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The aim of the study is to examine how multiculturalism and peace studies have been viewed in Brazilian and North American literature as gleaned both from Brazilian research studies and articles presented at Peace Education Special Interest Group (SIG) in American Education Research Association (AERA), within the scope of 2010-2014, which concludes that multiculturalism and peace studies may offer groundbreaking venues to promote education provision to every one, civilian and military students together with reforms in higher education. [For the complete Volume 14, Number 1 proceedings, see ED568088.]

Access to quality education for all children is a common mantra for countless national and world organizations, such as the UN and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper examines the struggle within two nations who continue to move beyond the impact of racial segregation in the United States (US) and "apartheid" in South Africa (SA) to achieve equitable access to quality education for all children, regardless of race, ethnicity, language, or socio-economic status (SES). The paper begins with an overview of the historical paths both nations followed in their slow evolution away from harsh segregation and "apartheid" governance designed to provide unequal educational opportunities for its youth. Beyond these historical sketches is a brief review of theoretical perspectives to help explain how unequal systems of education are maintained and how they can be transformed into agents of positive social change. This is followed by an examination of factors in both the US and SA that are capable of sustaining unequitable access to quality education while providing disproportional levels of negativity such as suspensions or dropping out (or being "pushed out") of school based on a child's race, gender, ethnicity or SES. The paper concludes by asking (at least in the US case), whether the "way forward" may be guided by examples of the past, such as the quality of education provided to Black children in the era of legally segregated Black schools in America's South. [For the complete Volume 19 proceedings, see ED613922.]

Various internal and external determinants influence an education system. External determinants include language, demographics, geography, technology, politics, and financial and economic trends. Religion is also one of these external determinants that can influence an education system, as well as the education systems of the. The BRICS member countries consist of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The BRICS member countries are one of the most organized and supportive international cooperation organizations that currently exist. Religion is considered a controversial and sensitive topic. This research aimed to determine how religion as an external determinant influences the education systems of the BRICS member countries. The study focused on the differences and similarities that can be identified based on religion as an external determinant of the various education systems in the BRICS member countries. The BRICS member countries were deliberately chosen for this study because each member state is considered a secular country in terms of religion, yet each member state treats religion differently in their country. The comparative method was used during this study to identify the best practices from the BRICS member countries. The interpretive research paradigm was used during this study using the qualitative research approach. The document analysis was used during the study to analyse the content of policies, legislation, articles, and government publications using content analysis to be able to identify themes to be able to perform the comparison between the different education systems of the BRICS member countries. The findings from this study are as follows: Religion as an external determinant of an education system does have a significant influence on the education systems of the various BRICS member countries. It is very important to observe and describe these findings from the context of the various member states. [For the complete Volume 20 proceedings, see ED622631.]

This paper investigates religion education (RE) in Mexico and Thailand -- two countries from different parts of the world with vastly different populations and cultures. We wanted to learn whether they had tackled similar problems regarding the provision of RE in their schools, particularly with respect to the matter of tolerance in diverse societies, and in which ways the solutions they came up with agree with or differ from each other. We assumed that people are the same the world over, and that their problems regarding the provision of RE in schools and the quest for (inter)religious tolerance might, depending on the prevailing local and historical circumstances, be roughly the same. The paper presents and discusses some of the parallels, resemblances and differences with respect to RE and the issue of (inter)religious tolerance. It ends by tentatively advancing the following four stages of state-church relations that could help us understand (inter)religious tolerance in education: state-church tension and disagreement, state-church mistrust, state-church truce, and recognising the need for religious tolerance. [For complete volume, see ED567118.]

To better understand current curricular reforms in some Asia-Pacific countries that came out of conflict periods, documents and information posted on various national and international agency websites were analysed. In this paper we aimed to (i) present a brief description of the conditions under which new secondary education curricula are being implemented in East Timor; (ii) describe the general characteristics of some Asia-Pacific countries that came out of conflict periods; (iii) analyse the factors that are impacting secondary educational changes in these countries; and (iv) identify some important issues to be considered in secondary school reform in East Timor. [For complete volume, see ED567118.]

In 2008, we conducted a large scale study following our methodology developed for the analysis of drawings to assess identity (Hertz-Lazarowitz, Farah & Yosef-Meitav, 2012). We gathered interviews and asked for Identity Drawing Maps (IDM) from 184 students aged from 20-30 years. The symbols in the drawings were grouped in five categories: Religious, National, Emotional, Secular-Cultural and Nature and person figure symbols. The most frequent symbols were related to the nature and person figure category, and the least frequent were symbols from the secular-cultural category. The symbol categories most indicative of identity conflicts were religious and national. The Arabs had more conflicted and complex IDM messages than Jews and the evaluation of their emotions were less positive and less optimistic than the Jews. The IDM methodology revealed the complex and multilayered expression of identity construction. These findings can provide better understanding into the dynamic of identity construction of youth living in the University context which has been conflict ridden for many decades. [For complete volume, see ED567118.]