The 2023 AAAE Values document identifies nine broad areas to focus research and practice to address complex agricultural, food, and natural resources challenges. To do this good work, we need paradigms, frameworks, and methodologies to guide our thinking, scholarship, and practice. Systems-oriented paradigms enable us to solve problems…

Purpose: This paper traces the conceptual bases of the recently introduced microAKIS concept with the aim of understanding its grounding within and critically discussing its added value for the broader AKIS concept. Design/methodology/approach: The article is designed as a discussion paper, it builds upon all openly accessible articles in January…

This paper first establishes the need for comprehensive internationalization of institutions of higher education, using frameworks provided by organizations, such as the American Council of Education (ACE) and the International Association of Universities (IAU), as well as by internationalization experts, such as Knight and De Wit. It proceeds…

This article applies system theory to the analysis of the relationship between the EU and candidate country Serbia, with a focus on adult education policy. The study explores how the peripheral status of Serbia with its hybrid political regime combining autocratic and democratic features leads to the hybridisation of its adult education system,…

Since the 1980s, neoliberal reforms in Higher Education (HE) have been widely adopted by governments around the globe because HE was seen as central to knowledge creation, national prosperity and competitiveness. Although the rate of adoption of these reforms varied due to differences in historical and political contexts, they have had a…

Purpose: As the skills economy becomes the norm, learning focused on skills, learners who understand those skills and can iterate the learners to potential employers, and hiring personnel who prioritize skills when making personnel decisions create a visible currency that can be leveraged by all the stakeholders. This paper seeks to analyze those…

A design-based research study on the development of one-page tools to support systemic thinking in public managers is presented. Study participants included public managers of social and human service agencies within government or nonprofit organizations, as learners for whom the tools were designed; and instructional design professionals,…

This article reimagines exclusion in education through the contrasting lenses of animal privilege, competition, and conformity, akin to the pecking order observed in some animal species. However, more inclusive and neuro-affirming frameworks can be found in the cooperative strategies of plant ecosystems. Drawing on evolutionary biology, plant…

In the face of persistent challenges within Aotearoa New Zealand's education system, "Building on our Strengths" offers a fresh perspective on ways of improving the system by focusing on what we are good at. With the OECD highlighting our system's high quality but low equity, this book shifts focus from mere problems to uncovering what…

This article revisits complex dynamic systems theory (CDST) and provides a new synthesis that, the authors argue, may empower language teachers. The particular focus is on the interplay between change and stability in complex dynamic systems, including language teaching and learning. The article identifies four key dynamical properties of complex…

In this article, I address the contemporary discussion of later-life courses in music education research and how it might perpetuate the discrimination and stereotyping of older adults. Drawing from the sociology of aging, I aim to show that one possible way to tackle the ageist assumptions in music education is to reflect on rethinking,…

Collective Intelligence (CI) is important for groups that seek to address shared problems. CI in human groups can be mediated by educational technologies. The current paper presents a framework to support design thinking in relation to CI educational technologies. Our framework is grounded in an organismic-contextualist developmental perspective…

Access to arts education in the United States continues to be inequitably distributed as a function of socioeconomic status and race. In response, arts practitioners and policymakers have worked to expand access to arts education among children from lower-income households and racially or ethnically minoritized (REM) backgrounds. In so doing, they…

Although positive education has made significant progress towards fostering student wellbeing at the individual level through the application of positive psychology interventions, adopting a systems-informed perspective will support the field to also approach wellbeing at the classroom and collective levels. Arguably, this approach will promote a…

The need for change in the education system is obvious and overwhelming. But each stakeholder group has its own ideas about why the system is broken and how to fix it. Competing priorities, political inertia and diminishing budgets maintain the dysfunctional status quo. This essential text examines the underlying causes behind the key challenges…