Despite the fact that publishers and policy-makers have had increasing influence over classrooms, it is the teacher who must make decisions on a minute-by-minute basis about what will help specific students learn. Similarly, local administrators must make key decisions at the school and district level that will best serve particular communities of teachers, students, and parents. Action research offers educators and other stakeholders a systematic way to research and reflect on specific students, classrooms, schools, and communities in order to solve local problems and improve local conditions. This book offers an overview of various definitions and perspectives on action research without prescribing any single approach. Instead, key questions are explored: Who conducts action research? Why? How? Possible answers sketch the many types of possible projects, ranging from an individual teacher trying to improve the experience of a particular student to a group of educators and community members striving to improve local socioeconomic conditions. The Action Research Primer presents an accessible but comprehensive introduction to the field, providing a basic compass and map for the interested practitioner. Chapters include a brief historical overview, an introduction to competing research paradigms, discussion of key issues that inform project design, a serviceable guide to process, and an extensive list of resources pointing to more detail on the many categories, communities, and publication outlets of action research.

This open access book offers a comparative study of eight ambitious national reforms that sought to create opportunities for students to gain the necessary breath of skills to thrive in a rapidly changing world. It examines how national governments transform education systems to provide students opportunities to develop such skills. It analyses comprehensive education reforms in Brazil, Finland, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Portugal and Russia and yields original and important insights on the process of educational change. The analysis of these 21st century skills reforms shows that reformers followed approaches which are based on the five perspectives: cultural, psychological, professional, institutional and political. Most reforms relied on institutional and political perspectives. They highlight the systemic nature of the process of educational change, and the need for alignment and coherence among the various elements of the system in order. They underscore the importance of addressing the interests of various stakeholders of the education system in obtaining the necessary impetus to initiate and sustain change. In contrast, as the book shows, the use of a cultural and psychological frame proved rarer, missing important opportunities to draw on systematic analysis of emerging demands for schools and on cognitive science to inform the changes in the organization of instruction. Drawing on a rich array of sources and evidence the book provides a careful account of how education reform works in practice.

This 14th volume in the 24-volume book series sets out to explore the interrelationship between ideology, the state, and education reforms, placing it in a global context. It examines some of the major education reforms and policy issues in a global culture, particularly in the light of recent shifts in accountability, quality and standards-driven education, and policy research. By doing so, it provides a comprehensive picture of the intersecting and diverse discourses of globalisation and policy-driven reforms in education. The book draws upon recent studies in the areas of globalisation, equality, and the role of the state. It explores conceptual frameworks and methodological approaches applicable in the research covering the state, globalisation, and education reforms. It critiques the neo-liberal ideological imperatives of current education and policy reforms, and illustrates the way that shifts in the relationship between the state and education policy affect current trends in education reforms and schooling globally. Individual chapters critically assess the dominant discourses and debates on education and policy reforms. Using diverse comparative education paradigms from critical theory to historical-comparative research, the chapters focus on globalisation, ideology and democracy and examine both the reasons and outcomes of education reforms and policy change. They provide an informed critique of models of accountability, quality and standards-driven education reforms that are informed by Western dominant ideologies and social values. The book also draws upon recent studies in the areas of equity, cultural capital and dominant ideologies in education.

This volume reflects on the role played by textbooks in the complex relationship between war and education from a historical and multinational perspective, asking how textbook content and production can play a part in these processes. It has long been established that history textbooks play a key role in shaping the next generation's understanding of both past events and the concept of 'friend' and 'foe'. Considering both current and historical textbooks, often through a bi-national comparative approach, the editors and contributors investigate various important aspects of the relationships between textbooks and war, including the role wars play in the creation of national identities (whether the country is on the winning or losing side), the effacement of international wars to highlight a country's exceptionalism, or the obscuring of intra-national conflict through the ways in which a civil war is portrayed. This pioneering book will be of interest and value to students and scholars of textbooks, educational media and the relationships between curricula and war.

This book presents a comparative ethnographic understanding of government and low-fee private schools in India within the context of ever-increasing privatization and commercialization of education and growing presence of non-state actors. Drawing on rich empirical data, the book provides an ethnographic account of a government and a low-fee private school in Hyderabad, India and explores life in these two distinct spaces through the lens of culture. While private schools catering to the poorer sections have been proliferating, little is known about how these low-fee private schools operate, how choices and negotiations unfold, the classroom discourses, subjective meanings of different stakeholders and the kind of education provided in these schools vis-a-vis the government schools. The book focuses on the educational experiences, schooling choices, processes, and voices of the children and teachers at these schools to reflect on how school culture influences the quality of education. Based on intensive fieldwork and qualitative data, the book provides contextual insights of what exactly happens inside the schools and classrooms of two contrasting schooling provisions in India and understand the world views of different stakeholders as they negotiate their daily lives. The book will be of interest to students, researchers, and teachers of education, sociology of education, childhood studies, urban education, and teacher education. It will also be useful for education policymakers, educationists, education professionals, and those working on private schooling in India.

This compelling book explores the dimensions of social equity by asking the leading equity scholars to reflect on the responsibility for social equity and how equity can be achieved. Social equity is concerned with fairness in the development and administration of public policies. Despite its importance, there has always been an uneasiness in how equity is discussed and obtained. While we acknowledge that social equity is important, we have struggled in our efforts to achieve it. The inequities in our society and the lack of a concerted effort to address the problems have only become prominent due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Black Lives Matter Movement. Each of the chapters in this volume pay particular attention to how social equity can be effectively incorporated into the classroom. This book is a rare opportunity to shape the conversation about social equity and provide a venue for dialogue around the questions of what, why, and how we teach about equity. This book is an insightful resource for researchers and scholars of Politics and Public Administration. The chapters in this book were originally published in the Journal of Public Affairs Education.

This book offers a meso-level description of demographics, science education, and science teacher education. Representing all 13 Canadian jurisdictions, the book provides local insights that serve as the basis for exploring the Canadian system as a whole and function as a common starting point from which to identify causal relationships that may be associated with Canada's successes. The book highlights commonalities, consistencies, and distinctions across the provinces and territories in a thematic analysis of the 13 jurisdiction-specific chapters. Although the analysis indicates a network of policy and practice issues warranting further consideration, the diverse nature of Canadian science education makes simple identification of causal relationships elusive. Canada has a reputation for strong science achievement. However, there is currently limited literature on science education in Canada at the general level or in specific areas such as Canadian science curriculum or science teacher education. This book fills that gap by presenting a thorough description of science education at the provincial/territorial level, as well as a more holistic description of pressing issues for Canadian science education.

As a worldwide phenomenon, the internationalization of curriculum studies is at its beginning. While much has been written about South African education, now, for the first time, gathered in one collection are glimpses of South African curriculum studies described bysix distinctive points of view. Included are sections of a "micro-moment" of internationalization in which South African scholars reply to questions raised by scholars working elsewhere. Knowing what curriculum studies colleagues are thinking worldwide is the first step in understanding curriculum internationally. Recognizing the national distinctiveness of curriculum studies enables scholars to underscore how national history and culture influence their own research.

In order for students to reap the benefits of graphic novels, teachers need to first incorporate them into their classrooms. Graphic novels are not only a viable option to improve student retention of literature, but also the cornerstone of several potential lesson plans. The multimodal nature of graphic novels allows teachers to shape their lessons in new directions. When the validity of graphic novels is no longer a question, students and teachers alike will discover the countless benefits of multimodal learning.

This book looks at the value of integrating the arts and sciences in the school curriculum. It argues that this will help students further their understanding of analytical concepts through the use of creativity. The authors illustrate how schools can work towards presenting common practices, concepts, and content. Coverage features case studies and lessons learned from classrooms across the United States. The notion of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) is an emerging discipline unique in its desire to provide a well-rounded approach to education. The chapters of this volume examine STEAM in a variety of settings, from kindergarten to higher education. Readers will learn about the practical considerations involved when introducing the arts and creativity into traditionally left brain processes. This includes best practices for creating and sustaining successful STEAM initiatives in any school, college, or university. For instance, one chapter discusses novel approaches to teach writing with the scientific method in order to help students better present their ideas. The authors also detail how the arts can engage more diverse learners, including students who are not traditionally interested in STEM subjects. They provide three concrete examples of classroom-tested inquiries: designing a prosthetic arm for a child, making a paleontology investigation, and taking a closer look at the arts within roller coaster engineering. This book is an invaluable resource for teachers and teacher trainers, university faculty, researchers, and school administrators. It will also be of interest to science, mathematics, engineering, computer science, information technology, arts and design and technology teachers.

This book revolves around curriculum making, reciprocal learning, and the best-loved self. It draws on extensive school-based studies conducted with teachers in the United States, China, and Canada, and weaves in experiences from other cross-national projects, keynote addresses, archival research, and editorial work. The elucidation of the 'best-loved self' drives home the point that teachers are more than the subject matter they teach: they are students' role models and allies. Curriculum making and reciprocal learning relationships enrich teachers' and students' being and becoming as they live curriculum alongside one another-with the goal of more satisfying lives held firmly in view.

This edited collection takes up the wild and sudden surge of new materialisms in the field of curriculum studies. New materialisms shift away from the strong focus on discourse associated with the linguistic or cultural turn in theory and toward recent work in the physical and biological sciences; in doing so, they posit ontologies of becoming that re-configure our sense of what a human person is and how that person relates to the more-than-human ecologies in which it is nested. Ignited by an urgency to disrupt the dangers of anthropocentrism and systems of domination in the work of curriculum and pedagogy, this book builds upon the axiom that agency is not a uniquely human capacity but something inherent in all matter. This collection blurs the boundaries of human and non-human, animate and inanimate, to focus on webs of interrelations. Each chapter explores these questions while attending to the ethical, aesthetic, and political tasks of education-both in and out of school contexts. It is essential reading for anyone interested in feminist, queer, anti-racist, ecological, and posthumanist theories and practices of education.

Why are children from disadvantaged and minority communities overrepresented among academic underachievers, poor learners and school dropouts? This volume engages with this question and examines classroom learning as a process that involves a multitude of actors situated in specific social, cultural, and historical contexts. The volume covers an interdisciplinary spectrum of educational processes, contexts, educational ambitions, and limitations of low caste, working class and middle-class students from different Indian communities and regions. The volume delves into the problem of academic underperformance from a social identity perspective and probes into social context-based variability in classroom learning, systemic disadvantages in the form of negative stereotypes and the family as an under-studied social group in all discussions of schooling. It also examines the teacher perceptions and attitudes toward Adivasi students and other minority groups in primary schools, and their effect on children's classroom engagement. The essays in this volume provide insights into unresolved and critical research questions that require attention of teachers, school management, educators, and policy makers alike. This book will also be useful for academicians, policymakers, teacher educators, pedagogic practitioners in India and abroad, and state and central government institutions working on school education, educational psychology, policymaking in education, learning methods and research on educational enhancement.

Creativity in the English Curriculum is essential reading for anyone involved or interested in the teaching of English, offering both a detailed history of how creativity has informed the tradition of teaching English, and how it should be used to position this teaching in the future. Highlighting the need to promote creativity as a rich, intellectual pursuit, Creativity in the English Curriculum celebrates artistry in English past and present, and argues for its restoration to the curriculum. It emphasises that creativity is at the core of a humane education, not only through stimulating and enhancing the growth of the individual, but also through developing understanding of the importance of community, society and collaboration. Smith presents the historical relationship between curriculum policy and creativity, demonstrating that creativity has and always will be the life blood of teaching and learning. Including dialogues between expert English teaching practitioners and leading professionals concerning the place of creativity in English, Creativity in the English Curriculum includes practical, research-informed ideas for effective creative practice for any English classroom. It is a must-read for teachers, educators, parents and guardians to prepare all learners for life in and beyond school.

Creativity in the English Curriculum is essential reading for anyone involved or interested in the teaching of English, offering both a detailed history of how creativity has informed the tradition of teaching English, and how it should be used to position this teaching in the future. Highlighting the need to promote creativity as a rich, intellectual pursuit, Creativity in the English Curriculum celebrates artistry in English past and present, and argues for its restoration to the curriculum. It emphasises that creativity is at the core of a humane education, not only through stimulating and enhancing the growth of the individual, but also through developing understanding of the importance of community, society and collaboration. Smith presents the historical relationship between curriculum policy and creativity, demonstrating that creativity has and always will be the life blood of teaching and learning. Including dialogues between expert English teaching practitioners and leading professionals concerning the place of creativity in English, Creativity in the English Curriculum includes practical, research-informed ideas for effective creative practice for any English classroom. It is a must-read for teachers, educators, parents and guardians to prepare all learners for life in and beyond school.

Every generation faces challenges, but never before have young people been so aware of theirs. Whether due to school strikes for climate change, civil war, or pandemic lockdowns, almost every child in the world has experienced the interruption of their schooling by outside forces. When the world we have taken for granted proves so unstable, it gives rise to the question: what is schooling for? Thrive advocates a new purpose for education, in a rapidly changing world, and analyses the reasons why change is urgently needed in our education systems. The book identifies four levels of thriving: global - our place in the planet; societal - localities, communities, economies; interpersonal - our relationships; intrapersonal - the self. Chapters provide research-based theoretical evidence for each area, followed by practical international case studies showing how individual schools are addressing these considerable challenges. Humanity's challenges are shifting fast: schools need to be a part of the response.

Because literacy is never politically neutral, it is our hope that readers of this text will understand the significance of creating learning environments that emphasize the relationship between power and literacy. This book focuses attention on what can happen when teachers and students are empowered as they collaborate towards a common goal. Designed to balance theory and praxis, this book provides opportunities for teachers to begin conceiving of and building integrated literacy curricula that prioritizes the lived experiences and insights of their students, rather than emphasizes decontextualized lists of facts to be memorized or skills to be obtained. This book speaks to the needs of teacher candidates and practicing teachers who wish to engage more openly and fully with the current landscape of diverse learners, biased educational practices, and inequitable learning opportunities. The objective is to provide a means by which hopeful educators can begin to face the challenges of diverse classrooms in order to promote social justice and equity literacy by reimagining and reshaping both policy and practice.

Because literacy is never politically neutral, it is our hope that readers of this text will understand the significance of creating learning environments that emphasize the relationship between power and literacy. This book focuses attention on what can happen when teachers and students are empowered as they collaborate towards a common goal. Designed to balance theory and praxis, this book provides opportunities for teachers to begin conceiving of and building integrated literacy curricula that prioritizes the lived experiences and insights of their students, rather than emphasizes decontextualized lists of facts to be memorized or skills to be obtained. This book speaks to the needs of teacher candidates and practicing teachers who wish to engage more openly and fully with the current landscape of diverse learners, biased educational practices, and inequitable learning opportunities. The objective is to provide a means by which hopeful educators can begin to face the challenges of diverse classrooms in order to promote social justice and equity literacy by reimagining and reshaping both policy and practice.

This book examines a collaborative partnership model between academia and Indigenous peoples, the goal of which is to integrate Indigenous perspectives into the curriculum. It demonstrates how the authentic and creative approaches employed have led to an evolution of curriculum and pedagogy that facilitates cultural competence among Australian graduate and undergraduate students. The book pursues an interdisciplinary approach based on highly practical examples, exemplars and methods that are currently being used to teach in this area. It focuses on facilitating student acquisition of knowledge, understanding, attitudes and skills, following Charles Sturt University's Cultural Competence Pedagogical Framework. Further, it provides insights into the use of reflective practice in this context, and practical ideas on embedding content and sharing practices, highlighting examples of potential "ways forward," both nationally and globally.

Over the past twenty years, educational policy has been characterized by top?down, market?focused policies combined with a push toward privatization and school choice. The new Every Student Succeeds Act continues along this path, though with decision?making authority now shifted toward the states. These market?based reforms have often been touted as the most promising response to the challenges of poverty and educational disenfranchisement. But has this approach been successful? Has learning improved? Have historically low?scoring schools "turned around" or have the reforms had little effect? Have these narrow conceptions of schooling harmed the civic and social purposes of education in a democracy? This book presents the evidence. Drawing on the work of the nation's most prominent researchers, the book explores the major elements of these reforms, as well as the social, political, and educational contexts in which they take place. It examines the evidence supporting the most common school improvement strategies: school choice; reconstitutions, or massive personnel changes; and school closures. From there, it presents the research findings cutting across these strategies by addressing the evidence on test score trends, teacher evaluation, "miracle" schools, the Common Core State Standards, school choice, the newly emerging school improvement industry, and re?segregation, among others. The weight of the evidence indisputably shows little success and no promise for these reforms. Thus, the authors counsel strongly against continuing these failed policies. The book concludes with a review of more promising avenues for educational reform, including the necessity of broader societal investments for combatting poverty and adverse social conditions. While schools cannot single?handedly overcome societal inequalities, important work can take place within the public school system, with evidence?based interventions such as early childhood education, detracking, adequate funding and full?service community schools-all intended to renew our nation's commitment to democracy and equal educational opportunity.

A volume in Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue Series Editors: David J. Flinders, Indiana University Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue (CTD) is a publication of the American Association of Teaching and Curriculum (AATC), a national learned society for the scholarly field of teaching and curriculum. The field includes those working on the theory, design and evaluation of educational programs at large. At the university level, faculty members identified with this field are typically affiliated with the departments of curriculum and instruction, teacher education, educational foundations, elementary education, secondary education, and higher education. CTD promotes all analytical and interpretive approaches that are appropriate for the scholarly study of teaching and curriculum. In fulfillment of this mission, CTD addresses a range of issues across the broad fields of educational research and policy for all grade levels and types of educational programs.

This volume addresses an important gap in the literature on task design and second language use. Building on insights from over 50 years of research on the relationship between task demands and language use, it examines how referent similarity relates to developmentally-relevant variation in the use of nominal structures, comparative structures and abstract lexis among first and second language speakers of English. In addition to providing an empirical basis for future research on tasks, it shares both theoretical and practical information on task design, which will greatly benefit curriculum and material developers.

This book provides contemporary knowledge on school effectiveness and proposes strategic interventions for enhancing it. It focuses on improving academic leadership for enhancing the effectiveness of schools and discusses how national education policies are helpful in providing a vision towards improving school effectiveness. It highlights the role of teachers as academic leaders in the implementation of policy recommendations at school and classroom levels. It offers methods and mechanisms for academic leaders to measure the learning of students for school assessment. The author also discusses how academic leadership involves creating a vision and mission based on science and research data for the organisation, inspiring innovation and creative ideas, developing teamwork, and a safe environment for staff to express their views. While providing an understanding of school as an organization, the volume outlines its management functions such as processes and quality of planning, management of curriculum, learner evaluation, institutional networks, and human resource management, among others. The volume is a guidebook for training and capacity building for school-level practitioners and leaders in education management. Embedded with real-life cases and episodes, this volume will be of interest to teachers, students, and practitioners of education, management, and education management. It will also be useful for academicians, educationalists, practitioners, management professionals, educational leaders, and policymakers.

Winner of the 2017 NAGC Curriculum Studies Award Space, Structure, and Story integrates Earth and space science with science fiction and nonfiction texts, poetry, and art. This unit, developed by Vanderbilt University's Programs for Talented Youth, is aligned to the Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards. Students explore advanced science and ELA content through the lens of structure-its parts, purpose, and function. Mobius strips, the hero's journey, dystopian fiction, black holes, Einstein's relativity, stars, and moons are just a few of the captivating in-depth topics explored through accelerated content, engaging activities, and differentiated tasks. Ideal for gifted classrooms or gifted pull-out groups, the unit features poetry from Carl Sandburg, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and C. S. Lewis; art from M. C. Escher, Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, and Salvador Dali; a novel study featuring A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle; short stories from Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury; speeches from President John F. Kennedy and President Barack Obama; and informational texts about gravity, orbits, and black holes. Grades 4-6

This book, framed through the notion of double consciousness, brings postcolonial constructs to sociopolitical and pedagogical studies of youth that have yet to find serious traction in education. Significantly, this book contributes to a growing interest among educational and curriculum scholars in engaging the pedagogical role of literature in the theorization of an inclusive curriculum. Therefore, this study not only recognizes the potential of immigrant literature in provoking critical conversation on changes young people undergo in diaspora, but also explores how the curriculum is informed by the diasporic condition itself as demonstrated by this negotiation of foreignness between the student and selected texts.