The 19th century saw the rise of mass schooling. School acts were published, increasing number of teachers were trained and hired, and children increasingly attended schools. This development was strongest in Europe and North America, with schooling in the USA, France and Prussia leading the way. While this development with its national and…

Background: In U.S. contexts, the language of "quality" early childhood education is widely invoked to evaluate the "goodness" of teaching and learning and is often leveraged in attempts to ameliorate inequities. Likewise, efforts to define and achieve generalizable conceptualizations of early childhood quality often guide what…

This essay looks at how the definition and use of the word propaganda has evolved throughout history. In particular, it examines how propaganda and education are intrinsically linked, and the implications of such a relationship. Propaganda's role in education is problematic as on the surface, it appears to serve as a warning against the dangers of…

This paper assesses the dangers of the use of the concept 'culture' in present political and educational rhetoric. The first section offers a critique of the use of the term 'culture' in the so-called intercultural educational efforts. It asserts that 'culture' in its present use is a proxy for 'race' and supports views, which ignore diversity and…

This essay aims to map uses and attributions of the word "appropriate" as they occur in various disciplines related to children's literature. Three competing interest areas--publishing, education, and societal ideologies--provide insight as to how "appropriate" developed into an abstract cover-word for a variety of outside…

There is considerable variation in the dynamical literature in how the term "complexity" is used. While there have been several attempts to describe from an educational perspective what complexity encompasses, the term is frequently used without an explicit definition. To forge a shared understanding of what complexity means, the purpose…

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…

As with any field, technology education and its close relatives have numerous strengths and weaknesses. One of these weaknesses has too long been overlooked, and it is the subject of this article. One might think of technology education as empowering students, divergently fostering their own creativity. An abundance of design briefs shows that…

Efforts to improve educational outcomes for English learners often focus on "academic language," but unfortunately the field lacks a clear, agreed-upon definition of the concept. This article reports on a design research study that focused on students' engagement in one academic practice over several months: reading and discussing…