Contemporary Challenges Confronting School Leaders is the eleventh in a series on research and theory dedicated to advancing our understanding of schools through empirical study and theoretical analysis. Consequently, the chapters include analyses that investigate relationships between school organizations and administrative practice that affect teacher and student effectiveness. This edition is organized around concepts that are significant to contemporary school leaders: student achievement and variables that contribute to it or influence achievement indirectly.

This book challenges common assumptions about the efficacy of teacher collaboration, empowerment, and professional development to improve the educational experiences of low-achieving African American students without engaging the political and ideological contexts in which reforms take place. Written in a clear, engaging style, the book tells the story of two restructuring junior high schools in a single district, and how teachers' ideologies and race, class, and power contradictions in the schools, school district, and city shaped outcomes. Although the book is a critique of restructuring, powerful portraits of teachers who create culturally responsive and empowering educational experiences demonstrate the potential to reform educational practices and policies for African American students and suggest a direction for transforming schools.

Fuelled by social equity concerns, there have been vigorous debates on the appropriateness of certain non-state actors, particularly those with commercial and entrepreneurial motives, to meet universal education goals. There are further questions on the relative effectiveness of government and private schooling in delivering good learning outcomes for all. Within this debate, several empirical questions abound. Do students from poorer backgrounds achieve as well in private schools as their advantaged peers? What are the relative out-of-pocket costs of accessing private schooling compared to government schooling? Is fee-paying non-state provision 'affordable' to the poorest households? What is the nature of the education market at different levels? What are the relationships between different non-state actors and the state, and how should they conduct themselves? The chapters in this volume present new empirical evidence and conduct critical analysis on some of these questions. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Oxford Review of Education.

Grading is one of the thorniest issues writing teachers must deal with, yet, surprisingly little has been written on this topic. As writing teachers move increasingly toward practices that focus on writing as a process, they face a growing need to reconsider their systems of grading to determine whether or not these systems support their pedagogies. The authors interrogate the grading of individual papers as well as portfolios and the assigning of end-of-term grades. This collection explores the issues and problems that have emerged as conventional grading practices have lagged behind and been challenged by new theories of language.

While the book will be of interest to theorists, Zak and Weaver have also made the book relevant and useful to teachers whose primary interest is the practical consequences of theory in their classrooms. Where theoretical discussion takes place, the language is clear and accessible. Many of the authors write directly from personal experience, telling stories of the classroom or writing of new techniques and approaches they have tried. They speak with the voices of teachers, and the tone and content of their words convey a sense of the immediacy of the topic.

This book presents research on the instruction of two heritage languages and two foreign languages in Israeli schools. The authors explore language policy and the way languages are studied from the point of view of students, teachers, schools and curricula. Language in Israel is a loaded concept, closely linked to ideological, political, and social issues. The profound changes in language policy in the West along with two large waves of immigration from the Former Soviet Union and Ethiopia resulted in new attitudes towards immigrant languages and cultures in Israel. Are these new attitudes strong enough to change the language policy in the future? What do students and teachers think about the language instruction at school? Are the teaching materials updated and do they address modern demands? This book provides answers to these and other questions. As well as describing the instruction of two heritage languages, Russian and Amharic, and two foreign languages, French and Spanish, the book also contains an extensive background on the immigration history and acculturation process of the speakers of each of these languages. An in-depth understanding of the case of Israel will serve as a guide for other countries contending with similar issues pertaining to the adjustment of language policies in light of immigration and other challenging circumstances.

This book is an ethnographically-informed interview study of the ways in which middle-class mothers from three Israeli social-cultural groups - immigrants from the former Soviet Union, Palestinian Israelis and Jewish native-born Israelis - share and differ in their understandings of a 'proper' education for their children and of their role in ensuring this. The book highlights the importance of education in contemporary society, and argues that mothers' modes of engagement in their children's education are formed at the junction of class, culture and social positioning. It examines how cultural models such as intensive mothering, parental anxiety, individualism, and 'concerted cultivation' play out in the lives of these mothers and their children, shaping different ways of participating in the middle class. The book will be of interest to anthropologists and sociologists studying mothering, education, parenting, gender, class and culture, to readers curious about daily life in Israel, and to professionals working with families in a multicultural context.

This book draws upon Vygotsky's idea of perezhivanie, emotions and imagination, and introduces the concepts of subjective sense and subjective configuration. These concepts are crucial for explaining and understanding children's development from a cultural-historical perspective. A book which theorises the relations between the social and the individual through a study of a child's perezhivanie, which analyses emotions more holistically, and advances the concepts of subjective sense and subjective configuration, is much needed. This book examines the complexity of human development through a comprehensive elaboration of these concepts, allowing for new insights to be put forward. It doesn't always follow the chronological order of Vygotsky's publications, as many of his works remained in the family archives until the 1980s, when his Selected Works were first published in Russian. There has long been a need for a contemporary book on the scholarly treatment of perezhevanie, emotions, and subjectivity, and as such this book revisits dominant representations of these concepts and then puts forward new ways of conceptualising and using them in empirical research. The chapters cover a broad range of case studies where the concepts of perezhivanie, emotions and imagination and subjective sense and subjective configuration are used to give new empirical and theoretical insights into the study of human development.

This book rediscovers a traditional mode of knowledge that remains viable today. Contrasted to the academic and cultural fads often based on the scientific methodology of the Cartesian legacy, or any number of trendy experiments in education, Poetic Knowledge returns to the freshness and importance of first knowledge, a knowledge of the senses and the passions.

"Poetic knowledge" is not the knowledge of poetry, nor is it even knowledge in the sense that we often think of today, that is, the mastery of scientific, technological, or business information. Rather, it is an intuitive, obscure, mysterious way of knowing reality, not always able to account for itself, but absolutely essential if one is ever to advance properly to the higher degrees of certainty. From Socrates to the Middle Ages, and even into the twentieth century, the case for poetic knowledge is revealed with the care of philosophical archeology. Taylor demonstrates the effectiveness of the poetic mode of education through his own observations as a teacher, and two experimental "poetic" schools in the twentieth century.

Explores ways undergraduate theatre programs can play a significant role in accomplishing the aims and learning outcomes of a contemporary liberal education. Kindelan argues that theatre's signature pedagogy helps all undergraduates become actively engaged in developing critical and value-focused skills through inquiry- and problem-based learning strategies (learning communities, capstone courses, undergraduate research, and service learning).

In this volume, the culmination of a lifetime's work as an educator, Marshall Gregory lays out a pedagogical theory and ethical vision for teaching. He argues that teachers across the arts and sciences can reach for teaching excellence by relying on more than good will, good intentions, sincerity, enthusiasm, and trial and error. They can think, individually and collectively, about the educable capacities of the students they teach and about the ultimate aim of their teaching: not to merely impart information or train their students in a discipline, but to develop their students' abilities for thought, reflection, questioning, and engagement to their fullest extent. Drawing on over forty-five years of teaching and thirty-five years of training teachers to think about pedagogy, Gregory speaks to any teacher wanting to more fully ground the what of teaching in the how and why.

A Critical Pedagogy of Embodied Education outlines the pedagogy of activism and the process of learning to become an activist. Based on empirical research conducted in Australia, it explores the embodied learning of activists as they learn to be and become activists. This book, unlike any current publication on social purpose education, explores the differences and similarities between two groups of activists: lifelong activists who have been engaged in campaigns and socials movements over many years - often a lifetime - and the learning of circumstantial activists, those protestors who come to activism due to a series of life events. The book uncovers through multiple case studies the embodied pedagogy of activists who gain knowledge through the practical experience of being in the world of activism. Their learning is often driven by emotional agency and is social, informal, and critically cognitive. Using critical pedagogy as a lens, the book not only expands our understanding of the epistemology of activism, but provides insight into adult education as an embodied practice.

Argues that environmentalists must expand their political involvement to include the reform of public schools and universities, and that education must be revamped to support ecologically sustainable paths for society.

Bowers asks environmentalists to wake up and recognize that public schools and universities continue to promote the same elitist values and ways of thinking that produced the myth that economic and individual progress can be attained by treating the environment as an endlessly exploitable natural resource. He explains why the mainstream of the academic community continues to be in a state of denial about the serious cultural implications of the ecological crisis, and suggests alternative ways of thinking that should be incorporated into strategies for bringing about deep curriculum reforms in public schools and universities.

The book provides both an agenda for a sustained national debate over the educational implications of the ecological crisis, and conceptual guidelines that will help environmentalists assess whether reforms in curriculum and pedagogy will make a genuine contribution to reversing current cultural and environmental trends.

Critical Pedagogy addresses the shortcomings of mainstream educational theory and practice and promotes the humanization of teacher and student. Where Critical Pedagogy is often treated as a discourse of academics in universities, this book explores the applications of Critical Pedagogy to actual classroom situations. Written in a straight-forward, concise, and lucid form by an American high school teacher, drawing examples from literature, film, and, above all, the everyday classroom, this book is meant to provoke thought in teachers, students and education activists as we transform our classrooms into democratic sites. From grading to testing, from content area disciplines to curriculum planning and instruction, from the social construction of knowledge to embodied cognition, this book takes the theories behind Critical Pedagogy and illustrates them at work in common classroom environments.

This book breaks new ground in our understanding of the development of social consciousness and social responsibility in young people and the educational practices that promote this development. Berman shows that children's awareness of the social and political world emerges far earlier and their social and moral abilities are more advanced than we thought. Drawing on the research literature in such fields as moral development, citizenship education, political socialization, prosocial development, and psychosocial development, Berman provides educators and researchers with the developmental understandings and instructional strategies necessary to enable students to become active, caring, and responsible members of our social and political community.

"I believe this book pushes the field of educational and developmental psychology to a new level. It addresses some of the most pressing issues of our time..". -- Mary Field Belenky, University of Vermont, author of Women's Ways of Knowing

"Berman pushes us to consider how more than service opportunities or isolated courses in contemporary issues will be needed if students are to become engaged citizens. In doing so, he lays the groundwork for a movement to reclaim the civic purposes that once undergirded American education. Achieving this end will require a transformation of curriculum, instruction, and school structures aimed at incorporating multiple perspectives, providing more room for student voices, and supporting the formation of interactive school communities in which students feel cared for and influential". -- Gregory Smith, Lewis and Clark College, author of Education and the Environment: Learning to Live with Limits

Backed by evidence and research, this practical book presents an innovative yet comprehensive approach to teaching non-native English speakers the main communication and cultural competencies that are required to succeed in an international English-speaking workplace. Each unit includes strategies for teaching key skills, tasks to encourage reflection and notes on relevant cultural and technological issues. Practical features in each unit include lesson plans and materials, insights from the research, extension tasks, reflection activities and further readings. Supported by current learning theories, key teaching methodologies and assessment materials, the chapters address the challenges that non-native English speakers may face in the international English-speaking workplace. Areas of focus include: Job hunting Job applications Interviews Interpersonal, written and spoken communication Performance appraisals Applying for promotions Written for pre-service, practicing and future teachers, with specific guidance for each role, this is an essential resource for all educators who want to confidently address the challenges that non-English speakers may encounter at work, including linguistic proficiency, cultural awareness and the use of technology.

This volume of radical studies in the sociology and politics of education specifically addresses educational policies and the crisis of the welfare state--one of the central political facts of our time--and opens up new areas in the critical social analysis of education. Shapiro explores the interconnection between educational policy and the structure of economic, political, and cultural life in the United States, arguing that in spite of its practical and ideological autonomy, the educational region is not immune to the kinds of disruption and dislocation found elsewhere in society. Minority discrimination, urban decay, and the uneven results of the labor market as well as other conditions force new issues and questions onto the ideological policy agenda. However, in his cogent assesment of the state of public discourse, Shapiro discovers an absence, with one important exception, of reference to critical themes in mainstream political debate. He delineates the displacement into the educational area of crises that confront the lumpen class in America and that are experienced as economic deprivation, political disempowerment, and cultural disintegration and then speculates as to why a political agenda that speaks to the interrelatedness of the social crisis and the educational crisis remains unconstructed. The bulk of the eight chapters study a proposed political agenda for education that is resonant with the cultural concerns and social needs of subordinate and intermediary groups--a left agenda--that addresses three key areas: first, the crisis of values and meanings that consumption capitalism makes inevitable; second, the sense of disempowerment experienced by both subordinate and intermediary groups in American society; and finally, the issue of social justice based on the author's creatively expanded definition of the issues inherent to this concept including hunger here and abroad, the distribution of wealth and economic power, inadequate supply of shelter and medical care, and infant mortality. This important work with its invaluable analyses and proposals should be read by those concerned with the possibilities of radical intervention in public education during a period of conservative restoration. Must reading for students and scholars concerned with both the social analysis and critical study of education.

This is the first investigation of the roles of autobiography in teacher education to be informed by concepts and examples from China, Europe, and North and South America. Unique and timely, this volume addresses multiple movements of teacher education reform worldwide.

Most people would not associate Confucian philosophy with contemporary education. After all, the former is an ancient Chinese tradition, and the latter is a modern phenomenon. But this book shows otherwise, by explaining how millennia-old Confucian ideas and practices can inform, inspire and improve school administration, teaching and learning today. Drawing upon major Confucian texts such as the Analects and Mencius , as well as influential thinkers such as Confucius, Zhu Xi and Empress Xu, the various chapters address current educational issues and challenges such as the following: * What roles do schools play in fighting the coronavirus pandemic? * How can humanity resolve the climate emergency? * What (more) should school leaders do to promote education for girls? * Is there more to lifelong learning than just skills upgrading? * What is missing in the existing frameworks on 21st century competencies? * What new initiatives are needed to champion sustainable development? Confucian Philosophy for Contemporary Education answers the above questions and more by presenting a Confucian model of education. The author proposes a Confucian school where Dao - a shared vision of human excellence - is realised through a mindful, learning-centred, action-oriented and ultimately humanising form of education. This book is a useful resource for academic researchers, educators, students and general readers on Confucian philosophy and its continual relevance for present-day education.

Examines the kinds of school structures and educational practices that nurture the development of young people as public, democratic citizens.

Education for Public Democracy identifies two competing traditions of American democracy and citizenship: a dominant, privately-oriented citizenship tradition and an alternative tradition of public democratic citizenship. Based on the second tradition, public democracy, the author outlines a set of qualities an effective democratic citizen must possess, as well as a number of ideal school practices that promote these qualities in young people. This discussion provides a framework for analyzing two democratic urban alternative high schools.

The book provides an essential bridge between democratic theory and promising school practices that promote public democratic citizenship. Its insights will be indispensable to teachers, school administrators, teacher educators, and theorists who seek to recreate American education in the service of a revitalized democracy.

Service-learning, the integration of community service with academic course work, is a promising strategy for enhancing learning and developing active democratic citizens. This book responds to the many recent calls for youth involvement in service as part of the public school curriculum. While service- learning holds many benefits for students, teachers, and communities, there are also many challenges to effectively incorporatie it into the curriculum.

Each of the book's four parts provides a different scope and purpose. Part 1 addresses the components of quality service-learning programs; Part 2 introduces diverse models of service-learning programs at the elementary, middle, and high school levels; Part 3 allows students, agency members, and administrators to tell their own stories of service-learning involvement, to discuss issues with other individuals who share their roles, and to offer recommendations for effective action; and Part 4 asks readers to consider the future of service-learning in public schooling.

Community Service-Learning is a comprehensive resource that will be valuable for all those involved with K-12 service-learning programs: administrators, classroom teachers, students, program coordinators, and university teacher education programs.

Tyson E. Lewis and Richard Kahn argue for a new critical theory of the monster as an imaginary other on the margins of human and animal. Through a unique combination of critical, posthumanist, and educational theories, the authors engage in a surreal journey into the worlds of feral children, alien reptoids, and faery faiths in order to understand how social movements are renegotiating the boundaries of community. Part philosophy of imagination, part political theory, and part pedagogical critique, this book is a twenty-first century bestiary - a catalog to navigate the monstrous world in which we live.

This new series, Research on Religion and Education, will examine the important role that religion continues to play in education at all levels, elementary, secondary and tertiary and in all venues, public, private, and parochial schools. A central focus of the series will identify the place of religious schools in maintaining the identity of sponsoring faith communities and the impact these communities have on the school. Other topics will examine differing educational philosophies of religious schools including the non-Christian schools, the appropriate role of religion in public schools, and the impact of religion on the lives of students in higher education. This series will study the impact that religion has on education and education has on religion.

"Queer Masculinities: A Critical Reader in Education "is a substantial addition to the discussion of queer masculinities, of the interplay between queer masculinities and education, and to the political gender discourse as a whole. Enriching the discourse of masculinity politics, the cross-section of scholarly interrogations of the complexities and contradictions of queer masculinities in education demonstrates that any serious study of masculinity-hegemonic or otherwise-must consider the theoretical and political contributions that the concept of queer masculinity makes to a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of masculinity itself.

The essays adopt a range of approaches from empirical studies to reflective theorizing, and address themselves to three separate educational realms: the K-12 level, the collegiate level, and the level in popular culture, which could be called 'cultural pedagogy'. The wealth of detailed analysis includes, for example, the notion that normative expectations and projections on the part of teachers and administrators unnecessarily reinforce the values and behaviors of heteronormative masculinity, creating an institutionalized loop that disciplines masculinity. At the same time, and for this very reason, schools represent an opportunity to 'provide a setting where a broader menu can be introduced and gender/sexual meanings, expressions, and experiences boys encounter can create new possibilities of what it can mean to be male'. At the collegiate level chapters include analysis of what the authors call 'homosexualization of heterosexual men' on the university dance floor, while the chapters of the third section, on popular culture, include a fascinating analysis of the construction of queer 'counternarratives' that can be constructed watching TV shows of apparently hegemonic bent. In all, this volume's breadth and detail make it a landmark publication in the study of queer masculinities, and thus in critical masculinity studies as a whole.

Educational leaders, researchers, and community members have found collaborating on research supports improvement in their schools, districts, and the wider community - but how do we go about developing these partnerships? With essential tools, frameworks, and tips for brokering in research-practice partnerships (RPPs), this practical book provides guidance on cultivating and sustaining impactful relationships and supportive infrastructure with partners. Through the careful brokering of these partnerships, RPP brokers can bridge the gap between education research and practice, bringing people together to build a more equitable educational system. Written by RPP leaders, researchers, and professionals, this handbook explores how brokering can: Support the production and use of partnership research Develop and nurture meaningful relationships, even in the face of challenging circumstances Build individual competencies to manage an RPP and strengthen the partnership Develop partnership governance Implement effective administrative structures Design processes and communications routines Assess and continuously improve the partnership This is an essential read for any educational leader, higher education faculty, researcher, or other community member who wants to understand the types of activities and responsibilities required of an RPP broker and the strategies to become an effective broker of RPPs aimed at educational improvement and equitable transformation.

Emerging from Inside Film, a project that helps prisoners and people on probation make their own films, this book discusses the need for working class people to represent themselves and challenge mainstream stereotypes and assumptions about them. This project gave prisoners and parolees the technical skills necessary to make their own films and tell their own stories in order to counter the ways they have been misrepresented. The author demonstrates that film and television are key means by which socioeconomically marginalized groups are classified according to hegemonic norms, as well as the ways such groups can undermine these misrepresentations through their use of the media. As a theoretical reflection on the Inside Film project and the relationship between filmmaking and education, this book explores what radical pedagogy looks like in action.