(2022). On Sustainability and Higher Education: Towards an Affirmative Ethics. Perspectives in Education, v40 n3 p118-131. Sustainable development has been the dominant focus in sustainability discourses over the past three decades. In 2015, the United Nations Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as a blueprint for peace and prosperity. The agenda is to be driven by the now well-known 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The higher education sector has not been left unaffected by these developments. In 2021, we saw Times Higher Education (2021) for the first time introducing its impact rankings, which assess universities against the United Nation's SDGs. This new category of the university ranking system may see universities increasingly account for their contributions towards both ecological sustainability and social justice. Paradoxically, higher education would have to embrace SDG targets as a social justice imperative, but within a neoliberal performance architecture and by applying the ethics of neoliberal market fundamentalism. In this article, we trouble the… [Direct]
(2022). Contested Memory of Okinawa's Colonial and War Past: History Teaching in and beyond Formal Education. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, v42 suppl 1 p73-87. This paper investigates the different ways in which the Battle of Okinawa in World War II is presented in and beyond formal education, using narratives and photos in Japan's state-authorized history textbooks and at a local museum. Specifically, this study examines 15 upper secondary school textbooks issued by six publishing companies from across the political spectrum and analyzes the narratives and photos used in these textbooks to depict and explain the Battle of Okinawa, together with the digital archives and official guidebook of the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum (OPPMM). The arguments and findings are three-fold. First, despite the line-by-line scrutiny of textbook contents by the state, individual textbooks show different narratives of the battle, and the monolithic view regarding the "Japanese textbook" is not sustained. Second, there are general differences of the battle's presentations between the school textbooks as a group and the OPPMM. Third, a… [Direct]
(1985). Henry Johnson and the Place of History in Education for World Peace. Social Education, v49 n2 p160-62 Feb. At the first independent meeting of the National Council for the Social Studies in 1935, Henry Johnson of Teachers College, Columbia University, delivered a speech entitled "The Place of History in Education for International Peace." What Henry Johnson said and the value of his ideas for today's teachers are discussed. (RM)…
(2021). It Requires More than Intelligence to Solve Consequential World Problems. Journal of Intelligence, v9 Article 38. What are consequential world problems? As "grand societal challenges", one might define them as problems that affect a large number of people, perhaps even the entire planet, including problems such as climate change, distributive justice, world peace, world nutrition, clean air and clean water, access to education, and many more. The "Sustainable Development Goals", compiled by the United Nations, represent a collection of such global problems. From my point of view, these problems can be seen as complex. Such complex problems are characterized by the complexity, connectivity, dynamics, intransparency, and polytely of their underlying systems. These attributes require special competencies for dealing with the uncertainties of the given domains, e.g., critical thinking. My position is that it is not IQ, but complex problem-solving competencies for dealing with complex and dynamic situations, that is important for handling consequential global problems. These… [PDF]
(2023). Higher Education, Neoliberalism, and Conflict: A Case of the University of Balochistan in Pakistan. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Loyola University Chicago. The current study focuses on the role of peacebuilding in the higher education sector of Pakistan's conflict-affected region of Balochistan. The research is an extended case study of the University of Balochistan. It addresses how the institution's peacebuilding agency has evolved in the face of ethnic conflict and the neoliberal reforms pursued by the state during the past two decades. The research is based on the study of policy documents, official reports, and individual and focus group interviews with various educational actors. The peacebuilding agency of the institution is theorized according to the 4Rs (Novelli et al., 2019; Novelli et al., 2017). The analytical frame of the 4Rs attempts to address the structural causes of conflict and theorize the role of education in relation to its role contributing to those causes. The analytical lens incorporates conflict's cultural, political, economic, and social dimensions and proposes a holistic strategy for building sustainable… [Direct]
(2020). Educational Psychology Service Contribution to Community Cohesion: An Appreciative Inquiry. Educational Psychology in Practice, v36 n1 p1-16. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child (UNCRC) calls for education to prepare children for ' … responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin'. The current study examines the potential role of Educational Psychologists (EPs) in addressing the UNCRC call to promote community cohesion through their work in schools. Through an Appreciative Inquiry cycle EPs considered facilitators of and barriers to working with communities. Facilitators included EP practices, skills and knowledge and seeing schools as communities in themselves. Barriers included public service funding and aspects of service delivery. A multi-level approach to promoting community cohesion is put forward, including acknowledgement of the context within which the work takes place as well as positing a continuum of community cohesion to community… [Direct]
(2016). Social Educators' Contribution in Educating for Peace and Security in Nigeria. Journal of Education and Practice, v7 n36 p97-103. For almost a decade, Nigeria has been facing serious peace and security challenges. The different ethnic nationalities have wedged one form of violent confrontation or the other against the federal government. Peace has been elusive. Beginning with the Niger-Delta militancy in the South-South to the on-going Boko Haram insurgency in the North East all bothered on agitations of marginalisation and unjust distribution of resources among the ethnic groups. This paper is a qualitative study carried out in Calabar Municipality of Cross River State of Nigeria. The sample involved 77 social educators purposively selected the University of Calabar, Cross River State College of Education and some selected secondary schools in the study area. Three research questions were posed and the respondents' responses formed the primary data for the study. The study was supported by the descriptive and analytical methods. From the responses, it was revealed that social educators by working in… [PDF]
(2022). No Justice, No Peace: An Arts-Based Project with a College Choir. Music Education Research, v24 n5 p533-548. This study examined the changes in perception toward systemic racism of twenty-six first-year students at a mid-sized university in central New Jersey. All were members of the first-year choir and, with their conductor, participated in a three-week workshop called 'No Justice, No Peace.' The goal was to examine social justice issues and systemic racism in society and to produce multimedia works of art to express their changing attitudes. Reacting to prompts by the facilitator, they created original poetry, singing, movement, and visual art projects recorded and posted on YouTube for public viewing. Critical pedagogy, critical pedagogy for music education, and activist pedagogy provided the theoretical frameworks. Coding techniques from the grounded theory literature offered a structure for the data analysis. We invited four students from the choir to participate in open-ended interviews and to share their final projects. We found that the students had positive feelings about the… [Direct]
(1981). Peace and Justice Education. Current Issues in Catholic Higher Education, v1 n2 Win. Articles in this issue of "Current Issues in Catholic Higher Education" concern the results of pilot projects in peace and justice education at several colleges and universities, along with initiatives made at other institutions. In "Report on ACCU's Pilot Programs," David Johnson provides an overview of the experiences of the seven institutions that implemented pilot projects and a chart outlining by college the following areas: program focus, curricular focus, curricular initiative, experiential learning, other educational programming, spirituality, and governance. "An Outline of Justice Education Programs at Catholic Colleges and Universities," by Don McNeill further details the programs. The following articles on specific programs are included: "Villanova University: An Update," by Daniel Regan; "Manhattan College," by Joseph Fahey; "University of Dayton," by Phillip Aaron; and "Washington Area Peace Studies… [PDF]
(2020). Schools, Communities and the Police — Shared Education as a Mechanism for Social Cohesion and Community Safety. Education and Society, v38 n2 p37-61 Dec. The relationship between the police and communities can be difficult in ethnically divided societies, especially if membership of the police force is largely drawn from one community. This situation pertained in Northern Ireland, which has separate schools for different religious communities. Despite a major reform of the police after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement (1998), the relationship between the police and the Catholic minority remained difficult and, in particular, the police found it difficult to engage with pupils in some Catholic schools. An education initiative, called Shared Education, was launched in 2006 to support the peace process by encouraging collaborative partnership between Protestant and Catholic schools. This paper examines a school partnership in Northern Ireland in which statutory and non-statutory organisations, including the Police Service in Northern Ireland, were involved. The paper examines how the relationship between the police and the… [Direct]
(2021). Education and the Good Life: Petrarch's Insights and the Current Research on Well-Being. Journal of Beliefs & Values, v42 n1 p95-109. According to Petrarch, the main goal of the liberal arts is to help us live a good life and become wise, virtuous, and serene. This is also something achieved via true Christian faith. In this paper, my goal is twofold. First, I review Petrarch's general attitude to the good life and the ways to live it, along with his advice on how to remain content or regain peace in the face of difficulties. As a devout Christian, Petrarch emphasises that faith suffices for a person to have a virtuous and contented life, but the combination of a liberal arts education and a Christian education is ideal. Second, I highlight the importance of Petrarch's insights, by taking a closer look at the contemporary research on the universal psychological needs and how their satisfaction relates to the overall sense of well-being of people across different cultures. Studies show that people who feel more autonomous generally have an increased sense of well-being. Furthermore, those who are 'mindful', that is… [Direct]
(2022). Implementation of Whole School Restorative Approaches to Promote Positive Youth Development: Review of Relevant Literature and Practice Guidelines. Education Sciences, v12 Article 187. Positive youth development highlights the promotion of skills through engaging and caring settings and building opportunities for bidirectional and constructive relationships. Whole School Restorative Approaches (WSRA) promote school community relationships and social and emotional skills which are core components for positive youth development. To our knowledge, the literature reviews on the implementation of restorative practice approaches in schools do not focus specifically on WSRA and are not comprehensive. This study carries out a systematic review of the empirical evidence on the effectiveness of WSRA and develops some evidence-based practice guidelines on their effects. Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria and we developed 10 evidence-based practice guidelines on the implementation of WSRA. There were many studies with WSRA showing positive results related to improving social and emotional skills and behavior. The highest level of scientific evidence is for secondary… [PDF]
(2021). A Global Educational Experience between Geography and Nursing: Interdisciplinarity and Sustainability. Geography Teacher, v18 n3-4 p142-145. As the world becomes increasingly more interconnected and interdependent, it is a priority to expand approaches for students to learn within interdisciplinary environments so that students acquire a broader "team lens" needed for success in future employment and scholarship. Across the globe, part of the "common language" connecting professionals across disciplines has been the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These seventeen interconnected goals serve as a blueprint for the nations of the world to address the ongoing challenges to peace and prosperity for people and the planet. The SDGs address interconnected broad issues ranging from ending poverty, addressing climate change, improving health and education, reducing inequalities, and spurring economic growth. Interdisciplinarity commonly refers to the joining of forces by two or more academic fields of knowledge. Several disciplines have participated in the process, and geography is no exception. Similarly,… [Direct]
(2022). A Study on the Perception of Turkish and Syrian Children of Each Other in Preschool Period: "Tell Me about Your Friend". Education Quarterly Reviews, v5 spec iss 2 p65-78. This paper aims on revealing the perceptions of 5-6-year-old Turkish and Syrian children sharing the same classroom environment in a preschool education institution by use of metaphors. The study was designed in the phenomenology pattern, one of the qualitative research methods, and conducted with 34 Turkish and 22 Syrian children in the 5-6 age group who receive education in the same kindergarten. The study data were obtained through a semi-structured open-ended form and the content analysis method was used in the assessment of the data. The examination of the study data indicates that Turkish and Syrian children expressed several common metaphors such as 'tree, mother, sky, game, toy, playing, cat, mirror, dog'. However, children attributed different meanings to the metaphors they expressed in common. On the other hand, the study determines that Syrian children created more metaphors with positive meanings compared to Turkish children. The study has a very significant purpose in… [PDF]
(1994). The Increasing Importance of Adult Education in the Future of Europe. Adults Learning (England), v6 n1 p31-34 Sep. The emergence of the European Union challenges adult education, the aims of which are relevant to the union–peace, democracy, and human rights. Adult education must be made a priority beyond the narrow confines of vocational training. (SK)…