Diplomacy as it is traditionally understood is changing. Diverse, non-state actors in the social sector have become influential participants in setting global goals and priorities. In education, classroom teachers, administrators, academics, and policymakers play an increasingly important diplomatic role in exchanging knowledge, building consensus…

Teacher education in England now requires that student teachers follow practices that do not undermine "fundamental British values" where these practices are assessed against a set of ethics and behaviour standards. This paper examines the political assumptions underlying pedagogical interpretations about the education of national…

In this essay, Polly Graham addresses a current instantiation of what might be called self-loss within education in the United States. Graham observes that, in her experience, many students and educators, whether decidedly or without reflection, conform to superficial schooling practices that circumscribe the possibility of receiving affirmations…

Barbara Stengel's purpose in this essay is to complicate our understanding of the quality and status of educational courage as it is typically exercised in schools today, and to offer profiles of that courage in a minor key. If we only portray -- and aspire to -- courage in the heroic form that tilts against a system that is unfair, misguided, or…

This paper investigates the degree to which recent digital Open Education literature is aligned to social justice principles, starting with the first UNESCO definition of Open Educational Resources (OER). A critical analysis of 19 texts was undertaken to track dominant and alternative ideas shaping the development of Open Education since 2002 as…

In this article, we research and revisit our own experiences of gender equality work to determine the societal and discursive power relations that have shaped gender equality. We conducted our study in Finland, a 'Nordic model of gender equality', but we argue that these results have worldwide relevance, especially since Nordic models of gender…

In his 1980 book "Against Empiricism: On Education, Epistemology and Value," British philosopher R. F. Holland (1923-2013) exposes the inadequacies of a philosophy of education originating from an empiricist worldview. By following Plato's view that the issue of what qualifies as knowledge has to be understood with reference to whether…

Writing is an important mode of thinking and learning for elementary students. Consistent efforts have been made to encourage discipline-specific writing, yet defining qualities of elementary mathematical writing have historically been underdeveloped. This article offers educators a new framework that conceptualizes mathematical writing as writing…

The authors review the concept of Tong Shi (Chinese characters omitted) in ancient Chinese philosophical texts, illustrate the Chinese cultural attributes unique to the characters Tong and Shi, and confirm that the name and essence of Tong Shi Education has a clear directivity and irreplaceable coverage to university general education in…

Early childhood education is changing rapidly due to the dynamic nature of positive and negative trends affecting the profession. In this article, the changing landscape of early childhood education is discussed and analyzed. Both the positive and negative forces contributing to the changing landscape are examined. The focus of this discussion…

Discussions of love and care might seem a natural alliance for early childhood teachers. Yet, while care is now at last beginning to be accepted as a legitimate feature of early years childhood within professional discourse alongside 'education' (enshrined in concepts such as 'educare', 'ECEC', or 'well-being'), articulations of love remain an…

This paper explores a media-ecological perspective on film-education practice. Drawing from their own experiences of teaching film (at the Austrian Film Museum and the KurzFilmSchule, Hamburg) the authors challenge monolithic theories of film education, suggesting instead that film education practices are shaped by context, and are relational to…

The practice of seclusion generally refers to procedures that isolate a student from others, while restraint refers to the physical holding or mechanical restriction of a student's movement. While these practices are typically utilized as tools for addressing imminent safety concerns, the use of restraint or seclusion on students who are…

Medical products are required to disclose both their intended outcomes and known side effects. Educational policy and practice, however, carries no such labels. Thus, teachers, school leaders, and the public are not told, for example, that "this program helps improve your students' reading scores, but it may make them hate reading…

In the last 40 years, Spain became from a country of emigrants to a destination for immigrants. The 0.46% of immigrants of 1975 (165,000 of 36,012,682 people) went up to 12% (5,598,691 of 46,063,511) in 2009. The sudden demographic, economic, social, cultural, political and educational consequences of this move have been considerable. In this…