Farm education organized by farmers and directed towards students and groups of citizens is a relatively new practice often considered as one specific business strategy to diversify farmers' income. Although we endorse the importance of an economic rationale we argue that this conceptualization undermines a diversity of perspectives on educative…

Contextualized by efforts to support arts integration in one of the largest school districts in the United States, this qualitative study examines the experiences of educators as they participate in various arts-centred forms of professional development. Drawing on the work of, the tenets of arts-centered learning, the authors use Mediated…

This article explores the place of discourse about religions in education by comparing two very different schools. It initially outlines some of the current debates around religious discourse, notably in dialogue. A theoretical frame for analysing religious discourse in schools is proposed, combining a theorisation of three levels of dialogue with…

The ways in which the language of reformers intersects with and informs reform implementation is important to our understanding of how education policy impacts practice. To explore this issue, we employed critical discourse analysis (CDA) to analyze the language used by a 21st century skills-focused reform organization to promote its program…

Background: Preschool physical education has been largely unexplored by researchers. This article examines the meaning of the term "physical education", in relation to preschool contexts, to 14 practitioners working at three preschool settings in Scotland. Our focus on preschool physical education reflects a change in the language…

Teacher education programs attempt to prepare preservice teachers for the various challenges faced in the classroom. One particular challenge new teachers face is how to handle unsuccessful practices. This paper argues that confronting ineffective practices require that teachers respond to complex and dynamic challenges, making change difficult…

Policy discourse officially operates to distinctly influence public perception in an irrevocable and normalising manner. In a Maltese educational scenario of gradual decentralisation and increased accountability, I explore the "effects" of both the global and the local policy discourse of networks and networking on the practising…

As academic interest in Chinese complementary schools has grown, insufficient attention has been paid to the role and experiences of teachers working in these schools. This paper has drawn from accounts of Chinese complementary schoolteachers in London, together with the author's personal experiences of working as a teacher in one such school. The…

Complementary schools in the United Kingdom (UK) are community organised schools with the general aim of teaching younger generations their "native" languages and cultures. However, the aims and practices of these schools are predominantly dependent on changes in the social and political contexts both in the host country (in this case…

This project combines interdisciplinary conversations within the field of communication to examine environmental meaning systems and communication practices in the context of forest environmental education. Due to concerns over children's environmental alienation, there has been a continued push toward place-based environmental education. One such…

This case study of reading activity in third-grade bilingual classrooms at a state-sanctioned "successful" school examines the influences of the California accountability framework--Proposition 227, No Child Left Behind, and the federal Reading First program--on shifting beliefs and practices around what "counts" as reading.…