Search

This paper examines underlying beliefs and values about nature within the early years education in Turkey, as reflected in the curricula and standards documents guiding instruction. Given that not every child has the opportunity for nature‐based education, it becomes essential to incorporate nature‐based learning into indoor classrooms. Employing a document analysis, we comprehensively analyse the Ministry of Education's Preschool Education Program (2013), Activity Book‐1 (2013a), and Activity Book‐2 (2018), which guides teachers in shaping their classroom practices, therefore providing in‐depth insights into the conceptualisations of nature. Our analysis reveals that 'nature' in these documents is characterised by its connection to and intersections of specific settings, concepts, and resources. Moreover, we found out that the identified patterns of relationships in the examined curriculum and standards documents demonstrate a purposeful initiative to engage preschool children in the realm of nature through various means, including conceptual comprehension, hands‐on interaction with materials, and direct involvement in natural surroundings. The intersections among these elements unveil a complex network of opportunities to promote an enhanced learning journey. By fostering a deeper understanding of the relationship between curriculum guidelines and nature activities, we aim to empower early childhood educators to embrace nature as an integral part of their classroom practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth, internationally, in professional doctorates over the last 25 years has been well documented, as are the forms, fields and disciplines that such doctorates embrace. Yet relatively little is known about the professional tensions teachers encounter, in relation to their positionality, when carrying out doctoral research in the schools where they work. This paper draws attention, not only to the contribution the Professional Doctorate in Education (EdD) makes to research as a whole, but also to the significance of teachers as invaluable members of the research community. Findings will be presented from interviews with 30 senior teachers from schools in England who are carrying out practitioner research as part of their doctoral studies. The paper draws attention to how power relations in the research process ferment the structural and agentic concerns of the participants in this study when discussing their researcher positionality. The scholarly significance of this study is its contribution to knowledge of how schools are increasingly becoming both sites of research and research‐rich environments. With its focus on researcher positionality the paper draws attention not just to the tensions and dilemmas these participants encounter on their doctoral journey, but also to the importance of teacher researchers and their role in research knowledge production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trinity Access (TA) is a post-primary initiative, in the authors' university, that offers programmes for students, teachers and schools in areas of socio-economic disadvantage. The aims of the programme include helping students develop the knowledge, networks and skills needed to make informed decisions about future educational opportunities, and supporting teachers and schools to foster collaborative and reflective learning environments, which help students develop the academic capital they need to attain their aspirations. This is achieved by delivering programmes for students and professional development for teachers, embedded in an iterative cycle of data collection/analysis and feedback. A distinguishing feature of TA is its long-term commitment to its partner schools (20 years in some cases). This sustained engagement enables the depth and breadth of longitudinal research described herein. The research follows an observational study design within an overarching design-based research methodology. Data are collected annually from consenting students, teachers and management in 20 schools, enabling the researchers to establish students' levels of exposure/non-exposure to the intervention and to identify correlations between exposure and behaviours/aspirations. The goal of this paper is to provide an overview of the research design and methodology, illustrating its potential to deliver insights into practices that may alleviate educational inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents new insights into the views of families regarding the educational opportunities for their children in special school settings. It reports on a study designed to capture the perspectives of families regarding the opportunities to consult and engage with teachers on the education of their child or children with disabilities across special schools in Australia. The methodology provided a framework of investigation critical to the research in this study. Furthermore, a significant body of parental voices was manifested through the study providing a rich bank of perspectives regarding their preferred delivery models of education for their families and children with disabilities. Key pointsThe findings of this study provide deep insights into families' perspectives on curriculum and inclusive programmes that add value to the learning experiences of their children with disabilities in special school settings in Australia.The paper articulates the reasons why an overwhelming majority of parents who completed a large mix methods survey expressed confidence in the expertise of teachers, staff and leaders in the provision of education for students with disabilities in special school settings in Australia.For the first time in recent research in Australia, the voices of parents of students with disabilities are heard, respected and valued through a set of open‐ended questions within a large‐scale survey.A strong call from parents to sustain the provision of special schools in Australia, in keeping with the UN Rights of the Child (1990), is expressed and is supported by evidence elicited from parents in over 300 schools in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The centring of Muslim women in Islam resides in an intertwining historico-politico -theological narrative of gender reform, first promulgated in a seventh century revelation of the Qur'an. Significantly, the gains derived by the women of Islam's first community, have become lost in the dominance of contemporary androcentric-patriarchal interpretations. The argument advanced by this paper is that Muslim educational institutions have a responsibility in (re)-scripting gender justice as an imperative of the scripture; and in establishing resonance between identities of faith and citizenship. I commence by looking at the disjuncture between what Islam says about gender equality, and how it unfolds under the predominant auspices of a patriarchal gaze. As an example of this disconnection, I focus on the trajectory of the 'women in mosques' campaigns in South Africa, spanning from an apartheid to a democratic context – noting that despite, or perhaps, because of far-reaching political change, the resistance encountered by Muslim women has remained the same. Thereafter, I turn my attention to an intertwining consideration: the responsibility of Muslim education in (re)-scripting gender justice as an imperative of the scripture; and the obligation of Muslim education in establishing resonance between identities of faith and citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parental separation not only impacts on family relationships, it also has implications for a child's school life and opportunity to learn. However, there is little understanding of how children of separated parents navigate the relationship between home and school. This paper reports findings from discussions with education professionals in English schools about their experience of issues children of separated parents face as they move between home and school. Schools are seen as safe spaces where children who 'have less supportive home lives' can access support to promote their emotional wellbeing (DfE, 2018, p13). This study found staff in primary school tended to be knowledgeable about children's situations, whereas in secondary school, issues came to attention only when parent(s) contacted the school, or through achild's behaviour. Good parental communication was seen as significant in enabling children to move between home and school with ease. Where parental conflict 'spilled over' into schools, staff became aware of the child's situation but did not always feel able to provide appropriate support. If children wanted to talk about their family situation with someone in school, professionals thought they should have this opportunity but questioned whether staff had appropriate knowledge and skills. The paper considers ways in which staff might support these children through the introduction of awhole school approach, the new Relationships Education curriculum, small group work and work with parents. The framework for understanding children's accommodation of parental separation was considered auseful tool that could support this work (Kay-Flowers, 2019a). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the history of the expansion of educational opportunities in the UK, to understand how different generations of -working-class students managed to access HE. Based on 23 life-story interviews with working-class students, the study highlights how the changing dynamics of the structure of compulsory education and the labour market have shaped working-class students' views of HE. Exploring the changing structure of opportunity, and how this has shaped working-class students' sense of social position, is key to understanding the uneven pattern of working-class pathways to HE across generations. It is evident that different types of secondary school experience and opportunities in the labour market affected working-class pathways to university with the nature of the school environment and employment shaping various expectations. This article concludes that people's understanding of their social position within the educational and occupational opportunity structure leads to variations in -working-class transitions to university across different generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the founding document of the British welfare state, the Beveridge Report, 'ignorance' was identified as one of the 'five giants on the road of reconstruction'. Dealing with ignorance meant developing education and greater equality of education to all children, with local authorities having a vital role to play. This paper focuses on the development of education policy in the UK by analysing legislative provision related to the role played by central and local government, and equality of opportunity. It argues that there have been notable changes across all phases of education. In England, central government plays a greater role than previously, and has created enduring state‐controlled markets in which education institutions operate; local authorities have a reduced role. This contrasts with Scotland and Wales. Ideas about equality of opportunity have also shifted over time and vary not only between different phases of education, but also between the countries of the UK. Whilst equality of access has increased, equality of educational outcome remains elusive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For much of its modern history, the notion of talent has been associated with the idea of 'careers open to talent'. Its emancipatory promise of upward social mobility has radically transformed the distribution of advantaged social positions and has had a lasting influence on the very idea of social status itself. Nevertheless, unlike concepts traditionally associated with distributive justice, e.g. fairness, (in)equality, desert, equality of opportunity as well as justice itself, the notion of talent has received only limited examination. This article discusses some of the most pressing problems and challenges arising out of a reductionist understanding of talents' anatomy and a distorted characterization of their overall distributive value. In particular, it aims to address those issues revolving around talents' anatomy existing conceptions of distributive justice leave either neglected or outrightly ignored. The introductory part outlines the basic egalitarian conception of equal opportunities and then proceed with the examination of fairness embedded in it. The central part of the paper identifies the key elements of talents' anatomy. We then discuss some of the implications egalitarianism either leaves out of the discussion or neglects. In particular, we challenge the idea of moral arbitrariness as the key mechanism to discard talents as a form of unfair advantage in the process of competition for advantaged social positions. In the final part, we outline two fundamental problems that call into question the cogency of egalitarian conceptions of talent(s) as a form of unfair disadvantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key aim of mathematics teaching is for children to develop appropriate and efficient strategies for solving tasks. The analysis presented in this paper moves beyond the exploration of changes in the strategies that children employ to solve tasks and extends to observation and exploration of changes that occur when their overall solving approach remains seemingly stable. We present an analysis of data from two qualitative studies, each of which combined a microgenetic design with task-based interviews, to examine changes that occur in 5–6-year-old children's verbal reports when solving an additive task, and in 9–10-year-old children's verbal reports when solving fraction word problems. Children's verbal reports were analysed through the lens of the theory of shifts of attention. We found that phases of stability are underlain by dynamic changes in how the same strategy is communicated and conceptualised over a number of sessions and these changes appear to be accounted for by changes related to shifts in the object and structure of children's attention, i.e. what children attend to and how, when reporting on their solving approach. The paper extends the theory by revealing and studying microqualities that underlie different learners' structure of attention during phases of stability in arithmetic tasks. The findings provide new, significant insights for understanding qualitative dynamics of change in learning. Sensitivity to differences and changes in learners' shifts of attention is essential for teachers to make sense of what learners experience and identify opportunities conducive to further learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses two approaches to the measurement of educational inequality in international comparisons between countries and over time. We analyse reading literacy performance of 15-year-old students using data from PISA 2009 and 2015 for 37 EU and OECD countries. We show that inequality of outcome and inequality of opportunity do not necessarily co-vary; they can go in opposite directions both across countries and over time. Our results suggest that indicators of variation in educational outcomes are more suitable to the types of problems that affect international comparisons of educational achievement than the more common approach of measuring of inequality of opportunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world went suddenly into lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, sending individuals to their homes and shutting businesses and institutions, the closing of schools posed big problems. The majority of the world's children were out of school, leading to the longest sustained period of school closures in history. We saw educators turning towards responses not aimed at collegial and community-engaged strategies for education in an emergency but at online learning cast as education/business as usual. This study explores the logic driving this global response through analyses of the documents released by three key global education actors: (1) the OECD and its paper A Framework to Guide Education Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020; (2) UNESCO's Global Education Coalition #LearningNeverStops; and (3) the World Bank's Guidance Note on Education Systems' Response to COVID-19; and Guidance Note: Remote Learning and COVID-19. The authors of this article draw on Carol Bacchi's approach to poststructural policy analysis to make visible the key concepts and binaries used within policy texts and to understand the "technologies of saving" that were invoked in each policy response, locating the education programmes, activities and actors within knowledge practices in educational reform. This article explores the World Bank, OECD and UNESCO responses using an analysis of knowledge harmonisation and difference among these institutions as well as their location as key norm-setters and governing actors in the field of education. The authors argue that all three responses privilege private-sector providers of digital technology. The consequence of these responses is that technologies of saving have centred on privatised, corporate edu-business and edu-tech aimed at online education delivery, bringing significant risks for the erasure of local knowledges. The authors' study suggests that local policymakers, including community-based and national actors, must be invited into the discussion to envision other possibilities and to name the potential destructiveness embedded in the international organisations' actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using semi-structured interviews gathered from youth and families in rural Cambodia, this paper focuses on the specific social circumstances that affect parents’ abilities to support their children’s education, as well as on how youth and young adults make sense of their own educational experiences in a context shaped by economic hardships and by social legacies of the Pol Pot regime. Data analysis shows that while economic factors have a strong impact on children’s educational opportunities, other risk factors include social tensions such as the changing social value of education due to societal scars and schooling inequities. This paper concludes with recommendations for policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines whether opportunity of access to public university has improved over the period 2008–2013 in Uruguay; in which an important territorial expansion of the public university supply, historically located in Montevideo (the capital of Uruguay), to other regions of the country (named the Interior) took place. Results suggest that Uruguay expanded opportunity to access university increasingly towards the more disadvantaged individuals. However, as the coverage rate of students from better-off parental educational background increased more than for those from less-privileged ones, inequality of opportunity worsened in the Interior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the National Pupil Database to explore how grammar school opportunities vary among pupil groups, and how grammar school opportunities correlate with the Local Authorities (LAs), pupil backgrounds and attainment. The results show that grammar school admission is relatively fair, based on its selection criterion, but there is no evidence that grammar schools can promote social mobility by providing more opportunities for disadvantaged pupils, which is the major claim supporting their expansion. Snapshots of grammar school opportunities in each LA, and the probability of attending grammar schools for four pupil subgroups, are examined. Then logistic regression models controlling for pupil backgrounds and attainment are created. Findings reveal that the varied proportion of grammar school places in each LA leads to unbalanced grammar school opportunities between them, making the difficulty of attending grammar schools diverse. The difference in grammar school opportunities between LAs has benefited a group of pupils moving outside their home LAs for secondary education, usually from more advantaged families. In LAs selecting more than 20% of their pupils into grammar schools, pupils eligible for free school meals, pupils with special educational needs, native English speakers and white pupils are less likely to go to grammar schools, while those from richer areas, from minority ethnic groups and those younger within a year group have higher chances when controlled for prior attainment. The difference in grammar school opportunities between social groups is largely the stratification of early-age attainment, and is unlikely the result of deliberately biased selection process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Student voice agendas have been slow to permeate higher educational institutions. Curricula in universities, like those in primary and secondary education, are still usually made for students by teachers who, while they may have the best interests of the students in mind, rarely if ever engage students in curriculum decision-making. The need for more equitable, dialogic and democratic engagement by students is particularly relevant in the context of teacher education. It has been argued that pre-service teachers should experience democratic practices during their teacher education experiences in order to have the confidence, knowledge and skills to support democratic opportunities in schools. Purpose: Through the participatory action research project described in this paper we sought to position pre-service teachers as pedagogical consultants who would design feedback strategies, gather feedback with faculty and co-construct physical education teacher education (PETE) curricula. We saw this process as a democratic possibility that might create opportunities for pre-service teachers to critique and transform their own educational experiences. In this paper we detail the process we used to support dialogue about teaching and learning between students and faculty members and draw on the perspectives of the students, pedagogical consultant, lecturer and teaching and learning advocate involved in this project. Participants and setting: The project was undertaken with one cohort (77) of pre-service teachers during the final year of a four-year undergraduate PETE programme in an Irish university and focuses on the democratization of one PETE course. Data collection: Data were generated with and by the pre-service teachers, the pedagogical consultant, the lecturer and the regional teaching and learning advocate. The primary data collection methods were interviews and observation. Data analysis: The data were reviewed repeatedly looking for patterns, themes, regularities, paradoxes, variations, nuances in meaning and constraints [Rubin and Rubin 1995. Qualitative Interviewing. The art of Hearing Data. London: Sage]. The authors coded all data sets independently using constant comparison [Glaser 1965. "The Constant Comparative Method of Qualitative Analysis." Social Problems 12 (4): 436-445] and then shared their processes and subsequent codes. Our analysis engages Greene's [1988. The Dialectic of Freedom. New York: Teachers College Press] dialectical theory, to explore how naming and holding the tensions involved in this research and pedagogical enterprise was not stultifying but generative. Findings: Three key dialectics were constructed from the data: student- teacher, critical reflection-learning and responsibility-accountability. We speak to each of these themes from the perspectives of the students, the pedagogical consultant and the lecturer who participated in this project. Discussion and conclusion: Our discussion turns to the challenges and benefits associated with the pursuit and realization of democratic possibilities in PETE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether the height premium for academic outcomes is driven by unequal opportunities for tall individuals. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health, this paper shows that taller individuals typically earn higher grades and attain more schooling, but the associations are not uniform across school size. Height is only associated with better outcomes for students attending large schools and these improvements are concentrated among males. Data suggest that height contributes more to sports participation and school satisfaction in large schools where resources are more scarce. Thus, differential opportunities or treatment across height in large schools may drive the performance differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By age 16 the attainment of most children in or on the edge of out of home care has fallen well behind the average for their age. This paper uses the English National Pupil Database to examine how much of this falling behind occurs before the age of seven, and how any subsequent decline relates to time in care as against time outside it. We compare the previous progress of three groups of 16-year-olds: 5175 looked after by the state (CLA), 17,392 in need but not in care (CIN), and 22,567 children matched with the CLA or CIN on initial attainment, special educational needs, and eligibility for free school meals. We found that the attainment of the CIN and those CLA not yet in care was around one standard deviation below the cohort average at age seven. It then fell relative to their peers while their rate of unauthorised absences and exclusions grew. Removal from home to care appeared to halt or greatly reduce this decline but did not, on average, reverse it. We conclude that educational interventions for CLA should also include CIN, start before seven, target both school and family, and exploit the educational opportunity which care provides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalisation has resulted in multicultural and multilingual societies where individuals, who often do not speak the official language, need to communicate with different services offered by public institutions in the host country. School plays a vital role as an education and training institution, and must guarantee that every student receives equal opportunities, and, in accordance with the principles of intercultural education, facilitate the integration of foreign students both into society and the educational context. However, linguistic and cultural barriers may sometimes prevent communication between foreign students, their families and the education centre. The purpose of this paper is to analyse survey responses and interview talk about communication between teachers and immigrant users who do not speak or barely know the host country language, especially the methods employed and the resources available to Spanish education centres to communicate with students and families who lack the necessary host language skills. A case study will be used as example of the situation in which both educators and families very frequently have to turn to child language brokering, using methodology based on qualitative analysis of surveys and interviews carried out in two primary schools in the Madrid area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Strengthening Foundations of Learning (SFL) project is an early years CPD intervention and part of the wider Preparing for Life (PFL) Initiative in an area of urban disadvantage in Dublin, Ireland. Working within the context of the Aistear curriculum framework, and building on research evidence on the importance of practitioners to quality Early Childhood Education (ECE), the primary aim of the project is to improve the quality of early years practice. The two-year project provides a complex training and mentoring programme to educators in order to deliver 'the best outcomes for children'. This paper presents findings from the evaluation of the 'learning environment' strand. The findings indicate that the embedded nature of CPD used in the SFL project has resulted in positive changes in early years practice and pedagogical language. Mid-term results suggest that participants are providing improved early learning environments and responding to learning opportunities in a more focused and informed way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are considered an important economic grouping, given their tremendous recent economic expansion and, at least in some cases, their transition from relative stasis to dynamic growth. Though the five BRICS summit declarations focus on mutual economic and trade cooperation, there have also been considerable attempts to enhance research collaboration. This study attempts to map out research collaboration in BRICS using four measurable categories, namely, research capacity, research outputs, ranking and number of international collaborations. Based on this mapping study, the paper further explores the opportunities for and challenges to research collaboration among BRICS nations. It might seem premature to assess the result of BRICS cooperation, given its five-year history. However, the analysis of existing literature and other available data sources allow us to assume that language, financial commitment, inadequate regulatory frameworks and diverse interests are amongst the potential challenges. At the same time there are tremendous opportunities in research collaboration, which can contribute to the economic consolidation of BRICS. These include participating in BRICS priority research areas, making member countries attractive destinations for research, encouraging learning mobility and strengthening BRICS research capacities. Thus the paper provides a critical review of research collaboration in BRICS, and suggests how it might be further increased. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using data from a census of private schools in one of Lagos, Nigeria’s administrative jurisdictions, this paper explores the linkages between a heterogeneous sector of private schools and issues of school access, affordability, quality, and ultimately social mobility for households at the bottom of the income distribution. Although a large private education market has buoyed Lagos’s growth towards near-universal primary enrolment, this heterogeneous school sector appears to be providing socially stratifying paths towards educational attainment. We apply Lucas’s theory of effectively maintained inequality to assess the extent to which access to higher quality education services within the private sector is determined by cost. We find that higher-cost private schools provide students with greater opportunities to study in institutions with higher quality inputs and increased potential for progression within the educational system. As such, it is highly likely that these schools are primarily accessible to students at the upper ends of the income distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education, California in the United States famously combined the principles of excellence and access within a steep three-tiered system of Higher Education. It fashioned the world's strongest system of public research universities, while creating an open access system that brought college to millions of American families for the first time. Since 1960, the Master Plan has been admired and influential across the world. Yet the political and fiscal conditions supporting the Master Plan have now evaporated. California turns away hundreds of thousands of prospective students each year, and the University of California, facing spiralling deficits, finds it more difficult to maintain operating costs and compete with top private universities for leading researchers. The paper discusses the rise and partial fall of the Californian system as embodied in the Master Plan, and identifies general lessons for Higher Education systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School failure is substantive in Spain. The percentage of students that do not achieve the compulsory education diploma is around 20%. School failure is higher for students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Students who ‘fail’ cannot continue to post-compulsory education and, sooner or later, they have to leave formal education. The evolution of school failure in Spain follows a U-shaped curve that decreases from the seventies and rises from the end of the past century. This article explores the evolution of the impact of students’ socio-economic backgrounds on school failure from the seventies onwards and tests whether this impact increased at the end of last century. Using logit models of estimation to control for socio-demographic factors, we demonstrate that students from higher socio-economic backgrounds show fewer fluctuations in school failure than students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. We also provide evidence in support of an increase in the impact of socio-economic background on school failure from the end of the past century, thereby increasing differences by social origin of students. Our paper is consistent with previous literature showing that the impact of socio-economic background on school failure from the seventies onwards is declining. Nevertheless, we show an increase in this impact from the late nineties not described before. We offer a possible explanation for this upward trend in the shape of change in the institutional structure of the education system, although labour market incentives may also have played a role. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper analyzed the effect of summer heat on academic achievement. Summer heat can negatively affect student learning, as previous studies have shown that high temperatures in laboratory settings have a negative effect on cognitive abilities. For this analysis, the test scores of five different cohorts were combined with city-level daily temperature data. To control for unobserved heterogeneity, the test scores of students within the same school were compared over time (school-fixed effects estimation). Summer heat negatively affected student test scores. Specifically, an additional day with a maximum daily temperature exceeding 34 °C (93.2 °F) during the summer, relative to a day with a maximum temperature between 28 °C (82.4 °F) and 30 °C (86 °F), decreased the scores of math and English tests by 0.0042 and 0.0064 standard deviations, respectively. No significant effects were found on the reading test scores. In addition, these effects were larger in relatively cooler cities, but did not differ based on gender. Finally, the previous year's summer also had negative effects on the current year's test scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: proposed a compensatory model of second language reading. This model predicted that 50% of second language (L2) reading scores are attributed to second language knowledge and first-language (L1) reading ability. In this model, these two factors compensate for deficiencies in each other. Although this model explains a significant portion of L2 reading, much remains unknown. In particular, the compensatory model does not specify the relative contributions of strategic knowledge or background knowledge in L2 reading. Consulting the extant L2 reading literature, this paper proposes a model of second language reading, extending the compensatory model of second language reading. The proposed model predicts the shifting contributions to L2 reading of L2 language knowledge, L1 reading ability, strategic knowledge, and background knowledge. The paper concludes by offering a framework to investigate the explanatory power of the proposed model. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper argues that lifelong learning can be a torch for education that is relevant, appropriate and appreciated by many Africans if conceptualized within the African Indigenous Learning (AIL) framework. Such learning is entrenched deep in the practices, cultures and ways of knowing of many Africans. The fundamentals or the ideals of lifelong learning in AIL can be presented in three dimensions of time, space, and I/We. Woven together, these concepts present a context in which lifelong learning is defined by aspects such as learning-in-action (immediacy of application); interactive methods; and a time that is only valued in respect of events that constitute it. Generally, an understanding of lifelong learning from the western perspective hinges on the linearity, economics and individualism of learning and these concepts may not be well promoted within the framework of AIL. It is not difficult to imagine the impact of borrowed concepts of learning on Africans if applied uncritically. Africans cannot afford to be oblivious of the differences in contexts between them and the western world. Context, therefore, is central to the application of lifelong learning. The authors of this paper have a full understanding that people in different parts of Africa may view lifelong learning in different ways. Thus, the term 'African' is used to underscore the importance of context. The authors also note that the advantages of lifelong learning to Africa are obvious vis-a-vis learning as a human right and a social justice. While these ideals are helpful, Africans cannot be subservient to how lifelong learning comes packaged from the western perspectives. To illustrate some differences, some ideals of lifelong learning in the AIL are introduced through the case of an adult education compensatory programme, and a three dimensional model is proposed for applying these ideals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 20 years special education teachers have emerged as a distinct but heterogeneous occupational group in Greece. This paper looks at how special education teachers perceive their job and their role. I explore how teachers give meaning to their experiences and how these experiences influence their practice. The different discourses and ambiguities over inclusion, integration and special education indicate the complexity of this area and of teachers' roles. The uncertainty over their role, the tensions with other professionals and the changing policy context and policy shifts create significant inconsistencies. This paper reveals that teachers are part of a network of professionals with contested interests in the field, and that there are numerous controversies and paradoxes in special education in Greek primary schools. I argue that teachers' voices can contribute to the current debate about inclusion, and that it could possibly facilitate a change in the nature of debate in Greece. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This brief review paper examines what has been, until relatively recently, a largely under-explored area of research within the sub-discipline of inclusive education, namely the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities in National Curriculum Physical Education (NCPE). More specifically, by drawing upon studies conducted with teachers and pupils in England, the paper examines some of the complex issues that surround the inclusion of pupils with SEN and disabilities in NCPE following its introduction in 1992. In particular, it considers teachers’ views on the nature and purposes of inclusive physical education (PE) and teacher training, as well as the suitability of the structure, in its present form, of NCPE for pupils with SEN and disabilities, the PE experiences of whom are also explored. In doing so, the issues raised herein are intended to be of relevance not only for those with an interest in PE, but also for those with an interest in inclusive education more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While educators in gifted education and general education appear to share many goals, there are inadequacies in the implementation of complex educational practices that meet the needs of gifted students in general education classrooms and the goals of educational reform. This paper presents a theoretical framework, Teaching for Intellectual and Emotional Learning (TIEL), that connects intellectual and social-emotional elements from the conceptual foundations of both gifted and general education and scaffolds the learning of complex teaching practices. The paper includes historical contexts of both fields, a review of literature that indicates the need for a unifying framework in general teacher education, a description of the theoretical foundations of the TIEL model, and examples of classroom implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) hold the potential to open up educational opportunities to a global audience. However, evidence suggests that only a small proportion of MOOC participants go on to complete their courses and relatively little is understood about the MOOC design and implementation factors that influence retention. This paper reports a survey study of 379 participants enrolled at university in Cairo who were encouraged to take a MOOC of their own choice as part of their development. 122 participants (32.2%) went onto to complete an entire course. There were no significant differences in completion rates by gender, level of study (undergraduate or postgraduate) or MOOC platform. A post-MOOC survey of students' perceptions found that MOOC Course Content was a significant predictor of MOOC retention, with the relationship mediated by the effect of content on the Perceived Effectiveness of the course. Interaction with the instructor of the MOOC was also found to be significant predictor of MOOC retention. Overall these constructs explained 79% of the variance in MOOC retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study critically explores collaboration opportunities between architects and planners. Architects typically emphasize site design, whereas planners stress prospects for community engagement. The collaboration opportunity prompts these professions to learn from each other synergistically. This case study outlines the efforts of two groups of architecture and planning students who, despite divergent pedagogical emphases, hone their integrative skills. Devising a set of evaluative criteria (permeability, stability and connectivity), enabled the planning students to rank and predict the university–community partnership impacts of eight projects proposed by the architecture students. The three expected partnership models (fortress, developer, and catalytic) enlightened the architecture students to also think about the social impact of their designs. There is a long history of debate about pedagogical and practice divides between planning and architecture. The paper contributes to those debates by examining how disciplinary divides might be overcome through collaborative teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the relevance of compensatory education for educationally disadvantaged children of preschool age in Germany and beyond The article is a shortened, adapted and translated version of the paper Schmidt, T., & Smidt, W. (2014). Kompensatorische Förderung benachteiligter Kinder – Entwicklungslinien, Forschungsbefunde und heutige Bedeutung für die Frühpädagogik. [Compensatory education for disadvantaged children – lines of development, research findings and present significance for early childhood education].Zeitschrift für Pädagogik,60(1), 132–149. Beginning with its onset in the 1960s, key lines of the development of compensatory early childhood education in Germany are presented. Thereafter, significant national and international empirical findings on the effectiveness of compensatory early childhood education are identified. Based on that, the potential of this approach for the promotion of educationally disadvantaged young children in Germany and beyond is outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of the present investigation is to highlight the essential factors which foster resilience in adolescents. Why resilience is important for adolescents and what are the sources of resilience for adolescents are the main domains of the present study. What activities help adolescents in developing resilience is also centre of discussion in the undertaken research paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper questions the idea of a single national perspective on special education, despite the relatively recent movement towards a national policy for the integration of disabled people in the mainstream educational system. It is argued that the adoption of the principle of integration, as proposed by the international community, has not necessarily led, in the Brazilian case, those involved with special education to a review of special education in the sense of being part of an inclusive educational system. The paper shows that is a country of continental dimensions like Brazil, there are marked differences in the way special education is conceptualised and provided. Such differences occur at various levels: regional local and even institutional. Some of the factors that promote these differences are of a historical and political nature. The paper suggests that these factors must be taken into account by those involved with special education, especially when there are attempts to make generalisations about the concept and practise of special education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As more state legislatures join the debate on school-choice and parent-trigger legislation, their discussions draw attention to an evolving landscape outside school walls where parental action shapes educational opportunity. Parents wield their political, social, economic, and cultural capital to secure the best educational outcomes for their children. This paper identifies the political frames that distinguish the educational opportunity-seeking behavior of middle-, working-, and lower-class parents. Rational choice and interest group theories are used to explain the politics of middle-classopportunity hoardingby way of tracking and school-choice practices. Policy entrepreneurship and interest group theory provide the frameworks to explain the support for vouchers and parent-trigger laws by lower- and working-class parents as part of theiropportunity-pryingefforts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The question of whether college athletes are exploited is regularly debated in the popular press and academic literature about college sports. The concept of exploitation, with its philosophical and psychological implications, however, is rarely discussed in detail. This paper problematizes and expands the way in which the concept has been presented within the context of college sports, arguing that exploitation is primarily a moral construct understood as an unfair exchange between two parties. For college athletes, an unfair financial exchange can be measured by comparing the surplus value and marginal revenue product. These calculations may evidence the degree of economic exploitation, but many people still believe college athletes are fairly compensated with a subsistence wage in the form of an athletic scholarship. It is more difficult to quantify the promise or value of an education above and beyond this subsistence wage, most often defined as a college degree. The over-representation of Black college athletes on revenue-producing teams, and the corresponding lower graduation rates of this population when compared to other students, highlight the racial and cultural divisions of opportunity. Institutions face a crisis of conscience when educational opportunities are offered to certain students based primarily on their athletic ability, especially when these opportunities are perceived as disingenuous due to the academic preparation and demanding athletic commitments of these recruited college athletes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper extends prior research on consumer knowledge beliefs and word-of-mouth transmission. Findings from four studies suggest that people compensate for unfavorable discrepancies between their actual and ideal consumer knowledge with heightened efforts to signal knowledgeability through the content and volume of their word-of-mouth transmissions. This compensatory knowledge signaling effect is moderated by the self-concept relevance (psychological closeness) of the word-of-mouth target and lay beliefs in the self-enhancement benefits of transmitting product knowledge. Content analysis of participants' product communications further supports our knowledge signaling account. The relationship between actual:ideal knowledge discrepancies and heightened word-of-mouth intentions is mediated by the specific negative emotion associated with actual:ideal self-discrepancies. Overall, the findings suggest that the relationship between consumer knowledge and word-of-mouth transmission depends not only on what you think you know, but also on what you wish you knew. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper expands the analysis of equal opportunities by connecting traditional benefit incidence analysis of public spending with the human opportunity index, a distribution sensitive measure of access to public services. It also develops ex-ante micro-simulations to determine the cost of equalizing educational opportunities. This technique is applied to Liberia, a country devastated by civil war with serious educational enrollment gaps and policies highly dependent on international aid. Results from simulated increases in teachers’ salaries, elimination of fee and non-fee costs and targeted public educational spending on rural schools all point to very modest redistributive effects but distinctive patterns of winners and losers among Liberian children. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Defenders of the academically selective grammar school system in England argue that grammar schools produce higher learning outcomes, also aiding social mobility by giving pupils from poorer households an educational opportunity they could not otherwise obtain. Such a view is contentious so what matters is its validity: do grammar schools improve learning outcomes and do they do so to the benefit of pupils from lower income households? Addressing these issues, this paper focuses on an education authority where the selective system fully remains, Buckinghamshire. It uses education data to consider the prevalence of free school meal (FSM) eligible pupils in grammar schools, and uses data matching methods to consider whether those who attend an academically selective school have greater success at age 16 examination than pupils of comparable prior attainment who did not attend a grammar school. Comparisons also are made of attainment in a neighbouring authority not operating a selective system. The results suggest that pupils in grammar schools have greater examination success but that this ‘value-added’ comes at a cost to those not in the schools. The low prevalence of FSM eligible pupils in the grammar schools casts doubt on their ability to aid social mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores what a governmentality approach can help 'open up' about the recent 'problematisation' of special education in Ontario. The focus is on a new category of student - gifted/autism - within the Ontario government-initiated special education 'transformation'. Through an analysis of government resource documents and reports, the author argues that new 'mentalities of rule' around educational 'inclusion' comprise an emergent form of neo-liberal governmentality in schools, circulating together with discourses of parental 'involvement', best practice and illiberal forms of power in complex and contradictory ways, and with uneven effects. Further, attention is paid to differential social relations of embodiment in order to begin to identify how a disability studies approach might be brought together with governmentality approaches in generative ways. Implications for further research, which might consider the uneven ways in which teachers, students and families 'take up' and resist mentalities of rule, as well as how alterity might inform new ways of thinking and practising inclusion, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to initial teacher education (ITE) across the United Kingdom continues to be significantly determined by selective entry requirements, based on prior academic qualifications. While a number of alternative routes to teacher education exist, several barriers to participation in higher education, including teacher education, still exist. Within this paper, the concept of fair access and its relevance for teacher education is examined, as well as the extent to which government initiatives, designed to widen participation, are exemplified in ITE selection processes. Quantitative data for the study were obtained from an analysis of application data from those applying for teaching, while qualitative data using semi-structured interviews with all ITE university tutors sought information about the effectiveness of current recruitment and selection arrangements, at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, for postgraduate ITE programmes. Collectively, the data highlighted the need for more innovative, inclusive selection process if a more representative teaching workforce is to be achieved, capable of meeting the needs of increasingly diverse learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last few years, changes in the Spanish educational system have had a far reaching impact. Several factors have been critical: (1) the progressive decentralization of education by the government, now a responsibility of regional governments; (2) the extension of compulsory education to the age of 16; and finally (3) the increase in the number of immigrant students, which has significantly added to the existing cultural diversity. The enrolment of immigrant students in Spanish schools is a relatively recent phenomenon (starting 15 years ago) when compared with other European countries. Madrid is the region in Spain with the largest number of students. As most of these students were born outside of Spain, we cannot yet speak of a second generation. The research described here investigated how the educational system in Madrid confronted the challenge of an increasing number of immigrant students. The institutional response was the Madrid Regional Government's Compensatory Education Regional Plan. This encompasses several measures, which are described here. After a critical analysis of educational policies pertaining to immigrant pupils, the paper suggests ways of overcoming a purely compensatory approach. Intercultural education plays a key role is such considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an illustration of how the regression-discontinuity design can be used to obtain an unbiased estimate of the causal effect of participating in a university remedial English program on first-year grade point average. First-year grade point averages were collected for 197 first-time, full-time university students, along with the scores they received on an English placement examination, and a measure of remedial program assignment. Regression discontinuities indicate that first-year grade point averages were approximately 0.392 points higher for students who participated in a remedial English program as compared to equivalent students who did not participate in the remedial program. We also present various threats to validity and limitations of the regression-discontinuity design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years there has been a greater willingness for schools to utilise the availability of parents, para-professionals and peer tutors to assist developing and struggling readers. As a consequence, a number of research studies have focused on the many benefits of tutoring, and have also identified critical elements that have contributed to successful home and school intervention programs. This paper discusses the most recent findings on literacy tutoring intervention practice and its application to the appropriate training of skilled tutors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An apparent crisis of youth at‐risk is a key marker in contemporary debates about young people among a range of intellectuals, social commentators and experts in various domains and centres of expertise. Drawing on aspects of the reflexive modernization, governmentality and feminist literatures, this paper explores how risk discourses emerge as a means for rendering reality knowable—a technique that facilitates the management of individual biographies in institutionally structured risk environments. In this context there is intellectual work to be done in the social sciences that takes as its object the possibilities and limits of institutionalized intellectual abstraction for problematizing youth via rationalities of risk—and the limits of these rationalities for providing resources for governing our thoughts, actions and dispositions—our freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the light of continuing controversy over the role of special schools in England, this paper considers the development of special education through examination of evidence from two different geographical areas. Particular reference is made to uncovering the perspectives of those who were subject to the policies – children and their families – drawing on documentary sources, oral history and biographies. The authors highlight how the relative optimism accompanying the opening of special schools, evident in London in the 1890s, gave way to punishment or neglect in the early 20th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We do not see what we do not see because we see what we see. (Moe, 1995 with reference to Luhmann) In this paper, we will present some proposals by a committee whose mandate was to review basic education in Norway, and more importantly, we will discuss the reactions to these proposals. The committee made more than one hundred different suggestions. Our focus will be on inclusion in a broad sense. The proposal to receive the most attention was a suggestion to replace the right to extra resources earmarked for special education for individual students by an improved legal right to adapted education for all. This proposal and the arguments underpinning it may in some respects be compared to the ideas behind the Regular Education Initiative (REI) in the USA in the 1980s (Will, 1986; Smith, 1998; Kauffmann & Hallahan, 1998). It may also be seen in the context of the current debate on inclusion in other countries, such as the discussion about the Additional Support for Learning Bill in Scotland in 2003 (Allan, 2004; Scottish Executive, 2004). The report’s proposals concerning inclusion will be introduced below. Finally, after presenting and analysing the reactions from respondents we will discuss the various views expressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]