This article is intended to highlight peer response discourse trends and to initiate a dialogue about the ways in which educators, and designers of educational environments, can play a central role in creating more democratic discourse in classrooms. We report on a research and development project involving education experts, computer engineers,…

Many institutional cultures resist change, and within universities academic developers vary their response to such resistance, depending on the type of change, the institution and their own characteristic styles, working preferences and strategic judgements. Variables influencing the successful introduction of innovation in academic practice…

Opponents of the neoliberal privatization of schools must be cautious in formulating their opposition so as not to situate themselves as the defenders of an otherwise indefensible status quo. Though we might expect professors in traditional university-based educational-leadership programs to protect their institutional self-interests and their…

In the study, the relation between school administrators' leadership style and resistance to change and prediction level of leadership styles for behaviours about resistance to change were discussed. Leadership styles of educational leaders which can vary according to their cultural, personal, psychological and educational qualities play a key…

In this article, the author demonstrates how a broader view of what shapes affinity is ideologically and practically linked to creating democratic learning communities. Specifically, the author explores how a teacher employed complex instruction (an equity pedagogy) with her ethnically and racially diverse students in the "lowest track"…

The paper explores pedagogies of surveillance and counter pedagogies of radical democracy and co-operative practice and their implications for continuing professional development (CPD). Teachers have had to respond to an increasing naturalisation of surveillance in schools. However, this naturalisation can be countered by drawing upon the emergent…

Transaction circles weave together elements of guided reading and literature circles in an open conversational structure that supports students as agentive learners. Discourse within these circles utilizing digital informational texts assist in the development of democratic practices even in a time when federal mandates limit curricula and…

Background: Teacher education, including physical education teacher education (PETE), around the world remains highly autocratic and content focused [Apple, M. W. 2000. "Official Knowledge: Democratic Education in a Conservative Age." New York: Routledge]. Scholars in physical education [O'Sullivan, M., D. Siedentop, and L. F. Locke.…

More than 150 years ago Horace Mann persuasively reasoned that education is the "balance wheel" of the social structure. He argued that education should be free and universal. While much progress has been made in establishing a universal education system since Mann spoke those words, substantial disparities in educational resources,…

Most Australian universities have a policy that stipulates responsibilities and protocol for situations when children are on campus. In recent times children have begun to be seen as possessing rights to participation in society. Ideas of children as citizens, that is, as active members of the public sphere, have been theorised, discussed and…

This study assesses whether Tufts University's campus culture was successful at infusing civic-mindedness in all undergraduates. A structural equation model was developed, and findings revealed that the campus environment had a significant positive impact on civic values and beliefs and a positive indirect effect on civic engagement activities.…

Educational standards, assessments, and accountability systems are of immense political moment around the world. But there is no developed theory exploring the role that these systems should play within a democratic polity in particular. On the one hand, well-designed standards are public goods, supported by assessment and accountability…

With the growth of a global economy, there is the need for a type of educational system that promotes civic engagement as a means of building new models toward a democratic society. In this article, the author discusses civic engagement as a tool for building democracy. As educators seek to develop models of civic engagement in teacher education,…

In the author's research, he has found that there are two key elements of an effective civic education: (1) duty; and (2) voice. In this article, he elaborates on what he means by these terms, but first he notes that--perhaps ironically--neither speaks to the content of a civics curriculum. He believes that it is possible to reach consensus on…

There are many important priorities for leadership education in a democratic society. In this article, the author concentrates on just one--the way in which leadership is conceived. This is an important issue. Indeed, the way in which potential leaders perceive leadership will shape the way in which they eventually practice it. The problem to date…