Education In State Schools Research Articles

Religious Education in State Schools in Southern Europe: The Rights of the Parents

Religious Education in State Schools in Southern Europe: The Rights of the Parents

Early childhood teachers’ perceptions of intercultural education in state schools of Thessaloniki and surrounding areas

Abstract This paper is going to argue that while early childhood teachers seem to have positive perceptions about intercultural education, the in-question students seem to be compelled to adopt different cultural habits. Data were gathered through a questionnaire distributed in 9 areas of Thessaloniki, completed by 161 teachers. The results showed that most teachers feel that they have enough knowledge about the curriculum regarding intercultural education, perform activities regarding interculturalism and diversity; they believe that students from different cultures feel welcomed and equally treated and participate in all class activities. Teachers suggest that students from different cultures build good relationships with all their peers and there is positive communication between students from different cultures as well as between their parents and teachers. However, the suggestion of most of the sample that students are compelled to adopt Greek cultural habits constrains this positive picture. It is possible that teachers feel that they are achieving positive results regarding intercultural education. It may be possible to recommend that the approaches that teachers report as part of their current practice should continue or that teachers’ own recommendations should be explored further to determine what sort of approach to intercultural education is being adopted.

Działalność edukacyjno-wychowawcza małych seminariów duchownych Towarzystwa Salezjańskiego w latach 1918-1939

After Poland regained its independence, the Salesians took an active part in the process of organizing educational and social work. Secondary modern schools and vocational schools were the first area or activity conducted by the Salesian order. In response to arising needs, the Salesians opened children’s homes and small seminars. Many of the pupils decided to follow a religious vocation. However, the majority chose secular life and continued education in state schools.

Patriotism, Orthodox religion and education: empirical findings from contemporary Russia

ABSTRACTIn recent years, an objective of some Russian Orthodox activists and Church leaders has been the introduction of religious education in state schools which was established in Russia in 2012, following a 2009 Presidential Directive. Today, however, there are two different strands in religious education. On the one hand, there is the state’s emphasis on the bonds between Orthodox Christianity and Russian history, culture and identity. Based on this so-called culturological understanding of religion, the Russian state hopes to use Orthodoxy in nation- and institution-building and in the strengthening of patriotism. On the other hand, while the culturological language is also used in the Church’s official discourse, in practice there are many attempts by Orthodox clergymen and activists to use religious education for the purposes of evangelisation.

Neutrality and impartiality in public education: the French investment in philosophy, teaching about religions, and moral and civic education

In France, there is no religious education in state schools. ‘Convictional education’ appeared by drawing its perimeter around three educational subjects: philosophy, teaching about religions, and moral and civic education. Today, the French school is facing new challenges in a highly secularised society on which religion is laying new claims. As an institution, it is not neutral insofar as it proceeds from a political philosophy that evolved from the French Revolution. It is within the operative framework of this philosophy and with specific teaching practices that it intends to combine unity and plurality within itself.

New beginnings? The refugee “crisis”, the “Other”, and Islamic religious education in Germany

The recent influx of refugees has been in the headlines for more than a year in Germany. On a daily basis, new items about refugees, asylum policies, disasters, or xenophobia makes it into print, visual, or social media. Everybody has an opinion about this issue. In this essay, I record some of my own observations in this regard, as someone, who, in different ways, has been involved with refugees and “Others”. I am trying to make some sense of the discourses and actions that the so-called “refugee crisis” has produced. It has become evident that the discourse about the refugees is as much about the “Other” as it is about the “Self”. It is my argument that Germany is at a crossroads as a consequence of the arrival of relatively large numbers of refugees mainly from a Middle Eastern context – it can either lead to Germany closing in on itself, trying to exclude the “Other”, which in a globalized world would probably be a disadvantage; on the other hand, the “refugee crisis” has the potential of a new beginning, expanding on the already existing efforts to integrate “Others” into one’s own society. One example for such integration efforts would be the fairly recent introduction of Islamic Religious Education in state schools. The success or failure of this experiment can provide an indication of the willingness and ability of Germans to find constructive ways to integrate refugees into their communities.

PROJETOS DE TRABALHO: PERCEPÇÕES DE PROFESSORES E ALUNOS QUANTO SUA EFICÁCIA COMO ESTRATÉGIA DE ENSINO

This study aims to analyze the development and implementation of a work project, and the promotion of health as a pivotal point, as well as the perception of teachers and students about its effectiveness as a teaching strategy. To address the above goals we conducted a case study, through collaborative action research. The study subjects were 10 teachers and 12 high school students from a state school education of a city in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul and two university students from the Physical Education course. To develop the project weekly meetings were held two hours during a semester, and the same developed in five distinct steps: definition of the generating situation; questioning and objectives; activities / tasks; socialization of results and evaluation. The data was produced from observations during the experiment and content of research reports and questionnaires, being grouped into two areas: reporting experience in the local context; and the perceptions of those involved as its contribution as a teaching methodology. The results showed: learning to work in an interdisciplinary way, professional growth, motivation and reflection on the pedagogical practice for teachers; a better understanding of the subject, the motivation to learn, a greater appreciation of the school and the importance of teamwork for students; the search for new learning, the improvement of their professional performance; and learning to work in teams, to academic researchers. Despite some difficulties in the implementation of this proposal, it can be concluded that the design work was constituted as a significant strategy for everyone involved in the proposal, pointing to its effectiveness as a teaching methodology.

Young people with learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder in post-compulsory state supported schools in England

Purpose – Transition from education to adult life is a stated policy aim for young people with learning disabilities. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which 16-18-year olds with learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder are remaining in state school education beyond the minimum school leaving age. Design/methodology/approach – A tabulation from the Department for Education Children and Early Years Data Unit for 2014, combined with School Census data and age-specific population estimates, allowed us to compare the rates of children identified as having moderate, severe or profound/multiple learning difficulties (MLD, SLD, PMLD), or autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) in state education at the ages of 16-18 years vs five to 15 years. Findings – For all types of need analysed in the paper, the rate of children in state school dropped considerably at the ages of 16-18 years: 10 per cent of the rates of children with MLD, 62 per cent of children with SLD, 49 per cent of children with PMLD and 23 per cent of children with ASD at ages five to 15 years were in state education at ages 16-18 years. Almost all young people aged 16-18 years in state education with SLD or PMLD were in special schools, compared to just over half of young people with MLD or ASD. For all these figures, there was considerable regional variation. Social implications – Substantial numbers of children with learning disabilities or ASD do not remain in post-16 state education, with wide regional variations that do not seem to correspond to regional variations in need or national policy concerning transition. Originality/value – This is the first data set to examine this issue.

Portugues

This study deals with how the objectives and contents of the Physical Education curriculum component are being treated in this current conjuncture of theoretical and practical classes and what are its consequences in the daily state schools in the town of Caucaia - CE. The intention of this study is to analyse how the objectives and content of physical education are being treated in the theoretical and practical level of secondary education in state schools in the city of Caucaia - CE. As well as identify whether there are any general objective that occurs across all classes to understand the physical education. We aim to further verify which content dimension is most evident in physical education. The methodological approach used for the development of this research was the qualitative approach. The study setting was the town of Caucaia - CE. Four teachers were selected for a deepening of the study. The field diary and record of observation were necessary to give meaning to the experience. The analysis was based on thematic analysis technique for the determination of categories. The study could examine the objectives and content of physical education at the level of secondary education in state schools in the town of Caucaia at this juncture of lecture and practical class, occurring in an unconnected way. It was not possible to identify a transversal to all classes aim, but the study recognizes the need to have larger elements to consider more accurate conclusions. Predominance of a conceptual dimension of the contents in lectures was observed. The study presents some elements for the training of teachers reflect. As the training must include in its context, this new situation that arises when a Physical Education teacher, to work much of his time in class room.

Three dimensions and four levels: towards a methodology for comparative religious education

This article is an abstract of a suggested methodology for comparative studies in religious education. It is based on a study where religious education in state schools in England and Norway were compared. The methodology is a synthesis of two sets of ideas. The first is an idea of three dimensions in comparative education: supranational, national and subnational processes. The second regards levels of curriculum: societal, institutional, instructional and experiential. I exemplify how this methodology can be used by referring to my particular study, but also suggest ways of developing it for further uses.

INTEGRAÇÃO DA EDUCAÇÃO PROFISSIONAL AO ENSINO MÉDIO NO PARANÁ: DAS INTENÇÕES AOS RESULTADOS

Este texto apresenta discussão bibliográfica, de documentos e dados de entrevistas referentes ao ensino médio e profissional. Visa analisar a integração da educação profissional ao ensino médio no estado do Paraná no período de 2004 a 2010 em duas escolas. Questiona-se como ocorreu a integração. O ensino médio tornou-se dissociado da educação profissional com a LDBEN 9.394/96, normatizado pelo Decreto 2.208/97. A fim de reverter os encaminhamentos oriundos dessa normativa foi revogado o Decreto 2.208/97 com a promulgação do Decreto 5.154/2004. O governo do Paraná antecipou tal integração, apresentando, já no ano de 2003, as bases políticas e pedagógicas norteadoras do processo de integração da educação profissional ao ensino médio, passando a desenvolver o ensino médio integrado em escolas da rede estadual no ano de 2004. Como resultados desse processo, tornaram-se necessárias a formação continuada de professores, a revisão dos projetos pedagógicos e uma nova concepção curricular. Conclui-se que o limite e a possibilidade da proposta é a compreensão do trabalho como princípio educativo.http://dx.doi.org/10.14572/nuances.v24i3.2704

The Visibility of Racism: Perceptions of Cultural Diversity and Multicultural Education in State Schools

The Visibility of Racism: Perceptions of Cultural Diversity and Multicultural Education in State Schools

There is No Sacrum in it Any More: Revisiting Formalist Statehood and Religious/Civic Education on Baltic–Barents Borders

ABSTRACTEven under globalised and hyper-diverse cultural and social conditions, representative liberal democracy conceives of itself as non-involved in issues to do with ethics, faith and belief. Drawing on a formalist systemic state identity it advocates a neutralist, secularist, generalist and non-biased approach to education in state schools. Building on a current research project on religious/civic education in the Baltic–Barents area, this article argues that this self-image is flawed and that representative liberal democracy cannot avoid being ethically biased. There is thus, the article argues, a need to better frame our understanding of different modes of religious/civic education as well as the logic of ethical neutralism characteristic of contemporary democratic statehood.

Towards fairer assessment

Drawing on the largest Australian collection and analysis of empirical data on multiple facets of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education in state schools to date, this article critically analyses the systemic push for standardized testing and improved scores, and argues for a greater balance of assessment types by providing alternative, inclusive, participatory approaches to student assessment. The evidence for this article derives from a major evaluation of the Stronger Smarter Learning Communities. The first large-scale picture of what is occurring in classroom assessment and pedagogy for Indigenous students is reported in this evaluation yet the focus in this article remains on the issue of fairness in student assessment. The argument presented calls for “a good balance between formative and summative assessment” (OECD, Synergies for Better Learning An International Perspective on Evaluation and Assessment, Pointers for Policy Development, 2013) at a time of unrelenting high-stakes, standardized testing in Australia with a dominance of secondary as opposed to primary uses of NAPLAN data by systems, schools and principals. A case for more “intelligent accountability in education” (O’Neill, Oxford Review of Education 39(1):4–16, 2013) together with a framework for analyzing efforts toward social justice in education (Cazden, International Journal of Educational Psychology 1(3):178–198, 2012) and fairer assessment make the case for more alternative assessment practices in recognition of the need for teachers’ pedagogic practice to cater for increased diversity.

Goal-Driven, Girl-Driven: Citizenship Education in an English Independent School

Numerous studies have identified the nature and effect of the various versions of the national curriculum for citizenship education in state schools in England. However, considerably less attention has been given to independent schools in England, even though they do not have to follow the national curriculum and their pupils will go on to play significant roles in society. Interviews were conducted with staff and pupils at one school, and relevant school documentation was scrutinised, in order to map and understand the place of citizenship education in one of England's independent schools. The main purpose of the study was to gain some understanding of how independent school pupils perceive and are prepared for their roles as citizens of influence.

Can Education in State Schools be Christian?

For Christians, a key question is whether state schools can provide a Christian education. This article considers this question with a case study of religious education in New South Wales state schools over the lifespan of JCE. It takes four elements of a Christian philosophy of education proposed by JCE founding editor Anna Hogg and shows how these have applied to the NSW education system. The chronological approach focuses on curriculum (especially general religious education and special religious education) while acknowledging the broader changes within education. The article concludes that there is still an agenda to be completed if state schools are to be considered to provide Christian education.

The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Poetry (review)

Reviewed by: The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Poetry Marianne Kunkel (bio) Rita Dove , ed. The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Poetry. Penguin. A poetry anthology's table of contents is inevitably a "who's who" list talked about by serious poets and writers. But in the eyes of this audience, especially in those of its self-invested guardians of poetry, an anthology often is disappointing because of whom it leaves out or includes. An extreme example of this sense of intense disappointment is demonstrated in Helen Vendler's November 2011 review of The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Poetry, edited by Rita Dove, in which she slammed the book's "multicultural inclusiveness" that underrepresents canonical greats like Wallace Stevens and James Merrill. Who can forget Dove's equally biting response? However, anthologies play more significant roles than simply constituting a "Hall of Fame" of literary achievement. This poetry anthology may one day be a historical artifact, a record not only of great twentieth-century American poetry but also of the literary climate of the early twenty-first century. And in this time of economic recession when government [End Page 166] programs are cutting costs, we cannot overlook the prevalence of anthologies in schools. Poetry anthologies promise high school and university students an affordable and thorough introduction to poetry. It was while reading The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry (2003), edited by J. D. McClatchy, in a college poetry course that I discovered the works of William Matthews, Kay Ryan, and Yusef Komunyakaa. Most students cracking open a poetry anthology for the first time recognize the names of only a few very popular poets—Sylvia Plath, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes. Students flipping through this anthology's table of contents, biographical notes, and almost four hundred poems will, teachers hope, be drawn in. What details might wow them to the point that they like poetry and want to write it? To which poets' lives and works will they most relate? Any poetry anthology can showcase exceptional poems from a particular place and time; an additional strength of The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Poetry is its commitment to telling powerful, encouraging stories about demographic trends in twentieth-century American poetry. Comprising the works of a whopping 175 poets, this chronologically ordered anthology opens with selections from Edgar Lee Masters's Spoon River Anthology. Six male poets in, Amy Lowell's work appears. It is easy to count more than sixty female poets: oft-anthologized Marianne Moore, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Adrienne Rich, Lucille Clifton, and Sharon Olds, and less common picks like Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson (famously married to poet Paul Laurence Dunbar), Roberta Hill Whiteman, Reetika Vazirani, and the hilarious Barbara Hamby. These surprise picks add welcome variety to what could be a thin and predictable female lineup. Dunbar-Nelson's "I Sit and Sew" expresses a unique combination of respect and resentment toward women's traditional wartime tasks, and Hamby's irreverent "Hatred" pines for apocalyptic ruin during the "last vestiges of the tawdry twentieth century." Ten percent more women are represented in this anthology than in The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry, and 5 percent more than in McGraw-Hill's Twentieth-Century American Poetry (2003), edited by Dana Gioia, David Mason, and Meg Schoerke. Plus, this anthology's refreshingly brief biographical notes help explain the increase in the number of American female poets by describing the few early- to mid-century women featured—Amy Lowell, Gertrude Stein, Elizabeth Bishop—as "independently wealthy," a label that disappears from the biographies of many women who published between 1970 and 1999. Men's opportunities to publish have improved as well, as evident in the education details of the biographical notes; although T. S. Eliot's and Wallace Steven's Ivy League diplomas were typical for male poets of their generation, Philip Levine's state school education and Etheridge Knight's self-education while in prison prove that poetry is less and less a means of expression for only the wealthy. At first glance, not only female students but also students of color will be impressed. This anthology addresses race both in the content of...

Katecheza w szkole czy poza szkołą?

In the contemporary religious education, a great amount of deliberations is devoted to the subject of religious education (by whom? to whom?), its contents (what?), aims (what for?), methods and means (how?), conditioning (where? when?), but only occasionally questions are raised about the need and justification for religious education. Meanwhile, the question of justification for religious education is gaining more and more importance in the situation of increasing secularization of social and personal life. It is important to go back and recall these arguments that justify religious education in various educational environments. The contemporary conditioning of catechesis is undergoing significant changes. The ignorance of this fact leads to a situation where religious education is treated marginally and its effectiveness becomes limited. The article presents main arguments in favour of the presence of religious education in state schools in Poland. Its justification can be carried out at various levels: philosophical and anthropological, social and political, cultural and historical, legal, pedagogical, and finally theological and pastoral.

Debate sobre o ensino religioso na capital paranaense: entre a tribuna e a imprensa (1922-1931)

Este artigo analisa as ações e os discursos promovidos pelos intelectuais católicos em defesa da presença do ensino religioso nas escolas públicas paranaenses no período circunscrito entre 1922 e 1931. Apoia-se no pronunciamento do deputado Alcidino Pereira, com o qual justificou seu projeto instituindo o ensino religioso facultativo nas escolas públicas, no parecer da Comissão de Constituição e Justiça do Congresso Legislativo do Paraná elaborado pelo deputado Azevedo Macedo, na resposta do autor do projeto ao parecer da Comissão e na revista católica A Cruzada. Tais dados são analisados sob a perspectiva da história intelectual da educação, visando a restituir alguns dos sentidos da disputa entre católicos e anticlericais, ao longo da década de 1920 e início da década de 1930, sem esquecer o contexto nacional e internacional como pano de fundo desse movimento de discussão sobre a presença da cultura religiosa nos espaços escolares oficiais.

Values in Free Fall? Religious Education and Values in Public Schools

In Antipodean education, for most of the twentieth century, talk of religious education in state schools (RE), or even values education generally, was passé. But in recent decades, some of the stalemates of the past are dissolving, and there is a new willingness to discuss in the public domain subjects that were once considered off-limits—such as values, spirituality, and RE.