Aims to provide an easily accessible, practical yet scholarly source of information about the international concern for the nature, theory and practices of the ideas of values education and lifelong learning. Aspin from Monash University and Chapman from Australian Catholic University.
Informed by the most up-to-date research from around the world, as well as examples of good practice, this handbook analyzes values education in the context of a range of school-based measures associated with student wellbeing. These include social, emotional, moral and spiritual growth – elements that seem to be present where intellectual advancement and academic achievement are being maximized. This text comes as ‘values education’ widens in scope from being concerned with morality, ethics, civics and citizenship to a broader definition synonymous with a holistic approach to education in general. This expanded purview is frequently described as pedagogy relating to ‘values’ and ‘wellbeing’. This contemporary understanding of values education, or values and wellbeing pedagogy, fits well with recent neuroscience research. This has shown that notions of cognition, or intellect, are far more intertwined with social and emotional growth than earlier educational paradigms have allowed for. In other words, the best laid plans about the technical aspects of pedagogy are bound to fail unless the growth of the whole person – social, emotional, moral, spiritual and intellectual, is the pedagogical target. Teachers and educationalists will find that this handbook provides evidence, culled from both research and practice, of the beneficial effects of such a ‘values and wellbeing’ pedagogy.
Some revision of public schooling history is necessary to challenge the dominant mythology that public schools were established on the grounds of values-neutrality. In fact, those responsible for the foundations of public education in Australia were sufficiently pragmatic to know that its success relied on its charter being in accord with public sentiment. Part of the pragmatism was in convincing those whose main experience of education had been through some form of church-based education that state-based education was capable of meeting the same ends. Hence, the documents of the 1870s and 1880s that contained the charters of the various state and territory systems witness to a breadth of vision about the scope of education. Beyond the standard goals of literacy and numeracy, education was said to be capable of assuring personal morality for each individual and a suitable citizenry for the soon-to-be new nation. As an instance, the NSW Public Instr- tion Act of 1880 (cf. NSW, 1912), under the rubric of “religious teaching”, stressed the need for students to be inculcated into the values of their society, including understanding the role that religious values had played in forming that society’s legal codes and social ethics. The notion, therefore, that public education is part of a deep and ancient heritage around values neutrality is mistaken and in need of se- ous revision. The evidence suggests that public education’s initial conception was of being the complete educator, not only of young people’s minds but of their inner character as well.
This book is about values education in early years settings and discusses theory and concepts, as well as methodological and empirical perspectives. It explores issues such as the kinds of values that are communicated between educators and children and the kind of future citizens we foster in early childhood settings. It illustrates by way of cases involving many participants, including children, educators, and researchers, who have their roots in diverse contexts, and reside in different parts of the world, including Australia, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Slovenia, and Sweden. The book carefully considers the contextualized character of the cases presented, yet argues that the questions, theories, and methodologies emphasized do inform the international debate in manifold ways. Communication of values in a broad and diverse sense is central in any pedagogy, especially for the youngest children in the educational system. Still, values education has been neglected as a research field, in education in general and particularly in the early years. This book addresses this lack of knowledge by scrutinizing various questions about values education in ECEC settings.
This volume offers insights from modeling relations between teacher quality, instructional quality and student outcomes in mathematics across countries. The relations explored take the educational context, such as school climate, into account. The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement’s Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is the only international large-scale study possessing a design framework that enables investigation of relations between teachers, their teaching, and student outcomes in mathematics. TIMSS provides both student achievement data and contextual background data from schools, teachers, students and parents, for over 60 countries. This book makes a major contribution to the field of educational effectiveness, especially teaching effectiveness, where cross-cultural comparisons are scarce. For readers interested in teacher quality, instructional quality, and student achievement and motivation in mathematics, the comparisons across cultures, grades, and time are insightful and thought-provoking. For readers interested in methodology, the advanced analytical methods, combined with application of methods new to educational research, illustrate interesting novel directions in methodology and the secondary analysis of international large-scale assessment (ILSA).
Teacher quality is the single most important school-related factor influencing student success. The author examines the body of research on the subject of teacher quality to draw conclusions about which attributes makes teachers most effective, (experience, preparation programs and degrees, type of certification, specific coursework taken in preparation for the profession, and teachers' own test scores), with a focus on aspects of teacher quality that can be translated into policy recommendations and incorporated into teaching practice.
This book, jointly authored by two distinguished philosophers and two prominent social scientists, has an ambitious aim: to improve decision-making in education policy. First they dive into the goals of education policy and explain the terms "educational goods" and "childhood goods," adding precision and clarity to the discussion of the distributive values that are essential for good decision-making about education. Then they provide a framework for individual decision-makers that enables them to combine values and evidence in the evaluation of educational policy options. Finally they delve into the particular policy issues of school finance, school accountability, and school choice, and they show how decision makers might approach them in the light of this decision-making framework. The authors are not advocated particular policy choices, however. The focus instead is a smart framework that will make it easier for policymakers (and readers) to identify and think through what they disagree with others about.
This book explores the interplay between actors within educational institutions, organisational structure, commitment of senior leadership, involvement of faculty and students, and evaluation instruments in order to find ways of improving the quality of teaching.
"Living Values Education Activities for Children Ages 3-7, Book 1" is an updated and expanded edition of the original "Living Values Activities for Children Ages 3-7" resource. Book 1 offers a rich variety of values activities to help children explore and develop values. The eight values units of Book 1 are Peace I, Respect 1, Love and Caring, Tolerance, Honesty, Happiness, Responsibility, and Simplicity and Caring for our Earth and Her Oceans. The Living Values Education Activities in this book incorporate a variety of ways to introduce, explore and teach values. The Peace Unit begins with a commentary which encourages children to imagine what a peaceful world would be like. Art activities, playing with peace puppets and the making of a peace tent help them bring some of their ideas into life. Reflection points explain values in simple ways. Stories, songs, sharing, and teaching skills are combined with playing, art, movement and role playing. Quietly Being exercises help children learn to self-regulate and fill themselves with peace, love and respect. In this peaceful, nurturing and enjoyable approach, personal social and emotional skills develop as well as positive, constructive social skills. These values activities can be used by elementary school teachers, nursery and pre-school teachers, parents, caregivers and day-care center staff. This book reflects the experience of Living Values Education educators ... that children love to explore. They are naturally receptive, enthusiastic about learning, and spontaneously caring and creative. They thrive in a positive, nurturing, values-based atmosphere where they feel safe, and easily assimilate learning about peace, conflict resolution and the giving of respect and love. Consciously modeling peace, respect, caring and honesty, and teaching about values is increasingly important as children in today's world are exposed to violence and inappropriate models of behavior at younger and younger ages. The Living Values Education Activities books are part of the curricular resources offered by the Association of Living Values Education International. Growing from strength to strength, Living Values Education (LVE) has enriched the lives and educational experience of young people and educators around the world since its initial pilot in February 1997. A global endeavor dedicated to nurturing and educating hearts as well as minds, LVE provides an approach and tools to help people connect with their own values and "live" them. A values-based learning community fosters positive relationships, quality learning and quality education. With Living Values Education, educators and students become co-creators of a culture of peace and respect. Educators are welcome to participate in Living Values Education professional development workshops. Creating a values-based atmosphere in which young people are loved, valued, respected, understood and safe helps students "catch" the values being shared.