusing on some worrisome trends and outcomes of new developments in student mobility and internationalization does not deny the multitude of positive results; it is only an attempt to encourage a 360-degree look at the current state of student mobility and to encourage more research and reflection on some important trends and unexpected results.

International Student Mobility and the Bologna Process

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:49:18 GMT

Title: International Student Mobility and the Bologna Process
Author: ULRICH TEICHLER
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Pages: 34-49
ABSTRACT The Bologna Process is the newest of a chain of activities stimulated by supra-national actors since the 1950s to challenge national borders in higher education in Europe. Now, the ministers in charge of higher education of the individual European countries have agreed to promote a similar cycle-structure of study programmes and programmes based on the strategic aim of enhancing student mobility in two directions: to increase the attractiveness for students from other parts of the world to study - primarily for the whole study programme - in European countries, and to facilitate intra-European - primarily temporary - mobility. Studies aiming at establishing the results of this policy face various problems. Statistics move only gradually from 'foreign' to 'mobile' students, but remain insufficient with respect to temporary mobility. Individual European countries opt for such varied solutions that an overall overview is hardly feasible. Yet, some general trends are visible. First, Bologna has contributed to greater internal mobility of students from other parts of the world, but not to a more rapid increase of intra-European student mobility. Second, the event of outwards mobility during the course of study up to graduation has turned out to be more frequent than expected by many experts, but differences by country do not fade away. Third, the value of student mobility gradually declines as a consequence of gradual loss of exclusiveness.

Graduate Student Training and the Reluctant Internationalism of Social Science in the USA

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:49:18 GMT

Title: Graduate Student Training and the Reluctant Internationalism of Social Science in the USA
Author: CYNTHIA MILLER-IDRISS; SETENEY SHAMI
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Pages: 50-60
ABSTRACT In the US academy, there is significant disciplinary variation in the extent to which graduate students are encouraged to or discouraged from studying abroad and doing fieldwork overseas. This article examines this issue, focusing on US graduate training in the social sciences and the extent to which students are discouraged from developing international expertise. Data is drawn from a mixed-methods study conducted from 2005-2010 by the Social Science Research Council and funded by the US Department of Education's International Research and Studies Program. This article argues that key cultural dynamics in the nomothetic social science disciplines in the USA steer graduate students away from contextual international study and thus work against university internationalization efforts more broadly. Scholars of comparative and international education need to be aware of these kinds of disciplinary cultural dynamics in order to fully understand how university internationalization efforts succeed or fail.

Frontiers Journal and the Forum on Education Abroad: building a research tradition on education abroad for the comparative education scholarship

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:49:18 GMT

Title: Frontiers Journal and the Forum on Education Abroad: building a research tradition on education abroad for the comparative education scholarship
Author: BRIAN WHALEN
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Pages: 61-69
ABSTRACT Drawing on the author's experience as a founder and editor of the first academic journal devoted to education abroad (Frontiers: the interdisciplinary journal of education abroad), and his work leading the first membership association devoted exclusively to education abroad (the Forum on Education Abroad), this article provides suggestions for areas of education abroad that would benefit from comparative education abroad research. The article argues that comparative education has much to contribute to education abroad research by helping us to understand educational systems around the world through examining education abroad structures, processes and topics; by informing us about how education abroad practices reflect the host culture and society, thereby enlightening us about the relationships between education and society; and by helping to advance education abroad practices and thereby improve education. Comparative research on the topics proposed in the article will provide important information needed by governments, institutions, organizations and program sponsors, and the professionals involved in creating and managing education abroad programs. Ultimately, the best reason for conducting such research is to benefit the many students who participate in education abroad programs as part of their education.

Seek Knowledge Throughout the World? Mobility in Islamic Higher Education

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:49:18 GMT

Title: Seek Knowledge Throughout the World? Mobility in Islamic Higher Education
Author: ANTHONY WELCH
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Pages: 70-80
ABSTRACT While Southeast Asia as a region is generally poorly represented in scholarship on higher education, this is even more the case when considering Islamic higher education in the region. While patterns of mobility within the Islamic world are ancient, with mediaeval scholarly centres such as Baghdad, Cairo and Alexandria attracting scholars and students from many parts, scholarly mobility in Southeast Asia also has its own history. The earlier part of this article concentrates on the flowering of Islamic scholarly centres, with a particular focus on mobility. Subsequently, contemporary Islamic higher education in Southeast Asia, particularly in countries such as Malaysia, and Indonesia, is analyzed, focusing particularly on international mobility patterns, particularly of students. This includes both regionalism (students from Southeast Asia travelling to other countries within the region to pursue Islamic higher education), and efforts by countries such as Malaysia to recruit significant numbers of students from the Gulf states and Arab world, thereby reversing traditional paths of mobility.

Are Sojourners Natural Comparativists? Critical Perspectives on the Learning Experiences of International Students

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:49:18 GMT

Title: Are Sojourners Natural Comparativists? Critical Perspectives on the Learning Experiences of International Students
Author: MICHELE SCHWEISFURTH
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Pages: 81-89
ABSTRACT Students who spend a period of time studying outside of their own national systems have a number of advantages in terms of developing a comparative perspective on education. The experience of living and studying abroad provides them with the opportunity to act as participant observers of at least two different systems, and the natural juxtaposition of these experiences should, in theory, help these individuals to better understand their own and the other education systems. This article uses a number of sources to interrogate this assumption. It draws on findings from research conducted by the author and colleagues on international students in the United Kingdom, in order to explore the potential and limitations of a period of international study in informing a learner's comparative perspective. While such students evidently adopt a comparative discourse in discussing their experiences, questions are raised about the validity and depth of these understandings.

Current Research on Chinese Students Studying Abroad

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:49:18 GMT

Title: Current Research on Chinese Students Studying Abroad
Author: JÜRGEN HENZE; JIANI ZHU
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Pages: 90-104
ABSTRACT As a result of China's growing participation and importance in the process of internationalization and globalization a continuously rising number of Chinese students has gone abroad for further study. By the end of the last decade the number of Chinese students abroad made up the largest group of international students in the USA (surpassing those from India) and during the next decade this group will become the world's largest floating student population. Because of its size and the growing recognition of China and Chinese culture around the world, research on a wide range of problem areas among Chinese students abroad has been initiated, especially in Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, the USA and Hong Kong. This article looks at the variety of research issues and attempts to provide a first overview in the light of international and comparative research on international students, their mobility and their recognition by host countries as well as their influence as cultural 'irritators'.

Encountering Culture through Gender Norms in International Education: the case of volunteers in Ecuador

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:49:18 GMT

Title: Encountering Culture through Gender Norms in International Education: the case of volunteers in Ecuador
Author: MARTHA McGIVERN
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Pages: 105-114
ABSTRACT Demonstrating how international education programs can be used to study theoretical issues relevant to comparative education, this article reports on a scholarly analysis of 83 handover letters written by US participants in a volunteer program in Ecuador to their incoming counterparts between 2006 and 2010. It applies Swidler's notion of 'unsettled lives' to the comparativists' framework of undoing gender and argues that focused on cultural differences, participants are able to see gender inequality in a way they cannot at home. This increased gender consciousness is a key component in undoing gender. These programs stop short, however, of providing opportunities for less gendered or more equal social interaction.

Arubaito, or Short-Term Working Abroad in Japan: a case study of Brazilian university students of Japanese descent

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:49:18 GMT

Title: Arubaito, or Short-Term Working Abroad in Japan: a case study of Brazilian university students of Japanese descent
Author: LINDSEY SASAKI
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Pages: 115-125
ABSTRACT International migration between Japan and Brazil dates back to 1908, when the first group of Japanese migrated to Brazil. However, in the 1980s, a reverse flow occurred, as thousands of Brazilians of Japanese descent traveled to Japan to work in manufacturing and construction factories (dekasegi workers). Japanese Brazilians up until the third generation were permitted to enter. Many recruiting companies turned to university students who could work the factory jobs during their three-month summer vacation (arubaito workers). This article draws upon a larger ethnographic case study that the author conducted in São Paulo, Brazil and Aichi, Japan in 2009 and 2010. The results of the study indicate that not only economic, but cultural underpinnings contribute to the motivations by Japanese-Brazilian university students to work in Japan. Different forms of non-traditional student mobility are explored that can shape a student's experience abroad.

Introduction. Education and Scenarios for a Post-Occidental World

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:59:10 GMT

Title: Introduction. Education and Scenarios for a Post-Occidental World
Author: Michael A. Peters; Michael Baker
Journal: Policy Futures in Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Pages: 1-3
ABSTRACT Not available

Modernity/Coloniality and Eurocentric Education: towards a post-Occidental self-understanding of the present

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:59:10 GMT

Title: Modernity/Coloniality and Eurocentric Education: towards a post-Occidental self-understanding of the present
Author: MICHAEL BAKER
Journal: Policy Futures in Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Pages: 4-22
ABSTRACT This article sketches a post-Occidental interpretation of the historical/conceptual relationships between modern western education and European civilizational identity formation. Modern western education will be interpreted as a modern/colonial institution that emerged along with the sixteenth-century responses to the questions provoked by the breakup of medieval Christendom and the discovery of the Americas: What is man? Where does he come from? Where is he going? Modern western education and European civilizational identity, as distinct from Christendom, emerged together (simultaneous and interrelated) during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries within the initial formation of a global structural dynamic designed for governing the social world, both within and beyond Europe. Modern western education is a central institution within the ongoing disciplinary projects of modernity and its differentiated reproduction of particular subjectivities. This perspective problematizes the Euro-American historiography of modernity along with the contemporary historical self-understanding of modern western education. From this perspective, the self-understanding of modern western education (both metropolitan and colonial) emerged and remains largely embedded within the conceptual and historical framework identified here as Occidentalism. This article concludes with a proposal for rethinking education within an ecology of knowledges, articulated by Boaventura de Sousa Santos. Post-Occidental reasoning contributes to the recognition and inclusion of the multiplicity of knowledge systems occluded by the hegemony of western epistemology and Eurocentric education.

Postmodern Educational Capitalism, Global Information Systems and New Media Networks

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:59:10 GMT

Title: Postmodern Educational Capitalism, Global Information Systems and New Media Networks
Author: MICHAEL A. PETERS
Journal: Policy Futures in Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Pages: 23-29
ABSTRACT This article reinterprets Lyotard's argument in The Postmodern Condition as a basis for a radical political economy approach to knowledge capitalism focusing on post-industrialism in order to put the case that education and knowledge are increasingly becoming part of a globally integrated world capitalism (IWC) that is structured through emerging global information systems and new media networks. The article embraces the possibility of 'open knowledge production' as an area of intellectual activity driven by an ethic of collaboration as a basis for a reconstituted public sphere.

Dialogue on Modernity and Modern Education in Dispute

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:59:10 GMT

Title: Dialogue on Modernity and Modern Education in Dispute
Author: MICHAEL BAKER; MICHAEL A. PETERS
Journal: Policy Futures in Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Pages: 30-50
ABSTRACT This is a dialogue or conversation between Michael Baker (MB) and Michael A. Peters (MP) on the concept of modernity and its significance for educational theory. The dialogue took place originally as a conversation about a symposium on modernity held at the American Educational Studies Association meeting 2010. It was later developed for publication in this form.

Culture, Power, and the University in the Twenty-First Century

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:59:10 GMT

Title: Culture, Power, and the University in the Twenty-First Century
Author: PETER MURPHY
Journal: Policy Futures in Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Pages: 51-58
ABSTRACT Powerful nations have influential systems of higher education. The article explores the possible pattern of geopolitics in the twenty-first century, and the competing prospects of America and its rivals in higher education and research. Pressures on both the American and non-American worlds are evaluated, along with relative economic strengths, and how factors such as these translate into intellectual prowess. The article suggests that peak intellectual and research achievement is dependent on cultural factors, and that America remains well positioned as an intellectual nation despite fierce competition from rivals because of unique cultural characteristics.

Understanding the Sources of Anti-Westernism: a dialogue between Jan Nederveen Pieterse and Michael A. Peters

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:59:10 GMT

Title: Understanding the Sources of Anti-Westernism: a dialogue between Jan Nederveen Pieterse and Michael A. Peters
Author: Jan Nederveen Pieterse; Michael A. Peters
Journal: Policy Futures in Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Pages: 59-69
ABSTRACT Not available

A Post-Occidental Globe?

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:59:10 GMT

Title: A Post-Occidental Globe?
Author: HÜSEYIN ESEN; ALEJANDRA SANCHEZ; DANIEL ARAYA; DREA GALLAGA; FUNGAI KANOGOIW; HÜSEYIN ESEN; JAMES GEARY; KEECHENG CHOE; KHAN GROGAN ULLAH; LISA CARBAJO; MARGARET FITZPATRICK; MERCEDES POUR-PREVITI; MICHAEL A. PETERS; MOUSUMI MUKHERJEE; RODRIGO BRITEZ
Journal: Policy Futures in Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Pages: 70-77
ABSTRACT This is an experiment in conversation on the topic of ‘a post-occidental globe’. It emerges from a moderated discussion group where members of a class – master’s and PhD students – reflected upon a set of resources provided as part of a course in Global Studies in Education at the University of Illinois. The conversation threads were moderated and edited by Huseyin Esen.

Chinese Nation-Building and the Rethinking of Globalization and Education

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:59:10 GMT

Title: Chinese Nation-Building and the Rethinking of Globalization and Education
Author: ANDREW KIPNIS
Journal: Policy Futures in Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Pages: 78-80
ABSTRACT Social, educational and political theorists increasingly portray today's world as one in which the globalization of Western forms dominates social, political and educational processes everywhere. According to this view, nation-building, though important in the West during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, is no longer an important social process. This view elides the recent importance of Chinese nation-building to both contemporary and future global trends. With a focus on educational phenomena, this article explores the ways in which Chinese nation-building is being globalized and coming to influence non-Chinese actors.

US Study Abroad from the Periphery to the Center of the Global Curriculum in the Information Age

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:59:10 GMT

Title: US Study Abroad from the Periphery to the Center of the Global Curriculum in the Information Age
Author: MOUSUMI MUKHERJEE
Journal: Policy Futures in Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Pages: 81-89
ABSTRACT The Higher Education Act of 1965 for the first time gave discretionary authority to campuses to use federal financial aid in support of students studying abroad. Thereafter, US study abroad has thus evolved from the periphery to the center of the global curriculum. In 2005 the Lincoln Commission report proposed an ambitious goal of sending one million students abroad each year to promote educational and cultural exchange for intercultural understanding, peace and global citizenship. Following this recommendation a legislative and federal policy, the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act, was approved in June 2009 by the US House of Representatives authorizing generous funding for fiscal years 2010 and 2011 to the US Department of State and Peace Corps for innovative new programs that would enhance US capacity to engage with the world. The article traces this historic expansion effort, its link with the current pedagogical discourse on global citizenship and reflects on its relation to the ideology of curriculum to highlight the need to develop more critically reflexive curricula and pedagogy. The article also reflects critically on the empirical research literature to highlight the gaps between the assumptions driving investment in study abroad and its learning outcome.

Using Vignettes as Self-reflexivity in Narrative Research of Problematised History Pedagogy

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:59:10 GMT

Title: Using Vignettes as Self-reflexivity in Narrative Research of Problematised History Pedagogy
Author: PHILIPPA HUNTER
Journal: Policy Futures in Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Pages: 90-102
ABSTRACT This article focuses on the use of vignettes as an emergent dimension of narrative research writing. The author draws on doctoral research that problematised history curriculum and pedagogy with pre-service teachers in the context of secondary teacher education in New Zealand. Pedagogic crossings of history education sites, and negotiation of disciplinary boundaries were storied in the narrative research. A lived experience of curriculum continuity and change had shaped a critical pedagogy orientation in the author's theorising and practice. This featured a self-reflexivity of pedagogic identities including those of student, practitioner, and researcher. The narrative writing was conceptualised as a layered bricolage of academic socialisation, engagement with theory, and practitioner work. Accordingly, it proved unworkable to distance the author's lived experience and pedagogic identities from the narrative, for these lay at the heart of the research. Therefore, the styling of vignettes became a creative way to story self-reflexivity within academic writing. Vignettes were conceived as inside stories that recalled pedagogic voices and evoked themes of curriculum disturbance as transgression, and desire as re-imagined history curriculum.

Examining Mathematics Teacher Content Knowledge: policy and practice

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:59:10 GMT

Title: Examining Mathematics Teacher Content Knowledge: policy and practice
Author: PAMELA ESPRÍVALO HARRELL; COLLEEN McLEAN EDDY
Journal: Policy Futures in Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Pages: 103-116
ABSTRACT This study examines mathematics teacher content knowledge in terms of state and national policymaker recommendations, college coursework and the Mathematics Texas Examination of Educator Standards (TExES) score. Results indicate differences between state and national policy recommendations and college degrees in mathematics. A statistically significant negative relationship between college coursework and the test domains was found for Algebra (p = -.456), Geometry (p = -.442), Probability and Statistics (p = -.421), and Discrete Mathematics (p = -.674). Although teacher candidates completed many mathematics courses, the fail rate for the Mathematics TExES was a quarter of teachers. Policymakers are asked to consider the validity for contents test which align poorly with college degrees in mathematics.

The Narrative Turn and the Poetics of Resistance: towards a new language for critical educational studies

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:59:10 GMT

Title: The Narrative Turn and the Poetics of Resistance: towards a new language for critical educational studies
Author: MICHAEL A. PETERS; TINA (A.C.) BESLEY
Journal: Policy Futures in Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Pages: 117-127
ABSTRACT This article argues for the adoption of a new language in critical educational studies through the 'narrative turn', a turn that politicizes knowledge by drawing attention to questions concerning the meaning, construction and authorship of narratives. In the authors' interpretation going back to the poetics of early narrative forms they development the argument that there is an ancient history of the form that privileges it as a means and form of resistance. The article tracks the adoption of narrative in the human sciences and details the development of narratology as the scientific study of narrative by such luminaries as Paul Ricoeur, and describes the 'crisis of narrative' in the postmodern condition by reference to the work of Lyotard, who begins to problematize the 'metanarrative' and its role in legitimation processes. This political understanding of narrative is further explored in relation to 'narrative identity' through the work of Benedict Anderson, Homi Bhabha and Charles Taylor and their emphasis on social imaginaries.

BOOK REVIEWS

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:59:10 GMT

Title: BOOK REVIEWS
Author:
Journal: Policy Futures in Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Pages: 128-134
ABSTRACT Not available

Re-imagining Internet Scholarship: academic uses and abuses of the influential Internet social network, Facebook

Tue, 8 May 2012 16:15:31 GMT

Title: Re-imagining Internet Scholarship: academic uses and abuses of the influential Internet social network, Facebook
Author: KYOUNG-AH NAM; GERALD W. FRY
Journal: E-Learning and Digital Media
Year: 2012 Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Pages: 57-72
ABSTRACT Since its inception at Harvard in 2004, the social network, Facebook, has grown dramatically and spread across the globe. It will soon have 1 billion users and is now operative in over 75 languages. A large percentage of undergraduates are now active on Facebook. Much of the recent literature on Facebook focuses on business applications and how it can contribute to growing profits and market share. Little attention has been directed to the academic implications of Facebook. The focus of this article is to assess critically the scholarly uses and abuses of Facebook. The article draws on several theoretical frameworks such as those of Ivan Illich (conviviality of technologies), Denis Goulet (technology as a two-edged sword), and Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi (optimal human experience and flow). Many scholarly uses of Facebook are presented documenting its potential for enhancing academic work. That is followed by a discussion of negative aspects of the technology and potential adverse effects on humans in terms of their productivity and capabilities. If used critically and creatively, these new networks can enhance in valuable ways human, intellectual, social, and cultural capital. In a networked knowledge society, students now have extraordinary new tools to help them realize their intellectual, cultural, and social potential.

E-learning as a Challenge for Widening of Opportunities for Improvement of Students’ Generic Competences

Tue, 8 May 2012 16:15:31 GMT

Title: E-learning as a Challenge for Widening of Opportunities for Improvement of Students’ Generic Competences
Author: RITA BIRZINA; ANDRA FERNATE; INETA LUKA; IRINA MASLO; SVETLANA SURIKOVA
Journal: E-Learning and Digital Media
Year: 2012 Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Pages: 130-142
ABSTRACT The rapidly changing economic, financial and social conditions require new knowledge and competences in order to be able to understand them, adapt to the new requirements and remain competitive and successful in the globalised social environment. Widening the access to lifelong learning is one way in which this could be achieved. A special role in this process is given to universities as promoters of lifelong learning. E-learning is a means of promoting the changes in academic studies and providing an opportunity to integrate non-formal and informal learning elements into formal education. Individualisation, learning opportunities flexible in time, as well as the e-environment can facilitate the development of students’ competences. This article presents a study conducted during the implementation of an inter-university master’s programme, ‘Educational Treatment of Diversity’ (in Spain, Latvia, Germany and the Czech Republic) in 2008?10. The research question was: which challenges for widening of opportunities were secured in e-learning in order to promote students’ generic competences as a learning outcome?

University and E-learning Classes in Italy

Tue, 8 May 2012 16:15:31 GMT

Title: University and E-learning Classes in Italy
Author: STEFANIA CAPOGNA
Journal: E-Learning and Digital Media
Year: 2012 Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Pages: 143-156
ABSTRACT The article explores the use of e-learning in Italian universities. The aim is to understand how the university system has faced this problem or opportunity to date and what weaknesses or developing perspectives may result from multimedia technologies applied to academic teaching management. After a brief review of the current position of Italian universities in the field of e-learning, some of the organizational changes are taken into consideration. The focus then shifts to the systems of relationships that characterize such learning environments (distance learning, blended, online); the article concludes with the outcome of a case study carried out through participant observation in a university Master's course.

Digital Natives Revisited: developing digital wisdom in the modern university

Tue, 8 May 2012 16:15:31 GMT

Title: Digital Natives Revisited: developing digital wisdom in the modern university
Author: DAVID HARRIS
Journal: E-Learning and Digital Media
Year: 2012 Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Pages: 173-182
ABSTRACT The seminal work of Prensky on 'digital natives' and 'digital wisdom' is used to launch a broader discussion on the relations between electronic communication, higher education, and popular and elite culture. Prensky's critics commonly contrast his polarisations and generational divisions with a more complex picture of types of engagement with electronic communication. However, their own approaches can also be seen as implying a number of less obvious but still important issues about education and culture. Having restored complexity to those areas too, the discussion ends with a consideration of practices in university teaching which attempt to manage complexity for educational purposes, and develop the more positive sides of electronic technology.

Project-Based Learning in a Technologically Enhanced Learning Environment for Second Language Learners: students' perceptions

Tue, 8 May 2012 16:15:31 GMT

Title: Project-Based Learning in a Technologically Enhanced Learning Environment for Second Language Learners: students' perceptions
Author: LINDSAY MILLER; CHRISTOPH A. HAFNER; CONNIE NG KWAI
Journal: E-Learning and Digital Media
Year: 2012 Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Pages: 183-195
ABSTRACT This article presents a new approach to English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course design. Situated in the context of an English-medium university in Hong Kong, the article describes an undergraduate course in English for science, which focused not only on traditional academic genres but also engaged students in the creation of a multimodal scientific documentary via a digital video project. As part of this project, students carried out a simple scientific experiment, documenting procedures, results and interpretation in the form of a digital video uploaded and shared through YouTube. This method of presenting scientific information not only engaged students in novel, multimodal forms of representation, but also involved them in an online learning community consisting of their tutor, classmates, other peers as well a wider Internet audience. This use of multimodal scientific documentaries as a pedagogical tool in EAP is reported with reference to data drawn from a student questionnaire, interviews with students, and students' comments in a course weblog. The findings show that the students perceived both linguistic and technical value in the construction and sharing of their multimodal documentaries.

Academic Help-Seeking in Online and Face-to-Face Learning Environments

Tue, 8 May 2012 16:15:31 GMT

Title: Academic Help-Seeking in Online and Face-to-Face Learning Environments
Author: RANDA A. MAHASNEH; AZIZEH K. SOWAN; YAHYA H. NASSAR
Journal: E-Learning and Digital Media
Year: 2012 Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Pages: 196-210
ABSTRACT This article compares actual help-seeking frequencies across online and face-to-face learning environments. It also examines strategies enacted by nursing students when they faced academic difficulties, reasons for help-seeking avoidance, and the relationship between the frequency of asking questions and achievement. Participants were nursing students enrolled in a course with two sections; online (n = 25) and face-to-face (n = 31). It was hypothesised that students in the online section would ask more questions, be less concerned about social embarrassment, and report the desire for autonomy as one of the main reasons for avoiding seeking help. It was also expected that students' achievement would be significantly correlated with help-seeking frequency. The results supported the above hypotheses except for the frequency of help-seeking in the online section compared to the face-to-face section. Implications and directions for future research are suggested.

The Use of Virtual Classrooms in E-learning: a case study in King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia

Tue, 8 May 2012 16:15:31 GMT

Title: The Use of Virtual Classrooms in E-learning: a case study in King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia
Author: HANA ABDULLAH AL-NUAIM
Journal: E-Learning and Digital Media
Year: 2012 Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Pages: 211-222
ABSTRACT The phenomenal growth and subsequent increasing use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) innovations has led to an increase in their use in higher education over the past decade. Past research has criticised e-learning (compared to traditional face-to-face lecturing) for its failure to engage students in their learning. However, King Abdulaziz University (KAU) has only limited seats available for its traditional face-to-face programmes and therefore was determined to provide a viable alternative in the form of an e-learning programme, the first in Saudi Arabia. One of the requirements of this programme was that it should fit current sociocultural customs, enabling students from the K-12 Saudi educational system who are not skilled in independent learning or discovery to construct their own knowledge. The university created a programme that underwent rigorous course development and quality control to engage students more actively through asynchronous technologies - virtual classrooms for every face-to-face hour of every course - with synchronous components, using a learning management system developed in-house to integrate with all other university systems. The virtual classrooms enable students and instructors to communicate synchronously using audio, video, interactive whiteboard, application sharing, instant polling, text chat, and other features as though they were standing face to face in a regular classroom. All instructor activities and interactions with students are monitored within the LMS and virtual classroom. Instructors and departments are provided with detailed reports on instructor performance and continuous assessments of their interactions with students. Due to their distinct methods of delivery, it is difficult to make exact comparisons between face-to-face and e-learning models of learning; to allow for the most accurate comparisons, the performance of students in face-to-face courses was compared to that of students in scheduled virtual classrooms who were taught by the same instructors. The overall results show that for most courses, there were no significant differences in the performance of online and face-to-face students assigned to the same course and taught by the same instructor.

E-learning versus Traditional Learning as Perceived by Undergraduate Students in Jordanian Universities

Tue, 8 May 2012 16:15:31 GMT

Title: E-learning versus Traditional Learning as Perceived by Undergraduate Students in Jordanian Universities
Author: AIEMAN A. AL-OMARI; KAYED M. SALAMEH
Journal: E-Learning and Digital Media
Year: 2012 Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Pages: 223-231
ABSTRACT The main purpose of this study is to define the perception of e-learning and traditional learning among undergraduate students in Jordanian universities. The results of the study indicated that e-learning had significantly higher scores for perceived value among students than traditional learning. The perception of e-learning among male students is more positive than female.

Cultural Shifts, Multimodal Representations, and Assessment Practices: a case study

Tue, 8 May 2012 16:15:31 GMT

Title: Cultural Shifts, Multimodal Representations, and Assessment Practices: a case study
Author: JEN SCOTT CURWOOD
Journal: E-Learning and Digital Media
Year: 2012 Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Pages: 232-244
ABSTRACT Multimodal texts involve the presence, absence, and co-occurrence of alphabetic text with visual, audio, tactile, gestural, and spatial representations. This article explores how teachers' evaluation of students' multimodal work can be understood in terms of cognition and culture. When teachers apply a paradigm of assessment rooted in print-based culture to multimodal texts created with digital tools, they may fail to capture students' content learning and meaning-making processes that draw on diverse semiotic resources and involve multiple modes of representation.

Editorial

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:05:05 GMT

Title: Editorial
Author: Sue Grieshaber
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2012 Volume: 13 Issue: 1 Pages: 1-3
ABSTRACT Not available

Globalization or Hegemony? Childcare on the Brink: hints from three geographically distant localities in North America

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:05:05 GMT

Title: Globalization or Hegemony? Childcare on the Brink: hints from three geographically distant localities in North America
Author: JOHN P. MANNING; VIDYA THIRUMURTHY; HARRIET FIELD
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2012 Volume: 13 Issue: 1 Pages: 4-16
ABSTRACT In a previous publication the authors examined selected aspects of the structure and curriculum of fifteen childcare centers located in three geographically distant locations in North America and determined that contrasts within and between the regions in terms of structure and curriculum guided by the National Association for the Education of Young Children's approach indicated that a culture inherent to childcare centers exists. Methods included participant observation and archival research. Journal data were analyzed for emergent themes utilizing modified grounded theory. Content analysis was used on government regulations, environmental and learning materials lists, and curriculum forms. In this article the authors re-examine the data to find that NAEYC's positional power, as a childcare organization, appears to be influencing the nature of childcare in North America, with some negative consequences.

Family-Centred Practice: empowerment, self-efficacy, and challenges for practitioners in early childhood education and care

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:05:05 GMT

Title: Family-Centred Practice: empowerment, self-efficacy, and challenges for practitioners in early childhood education and care
Author: LIZ ROUSE
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2012 Volume: 13 Issue: 1 Pages: 17-26
ABSTRACT Family-centred practice has been included in the Victoria, Australia Early Years Learning and Development Framework as a key practice principle for professionals working across all early years programs in that state. While this model of partnership for engaging and collaborating with families has long been used in the early intervention sector, the efficacy of adopting this model more widely across the wider early childhood education and care sector has not been explored. This article presents a discussion on family-centred practice as a model for engaging with families in the care and education of their children. Through an analysis of the underlying philosophy and an examination of the core principles and characteristics, the article explores family-centred practice as it sits within a broader theory of partnership. This analysis identifies that while there are essential principles and characteristics that position the model within a partnership framework, it is the notion of empowerment, an underpinning philosophy guiding the model, that adds another dimension to the way practitioners in early childhood education and care settings collaborate with families. In examining the broader early childhood context, the capacity of many early childhood practitioners to effectively implement empowering behaviours is challenged.

Release the Dragon: the role of popular culture in children's stories

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:05:05 GMT

Title: Release the Dragon: the role of popular culture in children's stories
Author: JENNIFER URBACH; ANGELA ECKHOFF
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2012 Volume: 13 Issue: 1 Pages: 27-37
ABSTRACT Young learners come to the school environment with myriad literacy experiences, some of which are inevitably based in popular culture. While literacy knowledge drawn from experiences with popular culture has traditionally been viewed as less important than academic literacy, educators wishing to create classrooms that value all children need to shift views of what contributes to student learning. Inclusion of popular culture in the school environment provides a space for extending the possibility of building upon and increasing children's understandings of these cultural resources. Through an in-depth exploration of a first-grade student's use of popular cultural items in a classroom-based storytelling project, this research illuminates how experiences with popular culture can become an imaginative and cognitive endeavor that impacts literacy learning.

Early Childhood Staff and Families' Perceptions: diverse views about important experiences for children aged 3-5 years in early childhood settings

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:05:05 GMT

Title: Early Childhood Staff and Families' Perceptions: diverse views about important experiences for children aged 3-5 years in early childhood settings
Author: FAY HADLEY
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2012 Volume: 13 Issue: 1 Pages: 38-49
ABSTRACT There is a growing body of literature about the potential for early childhood settings to serve as community hubs to develop relationships with families. However, there is limited information about the ways in which families and early childhood staff interface in defining what constitutes 'quality' within settings. Researchers have rarely studied families in relation to the development of curriculum and pedagogical practices in early childhood settings. Consequently, the strategies that could assist staff in making meaningful connections with families are not prominent in the current literature. The author's doctoral research explored families' perceptions of the support they received from the early childhood setting and in particular examined the nature of the connections between families and early childhood settings. This article reports the findings from Phase 2 of the study, where the views of 58 Australian families and 22 staff working in five long day care centres in the state of New South Wales, Australia, were surveyed about the types of experiences they valued for children in early childhood settings. The findings revealed differing perspectives between families and staff in terms of the experiences they valued in the early childhood setting, as well as in the levels of communication occurring between families and staff about children and the educational program. It is understandable that both families and staff will have diverse views and beliefs (depending on level of training and experience) about what is important in the early childhood setting. This research study provides insights into perceptions of families and staff, and has implications for the ways in which connections could be formed and relationships built with families in early childhood settings.

Aesthetic Education in the Early Years: exploring familiar and unfamiliar personal-cultural landscapes

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:05:05 GMT

Title: Aesthetic Education in the Early Years: exploring familiar and unfamiliar personal-cultural landscapes
Author: JOLYN BLANK
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2012 Volume: 13 Issue: 1 Pages: 50-62
ABSTRACT This article explores a double-bind in early schooling: a persistent value placed upon presenting multicultural art forms to a child constructed as incapable of grasping what is not familiar. The author argues that this bind is situated within dominant developmental discourses that emphasize the appropriateness of concrete and sequential activities and within dominant school art discourses that have constructed early school art as 'process over product' and that have understood culture as heritage. Suggesting that all novices - adults and children - make meaning from complex cultural values intertwined with the arts in some similar ways, she presents a description of a personal encounter with a Japanese tea garden and ceremony in order to (a) explore notions of art, development, and school art as cultural sensibilities, and (b) illustrate a cyclical process of direct perception, personal-contextual meaning-making, and discursive analysis. She concludes by arguing that encounters with the unfamiliar present unrealized educative possibilities for aesthetic experience in early schooling and by discussing new directions for an aesthetic early childhood education.

United We Stand: seeking cohesive action in early childhood education and care

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:05:05 GMT

Title: United We Stand: seeking cohesive action in early childhood education and care
Author: KYM MACFARLANE; PATRICIA LEWIS
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2012 Volume: 13 Issue: 1 Pages: 63-73
ABSTRACT Early childhood education and care (ECEC) is a complex field comprised of practitioners who possess disparate qualifications and understandings. While this diversity provides richness in terms of practice possibilities, it can also be challenging in terms of the divisions produced by different disciplinary and philosophical approaches. This is particularly evident in relation to how different practitioners advocate for who holds the truth within their grasp, in relation to best practice within this field. Such advocacy can ultimately divide practitioners in ways that are particularly problematic when political activism is necessary. This article examines the implications of the workforce divisions within ECEC in Queensland, Australia and the impact of such divisions on how practitioners advocate in particular contexts. The authors argue that differences that exist in disciplinary approaches have tended to highlight concomitant differences in understanding about what are regarded as being exemplary practices and in the quest for 'best practice'. This means that in times when political activism or advocacy is required, ECEC practitioners are divided rather than united as to what high-quality/exemplary practices might actually look like. Such division has constrained rather than enabled practitioners in terms of how they support each other in the practice and political arenas in Queensland and in Australia as a whole. It is suggested that it might be better to gain advantage from a more united approach. The authors use the work of Pierre Bourdieu, who situates social and systemic practices as 'games' of practice; and that of Michel Foucault, who conceptualises such notions as 'games of truth and error'.

The Teaching and Learning of English as an Additional Language in Primary School

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:05:05 GMT

Title: The Teaching and Learning of English as an Additional Language in Primary School
Author: LINDA WITHEY
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2012 Volume: 13 Issue: 1 Pages: 74-76
ABSTRACT The article seeks to investigate the methods of teaching and learning English as an additional language in primary education, and to identify the most appropriate and effective means of achieving this. The study tracks a cohort of children from reception to Year 2. Data collection draws on the strengths of both qualitative and quantitative paradigms and combines observations of children and staff, interviews with staff, and focus groups with parents. Alongside these are assessments of children and a review of records and policy documents. This is an ongoing longitudinal study spanning three years; the researcher is currently in the final year of data collection.

BOOK REVIEWS

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:05:05 GMT

Title: BOOK REVIEWS
Author:
Journal: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Year: 2012 Volume: 13 Issue: 1 Pages: 77-80
ABSTRACT Not available

Cities: a window into larger and smaller worlds

Tue, 6 Mar 2012 10:00:41 GMT

Title: Cities: a window into larger and smaller worlds
Author: SASKIA SASSEN
Journal: European Educational Research Journal
Year: 2012 Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Pages: 1-10
ABSTRACT Cities are complex systems. But they are incomplete systems. In this incompleteness lies the possibility of making - making the urban, the political, the civic, a history. The urban is not alone in having these characteristics, but these characteristics are a necessary part of the DNA of the urban. Every city is distinct and so is every discipline that studies it. And yet, if it is to be a study of the urban it will have to deal with these key features - incompleteness, complexity, and the possibility of making. This then also makes cities strategic sites for the exploration of many major subjects confronting society. But cities are not always a heuristic space - a space capable of producing knowledge about some of the major transformations of an epoch. Today, as we have entered a global era, the city is once again emerging as a strategic site for understanding some of the major new trends reconfiguring the social order. Each of those trends has its own specific contents and consequences. The urban moment is but one moment in their often complex multi-sited trajectories.

Why are Migrant Students Better Off in Certain Types of Educational Systems or Schools than in Others?

Tue, 6 Mar 2012 10:00:41 GMT

Title: Why are Migrant Students Better Off in Certain Types of Educational Systems or Schools than in Others?
Author: JAAP DRONKERS; ROLF VAN DER VELDEN; ALLISON DUNNE
Journal: European Educational Research Journal
Year: 2012 Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Pages: 11-44
ABSTRACT The main research question of this article is concerned with the combined estimation of the effects of educational systems, school composition, track level, and country of origin on the educational achievement of 15-year-old migrant students. The authors focus specifically on the effects of socioeconomic and ethnic background on achievement scores and the extent to which these effects are affected by characteristics of the school, track, or educational system in which these students are enrolled. In doing so, they examine the ‘sorting’ mechanisms of schools and tracks in highly stratified, moderately stratified, and comprehensive education systems. They use data from the 2006 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) wave. Compared with previous research in this area, the article’s main contribution is in explicitly including the tracks-within-school level as a separate unit of analysis, which leads to less biased results concerning the effects of educational system characteristics. The results highlight the importance of including factors of track level and school composition in the debate surrounding educational inequality of opportunity for students in different education contexts. The findings clearly indicate that analyses of the effects of educational system characteristics are flawed if the analysis only uses a country level and a student level and ignores the tracks-within-school-level characteristics. From a policy perspective, the most important finding is that educational systems are neither uniformly ‘good’ nor uniformly ‘bad’, but they can result in different consequences for different migrant groups. Some migrant groups are better off in comprehensive systems, while others are better off in moderately stratified systems.

Urban Education and Segregation: the responses from young people

Tue, 6 Mar 2012 10:00:41 GMT

Title: Urban Education and Segregation: the responses from young people
Author: ELISABET ÖHRN
Journal: European Educational Research Journal
Year: 2012 Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Pages: 45-57
ABSTRACT This article takes as a starting point the segregation of urban areas and discusses schooling in the neighbourhoods typically associated with problems and challenges, in order to explore young people's responses to their schooling and social positions. Such responses include individual acts, such as rejecting further schooling or dismissing the local school in favour of prestigious ones, as well as the development of shared understandings and collective formations. The article focuses in particular on young people's responses through aesthetic practices, informal education and public political actions. Although research suggests that youths in poor areas are increasingly individualised and shows that schools provide them with little help to understand and act upon their circumstances in school, the analyses here also bring to light young people's rather strong belief in collective actions; students' formations of resistance groups and political knowledge appear as crucial resources, and, although scarce, teacher support and teaching about political actions appear as important.

Educational Research and Useful Knowledge: production, dissemination, reception, implementation

Tue, 6 Mar 2012 10:00:41 GMT

Title: Educational Research and Useful Knowledge: production, dissemination, reception, implementation
Author: MARIT HONERØD HOVEID
Journal: European Educational Research Journal
Year: 2012 Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Pages: 58-61
ABSTRACT The overall question which the three of us asked in this roundtable - 'What counts as 'useful knowledge' in educational research?' - is a question that can be interpreted in different ways. I have chosen to interpret it as a question to ourselves: What do we consider 'useful' as research on education - as researchers? This is asking for a self-evaluation by educational research(ers). Giving an answer to this requires a reflexivity; a reflexivity which places us in a position where we need to examine and re-examine, on different levels, what we say and do as researchers. This kind of reflexivity is not uncomplicated to perform and it could lead into a less fruitful self-absorption. Another reason for this being a difficult task to perform is that it asks each of us engaged in the field of educational research to reconsider what we value, what we count as knowledge and what we care about - although it should be noted that, according to the American philosopher Harry G. Frankfurt (1988), we do not always know what we care about. Under the main question, we have been asked to answer the following three questions: What counts as useful education knowledge, and under which conditions, context and criteria? For whom is it useful, and how do they assert their priority? What is the role of researchers in making their research useful?

Multiple Enactments of Educational Research

Tue, 6 Mar 2012 10:00:41 GMT

Title: Multiple Enactments of Educational Research
Author: PAOLO LANDRI
Journal: European Educational Research Journal
Year: 2012 Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Pages: 62-67
ABSTRACT The article addresses the widespread claim to make educational research more relevant for practitioners, policy makers, potential users and stakeholders, and proposes a problematisation of the notion of 'useful knowledge'. The article illustrates the conceptual, instrumental and legitimative relevance of knowledge and highlights empirically the need to develop detailed descriptions of the local constructions of educational research to understand the non-linear dynamics and the multiple enactments of relevant/useful networks of educational research.

An Exploration of Differences in Mathematics Attainment among Immigrant Pupils in 18 OECD Countries

Tue, 6 Mar 2012 10:00:41 GMT

Title: An Exploration of Differences in Mathematics Attainment among Immigrant Pupils in 18 OECD Countries
Author: MARINA SHAPIRA
Journal: European Educational Research Journal
Year: 2012 Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Pages: 68-95
ABSTRACT This article presents findings from a comparative study of sources of educational disadvantage of immigrant children across 18 OECD countries, which is based the data from the 2006 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The findings show that disadvantaged family background and lack of host-country-specific cultural capital account for a large part of the attainment gap between immigrants and their non-migrant peers. The findings also show that school characteristics in terms of their size, quality of teachers and educational resources contribute to the understanding of the further part of the immigrant performance gap. Moreover, school characteristics mediate between the immigrant students' family characteristics and their attainment, by reinforcing or diminishing the impact of the family characteristics. Furthermore, the institutional characteristics of immigration countries, such as type of education provision, type of welfare provision and type of immigration policy, also play a part in producing and maintaining educational disadvantage of immigrant pupils, by affecting the attainment level and mediating between the individual- and school-level characteristics and pupils' attainment. It was found that the first generation of immigrant children perform particularly well in countries with a liberal type of welfare regime, more standardised educational systems and more selective immigration policies; there was also some evidence that institutional factors shape educational attainment of the second generation of immigrant children in a way which more closely resembles that of the children from non-immigrant backgrounds - the former perform better in countries with a more inclusive (social-democratic) type of welfare provision, but also in countries with less differentiated and more standardised educational systems.

Socioeconomic Gradients in Eastern European Countries: evidence from PIRLS 2006

Tue, 6 Mar 2012 10:00:41 GMT

Title: Socioeconomic Gradients in Eastern European Countries: evidence from PIRLS 2006
Author: DANIEL H. CARO; PLAMEN MIRAZCHIYSKI
Journal: European Educational Research Journal
Year: 2012 Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Pages: 96-110
ABSTRACT This article analyses educational inequalities related to socioeconomic status (SES) in 12 Eastern European countries that participated in the International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2006. Economies and educational systems of these countries have undergone critical transformations since the fall of communism. The authors' analyses, using data collected almost 20 years after this period, help explain how these transformations affected the equity and quality of educational outcomes in the region. For each country, overall inequalities as well as inequalities between schools and within schools are estimated with regression models and represented graphically with socioeconomic gradient lines. A possible trade-off between equity and quality of outcomes is explored, identifying countries that have been relatively successful at attaining both educational goals. The extent to which the school SES explains achievement gaps between rural and urban schools is analysed. The results point to country groupings that are reasonably consistent with regional classifications of educational systems postulated in the literature.

Universities and Knowledge Production in Central Europe

Tue, 6 Mar 2012 10:00:41 GMT

Title: Universities and Knowledge Production in Central Europe
Author: MAREK KWIEK
Journal: European Educational Research Journal
Year: 2012 Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Pages: 111-126
ABSTRACT The article discusses an East/West divide in Europe in university knowledge production. It argues that the communist and post-communist legacies in the four major Central European economies studied (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic) matter substantially for educational and research systems. The differences in university knowledge production may be bigger than expected, and the role of historical legacies may be more long term than generally assumed in both social sciences and public policy studies on the region. The gradual convergence of both higher education and research systems in two parts of Europe cannot be taken for granted without thoughtful changes in both university funding (both modes and levels) and governance. The article discusses links between knowledge production, economic competitiveness and regulatory and other environments in which both universities and knowledge-intensive companies operate. The role of factors other than higher education and innovation systems is substantially more important for competitiveness and growth in Central Europe than in affluent Western economies. The international visibility of universities as knowledge production centres is low and the analysis of the geography of knowledge production at the level of regions may indicate that Central Europe is in danger of being effectively cut off from the emergent European Research Area.

A Case Study of Parents' School Choice Strategies in a Finnish Urban Context

Tue, 6 Mar 2012 10:00:41 GMT

Title: A Case Study of Parents' School Choice Strategies in a Finnish Urban Context
Author: JAANA POIKOLAINEN
Journal: European Educational Research Journal
Year: 2012 Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Pages: 127-144
ABSTRACT This article analyses how Finnish parents of sixth graders in a comprehensive school act in the local 'school markets' of the case city. The parents' subject positions as choosers are reflected on and explored in relation to the discourses and resources they use when discussing their school choices. The data were gathered in 2009 by administering a questionnaire (n = 374) and by conducting interviews with 76 of the respondents. The main data used here were thematic interviews, which were analysed using the discoursive approach. The analysis revealed that the parents used three different types of subject positions and discourses when having conversations about their choices and when considering their options. These discourses used were partly overlapping and unexpectedly social, and cultural resources were capitalised on less than previously assumed. Contrary to earlier European research on school choices, most parents in this study were not eager to choose any other school than their allocated local school, because they trusted the quality of Finnish comprehensive schools. The parents' thoughts and actions were notably guided and governed by the local school authorities, according to whom the local school is good enough.

School Children's Visualisations of Europe

Tue, 6 Mar 2012 10:00:41 GMT

Title: School Children's Visualisations of Europe
Author: RACHEL MASON; MARY RICHARDSON; FIONA M. COLLINS
Journal: European Educational Research Journal
Year: 2012 Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Pages: 145-165
ABSTRACT 'Images & Identity' was a two-year curriculum development project in which citizenship and art educators in the Czech Republic, England, Ireland, Germany, Malta and Portugal collaborated on the production of teacher education materials. The article begins with a critical analysis of educational policy for European citizenship and of the potential contribution visual art and citizenship education might make to understanding what it means to be European. The main body of the article reports on a small-scale survey of school children's visual representations of Europe carried out in advance of the curriculum development. This survey elicited received, recreated and created representations. Whereas many were totemic symbols of European identity downloaded from the Internet, a surprising number were personal artworks in which children explored and developed their personal feelings and ideas. This article describes and analyses the images the children selected, remixed and/or created, focusing on the subject matter, metaphorical meanings and interpretative themes. Findings about their orientation to European citizen identity were that it was dominated by physical and social perceptions, and whilst largely positive, these perceptions varied according to nationality, ethnicity and age.

Editorial. Changing Education for Social Inclusion

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:16:34 GMT

Title: Editorial. Changing Education for Social Inclusion
Author:
Journal: Power and Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Pages: 1-3
ABSTRACT Not available

Life without the 'X' Factor: meritocracy past and present

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:16:34 GMT

Title: Life without the 'X' Factor: meritocracy past and present
Author: ANSGAR ALLEN
Journal: Power and Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Pages: 4-19
ABSTRACT This article argues that 'meritocracy' is more than an abstract principle of justice. It is a social technology, the history of which is associated with changing configurations of power and knowledge. In its latest and perhaps most dystopian form, meritocracy has abandoned the principle of working towards perfectly administered distributions of human ability; whether talents are always rewarded or not, no longer matters. The important thing is for us to act as if they are, as we strive to achieve our potential. According to present-day meritocracy, we must learn to live sustainably within systems of hope and disappointment.

Teachers Changing Worlds

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:16:34 GMT

Title: Teachers Changing Worlds
Author: JANE QUIN
Journal: Power and Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Pages: 20-32
ABSTRACT Even big waves of political revolution are not able to wash away deeply internalised oppression and entrenched injustice - especially far away from the epicentre where only the ripples reach. Deep in South African rural schools, steeped in layers of social and cultural oppression that has shape-shifted through generations of political regimes, are scatterings of teachers taking on the frequently lonely task of teaching for social justice. It is precisely their contextual knowledge of the nuances of the power play of the hegemonic norms that makes possible their ways of working. Through a structured pedagogical journey of critical consciousness-raising, this article reports on the conduct and outcomes of self-reflective action research to facilitate more socially just practices in the writers' own schools, presenting some of the self-reflective action research reports/stories of these educators produced while they work for social justice.

Telling the Truth: using narrative accounts of sexual violence to trouble feminist and therapeutic theory

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:16:34 GMT

Title: Telling the Truth: using narrative accounts of sexual violence to trouble feminist and therapeutic theory
Author: ALISON HEALICON
Journal: Power and Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Pages: 33-44
ABSTRACT For women who have experienced sexual violence, to tell another person is both a considered and a compulsive decision. Many women never tell, yet, within our therapeutic culture, it is thought imperative that women recount their stories of abuse in order to heal and become socially responsible. Not only does the act of sexual abuse violently fragment identity, but the process of recovery through speech concerns the purposeful transformation of identity from victim to survivor, albeit always associated with the original act of violence. It is the speech act, the storying of the incident, that is transformative. The moment of telling therefore represents a dynamic and socially situated event which can, within the context of therapeutic discourse, powerfully transform the agentic speaker into a victim or a survivor. This article explores this moment of telling stories of sexual violence, focusing on two women's accounts which arose as part of a long-term ethnographic study within a feminist voluntary organisation working with women who have experienced sexual violence. The point of recognition in this interpersonal and socially situated transformation into victimhood is explored, to highlight instances of resistance and to trouble the discourse of psychological harm. In so doing the binary of victim/survivor is contested as a useful categorisation of those who have experienced sexual violence. In concentrating on this specific moment of telling, it is suggested that identity is constructed continually and so, although this article is necessarily focused, extrapolations to the wider field of education can be made.

Sacajawea: witnessing, remembrance and ignorance

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:16:34 GMT

Title: Sacajawea: witnessing, remembrance and ignorance
Author: WANDA S. PILLOW
Journal: Power and Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Pages: 45-56
ABSTRACT This article considers the relations between discourse, knowledge, power and representations, and particularly how constructs and ideologies of gender, race and sexuality impact what we think we know, how we come to know it, and where this knowledge goes in theory, policy and practice. The story of Sacajawea, a Lemhi-Shoshone woman who was involved in the 1804-06 US Corp of Discovery expedition, is used as an examplar of how hegemonic representations, passed on through curriculum content, can distort understandings and perpetuate colonial and othering perspectives.

Imagining a World Where Paris Hilton Loves Mathematics

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:16:34 GMT

Title: Imagining a World Where Paris Hilton Loves Mathematics
Author: VANESSA VAKHARIA
Journal: Power and Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Pages: 57-72
ABSTRACT This article is a conceptual piece which explores what it might be like to incorporate marketing theory and notions of cool into the realm of mathematics education in an attempt to elicit mathematical enthusiasm from a specific subset of the female population who often self-select out of mathematics despite their high mathematical aptitude. Focusing on girls from Toronto, Canada, who generally see themselves as part of the mainstream culture, this article speculates as to how these girls understand their relationship to mathematics. The central purpose of this research is to understand whether these girls choose not to pursue mathematics beyond the compulsory level because they are selecting courses to construct their identity on the basis of cool, using the same evaluation process they would when selecting products. Drawing extensively on literature and participant data, this article presents a novel perspective with which to view female disinterest in mathematics. Grounding the empirical data atop the theoretical brings to life the interconnection of perspectives of scholars like Walkerdine, Mendick, Demetriou and Gladwell, illustrating how femininity, consumerism and mathematics are interwoven into the very fabric of our socially constructed reality. This article argues that treating mathematics as a consumer good and marketing it accordingly might give rise to increased mathematical participation and enthusiasm by this particular segment of girls, who rely on identity marketing for many of their consumption decisions.

Obedience, Sabotage, Autonomy: power games within the educational system

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:16:34 GMT

Title: Obedience, Sabotage, Autonomy: power games within the educational system
Author: GRZEGORZ MAZURKIEWICZ; BARTLOMIEJ WALCZAK
Journal: Power and Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Pages: 73-82
ABSTRACT The authors' aim in this article is to use a critical approach to analyse the modernisation process of the pedagogic supervision system in Poland, looking at change not as critics but (co)authors. Their aim is not to exploit the strengths of critical sociology when applied to the processes of innovation, but to use these strengths reflexively to arrive at a better understanding of change, and of the reactions and the behaviour of all the participants in the process, including their own role in the system and its possible dangers. The authors believe that for a sociologist involved in the change process, the reflexive approach is crucial so as to comply with ethical requirements, and that it enables an active, needs-oriented involvement when making decisions about introducing change.

Widening Participation, Aimhigher and the Coalition Government: narratives of freedom and efficiency

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:16:34 GMT

Title: Widening Participation, Aimhigher and the Coalition Government: narratives of freedom and efficiency
Author: ROWENA PASSY
Journal: Power and Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Pages: 83-95
ABSTRACT This article responds to the decision of the United Kingdom's coalition government to abolish Aimhigher, a programme for widening higher education participation among disadvantaged young people in England. It examines recent research into widening participation and shows how the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students has narrowed slowly but significantly over the past decade. Aimhigher's role is explored, and the strengths of its partnership approach considered. Drawing on the notion of assemblage, the article then compares the values that underpin the narrative of Aimhigher with those embedded in the coalition government's proposals for widening participation. The article concludes that the gains made over the past decade will be reversed and that social class divisions in university study will become further entrenched.

Negotiating the Multiple Meanings of Participation within Multi-agency Working: children's participation at policies' crossroads

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:16:34 GMT

Title: Negotiating the Multiple Meanings of Participation within Multi-agency Working: children's participation at policies' crossroads
Author: BETH CROSS
Journal: Power and Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Pages: 96-105
ABSTRACT Over the last decade, the term 'participation' has gained prominence within children's services and policy formation. However, this term is used in variable ways and there remains a lack of consensus within policy circles about its employment. As a consequence, young people encounter a variety of practices to which this term is ascribed. This article explores the understandings of participation as they varied across settings with a cohort of upper-primary pupils who accessed a number of children's services within their locality. Contested meanings of participation became particularly apparent within a multi-agency project in which the area's community centre and housing office piloted a project packaged as an antisocial-behaviour prevention strategy. This project brought participatory learning strategies into the school and raised awareness for those participating about community services and opportunities. The article draws on observations of sessions and interviews with teachers, youth workers and young people to explore the negotiations around pedagogy and discourse that the project entailed in order to explore the different ways that participation was glossed within these negotiations. This examination of differing understandings and performances of participation is then used to reflect upon changing the children's services agenda and terminology.

The Future of the Public Library: reimagining the moral economy of the 'people's university'

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:16:34 GMT

Title: The Future of the Public Library: reimagining the moral economy of the 'people's university'
Author: JOHN BLEWITT
Journal: Power and Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Pages: 106-116
ABSTRACT New media technologies, the digitisation of information, learning archives and heritage resources are changing the nature of the public library and museums services across the globe, and, in so doing, changing the way present and future users of these services interact with these institutions in real and virtual spaces. New digital technologies are rewriting the nature of participation, learning and engagement with the public library, and fashioning a new paradigm where virtual and physical spaces and educative and temporal environments operate symbiotically. It is with such a creatively disruptive paradigm that the £193 million Library of Birmingham project in the United Kingdom is being developed. New and old media forms and platforms are helping to fashion new public places and spaces that reaffirm the importance of public libraries as conceived in the nineteenth century. As people's universities, the public library service offers a web of connective learning opportunities and affordances. This article considers the importance of community libraries as sites of intercultural understanding and practical social democracy. Their significance is reaffirmed through the initial findings in the first of a series of community interventions forming part of a long-term project, 'Connecting Spaces and Places', funded by the Royal Society of Arts.

BOOK REVIEWS

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:16:34 GMT

Title: BOOK REVIEWS
Author:
Journal: Power and Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Pages: 117-122
ABSTRACT Not available

Editorial

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:36:49 GMT

Title: Editorial
Author: Howard Gibson
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 69-71
ABSTRACT Not available

Values and Purposes in Citizenship, Social and Economic Education: from instrumentalism to argument

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:36:49 GMT

Title: Values and Purposes in Citizenship, Social and Economic Education: from instrumentalism to argument
Author: HOWARD GIBSON
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 72-82
ABSTRACT This article is intended to contextualise some of the ways in which values and purposes are embedded in facticity, and to provide a backdrop to the collection that follows. The first section examines some of the philosophical and social assumptions that underpin instrumental reasoning, a form that Horkheimer said presupposed 'the adequacy of procedures for purposes more or less taken for granted and supposedly self-explanatory'. The second section asks if the conceptual separateness of instrumental rationality from its substantive counterpart implies, therefore, a bifurcation of approaches to research that emerge from one or other of the forms of reasoning, and whether this infers a 'false dichotomy' between quantitative and qualitative research. The final section turns to the nature of argument that emerges as an epistemological necessity and as an 'ontological illusion' when contextualised in unequal social practices. The article concludes by suggesting that argument and engagement about values and purposes may be mandatory in the domain of citizenship, social and economic education, but that running alongside it are counter philosophical and cultural pressures which limit it - the growing predilection for instrumental reasoning, a preference for non-judgementalism, the separation of empirical from normative enquiry and so on, which penetrate deep into many aspects of education policy and practice today.

Global Social Capitalism: using enterprise to solve the problems of the world

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:36:49 GMT

Title: Global Social Capitalism: using enterprise to solve the problems of the world
Author: STEPHEN J. BALL; ANTONIO OLMEDO
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 83-90
ABSTRACT We are experiencing a global paradigmatic change in the relationships between government(s), education, philanthropy and business. The ways in which social and educational problems are being organised and addressed, nationally and globally, are changing in response to the methods of 'new' philanthropy and the privileging of 'market-based' solutions to these problems. The new sensibilities of giving and social 'investment' have led to increasing use of commercial and enterprise models of practice as a new generic form of philanthropic organisation, practice and language - venture philanthropy, philanthropic investments and portfolios, due diligence, entrepreneurial solutions, etc. New philanthropy is bringing new players into the field of social and education policy, repopulating and reworking existing policy networks. The first part of the article explores succinctly some key concepts involved in the ongoing changes in the roles and methods of philanthropy, configuring what the authors refer to as 'philanthropic governance'. The second part focuses on the identification of sets of new actors within new networks of policy, of which philanthropy is a part. More concretely, the authors analyse here specific 'generative nodes', such as the Clinton Global Initiative, which connect and facilitate the creation of partnerships between actors from the public and the private sector. The article concludes by highlighting how the shifts and moves involved here are made up of and driven by a complex set of advocacy networks, business interests, 'new' philanthropy, and changes in the form and modalities of the state.

Education for Global Citizenship: the cosmopolitan and the patriotic

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:36:49 GMT

Title: Education for Global Citizenship: the cosmopolitan and the patriotic
Author: PENNY ENSLIN
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 91-100
ABSTRACT Education for global citizenship is an ambitious goal. One of its ambitions lies in expectations that future global citizens will make sense of and reconcile complex, competing values and purposes. At the heart of the values and purposes of education for global citizenship lies a tension between a cosmopolitan imperative and what future role - if any - there might be for patriotism. Can both be accommodated in the conceptual underpinnings and the practices of citizenship education, especially in efforts to promote understanding and solidarity between citizens of rich and poor countries? This article considers recent competing arguments for a qualified place for both patriotism and cosmopolitanism. Reflecting on the example of global citizenship education in the Scotland Malawi Partnership, the author proposes an approach to educating for global citizenship that locates the cosmopolitan as educationally fundamental.

Students' Conceptions of Price, Value and Opportunity Cost: some implications for future research

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:36:49 GMT

Title: Students' Conceptions of Price, Value and Opportunity Cost: some implications for future research
Author: PETER DAVIES
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 101-110
ABSTRACT In comparison with the literature on students' conceptions of science and mathematics, the body of evidence on students' conceptions in social science appears rather small. Within this limited field, conceptions of price and opportunity cost have attracted a substantial proportion of researchers' attention. This article reviews the evidence generated from this research and suggests three pointers for future research: (1) relating to the methods used; (2) relating to conceptual structure; and (3) relating to the attention given to values and students' conceptions of how economic activity should be conducted.

The Common School and Intercultural Education: failed ideals and the parameters of curricular possibility

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:36:49 GMT

Title: The Common School and Intercultural Education: failed ideals and the parameters of curricular possibility
Author: DAVID COULBY
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 111-116
ABSTRACT This article assesses two educational ideals: the common school and intercultural education. It considers their implementation and achievement in several states, and concludes this to be far from successful. It then questions whether these two aims are themselves reconcilable. In particular, it examines the curricular overcrowding that would be exacerbated by the implantation of intercultural education. It concludes with questions that itemise the pragmatic difficulties of such implementation.

The Case for Values in Economics Education

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:36:49 GMT

Title: The Case for Values in Economics Education
Author: JACEK BRANT
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 117-128
ABSTRACT Milton Friedman, in his essay 'The Methodology of Positive Economics', states that positive economics is in principle independent of any particular ethical or normative judgements, and he further argues that economics is an objective science in the same way as the natural sciences. School economics has been taught in this way for a number of decades. This article argues for values in economics education and explains how school economics has been based on the discredited philosophy of positivism which is in contrast to social-constructivist understandings of knowledge. After two decades of falling numbers of students taking up economics at Advanced level in England, 2010 saw a rise of students sitting examinations in the subject. A possible explanation is students' desire to understand a fast-changing economic landscape. Teachers have the opportunity to challenge previously held assumptions and to critically explore explanations in a way that is of relevance to students' lives.

The Intersubjective Turn and its Consequences for Economics Education

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:36:49 GMT

Title: The Intersubjective Turn and its Consequences for Economics Education
Author: BERND REMMELE
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 129-139
ABSTRACT In some fields of social science research, there is evidence for an intersubjective turn. While, as a social science, economics was dealing with social phenomena which were expressions of intersubjectivity, it has often been interpreted in accordance with mainstream modern thinking in individualistic terms. Taking this intersubjective turn seriously, a normative dualism of intersubjective and individualistic attitudes shows up, which calls for a deeper analysis of situational, cultural and individual traits in order to explain social behaviour. This is not only because learning is influential in this respect, but also because economics education has - as a kind of value education - to reflect on the issue, and students have to be orientated towards this complex and dynamic field. This refers to the practical learning target of competent economic conduct as well as to theoretical learning targets of better general understanding with its socio-political implications.

The Erosion of the Public Good: the implications of neo-liberalism for education for democracy

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:36:49 GMT

Title: The Erosion of the Public Good: the implications of neo-liberalism for education for democracy
Author: CATHERINE BROOM
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 140-146
ABSTRACT This article describes the meaning, history and significance of the concept of the 'public good'. It begins by theorising the 'public good' in relation to literature in the field, particularly Dewey. The public good is understood as an imagined and communal space in which goods valued by society become collectively owned and shared through respectful and open contestation and negotiation. The argument is then made that schools are both part of the public good as well as involved in the development of this concept in students, but that the ability of schools to do this is being damaged by new discourses. Current research and literature in the field of education is used to demonstrate how neo-liberal ideology is eroding this democratic idea. For example, neo-liberal ideology incorrectly positions all goods (including education) as private goods, with damaging consequences for society generally. Its controlling policies negatively affect the ability of schools to educate students about and for the public good, within a democratic conception of society. The article concludes with recommendations that aim to reinvigorate education for the and as a public good in schools. These recommendations are focused on teaching pedagogies.

Developing Values and Purposes in Teachers for a Better World: the experience of the United Kingdom Teacher Education Network for Education for Sustainable Development/Global Citizenship

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:36:49 GMT

Title: Developing Values and Purposes in Teachers for a Better World: the experience of the United Kingdom Teacher Education Network for Education for Sustainable Development/Global Citizenship
Author: SALLY INMAN; SOPHIE MACKAY; MAGGIE ROGERS
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 147-157
ABSTRACT This article describes, analyses and evaluates the work of the United Kingdom Teacher Education Network for Education for Sustainable Development/Global Citizenship as a contribution to developing teachers who can promote a better world. The article outlines some of the rationales for educating new teachers in values and purposes in relation to education for sustainable development and global citizenship, particularly with respect to the global challenges we face now and in the future. The authors reflect on the role and effectiveness of the United Kingdom Teacher Education Network in developing and disseminating practice, policy and theory. They explore the challenges faced in developing and sustaining the network as a community of practice committed to developing a 'radical' practice underpinned by theory. In particular, the authors explore how the changing external climate nationally and internationally calls for strategic thinking on the part of educators committed to the values of education for sustainable development and global citizenship, and discuss how capacity may be built in the current era. Finally, the article discusses some of the findings of a United Kingdom-wide survey of education for sustainable development and global citizenship within initial teacher education undertaken on behalf of the network, and the implications of the findings for the best way to move forward.

Embedded Values in Reading Primers: the perceptions of student teachers

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:36:49 GMT

Title: Embedded Values in Reading Primers: the perceptions of student teachers
Author: ULLA DAMBER; ANN-KRISTIN GÖHL-MUIGAI
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 158-169
ABSTRACT In contrast to countries where citizenship is taught as a specific subject, Sweden has a curriculum stipulated in the Education Act stating that all school activities must respect fundamental values and that these values should be upheld in all subjects. The values transmitted in reading primers, therefore, constitute an important medium for conveying fundamental values. Twenty-four student teachers working in pairs were given the task of analysing some common reading primers as the object for analysis with the aim of discovering in what way the texts disclosed or embedded values, and how they reflected society's ideals of an individual's moral education. Simultaneously, the students' ability to perform critical analyses was explored through reference to what was interpreted as the 'ideal citizen' in such books. The student teachers' findings indicated prototypes of 'good behaviour', the predominance of monocultural settings, blurred descriptions revealing an underlying middle-class perspective and conservative gender roles. However, many analyses were based on quantification, absences were not analysed at all and reading methodology frequently overshadowed content. The authors' central conclusion is that text analysis and meaning-making needs further emphasis in Swedish teacher education.

Using a Fox to Guard the Geese? A German Debate on the Purposes of Economic Education in Relation to Sustainability and the Role of Values

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:36:49 GMT

Title: Using a Fox to Guard the Geese? A German Debate on the Purposes of Economic Education in Relation to Sustainability and the Role of Values
Author: GÜNTHER SEEBER; FRANZISKA BIRKE
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 170-181
ABSTRACT What is the purpose of economic education? What role do values play in economic education? These questions have been deliberated on in a German debate on the role of economic education within education for sustainability. The authors draw on this discussion in order to specify the purpose of economic education in the field of education for sustainability and to examine the role of values in economic knowledge. They claim, first, that values education is an important part of economic education; second, that values that are important for environmental sensitisation must be discussed as 'controversial'; and third, that economic knowledge is a basic requirement in this field.

Citizenship Education in New Zealand: we know 'what works' but to what extent is it working?

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:36:49 GMT

Title: Citizenship Education in New Zealand: we know 'what works' but to what extent is it working?
Author: CAROL MUTCH
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 182-198
ABSTRACT Citizenship education appears in the curricula of many nations. The aims of citizenship education are often based on the aspirations of society and supported by research and theory that describes what citizenship education is or should be. Seldom do we find links between these aspirational visions and actual societal outcomes. Citizenship education, in different guises, has been a goal of the New Zealand education system since formal schooling was established in 1877. This article sets out to ask whether this focus has had the intended outcome. The citizenship education goals of the current curriculum are matched against national and international studies that give an insight into what kind of society and what kind of citizens New Zealand has produced. The results show that overall New Zealand is a stable, democratic, safe and fair society but with areas of injustice and inequity still to be addressed.

Why Study Economics? Perspectives from 16-19-Year-Old Students

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:36:49 GMT

Title: Why Study Economics? Perspectives from 16-19-Year-Old Students
Author: SANJANA MEHTA; IRENKA SUTO; GILL ELLIOTT; NICKY RUSHTON
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 199-212
ABSTRACT In England and Wales, 16-19-year-old students are given considerable subject choice. Many follow Advanced (or A) level courses in three or four subjects and economics is a popular option. Within a wider study of A level teaching and learning, subject choice was explored. Two questions were considered: (1) Why do students choose to study A level Economics? (2) What skills and knowledge do students expect to gain which will help them when at university or in a job/career? Questionnaires were sent to 16-19-year-old students in a representative sample of 100 schools and colleges following a popular A level Economics course. Eighteen schools and colleges responded, returning 228 questionnaires. Additionally, four students were interviewed in-depth about their experiences. Quantitative analysis revealed that a large majority of students chose A level Economics because they thought they would enjoy it. At least half of the students believed they could gain an understanding of national and international economics which would help them subsequently. Only 15% identified more generic skills, such as decision making, as being of value later in life. The findings offer a useful overview of students’ motivations for studying economics in England and Wales.

Gender Differences in Value Systems Expressed by Russian and Swedish University Students

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:36:49 GMT

Title: Gender Differences in Value Systems Expressed by Russian and Swedish University Students
Author: ULLA DAMBER; LENA IVARSSON; GÖRAN BOSTEDT; VLADIMIR SHABES; TAMARA POTAPOVA; EKATERINA TROSHCHENKOVA
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 213-226
ABSTRACT In this study, the authors pinpoint the similarities and differences between students at a Russian university and a Swedish university regarding the students’ value systems. What similarities and what differences are there between male Swedish students and male Russian students, and what similarities and what differences are there between the female students in the two countries? The authors’ interest was directed towards the gender differences between the two countries. A method employing three phases was developed for analyses of the value systems in the two countries. Students, who, as a category, often challenge existing value systems, were chosen as informants. Student samples from each country, varying in number from 63 to 100 informants, provided data in the three sub-studies. The results indicated that similar national concepts, when translated into English, exposed significant differences in their connotations, a phenomenon which is discussed in relation to implications for intercultural communication. In particular, the concepts of democracy and gender equality are highlighted. Differences and similarities related to gender and nationality constitute the bulk of the discussion. A major finding was that concepts describing close interpersonal relations, such as friendship and love, were cross-nationally rated higher than values more distant from the individual’s private world, such as democracy and equal rights.

Behind the Mask: using arts-based learning to uncover, explore and improve action

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:36:49 GMT

Title: Behind the Mask: using arts-based learning to uncover, explore and improve action
Author: SHAUN HUGHES
Journal: Citizenship, Social and Economics Education
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Pages: 227-238
ABSTRACT This article reflects on a series of arts-based learning workshops that have enabled participants to reflect on their beliefs, values and purpose. The author argues that this approach, through creating what he has called here a 'leadership mask', offers a method of enhancing and deepening understanding through attending to both objective and subjective experience by putting the person in touch with the inner self. The article suggests that working with visual, emotional and aesthetic literacy can enable a fuller understanding and a more effective, authentic and, therefore, ethical leadership style. Achieving congruence between the inner and outer self can improve self-awareness, confidence, efficacy and a willingness to engage and contribute positively both as an individual and as a member of society.

Editorial

Fri, 2 Dec 2011 10:01:42 GMT

Title: Editorial
Author: Steve Newstead
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 3 Pages: 226-227
ABSTRACT This issue of Psychology Learning and Teaching contains a varied mix of papers, in addition to the usual abstracts from other journals and book reviews.

Research Activity in British Clinical Psychology Training Staff: do we lead by example?

Fri, 2 Dec 2011 10:01:42 GMT

Title: Research Activity in British Clinical Psychology Training Staff: do we lead by example?
Author: EMILY F. NEWMAN; KAREN McKENZIE
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 3 Pages: 228-238
ABSTRACT Sixty-two members of staff from clinical psychology doctoral training programmes across Britain completed a survey about their level of research output, the extent to which they felt this met their own expectations and job requirements, and how it influenced promotion prospects. In addition, they listed perceived barriers to and facilitators of research activity. There was wide variation in research activity, such that many participants had limited or no publications while a smaller proportion had many. Respondents were as, or more, dissatisfied than satisfied with their publications, submissions and grant applications and over half felt that the number of grant applications failed to meet their expectations. Support from and collaboration with colleagues was the main facilitator for research, while a lack of time was viewed as the main barrier.

The Accuracy of Instructor Perceptions of Student Interest and Learning: an exploratory study

Fri, 2 Dec 2011 10:01:42 GMT

Title: The Accuracy of Instructor Perceptions of Student Interest and Learning: an exploratory study
Author: MARYA HOWELL-CARTER; JENNIFER NIEMAN-GONDER; MICHAEL S. GOODSTONE; ROMMEL ROBERTSON
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 3 Pages: 239-245
ABSTRACT Instructors adjust pace, methods, and other aspects of instruction based on their perceptions of student interest and learning. The current study is an exploratory investigation of the congruence between faculty and student perceptions within a single class session. The study examined the degree to which faculty could predict each student’s self-reported interest, perceived learning and actual learning. Overall, instructors are more accurate in reading their students’ level of interest than their perceived or actual learning. There is, however, great inconsistency between faculty in their ability to accurately predict interest and learning. Personal characteristics of the instructor may significantly impact predictive accuracy. Results suggest that faculty should assess the accuracy of their own student perceptions in the classroom.

Evaluation of a Final-Year Module Using Online Asynchronous Discussion

Fri, 2 Dec 2011 10:01:42 GMT

Title: Evaluation of a Final-Year Module Using Online Asynchronous Discussion
Author: TONY WARD; LORNA DODD
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 3 Pages: 246-252
ABSTRACT This report evaluates the use of online asynchronous discussions as a main delivery strategy in a third (final) year undergraduate counselling psychology module. These discussions were student-facilitated and the discussion assessment criteria emphasised analysis, critique, application and originality. Students were assessed through the production of a written critique of one of the discussions, again using similar criteria. Students' judgments of their progress and attitudes to the online components were assessed, and both of these measures were significantly positively related to module outcomes. Students were asked for their comments about the module, and the results were analysed using thematic analysis. Overall the results suggest that whilst such a novel delivery strategy has much to commend it, many students perceive it negatively. This seems to be due to the novelty of the strategy, and a belief that traditional lectures and assignments are preferable.

Assessment of Differential Learning by Topic in Introductory Psychology

Fri, 2 Dec 2011 10:01:42 GMT

Title: Assessment of Differential Learning by Topic in Introductory Psychology
Author: CORINNE L. McNAMARA; ADRIENNE L. WILLIAMSON; TERRENCE D. JORGENSEN
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 3 Pages: 253-260
ABSTRACT Introductory psychology students typically perform better on posttests compared to pretests; however, not all topics are learned equally well. To measure how much information students learned overall and to determine whether the level of knowledge gained differed by topic, 932 undergraduates enrolled in introductory psychology completed a multiple-choice pretest-posttest assessment. The tests included questions about 11 topics typically taught in introductory psychology. Student-, instructor-, and assessment-related variables that could affect learning were also examined. As expected, posttest scores were significantly higher than pretest scores. Importantly, there were significant differences among topics in terms of posttest scores as well as in the level of improvement. Students were most likely to answer posttest questions correctly about introduction and research methods, memory, and development, and least likely to answer questions correctly about physiological psychology. Scores improved on 9 of the 11 topics, with the greatest improvement for memory, physiological psychology, and sensation and perception. No improvement occurred for cognition and development. Regarding variables that could potentially affect learning, a significant effect for type of final exam, type of credit granted, and instructor was found. This is the first time that a pretest-posttest design has been used to demonstrate differential learning of topics in introductory psychology. Results may inform instructors' course planning regarding time allotted and techniques used to facilitate student learning.

Creating Instructor Resources as a Student Project

Fri, 2 Dec 2011 10:01:42 GMT

Title: Creating Instructor Resources as a Student Project
Author: SUSAN B. GOLDSTEIN
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 3 Pages: 261-266
ABSTRACT A media psychology course for third- and fourth-year (upper division) undergraduates was designed around a semester-long active learning project aimed at developing instructor resources. Fifteen students worked both independently and collaboratively to create lecture and discussion modules on 30 topics in media psychology, each supplemented by a set of multimedia resources and a classroom activity with handouts. Students presented their materials to the class and participated in in-depth peer reviews. Through the process of developing instructor resources, students were expected to become familiar with the literature of a specific subdiscipline, and to learn how to (1) evaluate the relative importance of research topics within an academic literature, (2) assess the validity of information sources, (3) simplify complex concepts and research findings for a student audience, (4) make effective presentations, (5) give constructive feedback to peers, (6) identify and avoid subtle forms of plagiarism, and (7) apply advanced aspects of American Psychological Association (APA) format. Students evaluated the project quite favourably and were unanimous in their preference for developing instructor resources over writing a standard term paper.

Using the NEO-PI-R to Teach Assessment Concepts in a Graduate-Level Psychological Assessment Course

Fri, 2 Dec 2011 10:01:42 GMT

Title: Using the NEO-PI-R to Teach Assessment Concepts in a Graduate-Level Psychological Assessment Course
Author: JEREMY R. SULLIVAN
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 3 Pages: 267-272
ABSTRACT The purpose of this brief report is to describe the use of a hands-on project designed to enhance graduate students' understanding of assessment-related concepts. The project involves students taking the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R), scoring their responses, and interpreting their scores. Students also are asked to describe the psychometric properties of the NEO-PI-R in addition to other characteristics, and to consider how the test scores might be used in treatment planning. This paper will describe the instructional objectives and components of the project, and will present data from student evaluations to support its continued use.

BOOK REVIEWS

Fri, 2 Dec 2011 10:01:42 GMT

Title: BOOK REVIEWS
Author:
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 3 Pages: 275-284
ABSTRACT Not available

Abstracts of recent articles published in Teaching of Psychology and Psychology Teaching Review

Fri, 2 Dec 2011 10:01:42 GMT

Title: Abstracts of recent articles published in Teaching of Psychology and Psychology Teaching Review
Author:
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 3 Pages: 285-291
ABSTRACT Not available

Editorial

Fri, 2 Dec 2011 10:01:42 GMT

Research Activity in British Clinical Psychology Training Staff: do we lead by example?

Fri, 2 Dec 2011 10:01:42 GMT

The Accuracy of Instructor Perceptions of Student Interest and Learning: an exploratory study

Fri, 2 Dec 2011 10:01:42 GMT

Evaluation of a Final-Year Module Using Online Asynchronous Discussion

Fri, 2 Dec 2011 10:01:42 GMT

Assessment of Differential Learning by Topic in Introductory Psychology

Fri, 2 Dec 2011 10:01:42 GMT

Creating Instructor Resources as a Student Project

Fri, 2 Dec 2011 10:01:42 GMT

Using the NEO-PI-R to Teach Assessment Concepts in a Graduate-Level Psychological Assessment Course

Fri, 2 Dec 2011 10:01:42 GMT

BOOK REVIEWS

Fri, 2 Dec 2011 10:01:42 GMT

Title: BOOK REVIEWS
Author:
Journal: Psychology Learning & Teaching
Year: 2011 Volume: 10 Issue: 3 Pages: 275-284
ABSTRACT Not available

Abstracts of recent articles published in Teaching of Psychology and Psychology Teaching Review

Fri, 2 Dec 2011 10:01:42 GMT