Formal Educational Structures Research Articles

Creating Spaces of Engagement: Exploring High School Youth’s Voices in Reshaping the Social Justice Curriculum

The current structure of formal education makes it difficult for teachers and students to hold meaningful conversations to support high-school youth’s meaning-making of critical social-justice issues. This paper presents data on three high-school youth’s knowledge and experiences with social justice issues during the pandemic. Specifically, the paper aims to explore how youth construct knowledge and counter dominant discourses through utilizing informal learning spaces, such as social media platforms, peer and family conversations, as well as personal encounters. In addition, and more importantly, an exploration of how formal education can incorporate social-justice issues into the curriculum is considered. The analysis of these high school youth’s interview conversations presents their diverging needs to learn about social-justice topics in both formal and informal learning contexts. The data also illustrates the power of their voices in a way that could inform future curriculum development. Discussions and implications highlight the possibility of creating such ethical spaces in formal education to engage in social-justice topics.

Learning, living and working with dyspraxia and ADHD: A neurodiverse dramatherapist’s comment on the formal education system

The environment of formal education systems can be a difficult place for neurodiverse individuals to exist, navigate and thrive. This clinical comment explores the impact of these structures on individuals with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The evolutionary theory underpins the article’s argument that ADHD ‘symptoms’ could be considered adaptive depending on their environment, yet a plethora of neurodiverse people experience feelings of failure and negative life trajectories, so it is imperative that education systems reconsider their structures. To further support the case for educational restructuring, trauma-informed research is used to highlight flaws in the United Kingdom’s mainstream education system that parallels the gaps that neurodiverse learners fall through. This article uses an autoethnographic lens to look at the problems within these structures and how they impact both learners and employees, from children to adults. The Sesame Approach to Drama and Movement Therapy (DMT-Sesame) is considered as a comparative structure, which focuses on the body, creative freedom, exploration, authenticity, and individuality, and could accentuate the quality of many neurodiverse traits. DMT-Sesame could therefore inspire the changes that ought to be made to formal educational structures, whereby learning environments are accessible to every individual and enable self-discoveries that support successful development.

Rojava’s ‘war of education’: the role of education in building a revolutionary political community in North and East Syria

Since the beginning of the Syrian war and Rojava revolution, a new education system has been evolving. Foundational to this education is the ideology of Democratic Nation, which has its roots in the Kurdish political movement from Turkey, and to which radical democracy, women’s liberation and ecology are fundamental. In this article, we explore the makeup of Rojava’s formal education structures, and demonstrate how education has contributed to the creation of a political community whose sense of nationhood stems from the diversity of peoples in the region, united by their shared democratic values, and opposed to the nationalist Syrian regime and broader expansion of ‘capitalist modernity’. We first describe the structure and content of the new education system, and discuss how it has strengthened, and shaped, the political community it engenders. We go on to discuss the implications of its implementation, including the ways in which it both lives up to and contradicts its own ideals, concluding that within the teachings exists the potential for participants to continually reflect and improve. Our analysis of this emancipatory education system contributes to the literature on education and political community.

Escalamiento de la agroecología desde el huerto escolar y la importancia de reconocer la cultura, los alimentos y lugar

En este texto se explora el potencial y las limitaciones del escalamiento de la agroecología a través de las estructuras educativas formales; para ello se utiliza como estudio de caso el programa de huertos escolares LabVida en Chiapas, México. Mediante un ejercicio de formación de docentes en LabVida, ellos adquirieron una apreciación de la agroecología y fueron capaces de aplicarla en sus huertos escolares, aunque su comprensión de los principios agroecológicos y del proceso científico siguió siendo limitada. Una conclusión fue observar que el mayor impacto del programa se produjo en los hábitos alimentarios de los educadores y en su percepción del valor del conocimiento local y su relevancia para el trabajo escolar. Esta investigación demuestra el potencial del trabajo en los huertos escolares para catalizar comunidades de práctica que contribuyan al escalamiento de la agroecología.

Digging our own grave: A Marxian consideration of formal education as a destructive enterprise.

The negative impact of human activity has been known throughout history. The epic tale of Gilgamesh, Koranic and biblical texts all make clear the potential that humans have to destroy the world in which they live. Climate breakdown, biodiversity collapse and zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19 have also been predicted well in advance. The “wicked problem” (dilemma) to address is: “Why do humans still persist in ‘digging their own graves’ by damaging the environments they inhabit?” The author of this article argues that the motive to engage in education can be understood as an ancient human response to ecological change. This has led to a range of behaviours, including teaching and learning that serve only to further disrupt the relationship between the human and the “more-than-human” world. When formal education structures are viewed through a Marxian lens, it soon becomes clear that the unsustainable impact of humans on the more-than-human is the result of capitalist entrapment. Karl Marx’s proposition of a metabolic rift helps make sense of the nonsensical, while a discussion of use and exchange value shows how formal education has become ensnared in the mire of capitalist productivity, concealing from view the educationally-induced destruction of planetary systems that support human flourishing. Fortunately, a more sustainable and sustaining education is possible – this is an education for a “long-life” that is no longer influenced by the machinery of neoliberalism.

Impact of Formal Education on Learners' Development in Ghana

Education is the required tool to approach development gainfully. The structure of formal education in Ghana triggered this study to find out the impact of formal education on learners’ development in Ghana. Primary and secondary data were used throughout the study. 32 respondents across the country were used in the questionnaire administration. Statistical and content analyses were used to describe the gathered information. Purposive sampling technique was used to select respondents from the 16 regions in Ghana. The following were the major findings; formal education in Ghana is typically artificial and knowledge-based, formal education in Ghana has failed in the upbringing of learners to realize societal goals and aims because learners are not socially trained, formal education in Ghana is not structured according to the societal needs hence societal problems are escalating rapidly, and subject that can train learners in moral and personality development is undermined by formal education in Ghana. Based on the findings, it was recommended that; formal education in Ghana should move away from a theory-based on practical based to secure jobs for learners’ development. Moreover, the content for formal education in Ghana should be restructured according to societal needs. Again, the programmes for formal education in Ghana should be created based on industrial needs so that learners could be the best fit or placed in industries that deal with their specifications or qualifications. Finally, formal education in Ghana should be reconsidered to constitute moral development to curb societal problems such as arm robbery, gambling, and smoking.

More than Words? An Analysis of the Sentiment Polarity of Anatomy Lectures in Medical and Allied Health Education

Previous research suggests that medical and allied health education can erode student empathy. The decline in student empathy seems to correlate with the “hidden curriculum” ‐ the attitudes and values conveyed, most often in an implicit, informal, and unintentional fashion, via the formal educational structures, practices, and culture of an educational institution. We typically think of education as simply the transmission of facts, but the words and images used to convey those facts can also shape attitudes, even if this impact is unintended. Our study examines variation in the sentiment polarity of lectures given within the anatomy curriculum at one institution. We tested the following hypotheses: 1) the sentiment polarity of first‐year anatomy lectures is significantly different from neutral and 2) the sentiment polarity of lectures is correlated with the percentage of total lecture time spent on clinical applications. Anatomy lectures (n = 120) recorded during the 2016–17 academic year across all programs (excluding veterinary medicine) at Midwestern University were anonymized and transcribed by work study students. We analyzed transcribed lectures using text mining and a published sentiment lexicon. We counted individual words that matched the lexicon with a positive or negative sentiment, in addition to total word count, and individual word frequency. Standard anatomical descriptors (i.e., “inferior”) were excluded from the analysis. The net sentiment score for each lecture was defined as the difference between the number of positive vs negative words. We quantified the clinical content of a lecture as the proportion of time (minutes) spent on clinical applications. We used a one‐sample Wilcox test to evaluate Hypothesis 1 and Spearman rank correlation to evaluate Hypothesis 2. We used the text mining package tidytext and ran all statistical tests in R. The median sentiment score across all lectures was −18.5, which was significantly different from zero (p < .001). Sentiment score was negatively correlated with the proportion of lecture time spent on clinical applications (rho = −0.316, p < .001). These results suggest that first‐year anatomy students might be at risk for empathy erosion especially in the context of clinical applications because of the relatively high frequency of words with negative sentiment. This study was approved by Midwestern IRB (#AZ 1111, Approved on 01/25/2018).

The responsible parent and networks of support: A case study of school engagement in a challenging environment

Research, policy and practice on education in recent years has focused attention on the mediating role that parents play in children's schooling. Parents have been constructed as responsible agents; as consumers, investors and partners in the performance‐oriented educational project. Much of the literature has looked at parent–school relations from the vantage point of parents, particularly parents in disadvantaged areas. Less has been written on how parent–school relations look from a school's perspective. In this article we draw on data from a case study English school in a socio‐economically deprived area and explore the nature of the construct ‘responsible parent’ from the perspectives of teaching staff. We utilise data from semi‐structured interviews with teaching staff in one case study school located on the outskirts of an English city. Through the data we outline teachers’ conceptions of parents and an emerging network of engagement incorporating parents as part of a broader social and education project in schools. We argue that a dominant construct, the responsible parent, has resonances with the ways that teachers conceptualise parents. At the same time, the case study school inhabits a dual institutional space: it is captured within a neo‐liberal discourse on the responsible parent as a key conduit for an outcomes‐oriented education project and also goes beyond the narrow confines of formal educational structures in offering ‘challenging’ parents social and emotional support in connecting with their children and their schooling.

The relationship between attaining formal qualifications at older ages and outcomes related to active ageing

AbstractActive ageing has become a policy concept that serves as an important response to the ageing of many societies, primarily because it is thought to lead to positive outcomes such as increased employment, productivity, health and other well‐being into older ages. This article presents results of an analysis of the relationship between attaining qualifications at older ages and active ageing in later life. The analysis is based on data made available by the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). Results of the analysis show that adults who attain higher levels of qualifications in mid to later life are associated with an increased probability of, being employed, participating in continued learning, and scoring higher on the PIAAC literacy scale when they are older. The findings suggest that open and flexible formal education structures at all levels is good for activating the population to be employed, to engage in continued learning and to develop and maintain literacy skills into older ages.

Can Teenage Men Be Targeted to Prevent Teenage Pregnancy? A Feasibility Cluster Randomised Controlled Intervention Trial in Schools

The World Health Organisation advocates a direct focus on adolescent men in reducing adolescent pregnancy; however, no trials have been conducted. This trial (ISRCTN11632300; NCT02092480) determines whether a novel Relationship and Sexuality Educational intervention, If I Were Jack, is acceptable and feasible to implement in mixed sex UK classrooms. The intervention is a teacher-delivered intervention that emphasises male alongside female responsibility in preventing unintended pregnancies and is designed to prevent unprotected sex. The trial was a parallel-group cluster randomised controlled feasibility trial with embedded process and cost evaluation in eight secondary schools (unit of randomisation) among 831 pupils (mean age 14) in Northern Ireland, alongside a qualitative evaluation of transferability in ten schools in Scotland, Wales and England. The sampling strategy was a maximum variation quota sample designed to capture a range of school management types. Four schools were randomised to each arm and the control arm continued with usual practice. Study duration was 12 months (from November 2014), with follow-up 9 months post-baseline. Results demonstrated that the intervention was acceptable to schools, pupils and teachers, and could be feasibly implemented, cost-effectively, with minor enhancements. The between-group difference in incidence of unprotected sex (primary outcome at pupil level) of 1.3% (95% CI 0.5–2.2) by 9 months demonstrated a potential effect size consistent with those reported to have had meaningful impact on teenage pregnancy. The study responds to global health policy for a paradigm shift towards inclusion of men in the achievement of sexual and reproductive health goals in a practical way by demonstrating that a gender-sensitive as well as a gender transformative intervention targeting males to prevent teenage pregnancy is acceptable to adolescent men and women and implementable in formal education structures. If I Were Jack now merits further effectiveness testing.

Another Life is Possible: Black Fugitivity and Enclosed Places

The Black fugitive in the United States has been a metaphorical and literal construction for both exposing oppressive forms of state governance and the development of strategic plans to achieve freedom from the state. Commonly thought of within a historical setting, the Black fugitive in this article is situated within the contemporary urban setting of Los Angeles, California. As told through the lived experience of young Black residents of the city, the narrative of fugitivity exposes the false promises of state governance, which is theorized as an enclosure. Specifically, this article focuses on self-removal from the state structure of formal education as a vehicle to understand Black fugitivity as a generative source of freedom from violent forms of state governance.

Preparation in Context: Comparative Outcomes of Alternative Clergy Training in the ELCA

Training requirements for ordained clergy vary widely between US denominations, but the most common qualifications include the Master of Divinity (MDiv), a 3-year professional degree typically earned in residence full-time at a seminary or school of theology following completion of an undergraduate degree. However, past research has found that denominations with more limited formal training requirements for clergy tend to grow more rapidly and that professionalized clergy may actually contribute to denominational decline. I test this with Cox regression, comparing job lengths of Lutheran (ELCA) pastors with MDiv degrees and those who completed an alternative training program (TEEM) where older students complete less extensive coursework while simultaneously serving a ministry context. TEEM candidates often continue serving in this context upon being ordained. The key finding is a persistent advantage for TEEM program graduates net of demographic controls, regardless of how age and experience are factored in. The advantage is not the result of ongoing embeddedness in a single context, suggesting it may result from a combination of differences in the structure of formal education and the simultaneous contextual application. Both life experience (age) prior to being ordained and experience in ordained ministry also provide some advantage, but the effects are largely limited to MDiv graduates in their first few years of ministry. The results provide further evidence for the promise of alternative ministry preparation programs, and help elaborate previous theories of clergy religious capital.

Aprendendo com Célestin Freinet: o passado ainda é presente / Learning from Célestin Freinet : the past is still present

This article is an essay that was written from over ten years of experience with teaching. The main objective is to present the ideas and techniques of Célestin Freinet as current and very important for the structure of formal education may be rethought.

Traditional acupuncturists and higher education in Britain: The dual, paradoxical impact of biomedical alignment on the holistic view

Traditional acupuncturists' quest for external legitimacy in Britain involves the standardization of their knowledge bases through the development of training schools and syllabi, formal educational structures, and, since the 1990s, the teaching of undergraduate courses within (or validated by) Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), a process which entails biomedical alignment of the curriculum. However, as holistic discourses were commonly used as a rhetorical strategy by CAM practitioners to distance themselves from biomedicine and as a source of public appeal, this ‘mainstreaming’ process evoked practitioners' concerns that their holistic claims are being compromised. An additional challenge is being posed by a group of academics and scientists in Britain who launched an attack on CAM courses taught in HEIs, accusing them of being ‘unscientific’ and ‘non-academic’ in nature. This paper explores the negotiation of all these challenges during the formalization of traditional acupuncture education in Britain, with a particular focus on the role of HEIs. The in-depth qualitative investigation draws on several data sets: participant observation in a university validated acupuncture course; in-depth interviews; and documentary analysis. The findings show how, as part of the formalization process, acupuncturists in Britain (re)negotiate their holistic, anti-reductionist discourses and claims in relation to contemporary societal, political and cultural forces. Moreover, the teaching and validation of acupuncture courses by HEIs may contribute to broadening acupuncturists' ‘holistic awareness’ of societal and cultural influences on individuals' and communities' ill-health. This investigation emphasises the dynamic and context-specific (rather than fixed and essentialized) nature of acupuncture practice and knowledge.

Towards a Thinking and Practice of Sexual Difference: Putting the Practice of Relationship at the Centre

This article seeks to open up a discussion of issues relating to the significance of sexual difference, the thinking and politics emerging from it and how it might affect educational philosophy. It briefly examines the initial work of Luce Irigaray, which has become quite influential in parts of the English speaking world, particularly focussing on the idea that there are implications for our educational objectives if gender equality were to be put in question as one of the underlying paradigms with which to measure children's performance. It then looks at the work of some groups of Italian philosophers and educationalists who have not been translated into English and are consequently less well known. Their work has been devoted to exploring Irigaray's challenge to re-think the world from the perspective of sexual difference. In particular, in tune with the theme of this special issue, this article shows how this work puts forward the practice and philosophy of relationship for consideration at different stages of the educational process, focussing particularly on Luisa Muraro's philosophical ‘invention’ of the symbolic order of the mother as a way to bring into the shared world the erased sexual difference that Irigaray had articulated. Muraro's work considers the meaning of the first relationship between mother and infant and suggests that the mother, or the one doing her work, is in fact the first and ongoing educator and transmitter of philosophy, a fact that is only partially recognised in our formal educational structures. The article introduces, finally, the idea that as the historical patterns of mainly women teaching younger children and men teaching older children are shifting, to understand the need for and argue for a more sexuate world, with both sexes participating in the educational process at all stages would allow for the possibility of a new discussion of concepts that are already central to educationalists such as equality, freedom, autonomy, authority, flourishing and the relationship with parents.

Informal Home Education: Philosophical Aspirations put into Practice

Informal home education occurs without much that is generally considered essential for formal education—including curriculum, learning plans, assessments, age related targets or planned and deliberate teaching. Our research into families conducting this kind of education enables us to consider learning away from such imposed structures and to explore how children go about learning for themselves within the context of their own socio-cultural setting. In this paper we consider what and how children learn when no educational agenda is arranged for them and we link this manner of learning to the Deweyan ideas of learning as transactional and learning-in-context. We also use our empirical evidence to explore the notion of ZPD with regard to informal learning and to consider how children, without specific guidance, go about charting a course of learning through the ZPD. We consider the quality of informal learning particularly with regard to the educational aim of developing reflective and critical thinking, showing how these are integral to informal learning. We suggest that a much wider conception of what learning is and how it happens is needed, away from the confines of formal educational structures.

Vida Lahey's Progressive Activism for Children's Art Education

This article concentrates on artist Vida Lahey's Queensland-based activism for children's art classes in the context of progressive ideas that circulated between the wars. I argue that Lahey functioned within a wider, well-informed, democratic elite. Indeed, it was her social and cultural capital, and that of friend and sculptress Daphne Mayo, that enabled Lahey to actively constitute agency. Her activism, produced children's art classes in Brisbane outside of formal educational structures that were slower to respond to progressive ideas.

Norm Reference as It Applies to Abilities and Disabilities: Reflections of a Former State-Government Official

In 1682, in a document called Fundamental Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania, William Penn provided the first educational law of what was to become the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: All persons having children shall cause such to be instructed in reading and writing, so that they may be able to read . . . and to write by the time they attain to twelve years of age and that then they be taught some useful trade or skill. (Penn, 1682, p. 3) Admittedly, that statement is an oversimplification of what educational law needs to be more than 300 years later, but its very simplicity embodies an elegance that we would do well to consider. Three elements of the law give it its strength: 1. Parents are the responsible agents of schooling. 2. Basic skills are the foundation of the curriculum. 3. The desired outcome is preparation for productive adult life. One could argue that all subsequent educational law has been little more than an expansion of those elements. Although conditions have changed since William Penn initiated his grand experiment, the power of the three elements remains the essence of what education is all about. History has a way of changing the simple and direct into the complex and ambiguous, however. Subsequent to 1682, the history of formal education structures in America yields a mosaic of educational development that ranges from the introduction of the common school to the mandate of compulsory attendance (Simpson, 2004), from John Dewey's introduction and promotion of progressive education to the science curriculum response to Sputnik (Elmore, 1996). As time progressed and formal schooling developed as a "right" of every child in America, so did the challenge of meeting individual needs. Concomitantly, the role of parents in the instruction of their offspring diminished while the role of government increased. Beginning in the mid-20th century, the idea that "all means all" was introduced into the value system of U.S. schools. Students who had been discriminated against because of race were supported by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Students who were poor and needed basic survival support were supported by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Students who were challenged by their non-English-speaking backgrounds were supported by the Bilingual Education Act of 1968. And students with disabilities were supported by a series of federal laws that culminated in the Education for All Handicapped Act of 1975 (now known as the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004). Thus, legislation spanning a period of only 11 years completely encircled the children and youth of the United States by providing for their educational needs-at least in theory-without discrimination on the basis of race, sex, language, or disability. The demands of so much legislation in such a short period of time, however, placed a severe strain on the educational systems of the United States. Traditional educational processes, traditional instructional methods, and the traditional culture of U.S. education were not prepared for the degree of diversity that was thrust upon schools. To resolve the immediacy of the challenge, we educators adopted the only models that we knew, most of which were based on the problem-solving techniques of the medical model. When a student did not respond effectively to traditional teaching modalities or to tried-and-true methods of discipline, the assumption was that the problem resided in the student-not within the educational system. The need for a developmentally appropriate service-delivery system for all children was now required under federal law. Conceptually, at least, educators began to think in terms of a seamless system of services for all children, a system that begins before birth and continues throughout life. Those of us who had the privilege of serving during that period witnessed the development of a unique coalition of forces representing government, local communities, and individuals. …

Physical education and physically active lives: a lifelong approach to curriculum development

This paper focuses upon the relationship between physical education and interests in enabling more people to establish and maintain ‘active and healthy lives’ from a curriculum development perspective. Twin and inter‐linked concepts of ‘lifelong learning’ and ‘lifelong physical activity’ are presented as a conceptual basis for curriculum development in physical education. A multidimensional conceptualisation of physical activity is introduced as a key reference point for rethinking the scope and focus of curricula claiming or aiming to facilitate people's interest and ability to maintain active and healthy lives. It is argued that there is a need for a broadening of the skills, knowledge and understanding encompassed within curricula and for a lifelong curriculum to be acknowledged as the collective responsibility of organisations and individuals within and beyond existing formal education structures.

EMBRACING UNCERTAINTIES: THE PARADOX OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION WITHIN FORMAL EDUCATION.

This paper is a pair of binoculars which I have used to scan the last two years that I have been studying environmental education, the focus being on the research I did on Theatre for Development for environmental education in formal education. The paper aims to bring into view some on the paradoxes of doing environmental education within the structure of formal education from the tragic position of post-modern intellectual thought. I ask whether a critical approach to environmental education can exist within the current structure of formal education? I question whether environmental education can be viewed as a fixed product (be this a positivistic or critical product) within a formal structure and instead call for environmental education to be viewed as reflexive experience.