Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are online courses aimed at global unlimited participation, originally conceptualised to carry no fee and offer no formal accreditation to the students (McAuley et al. 2010). Although their pedagogies vary, the most popular MOOC providers (e.g., Coursera, FutureLearn and EdX) are turning towards what Rodriguez…

As an alternative to the current paradigm of gifted education, Ziegler and Phillipson proposed a systemic approach and argued that factors in the current mechanistic model of giftedness are not good predictors for exceptionality. They pinpointed that a single factor identified as an indicator of giftedness, ineffective measures, inappropriate…

This article provides a commentary on the Reggio Emilia approach from a Vygotskian perspective. In particular, the article considers how Vygotskian rationalism and Vygotsky's theory of concept development cohere with the Reggio Emilia approach. The article argues that these aspects of Vygotskian theory are applicable to, and can strengthen the…

Educational development has changed in many ways over the last 40?years and the International Consortium for Educational Development has highlighted the sheer variety of practices by bringing together educational developers from countries where activities differ markedly. These reflections identify the wide range of foci of attention that are…

A. Ziegler and S. N. Phillipson draw upon the Actiotope Model of Giftedness (AMG) to give an overview of a systemic approach to gifted education. They argue the value of such a systemic approach for understanding the development of exceptionality. The reviewers certainly agree that the achievement of excellent performance is not only the result of…

Ziegler and Phillipson (Z&P) advance an interesting and ambitious proposal, whereby current analytical/mechanistic theories of gifted education are replaced by systemic theories. In this commentary, the author focuses on the pros and cons of using systemic theories. He argues that Z&P's proposal both goes too far and not far enough. The future of…

This paper is designed to introduce readers to teacher-philosopher-practitioner, Paulo Freire and to illustrate the power of his educational ideals for the task of teaching leadership. Readers will encounter Freire, understand how one's definition of leadership needs to match one's approach to teaching leadership, review a proposed Freirean…

Youth unemployment is a huge challenge for sustainable development in our societies. Statistics offer an alarming picture of the involvement of youth in the labour markets on a global scale. Germany, due to a strong tradition in vocational education and training deeply rooted in its culture, has very low rates of youth unemployment. The so-called…

This essay reviews six competing positions on U.S. school reform: a speech from Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan; Diane Ravitch's "The Death and Life of the Great American School System"; Frederick Hess's "The Same Thing Over and Over"; Charles Payne's "So Much Reform, So Little Change"; Anthony Byrk and others' "Organizing School for…

Mike Rose points out that this is a crucial moment in the history of education in the United States. On one hand, Americans see a rhetoric of College for All, and pressure to get more racial minorities and low-income students into higher education, while the high school dropout rate stays stubbornly high near 30%. There is another rhetoric, about…

Black, Wilson, and Yao (this issue) make a compelling case for a coherent model of curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, all built around a well-specified theory of learning. Arguing that dominant assessment policies and practices tend to drive pedagogy and student attitudes toward learning in pernicious ways, Black et al. make an argument that is…

In this article I point out that method is not neutral and innocent, but rather productive, performative and creative. In other words, method does not simply represent reality (the world) but distorts and reconstructs it. Conventional methods are useful but distort the world giving the imprecision that it is simple, predictable and decidable.…

This article presents the author's response to D.G. Mulcahy's "Energizing Liberal Education" which compellingly contends that the long-term viability of liberal education depends upon both methodological and curricular diversification aimed at the "many sided development" of the student. Professor Mulcahy thoughtfully espouses both the cultivation…

This article presents an interview with Michael Barber, a partner at McKinsey & Company, leading its global education practice. He has been working on major challenges of performance, organization, and reform in government and the public services, especially education, in the U.S., U.K., and other countries. Barber was instrumental in preparing…

Scotland has a strong learner-centred system of adult literacy and numeracy education. Examination of the Scottish system can usefully highlight the issues associated with application of this approach in adult education more generally. Two important aspects are the need for highly skilled educators and the difficulty of evaluating such systems.…