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Universities have been at the center of educational debates since their inception. Their functions, aims and products have been questioned in the context of social, cultural, economic and technological changes. In this context, the aim of this study is to critically examine university education from the perspectives of undergraduate students. The study was conducted with a quantitative design by analyzing the data collected with the "Critical University Education Scale" developed by the researcher with 236 undergraduate students studying at Kafkas University. During the development of the scale used in the study, factor analysis, which is a principal component analysis for validity, KMO (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin) value, which is a test of sphericity, was calculated and the Cronbach Alpha Coefficient formula was used to ensure reliability. In the data analysis of the study, descriptive statistics, independent t-test and One-Way ANOVA were used, and it was examined whether there was a difference in the thoughts of the undergraduate students participating in the study regarding university education according to their age group, gender, program, year of study and their father's education status. As a result of the research, it was seen that undergraduate students were more critical of the statements in the dimension of teaching practices than in the dimension of innovation and creativity, free thought and inquiry. It was concluded that undergraduate students' critical thoughts regarding university education differed according to age, gender, program, year of study and father's education status.

According to the ACLU (2005), ". . .at times of national stress -- real or imagined -- First Amendment rights come under enormous pressure." So, too, academic freedom of expression for faculty, staff, and students has become a casualty in the post-9/11 world. Academics were criticized and reprimanded for not being patriotic enough. Using a conceptual framework that includes historical reanalysis, terror management theory, contradictory constructions of patriotism, and electronic discourse, this essay explores the nexus between patriotism and free expression in higher education. We examine historical trends in freedom of expression, analyze three higher education case studies (Chilling Churchill; 9/11 and Middle Eastern Studies; and Shunning Bob Jensen), and suggest why patriotism and censorship go hand and glove in times of national crisis. We end one a cautionary note, expressing concern about how easily words can be turned against academics, the very people who should have the highest level of protection for their words. Nearly 20 years ago, Professor Pat Somers joined the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin bringing her trademark wit and her seemingly indefatigable energy to root out injustice. The paper below represents one such branch of her academic curiosity in response to a perceived injustice to a fellow member of the Academy. This paper was first presented as a draft manuscript at the American Educational Research Association and later submitted to a notable journal. Unfortunately, a second paper on academic freedom was already included in the edition, but the editors encouraged Pat and her team to pursue other publications. And then, as with many things, this paper fell to the side as Pat pursued a new branch of academic curiosity and stewarded her many doctoral students through the dissertation process. As you will note in the dedication, Pat was a deeply curious and pedagogically dynamic member of the Academy and this paper stands at the ready for updating and resubmission. We present it today unadulterated as a testimony to Pat's prescience, her passion and her drive -- a historical glimpse into the early days of a very real threat to academic freedom that persists today.

Some state legislatures have introduced a rash of bills designed to control how K-12 teachers discuss so-called 'divisive issues,' such as racism, sexism, and privilege. This legislation has prompted substantial news coverage on the impact of these laws. Sidelined in this discourse are the perspectives of teachers. This mixed methods study seeks to understand the impact this legislation may have on teachers. We identified three themes salient to how teachers as 'gatekeepers' (Thornton, 1991) anticipate these legislative efforts influencing their practice: curricular autonomy, context, and institutional guidance. The paper concludes with the significance of these findings, including potential policy implications at the national, state, and local levels.

The three missions of universities are education, research, and knowledge/technology transfer. At the micro-level of the research and knowledge/technology transfer mission, we position researchers, as individuals who decided to pursue a scientific career in academia, with the PhD as the starting point. While existing literature acknowledges the supervisor's significance during this process from dependency to autonomy, this paper advocates for a closer examination of external factors such as the network, supervisor's experience, and work environment in idea generation. Ideas in this context encompass both curiosity-driven and entrepreneurial concepts, often evolving from one to the other. Our research builds upon the theory of opportunity identification, drawing parallels between ideas and opportunities. The research asserts that PhD students primarily rely on their networks for idea generation due to limited prior knowledge and experience. Our findings underscore the dynamic interplay between PhD students, supervisors, and networks in the process of idea generation, advancing a comprehensive framework encapsulating the multifaceted influences on the trajectory from idea generation to execution in the context of PhD education. The framework is based on empirical evidence from a qualitative case study comprising 16 PhD students in a European H2020 project in the field of Photonics, illuminating the intricate relationship between supervisors' orientations (entrepreneurial or curiosity-driven) and the types of ideas generated by PhD students. Practical implications highlight the need for tailored support and resources to foster independent research capabilities among PhD students, considering individual variations in supervisory support and networking opportunities.

LGBTQIA students are an important stakeholder group on college and university campuses, especially as both their visibility and expectations for support and empowerment on campus increase. But how ready is the field of higher education for litigation related to LGBTQIA issues, and how should student affairs practitioners prepare to address LGBTQIA students' possible negative campus experiences proactively? By reviewing details of cases that have set an important precedent and signal what might be coming with respect to LGBTQIA students' rights and experiences in higher education, this article seeks to provide detail and analysis of important legal areas that student affairs practitioners should be attuned to as they continue to educate thousands of LGBTQIA students each year. I explore how Title IX may be increasingly a route of redress for LGBTQIA students who have experienced discrimination; how rulings on religious freedom of expression may erode some of LGBTQIA students' rights on college and universities campuses; and the special relationship doctrine and how it may be applied to LGBTQIA students in mental health crisis.

The study was conducted to examine the consciousness levels of gifted children about children's rights and to compare them with their non-gifted peers. The general survey model was used in this study, in which the consciousness levels of gifted and non-gifted children on children's rights were compared. The study group of the research consists of 63 gifted and 65 non-gifted primary school students studying in a science and art center in Afyonkarahisar. In the research, the "Children's Rights Consciousness Level Determination Scale" developed by Akgül and Çaglayan (2019) was used to determine the consciousness levels of students about children's rights. In the analysis of the collected data, the difference between the groups was examined with the Mann Whitney U test using the data analysis program. As a result of the research, the consciousness level of gifted students about children's rights was found to be significantly higher than their non-gifted peers. In addition, this difference emerged in the "right to information and opinion" dimension of the scale. The unique developmental characteristics of gifted children may have an impact on their knowledge, consciousness and behavior towards children's rights. However, there is a need for comparative and longitudinal large-scale studies based on epidemiological data on the sensitivity of gifted children to children's rights. In addition, educational and behavioral interventions should be made in order to increase the consciousness of gifted children about children's rights, regardless of their educational environment.

Using a mixed-methods approach, this study uses an Internet survey to investigate the curricular freedom reported by Prekindergarten through Grade 8 teachers in the United States concerning the inclusion of children's literature into their classrooms and curriculum, particularly in the current sociopolitical climate. Drawing upon Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory, survey responses were analyzed based on the four levels of the ecological model (micro, meso, exo, and macro systems). To account for regional variations existing at the sociopolitical macro level, the study's findings were organized according to the five geographical regions of the United States: Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, and West. Analysis indicated distinct variation in the patterns of the responses across the geographical regions, aligned with the dominant political ideology of their state. Responses of teachers from the Northeast and West were heavily influenced by events and experiences at the national level, whereas teachers from the Southeast and Southwest focused on matters concerning individual, local, and state issues. Teachers from the Midwest, a politically mixed region, least frequently commented on issues related to censorship, a trend noted in the other four regions.

In 2019 the American Association of School Librarians adopted a strategic plan with three goals, including "AASL advances research that informs school librarian practice." Members of the 2020 Community of Scholars Committee undertook this study to pilot an annual aggregation and systematic review of research related to school librarian practice. The AASL Strategic Plan (2019) also included five core values: learning; innovation; equity, diversity, and inclusion; intellectual freedom; and collaboration. This review also explores how published research in 2019 reflects the core values. A scoping literature review and the search string "school libr*" were employed to provide a broad sweep of potential studies. Fifty-nine studies were identified as "in scope" and were categorized using the AASL core values. Of the 59 articles published, 24 applied to the core value of learning; 14 to innovation; nine to collaboration; three to intellectual freedom; two to equity, diversity, and inclusion; and seven to a category of "other." Subsequent systematic annual reviews of published research in the field should serve to not only document patterns and trends but also to provide guidance or inspiration to practitioners and to the faculty who prepare practitioners.

Purpose: The new Finnish National Core Curriculum for Early Childhood Education and Care (2018) strongly highlights pedagogical knowledge and practice, demanding teachers to develop their pedagogical thinking, evaluation, judgment, and operating culture. Since ethics is viewed as vital characteristics of the teaching profession, our objective is to make these complex ethical issues more visible to be subject to democratic discussion and change. Design/Approach/Methods: The framework comprises a broad theory base of codes of ethics and professional codes of ethics of teaching. The research materials were national curricula of early childhood education and care (ECEC)- and pre-primary education. The eight-step qualitative analysis process was applied to identify and shed light on the codes of ethics laying the foundations for purposeful and ethical early childhood education (ECE) teacher. Findings: The results indicate that through both theoretical lenses, the Finnish ECEC curricula comprise several ethical codes. For the future purposeful ECE teachers as ethical professionals, the results raise questions for further discussion. Particularly, issues related to the ethics of care, intellectual freedom, inquiry stance, and professional competence, and diversity may further enhance our ECEC curricula. Originality/Value: During recent decades, the ethics concerning ECEC have gained increasing global attention. Particularly, there is a large international consensus considering ECEC as a prominent policy equalizing opportunities.

The paper explores the historical significance of Hindu College Calcutta, a key institution in colonial India's intellectual discourse. Established in the early 19th century, the college faced numerous challenges, including opposition from conservative factions and financial constraints, as it evolved into a hub for education and independent thought. The study highlights the socio-political context and the necessity of an institution providing contemporary education while preserving traditional Indian values. It focuses on the contributions of intellectuals associated with the college, particularly Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, examining his dynamic influence and his pivotal role in founding the Academic Association. Derozio's teachings and leadership inspired a cohort of students, fostering a culture of free thought and intellectual exploration.

Authentic assessments are designed to evaluate knowledge and skills that are relevant for students' life beyond university, emphasising practical, applied skills. They offer an alternative to assessments that don't explicitly foster transferability of skills. The present study examined undergraduate student perceptions of authentic and traditional assessments (N = 150). We used a qualitative story completion methodology to examine three domains: student's emotional responses to authentic and traditional assessment forms, student's perceptions of how different assessment types may benefit their employability, and student's preferences for pedagogical support with authentic assessments. A qualitative content analysis revealed students generally perceive authentic, novel assessments to be exciting, motivating and inspirational; however, this was accompanied by feelings of uncertainty and unfamiliarity. More traditional assessments (e.g. essays and multiple-choice-question examinations) elicited feelings of comfort and preparedness, but students also felt worried, bored and unexcited by these assessments. Students appreciated creative freedom when lecturers set traditional assessments but would like more consideration of their feelings and need for support in authentic assessments. Hence, we argue, when advocating for authentic assessment, there is a balance to be struck between innovation and challenge, ensuring sufficient support for student's psychological safety and feelings of comfort. Implications for practice are discussed.

Classroom discussions have become a centerpiece of reform efforts in science education because talk mediates the joint co-constructing of knowledge in science classrooms. Although decades of research underscore the importance of talk in supporting science learning, the science education community continues to grapple with how to support teachers and students in navigating the uncertainty that is associated with doing knowledge building work. To address these challenges, we must examine not just "what" gets constructed (the scientific ideas), but "how" knowledge is co-constructed by teachers and students (the process of building those ideas) amidst uncertainty. In this study, we propose a conceptual tool for identifying organizational, epistemic, and interpretive metadiscourse markers (MDMs) in science talk. We highlight how teachers and students use these three types of MDMs as they navigate uncertainty while connecting ideas within and across multiple turns of talk, leveraging resources for knowledge building, and making interpretations about one another's ideas. We conclude with a set of suggestions for how researchers and teachers can utilize this framework to attend to the ways that MDMs index the organizational, epistemic, and interpretive dimensions of uncertainty in the knowledge building process.

Since late November 2022, generative AI ChatGPT has drawn waves of attention in society, and its impacts certainly extend to the higher education setting. Although ChatGPT has not been officially released for registration in Hong Kong, the higher education setting has been responding differently. The article conducted a systematic review of local newspapers published between 1 December 2022 and 31 July 2023 to analyse how the eight public universities in Hong Kong responded. This article divided the timeline into three phases: procrastination, remediation, and adaptation. Recommendations are given to universities for making policies and management based on the findings, including making timely but temporary announcements at the university level and updating course outlines that explicitly stated to what extent GenAI can be used in each course. This study used Hong Kong to serves as a reference for universities that are still struggling with the usage of ChatGPT and GenAI technologies in the restricted access areas.

The requirement for Australian initial teacher education (ITE) providers to administer a Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA) highlights a tension between policymaking directives and academic independence. It has raised fears of entrenching simplistic notions of measurement and evidence into a professional field distinguished by its complex relationship with intellectual and academic labour. Drawing on focus group data and reflections of academics co-designing an Australian TPA, this study considers how intellectual labour intertwines with its operational field, wherein co-construction of knowledge, critical thinking, and reflection define both academic and teachers' work. Our analysis explains how education academics, as principle-designers of an assessment instrument, might also negotiate the intellectual premise of a TPA within their own ITE programs. We find that Australia's initial TPA policy framework has been mediated with ITE academics. This offers opportunities for building knowledge to understand more precisely the TPA in its contexts, including admissible evidence to measure classroom-readiness.

Reading is an integral part of scholarly practice, though we do not often discuss how our approaches to reading differ, and how these approaches may ultimately make interpretive impact on our research. This essay considers approaches to reading in light of the concepts of proximity and orientation. Though formal "close reading" is a common approach to teaching reading and analyzing texts, it is possible that there are other, closer approaches to situating reader and text. Perhaps reading has been seen as dangerous and liberating because it is true that texts can draw us into their landscapes and fundamentally alter our orientations to the world, an important consideration for scholars.

In this study, one current and three former British Columbia (BC) offshore school principals were interviewed to seek their insights on how they contended with being compelled to censor material and disallow topics of conversation while administering a Canadian curriculum in an international context. Using a research design consistent with an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) methodological framework, the data were interpreted using three reduction cycles to generate five categories: disillusionment, anger, struggle, expedience, and subversion. The participants' responses were synthesized through the five categories in light of the phenomenon of moral distress, which occurs when a person is hindered from following a course of action consonant with their own moral judgement. Participants' reflections on leading Canadian high schools outside of Canada offered meaningful insights into their lived experiences abroad and provided a basis for a more robust consideration of how principals make sense of morally distressing situations in their schools.

In European universities, teaching ethics has acquired special relevance with the Bologna Process and changes in curriculum. In Spain, the White Book of the Degree in Information and Documentation incorporates ethics as a specific competence, through the combination of ethical, social, and legal content, as a transversal competence. In this context, this study aimed to detect whether changes in attitude toward ethical values occur in a group of LIS students as a consequence of the training received and to test a qualitative approach to identify these changes. A questionnaire based on the vignette technique was used, presenting students with cases of conflict or ethical dilemmas, in most cases in the context of an information unit. For each vignette, they were asked to assess the performance of the information professional and to explain what they would have done if they were in their place, before and after they received the training. The results obtained showed that the attitude of the students who received training changed from individual ethics to professional ethics. We can consider that the content used for the training was correct, although the knowledge about the different ethical theories and ethical reasoning models for decision making should have been deepened. To the theoretical content, we must add a teaching methodology based on the effective study of cases and scenarios in our work. On the other hand, the application of the vignette technique and content analysis as a methodological approach to the students' discourse is very useful, since it was decisive in identifying the reasons that helped the students make a certain decision, before and after the training session, for checking to see whether this decision was made following their individual ethics or guided by normative ethics, and for knowing the degree of acceptance and depth of the training session.

Background: Challenges to books are surging across the United States, and books that portray diverse human experiences are particularly targeted. Censorship has deleterious consequences, such as undermining children's intellectual freedom and influencing educators' book selections. In a climate of censorship, when educators face the realistic possibility of a challenge, diverse voices may be silenced, and real-world issues avoided. Despite the impact that book challenges have, the experiences of educators who have faced them are understudied. Purpose: This study investigates the self-reported experiences of seven educators who have been involved in book challenges within K-12 public schools within the United States. Its goal is to yield new insights about how educators perceive the experience of censorship and what resources they leverage as they defend children's right to read. It is significant because the lessons learned from these educators may be instructive for novice and veteran teachers and school librarians who are facing censorship--an increasingly likely possibility in contemporary times. It also highlights the range of forms that censorship takes within today's schools. Research Design: This research employs a collective case study design. Seven teachers and school librarians from K-12 public schools across the United States were interviewed about their experiences with book challenges and other forms of censorship. Interview transcripts were qualitatively analyzed using Pierre Bourdieu's types of cultural capital as a framework. Within-case and cross-case analyses are presented. Conclusions: Participants drew from various forms of cultural capital in their efforts to defend children's intellectual freedom, including their professional ethics, school policies, and institutional knowledge. The study emphasizes the importance of building cultural capital among pre- and in-service educators within university preparation and professional development programs. It also calls on professional groups within education and librarianship to take an organized stand against censorship.

The tension emanated from deeply polarized socio-cultural values has found its way into the Canadian university campuses. In their endeavour to strike a balance between promoting diversity, inclusion and respecting free speech, the Canadian higher educational institutions have encountered formidable challenges. Central to the contention revolving around the free speech debate is an assertion that institutional pressures for consolidating a culture of political correctness is believed to have the potential to curtail and stifle freedom of expression which has in turn triggered governmental intervention in certain Canadian provinces. The lack of a proper balance between the quest for promoting inclusion, diversity and free speech can in the long run undermine the socially vital mission of universities, and hence corroding the public trust in the higher educational institutions. Obviously, there is no single solution that can function as panacea to surmount these pressing demands faced by the Canadian universities. However, it will be argued that the extension of constitutionally protected freedom of expression to the Canadian universities is not only geared to address the shortcomings of academic freedom, but it is also conducive to harmonizing the pursuit of promoting diversity and inclusion with upholding free speech principles.

Academic racism is an intellectualized and race-based ideology of hatred fostered and propagated in classrooms and newsrooms. In this article, William Howard asserts that rather than transparent, unadorned, visceral hatred, academic racism consists of a maze of theory that conceals visceral hatred under a veneer of intellectualism and enlightenment. Its object is to attain political power. Now that the woke have attained that power, they intend, with the leadership of the President of the United States, to institutionalize their own racism. He goes on to say that those who authorize themselves to accuse others of racism are the racists themselves. Further, he argues that the ideology of academic racism has been concocted in the laboratory of leftist ideologies: American universities. Academic racism is not about remediation of a social problem; it is about discrediting and demoralizing the citizens of a country as a pretext for taking it over. Howard resolves that academic racism is intellectual futility transformed into hatred and power-seeking. But if educators teach students the thought of Yeats, Ellul, Orwell, Arendt, and other champions of freedom, they can equip them to detect and reject malicious racial propaganda and discover truthful principles. And one day they can look back and say that academic racism was just academic after all.

Selection policies are practical tools used by school librarians to guide them in their collection development plans. This investigation into district-level selection policies examined policies from 80 school districts across the United States. The policies were examined to determine the status of selection policies in school libraries and if the policies reflect the recommendations of professional literature. Through content analysis, we determined that most of the school library selection policies included at least half of the expected key components. However, there is a need for school librarians to advocate for revision of policies to keep them current and provide effective guidance for school librarians as they make selections for their collections.

The suburbs are on the frontlines of a politicized culture war with critical race theory (CRT) at its center. States are passing legislation censoring teachers and administrators from using CRT in schools. This war threatens the intellectual freedom of educators and school leaders. The voices of the teachers, especially teachers of color, are largely absent. Antony Farag shares his experiences on the front lines and provides strategies for teachers and school leaders to navigate this war. He suggests that educators need to be a unifying force and that they must not be limited by censorship laws taking away their intellectual freedoms.

Education leaders play a fundamental role in shaping curricular expectations and students' access to books, write education professors Daniel Liou and Kelly Deits Cutler. But it's not easy to know how to respond when leaders are under intense political pressure to pull a book (or topic) from the proverbial shelves. Liou and Deits Cutler share five practices leaders can employ to advance equitable curricula.

The literature review below was done to investigate the history of censorship, specifically book burning and how it relates to the modern-day censorship that is seen in our country today. Using scholarly articles and books, news articles, professional organization websites, video documentaries, and data from prominent anti-censorship organizations, this article strives to tell the full story of the world's complicated history with the censorship of knowledge. This review of literature makes clear that contemporary and historical censorship is an attempt to gain power and suppress the voice of those under authority. As educators, students, and community members, it is vital to use this knowledge to protect students' right to read.

Intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity are hotly debated topics in academia, marked by an increase in legislation focusing on intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity within academic settings. This study explores the impact of Florida House Bill 233 on public universities, including academics' morale. House Bill 233 purports to support intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity through four components: prohibiting shielding of students, staff, and academics from certain speech; requiring an annual assessment on intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity; creating a cause of action for certain video- or audio-recordings; and revising provisions related to protected expressive activity, university student governments, and codes of conduct. This study sampled 187 academics from four state universities. Findings indicate that while academics support intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity conceptually, most academics suggested the bill has negative impacts on intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity and faculty morale. Implications for future research and policy development are discussed.

Democratisation in Turkey collapsed in the wake of the 2016 failed military coup and the crackdown that followed, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launching a widespread rollback of academic and other liberties, systematically purging civic institutions of political opponents and critics that significantly harmed intellectuals, students, and educational rights. This paper analyses the narratives of Turkish citizens who were prosecuted, dismissed, abused, tortured, victimised, and imprisoned during the State of Emergency (OHAL) initiated after the failed coup attempt in July 2016. This narrative approach examines the transcripts of in-depth interviews about the experiences and critical life stories of 20 individuals now living in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Also included are field notes and documents that reveal the authorities' violations of their educational human rights. These included the denial of education, unwarranted dismissal, elimination of academic freedom of thought, and harassment of academics and their children. Such violations have created a brain drain of educators fleeing the country. These deleterious changes in the Turkish education system have had severe social and political effects and have produced an education system that fails to meet the country's needs, which, if not remediated, will ripple through the generations, dimming the nation's future.

Applying a content warning to metadata and archival descriptions is a practice that libraries increasingly embrace, even though the American Library Association considers content labeling to be censorship under the Library Bill of Rights. The language used in a content warning, such as "offensive" or "harmful," carries important implications for the responsibility the library assumes and the actions it might take. Before deciding to apply a content warning, libraries should consider a range of questions posed by such warnings and be prepared to respond to the inherent conflict they create with librarianship's commitment to intellectual freedom and anti-censorship.

In this article I contribute to the scholarly discussion on how minority religions and world-views could be represented in the RE subject of Norwegian primary and lower secondary school. I will focus on Islam since Islam is the largest and -- at the same time -- most debated minority religion in Norway. The starting-point of my analysis will be the chapter on human rights in "Signposts" where the author, Professor Robert Jackson, refers to the Council of Europe's 2008 recommendation -- on which "Signposts" is based -- where it is stated that the dimension of religions within intercultural education should be seen as a contribution to strengthen human rights. This formulation is mirrored in the new National Curriculum of the Norwegian RE subject which states that pupils should acquire knowledge of common values (such as intellectual freedom and equality) and how these values are anchored in different religions and worldviews. With the theoretical support of Robert Jackson's three level model I try to demonstrate how RE teachers can realise this didactical vision when teaching about Islam.

This article considers Australian receptions of C. P. Snow's "The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution" (1959), and of the controversy over the literary critic F. R. Leavis's combative 1962 response to it. Taking a lead from conceptual insights in global histories of science and the history of knowledge, the paper considers the ways knowledge claims iterate differently in different geographic and cultural contexts. Elements of the Snow-Leavis dispute resonated among Australian scientists, cultural critics, journalists and poets, while others did not. Snow's diagnosis of a disciplinary antagonism between the humanities and the sciences was central to Australian receptions of the controversy, but wider political issues, emphasised in much of the more sophisticated historiography of the 'two cultures' as a British-American controversy, were largely ignored. This reception reflected the post-war expansion of Australian higher education, and the shifting relations within it between the humanities and the sciences.

This invited paper highlights the reflections of expert panelists who were spontaneously called upon, graciously accepted, and quickly organized to respond thoughtfully and compellingly to Dr. Arlette Willis' powerful and timely Oscar Causey address at the 2022 Literacy Research Association (LRA) annual conference. In her address, Dr. Willis issued a clarion call for a Transcendent Approach to Literacy (TAL) to a space where "We re-create literacy as an equitable and moral construct" (Willis, 2023, p. 133). This paper comprises Dr. Alfred Tatum's comprehensive introduction, the cogent reflections on TAL by panelists Dr. Josh Coleman, Dr. Marcus Croom, Dr. Matthew Deroo, Dr. Michiko Hikida, Dr. Emily Machado, Dr. Patriann Smith, Dr. Chad Waldron, and Dr. Rahat Zaidi, and Dr. Willis' eloquent epilogue. In her epilogue, she provides not an ending but the genesis of a movement forward for the LRA community to "be brave" and actively and genuinely engage in a TAL that "democratizes literacy, declaring literacy belongs to all."

Rabindranath Tagore (1861--1941) is primarily known worldwide as the first Asian poet to receive the Nobel Prize in literature, in 1913. He lived and died in colonial India as a British subject. However, any engagement with studies of Tagore would reveal that, despite his outstanding achievements in creative writing and music, he deserves to be remembered as the only poet of international standing who not only founded a self-funded university, but also designed a curriculum which radicalized traditional institutionalized education in colonial India. This essay endeavours to explore Tagore's re-imagining of the process of institutionalized instruction and the objectives of education. Undoubtedly, the concepts and models of the teaching-learning process outlined by Tagore bear the stamp of a poet-philosopher who tried to distance himself from the public educational sector, epitomized in colonial times as the formidable University of Calcutta, under British administration. Historically, Tagore's Visva-Bharati University at Santiniketan, obviously a private sector enterprise, is regarded as a unique experiment in inclusive education that debunks rote learning and fragmented knowledge, though its viability in the 21st century is open to debate.

The restrictions imposed by a state on the way of life of a certain ethnic group, and the education policy implemented on that group, may prevent the use of the right to education, which is one of the fundamental human rights. This study focuses on the educational consequences of the exiling from their homeland of the Ahiska Turks (or Meskhetian Turks) who lived in the Ahiska (Samtskhe) region of Georgia at the time of the Soviet Union, in the year 1944. This descriptive study adopted the case study design based on qualitative research techniques. The data were gathered through a semi-structured interview form given to four participants selected via criterion sampling method from different generations who were either sent into exile, were born and grew up in the place of exile, or were born after the break-up of the USSR and were attempting to settle in another country. The data were analysed using the descriptive data analysis techniques, and the results revealed that the exiled Ahiska Turks suffered losses in terms of education due to their exile and its consequences. These losses were categorized in four groups, namely, losses stemming from leaving the community devoid of intellectuals, losses due to literacy becoming more difficult, losses originating from being forced into agricultural labour, and losses due to exposure to ethnic discrimination.

In 2020 the tenth edition of the "Intellectual Freedom Manual" will be published by American Library Association (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF). As with each new edition, this one includes guidance on the latest issues, the newest policy statements related to intellectual freedom (IF), and the core documents that outline the library profession's commitment to free expression, free access to information, privacy, and other intellectual freedom principles. In this article Martin Garnar, editor of the tenth edition, talks with Kate Lechtenberg, a school library educator and former school librarian, and Carolyn Vibbert, an elementary school librarian, about what's new in the "Intellectual Freedom Manual" and how intellectual freedom connects with AASL's "National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries." Changes to the manual include new interpretations of the "Library Bill of Rights" approved by the ALA Council since the last edition, information about when to call the police, an essay about censorship beyond books (e.g., programs, displays, databases, etc.), expanded content about developing library policies that support intellectual freedom, and an expanded "Glossary of Terms."

No matter how school library standards evolve to address changes in society and educational research, certain intellectual freedom principles remain constant, including the principle to protect all learners' rights to freely access and explore information and ideas. The American Association of School Librarians' (AASL's) "National School Library Standards" give school librarians an opportunity to re-envision how to embed the principles of intellectual freedom by identifying and posing "authentic, real-world problems to spark learners' new knowledge pursuits through critical thinking and problem solving" (2018, 107). AASL identifies six Common Beliefs as core to the school library profession. All six relate in some way to intellectual freedom, most overtly number five: "Intellectual freedom is every learner's right" (AASL 2018, 13). That core value has not changed because all learning has intellectual freedom as its root. In fact, a number of appendices in the National School Library Standards are dedicated to explicitly setting forth guidance to ensure learners' intellectual freedom in the school library. The purpose of the article is to provide examples for everyday application of those guidelines through the AASL Standards, focusing on the Inquire, Include, and Curate Shared Foundations.

In 2017 the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) released the "National School Library Standards." The revised standards were streamlined to reflect the attributes that dynamic school librarians, learners, and school libraries should possess. The standards provide school librarians with a framework for creating school libraries that support student growth (Hancock et al. 2019). They also articulate Common Beliefs that represent the core values of librarianship. Among them, still, is the belief that intellectual freedom is the right of every learner. This article begins by defining intellectual freedom as it applies to students. It goes on to discuss challenges, such as internal and external censorship, associated with supporting intellectual freedom; the importance of school librarians educating their respective communities on the role of libraries in supporting information freedom; and how school librarians can work to change the narrative of marginalized groups by advocating for intellectual freedom.

Libraries still stand as a source of knowledge that can guide us to make informed decisions through the use of credible sources. A balanced collection that provides access to all points of view empowers a community to use information responsibly and make decisions independently. Intellectual freedom and equity of access are still important issues today, especially when confronting uncertain times with the COVID-19 virus and distance education. Through education and the information found in libraries, democracy allows citizens to experience free speech through dialogue not diatribe and to support our opinions with a respect for the diversity of our fellow citizens and a desire to realize equity and justice. From physical access to material selection to policies dealing with challenges to privacy of patron information, the article argues that school librarians must demonstrate intellectual freedom to maintain a free and open forum for ideas. They should be protectors of intellectual freedom for minors just as public libraries protect the rights of all citizens regardless of age.

School libraries are no longer solely repositories for the information that has traditionally been published in books. School library professionals are providing education and access to information in many different formats and technologies. The role of the school librarian is much more than just literacy; it is about visibility, culture, and access to the world. When providing services and resources to all, school librarians and educators often encounter obstacles that target learners who need them the most. These obstacles can include censorship and inequitable access. This article discusses challenges to managing censorship. In providing services and resources to all, library workers and educators have often encountered obstacles that target the students that need them the most. Censorship and inequitable access to programs, online resources, and displays not only harm students but also society.

New Zealand's Education and Training Act (Education and Training Act 2020 establishment of institutions, https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2020/0038/latest/LMS202213.html, 2020) confirms that the principal aim of universities is to develop intellectual independence. The act does not stipulate what intellectual independence is or how universities are to develop it. This article explores what intellectual independence might mean in the context of student learning in New Zealand, and what is known about how it could be developed and about how university teachers might confirm that they are developing it. The article provides a conceptual commentary and a model of intellectual independence, designed to encourage debate on this important and pressing higher-education policy issue. The model proposes that intellectual independence is the consequence of students learning the skills and dispositions to think critically, as an independent guide to their own beliefs and actions, and that the Education Act provides a challenge to higher education to contribute positively to the further development of an intellectually-independent critical citizenry.