Education

This edited book provides an overview of unstructured and structured play scenarios crucial to developing young children’s awareness, interest, and ability to learn Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in informal and formal education environments. The key elements for developing future STEM capital, enabling children to use their intuitive critical thinking and problem-solving abilities, and promoting active citizenship and a scientifically literate workforce, begins in the early years as children learn through play, employing trial and error, and often investigating on their own.

The book is intended for parents seeking to provide STEM activities for their children at home and in playgroups, citizen scientists seeking guidance to provide children with quality educational activities, daycare practitioners providing educational structures for young children from birth to formal education, primary school teachers and preservice teachers seeking to teach preschool, kindergarten or children typically aged 5–8 years old in grades 1–3, as well as researchers and policy makers working in science didactics with small children.

This volume analyzes cases from emerging economies in relation to the global endeavor to promote the vision of sustainable development in all forms of education. It aims to discuss the significance of hearing local voices and understanding local discourse regarding strategies for action for change, and the role of educational systems as a means to communicate, promote and educate for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In this book, emerging economies are defined as newly industrialized countries that have not yet reached developed status, but have, in a macro-economic sense, outpaced their developing counterparts. In this context, the book highlights how education in emerging economies could extend conventional economic methods to sustainability issues, or depart from money-based calculations and business-dominated values to promotion of real-life considerations and ethical, environmental and humanistic values.

This book lays the groundwork for the future of global citizenship, and it discusses where we are now, where to go from here, and how all of this fits into a lifelong learning context. It incorporates case studies, meta-narratives, and empirical studies to support cosmopolitanism through a lifelong learning lens and is a must read for educators, activists, non-governmental organizations, civil society, and community organizations.

The framing for this book is with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 in mind: ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all, with the intent that all learners will acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to promote “sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development” (UN Sustainable Development Goal, target 4.7). It is through this lens that this book showcases the work of researchers, practitioners, civil society, and thought leaders in global citizenship for lifelong learning.

While this tension between nationalism and cosmopolitanism exists, the wheels of globalization still turn and shape our local, national, and global connections. Through this exploration, this book lifts up examples of global citizenship education done well, across the age spectrum, and in a variety of contexts. The binding factor is the core values, ethics, and moral structure of a world in collaboration toward its larger human and ecological thriving. It unpacks complex topics such as ethical and cultural relativism, accountability and responsibility in a global world, decolonial education and unmaking ideas of “development”, and ethical models for community-based global learning and engagement. What voices are missing in the discussion of global learning and global citizenship education?

This edited volume—the first book devoted to the topic of contract cheating—brings together the perspectives of leading scholars presenting novel research. Contract cheating describes the outsourcing of students’ assessments to third parties such that the assignments or exams students submit are not their own work. While research in this area has grown over the past five years, the phenomenon has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Themes addressed in this book include the definition of contract cheating, its prevalence in higher education, and what motivates students to engage in it. Chapter authors also consider various interventions that can be used to address contract cheating’s threat to academic integrity in higher education including: assessment practice, education, detection strategies, policy design, and legal interventions.

This book explores the issue of graduate employability in regional Vietnam. It provides a critical discussion of not only the demands of the labour market but also the practices and challenges in the development of graduate employability and career capacity building at the national, institutional and individual levels. It discusses graduate employability in Vietnam by analysing government and institutional policies and taking into account the perspectives and experiences of three key stakeholders: employers, graduates and universities. The book highlights the development of ‘employability in context’ for graduates in regional Vietnam to be able to adapt to the specific social, cultural and demographic conditions of the region and tackle new employment challenges.

This book brings together new thinking and research on religious education’s complex and evolving role in the multicultural, diverse postmodern era. It facilitates new realism and understanding of the current situation from empirical and reflective accounts relating to a variety of countries and political contexts, as well as providing innovative methodological approaches to the study of education and religion.

In different contexts around the world, at different levels of education, and from different theoretical lenses, religious education occupies a contested space. The ongoing, changing nature of the world due to increasing secularization, rapid technological change, mass immigration, globalization processes, conflict and challenging security issues, from inter to intra state levels, and with shifting geopolitical power balances, generates the need to reconceptualize where religious education is positioned. It claims that religious education on its own can be an agent of moral, social and spiritual transformation are disputed. There is significant controversy about whether special religious education, that is in-faith education, still has a role within the post-modern world.

This edited book explores the problems and challenges of negotiating the representation of ethnic minorities within history education. It investigates how states balance the (non-)acknowledgement of the reality of cultural or religious diversity, and the promotion of a point of convergence in history education to foster national identity. Shifting our attention away from the intractable challenges posed by post-conflict countries for reconciliation, the contributors draw attention to the need to explore ways to prevent or pre-empt conflicts and exclusion through history education, which could contribute to developing a more sustainable culture of peace. Drawing on a wide range of contexts and sources, this book asks how history education could contribute to forming critical, historically informed, and committed young citizens. The book will be of interest to students and academics working on themes such as nationalism, citizenship, ethnicity, history education, multicultural education, peace studies and area studies, as well as practitioners in the fields of history, social studies, civic or citizenship.

This book foregrounds the provision of education for young people who have been remanded or sentenced into custody. Both international conventions and national legislation and guidelines in many countries point to the right of children and young people to access education while they are incarcerated. Moreover, education is often seen as an important protective and ‘rehabilitative’ factor. However, the conditions associated with incarceration generate particular challenges for enabling participation in education. Bridging the fields of education and youth justice, this book offers a social justice analysis through the lens of ‘participatory parity’, the book brings together rare interviews with staff and young people in youth justice settings in Australia, secondary data from these sites, a suite of pertinent and frank reports, and international scholarship. Drawing on this rich set of material, the book demonstrates not only the challenges but also the possibilities for education as a conduit for social justice in custodial youth justice. The book will be of immediate relevance to governments and youth justice staff for meaningfully meeting their obligation of enabling children and young people in custody to benefit from education; and of interest to scholars and researchers in education, youth work and criminology. 

This open access book offers in depth knowledge on the challenges and opportunities offered by the inclusion of minority teachers in mainstream educational settings from an international perspective. It aims to be a unique and important contribution for scholars, policy-makers, and practitioners considering the complexities brought about by global trends into national/local educational systems and settings. It will also serve to guide future research, policy, and practice in this important field of inquiry.

The work will contribute answers to questions such as: How do immigrant/minority teachers experience their work in mainstream educational settings?; How do mainstream shareholders experience the inclusion of immigrant/minority teachers in mainstream educational settings?; What is the effect of the successful (and/or unsuccessful) integration of minority teachers and teacher educators into mainstream education settings?.

This book thus explores the role of African epistemologies in addressing the myriad challenges posed by the inclusive education system in Africa and other contexts.

This edited collection presents, reviews, and critically analyzes sustainable practices and long-term-oriented decision-making in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Campus closures and the quick transition to hybrid or e-learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic caused HEI stakeholders, including students, faculty, and staff, to swiftly adopt new ways of learning, teaching, and administering that were unfathomable only months before. This radical and challenging shift left many in academia with a sense that there is tremendous potential for HEIs to take the lead – both from an educational and practical standpoint – in fostering on- and off-campus sustainability and combatting climate change. In this book, the editors and their contributors systematically highlight current challenges that are slowing or derailing HEIs’ finance-related initiatives and practices geared toward sustainability. The case studies collected in this book provide a holistic overview of the ways inwhich financial and other long-term decisions can lead to more sustainable practices in higher education. 

This volume addresses the central question facing the future of higher education around the world, whether and why universities need to exist at all. This book accepts the question’s premise: It is not clear that the university is any longer needed as an institution -- that is, unless its defenders recover what had made the university the revolutionary institution that over the past two centuries has not only defined the shape of modern systematic inquiry but also the distinctiveness of the societies that have housed them. In short, what is required is a reanimation of the spirit of Wilhelm von Humboldt for our times; hence the book's title and subtitle. Humboldt was responsible for relaunching the university as the vanguard institution of 'Enlightenment' to which we continue to pay lip service – and sometimes not much more than that. Admittedly, the task of relaunching Humboldt today is made difficult because many of the concrete achievements associated with the Humboldtian university – not least academic disciplines and nation-states – are increasingly seen as problematic if not obsolete. However, the global reach of the Humboldtian vision in its 19th century and 20th century heyday offers hope that it may be recovered in the 21st century. The book focuses on the performative character of the academic vocation, what Humboldt memorably characterized as the 'unity of research and teaching' in the same person, a role model for students and society at large. The book's seven chapters develop this theme in a historically and philosophically nuanced way in terms of the Humboldtian vision of knowledge, sense of free expression and critical judgement, and commitment to translation and publicity.

This edited volume brings together a new materialist approach to understanding the various legacies and controls being exercised through school uniforms. Through examining school uniform policies, the editors and their authors highlight the embodied choices that contribute to a socio-materialist understanding of democracy and social justice. Uniform policy plays a distinct role in setting the culture of compulsory school education and as such it constitutes a set of under-theorised school practices. This work thus brings together critical perspectives from education, sociology, cultural and postcolonial studies within an overarching analysis of how uniform imposes performances that have a formative effect on young people’s identities and economic positionality.

This edited book is a unique comprehensive discussion of 21^st century skills in education in a comparative perspective. It presents investigation on how eight very different countries (China, Canada, England, Finland, Poland, South Korea, the USA and Russia) have attempted to integrate key competences and new literacies into their curricula and balance them with the acquisition of disciplinary knowledge. Bringing together psychological, sociological, pedagogical approaches, the book also explores theoretical underpinnings of 21^st century skills and offers a scalable solution to align multiple competency and literacy frameworks.

The book provides a conceptual framework for curriculum reform and transformation of school practice designed to ensure that every school graduate thrives in our technologically and culturally changing world. By providing eight empirical portraits of competence-driven curriculum reform, this book is greatresource to educational researchers and policy makers.

This book investigates current debates shaping Higher Education development as a subsystem and higher education (HE) as a field of study in Africa. It applies meta-analysis, literature review methodologies and the lens of decolonization theories to examine both studies and key reforms characterizing the continent. The book unpacks how these remarkable and unintended transformations of universities that shape Africa can be comprehended by researching national, regional, and continental arrangements of universities and systems in order to see how all these categories either dialogue or intersect.

As they have done historically, innovative institutions enrich the college ecosystem, helping the higher educational industry develop flexible resilience. The chapters in this book showcase perspectives, hard-won lessons, challenges and provocative ideas about how historically innovative institutions can contribute to the current discourse on innovation in higher education. The chapters in this book include case studies of innovative campuses and practices, as well as future-looking directions for innovation. Taken together, they ask, is there a way to consider how future trends can be navigated in effective ways, so that the most important features of higher education––student learning, the liberal arts, the cultivation of critical thinking––can remain central to tomorrow’s institutions?

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of international higher education and soft power as cultural diplomacy, through a study of Morocco and South Korea. It draws on extensive original research to explore the social, political, and economic factors that have shaped the international standing of both countries in terms of higher education. The research reveals the importance of higher education in promoting soft power and the role of international universities in enhancing the international reputation of a country. The book's key findings demonstrate the impact of soft power as cultural diplomacy on international relations and the contribution it makes to research in the field of international higher education.

This book furthers the understanding and conceptualization of the notion of inclusion in education, and explores the challenges experienced during the operationalization and implementation of the process. It extends debates spawned by international and national policy mandates that sought to transcend exclusionary educational practices in order to realize inclusive societies and, by implication, inclusive classrooms.

It offers a comprehensive conceptual framework for inclusive education in the Southern African context while drawing parallels from the regional and international experience. This book can be used as a reference or critical reading for scholars and researchers in the field of inclusive education. It will empower practitioners, administrators, teachers and school leaders, curriculum developers and planners, as well as policy makers with knowledge about theory and practice regarding inclusive education in the Southern African schooling system.

This timely volume explores the current and future state of hybrid and remote work in higher education from national, regional, and global perspectives. Today, colleges and universities worldwide must ensure that they have adequate information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure, equipment, and systems to adapt to the “new normal” post-COVID-19. Hybrid and remote work can be a source of boosting productivity and advancing institutional change in higher education. Common within the management and leadership literature, hybrid and remote work is an understudied phenomenon in higher education administration. This book investigates the rapid rise of remote and hybrid work during and after the global pandemic and what it means for the future of higher education in the United States and abroad. By developing a comprehensive, research-based knowledge and framework this book seeks to equip and empower teacher-scholars and practitioners to operate safely, securely, and efficiently in a remote or hybrid environment.

This book traces the full history of the Higher Education Act of 1965 in its entirety, to the present. The fifty-six-year history of this landmark legislation is analyzed as a genealogical phenomenon through multiple methodological and theoretical frameworks. This allows the researcher to study the Act not in a linear or single approach, rather the blend of lenses and methods creates a means to study policy-making as a site of ideological reproduction and results in the exposure of power dynamics that obfuscate the hidden agenda by those in positions of power. 

This book presents a unique framework for the inclusion of ecomedia in the English language classroom to help learners cultivate global citizenship. Foregrounding learner agency in a world at risk, the author proposes a framework that hinges on human rights and critical eco-cosmopolitanism to help learners position themselves in discourses on climate change and act for transformation. The book discusses eco-documentaries as multimodal, factional texts against the background of cutting-edge research, refuting a definition based on the binary of fiction and non-fiction. Translating the insights gained from this discussion to the language education context, learners are conceptualised as active designers of meaning making when engaged with eco-documentaries. Based on this discussion, the book puts forth an innovative, multiliteracies-informed concept which is embedded in a sustainability-oriented pedagogy of hope, which encourages learners to learn and practice languages of hope and advocacy. The book will be of interest to scholars in the fields of ecopedagogy, sustainability education, global citizenship education and cultural learning, film pedagogy and language education, as well as language educators.

This is an open access book.

Public Education in Turbulent Times communicates a bold vision for the future of education, addressing the evolving purpose of American public education and the structural innovations schools are using to meet the needs of a rapidly transforming world. Highlighting key challenges that emerged during the immense economic and social disruptions of recent years, the book leverages case studies of four unique school districts where school communities overcame concerns high in the public consciousness – trauma, danger, economic inequality, and racial injustice. These obstacles have hampered efforts to reclaim lost learning opportunities that could define the educational experiences of a generation of students. If educators revert to business as usual, they risk dismissing essential lessons from resilient schools that thrived in the chaos of a global pandemic and its fallout. This book provides rich insights to refocus readers’ attention on achieving a more equitable and safe education system for the future.

This book chronicles the school envisioned by Eleanor Roosevelt in 1933 to serve Arthurdale, the New Deal government-created community in north-central West Virginia. Arthurdale was founded to house unemployed miners and their families and provide them with opportunities to receive healthcare and obtain gainful employment. Roosevelt had a particular interest in the education of children, feeling that education and social life were profoundly intertwined within a community. With that in mind, in 1934, she hired Elsie Ripley Clapp—an educator and leader in the Progressive Education movement—to design and implement the school, as well as oversee the social life of Arthurdale as a whole. In addition to covering the Arthurdale School's birth, life, and dissolution, Rosenberg discusses how the lessons of the school might serve the culture of education today, especially as an element of a comprehensive approach to community revitalization.

This open access book investigates how representation of Native Americans and Mexican-origin im/migrants takes place in high school history textbooks. Manually analyzing text and images in United States textbooks from the 1950s to 2022, the book documents stories of White victory and domination over Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) groups that disproportionately fill educational curricula. While representation and accurate information of non-White perspectives improves over time, the same limited tropes tend to be recycled from one textbook to the next. Textual analysis is augmented by focus groups and interviews with BIPOC students in California high schools. Together, the data show how misrepresentation and absence of BIPOC perspectives in textbooks impact youth identity. This book argues for an innovative rethinking of US history curricula to consider which stories are told, and which perspectives are represented.

The volume provides grounded and contemporary insight into multilingual education from diverse perspectives – stemming from the authors' epistemic, cultural and geographic positioning around the world in different educational milieu – and will give both academic and practitioner audiences an up-to-date picture of multilingual education in the early 2020s. Multilingual education policies are continually implemented, re-evaluated and debated around the world, from primary to tertiary education. Fundamentally, however, educational policies manifest in classroom practice; the language envisaged in policy becomes the languaging of practice as teachers, learners and stakeholders negotiate educational curricula together. Internal and external forces – from resourcing to the Internet, to broader events such as pandemics and changes in government – shape the landscapes in which policies are enacted. The volume is extending the themes of the Multilingual Education Yearbook series in line with current developments in theory, research and practice. As such, this book provides a wealth of information to practitioners (teachers and teacher educators), researchers in applied linguistics and language education, postgraduate students in the field of applied linguistics, and policymakers.

This edited book examines the private higher education (PHE) sector in African countries. Reports suggest that private institutions across the continent outnumber their public counterparts, yet there has been little scholarly investigation into this emerging phenomenon. The book therefore seeks to document, map and analyse key trends and contemporary themes in the PHE sector, as well as chart historical developments, policy and regulatory frameworks. As a whole, it provides the reader with in-depth knowledge, rich perspectives and robust analyses from leading authorities in the field. Contributions from all sub-regions combine thematic issues with shaping discourse on the topic, and the discussions are undertaken in the context of global perspectives. The book will be of interest to academics, researchers, postgraduate students, policy makers, analysts and development partners interested  in African higher education and  PHE in particular.

The book presents a conceptual framework for understanding leadership for effective educator learning in early childhood settings. The book describes how leaders can move centre practices from crisis to stabilization. It argues that a core component of leaders' work in early childhood settings is to construct and enact epistemological accounts of practice change. The book includes case examples that bring to life the contexts early childhood services and services leaders who participated in the research. The book also describes the application of cultural-historical activity theory to the development of practice in early childhood education. It describes how background theory, literature, and data can be synthesized to create new focal theory in education. 

Readers will benefit from the theory that is presented, establishing a sound basis for testing in future research in schools as well as in early childhood education.

“Joce Nuttall and team are congratulated for their ground-breaking scholarly endeavour in designing, implementing, validating findings, and then writing a book that unambiguously connects theory-policy-practice in enacting leadership in early childhood settings. This book is ambitious, eloquent, and inspirational.  The research was driven by a bold vision to build a new theorisation of early childhood leadership. The writing style of the book makes the complex clear and easy to digest, and thereby strengthening its readability and understanding.  The comparative lens adopted in the study, underscores the neoliberal control of the working lives of early childhood leaders in both Australia and England. The use of case study narratives to explain various aspects including the study design and methodology, was refreshingly engaging. Notes of encouragement addressed to novice researchers such as those embarking on higher degree studies, also provide apt guidance about the messiness of conducting qualitative research. The book is infused with lots of examples demonstrating the transformative power of learning – especially when expertly scaffolded by the research team, and thereby increasing practitioner agency and quality improvement across the early childhood setting. If professional autonomy is the driver of reform and change, then we must find ways to nurture strong educational leaders who can think outside the box. Overall, Nuttall and team succeed in arousing learning-rich possibilities for reimagining early childhood leadership in theory and in practice, and thereby making a magnificent contribution to the scholarship of educational leadership.” Professor Manjula Waniganayake  PhD, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

This book explores the formation and development of the cross-national patterns of adult learning systems between 1989 and 2019 in four Central European countries: the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland. Drawing on the approach of the political economy of adult education and historical institutionalism, the book closely examines (1) how the institutional settings in these countries have formed, evolved and contributed to overall participation in adult education and training, (2) how they have shaped patterns of participation and unequal chances to be involved in this social activity, as well as (3) perceived barriers to access organized learning and related governmental policies.

This book offers a contemporary overview of key findings regarding adult learning systems. It delves into the factors that influence participation in adult education and training. Through the utilization of the novel framework, GALS (Global Adult Learning Space), the book not only highlights a crucial distinction among adult learning systems within the region but also presents in-depth case studies of these systems in Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia spanning a 30-year period. Despite these countries sharing similar institutional backgrounds and societal challenges, the book reveals that their adult learning systems have undergone divergent trajectories over the past three decades. This book will be useful to researchers and scholars in the fields of adult education, comparative education, welfare policy, sociology of education, and European studies.

This book provides an analysis of how inspection teams evaluate schools – especially how they decide on assigning scores. It shows how the governance of schools through evaluation is enacted pragmatically. With its focus on the practice of evaluation by a group of external experts, it contributes to the expanding interdisciplinary field devoted to studying phenomena of the ‘evaluation society’ spanning from assessment research to programme evaluation, from the psychology of decision-making to the sociology of valuation and evaluation.

Additionally, it argues that official inspection systems frame the inspection process, but cannot fully determine scoring practice. The implementation of official scoring guidelines is characterized by irreducible uncertainty requiring professional discretion for its resolution. Inspection teams thus must employ a flexible and pragmatic approach to finalize their scoring task. By drawing on empirical data from six observed inspection teams from two German states, it provides profound insights into how real evaluation decisions were made. This book is valuable to anyone seeking to understand evaluation in education – in particular scholars, policy-makers and educators in the field of school evaluation and accountability.

This edited book captures Asian American grassroot organizing in Georgia through counterstorytelling. Rooted in Critical Race Theory and traditions of narrative inquiry, counterstorytelling in educational research seeks to challenge dominant narratives by centering marginalized communities’ experiences and perspectives as sources of valuable knowledge. By employing AsianCrit, global citizenship education, human rights, and liberatory postcolonial education as theoretical lenses, the editors of this book interrupt essentialized portrayals of Asian Americans by featuring stories of Asian American students, parents, and educators who are fighting for Asian American Studies and Ethnic Studies in K-12 schools in Georgia. Their stories capture common as well as divergent experiences of being Asian American in the South and illuminate possibilities, challenges, and complexity of grassroots organizing for Asian American studies and ethnic studies in the South.

This book assesses to what extent marketisation in Higher Education can be attributed to Neoliberalism. Higher education sectors in many countries have increasingly relied on market mechanisms in their management and functioning, particularly in their provision of education. Many assume that Neoliberalism, with its pursuit of free markets and competition, is the key driver. Neoliberalism continues to be a popular concept to describe the social, political, and economic worlds around us, but there is little consensus on how it should be defined or understood. The book argues that there is a clear scope for the use of Neoliberalism to describe the direction HE is shifting towards, but it is rather inadequate on its own and not applicable in all areas.

 This book examines a wide range of topics within quality assurance at universities in order to present a conceptual, historical, and thematic mapping of academic and practical perspectives. As we navigate the complex tapestry of the twenty-first century, where change is constant, the global higher education landscape is undergoing profound shifts that define its present and signal its future. In this book, the author probes the mechanisms of quality assurance to not only ensure excellence but also resonate as responses to the contemporary landscape shaped by the challenges of globalization, technological advancement, and societal transformation.

This book explores the distinctive narrative and representational gestures used to portray the personal and professional lives of teachers in comics. While serving as a reference for conceptualizing teachers in literary and popular culture, this book also turns to comics as a means to better understand and interpret lived, emotional experiences of teaching. Lewkowich discusses the cultural history of teachers in North American comics, and provides a series of thematic studies on the split and secret identities of teachers, teacher’s deaths by murder, and the teacher’s relationship to the thought bubble. He also outlines the psychic and social consequences of reading and making comics with preservice teachers.

The book aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 4, which focuses on quality education. It explores the evolving role of education as a critical driver for achieving all 17 SDGs by providing a platform for discussing innovative educational models and theories that foster sustainable development. The book takes an interdisciplinary approach, merging educational theory, developmental practice, and human psychology to address complex global challenges hindering sustainable development.

The book includes case studies and empirical research, such as exploring student entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector and the factors bridging the gap between entrepreneurial intention and venture creation. These examples provide readers with practical applications of theoretical concepts and demonstrate the real-world impact of educational innovations, which is at the core of education delivery for all and how education touches on other areas of the SDGs. The book offers valuable insights for policymakers, educators, and development practitioners by presenting research and theory-based analyses. It suggests ways to improve the academic environment to foster entrepreneurship and innovation, which are key to economic development and job creation, especially in regions with high youth unemployment rates. The content suggests educational reforms that are responsive to the changing societal and economic landscapes.

The book's blend of theory and practice targets a broad audience, including academic scholars, students, development agencies, non-governmental organisations, and policymakers. It seeks to engage these diverse readers in a conversation about the future of education and its role in achieving sustainable development. In summary, the book seeks to provide a comprehensive exploration of the nexus between education, development, and human needs in the context of the SDGs, offering innovative perspectives and practical solutions to equip readers to contribute to sustainable global development.

This edited volume builds upon a rich literature base on quality, equity, and education for all. It focuses on enrolment patterns in education and includes extensive, micro-level analytical data to support their findings. The chapters include evidence-based analytical methods with three global regions and eleven country case studies that contribute to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) Quality Education for All by 2030. The book offers valuable and practical learning materials for policymakers, field practitioners, researchers and research students specializing in comparative education, international educational development, and international cooperation.

This book analyses dominant discourses of globalisation, multiculturalism and schooling. The chapters advance further the discussions on globalisation and its impact on cultural diversity and multiculturalism in a globalised world. 

Multicultural education, as presented in this volume, is seen in a broad context. It includes factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, culture, age, and physical ability, as well as a variety of beliefs and values. Zajda has argued that globalisation represents a synthesis of technology, ideology, and organisation, specifically related to border crossings of people, global finance, trade, IT convergence, as well as cross-cultural communication. The reality of multiculturalism has been brought into stronger focus because of globalisation. Multiculturalism is more evident today because of globalisation.

The book contributes in a very scholarly way, to a more holistic understanding of the nexus between globalisation and dominant models of multicultural education, and their impact on students’ engagement, and academic achievement.

This edited book analyses the implementation of green transformation policies and the UN Sustainable Development Goals across the European Union, in the context of lifelong learning and educational practices. The contributions examine how green skills became mainstreamed in member states’ education policies, as well as the social, economic and political circumstances contributing to this process. A focus on lifelong learning (from an early age to adulthood) is maintained throughout the volume, and the book will appeal to researchers, students, policy- and decision-makers in education, environmental and social studies.

This edited volume provides a comprehensive examination of the intersection between internationalization of higher education and digital transformation, with a focus on insights from Morocco. Through a series of chapters authored by experts in the field, the book covers a wide range of topics, including critical thinking in intercultural education, the transformative impact of internationalization on educators and students, technological integration, challenges, opportunities, policy perspectives, and future directions.

The scientific, cultural and diplomatic relations between Europe and its partners in North America are very strong. From a scientific point of view, this long-standing cooperation has taken place across a wide range of areas. They include the field of sustainability, where North America and Europe are working hand in hand, seeking solutions to the many regional and global problems currently faced. Against this backdrop and in order to facilitate a broad discussion on the contribution of higher education institutions from both sides of the Atlantic towards a more sustainable future, this book is being produced.

The book gathers inputs from universities and research organizations on the one hand, but also from companies and enterprises on the other, from Europe and North America, working on matters related to sustainable development in a higher education context. It also provides a platform for the dissemination of information on the latest initiatives, paving the way for technology transfer and networking. Furthermore, the book intends to provide a fertile basis upon which European and North American organizations may cooperate more closely in this key area. Last but not least, a further aim of the book is to present methodological approaches and experiences deriving from case studies and projects, which aim to show how sustainability in North America and in Europe may be enhanced in practice.

This book analyses major discourses of human rights for democracy and social justice. The chapters contained in the book examine critically major issues confronting human rights for democracy and social justice both locally and globally. The chapters analyze the challenges that different societies are confronted with, as they attempt to implement, protect and defend democracy, cultural diversity and human rights in an ever-changing world, and culturally diverse environment. Topics covered include dimensional concerns for social justice and human rights and what to do about them, human rights for democracy and social justice, and celebrating cultural diversity in sport.

The book will help readers to explore their own views and consider more broadly what may be in the best interests of a fair and just society, as envisioned in human rights treaties, human rights education in schools, and cultural diversity.

This book showcases current science education research in Canada, from Grade 8 to university. It provides a rich portrait of science teaching and learning at the secondary and tertiary levels across content areas and research methodologies. Research contexts include chemistry, oceanography, physics, and STEM; research approaches include action research, case study, mixed methods, and document analysis. Chapters build upon themes that emerged from our previous Springer book Science Education in Canada (2019) including environmental education (e.g., ocean literacy, place-conscious pedagogy), Indigenous perspectives (e.g., water stewardship), and assessment (e.g., formative assessment practices), and represent a cross section of the current mosaic of science education research in Canada in high school settings (and beyond). This book, when taken in conjunction with its companion volume Exploring Elementary Science Teaching and Learning in Canada (2023), enables readers to develop an in-depth understanding of current science education research across the country. Although this book reflects a Canadian perspective, its themes are of interest to both domestic and international audiences.

This book comprehensively explores the educational experiences of refugee students in primary schools, specifically addressing literacy, mathematics, and science skills through innovative teaching methods, including artificial intelligence, coding, and drama-based etc. approaches. Embracing a skill-based learning, the book is enriched with practical applications designed to enhance essential skills among refugee learners effectively. Drawing upon the extensive expertise of contributing authors, each chapter provides in-depth analyses of various dimensions of refugee education, offering valuable insights into targeted pedagogical strategies. Chapters conclude with illustrative activities specifically designed for refugee students, accompanied by detailed evaluations of their outcomes. These activities are not merely theoretical; they are purposefully structured to ensure applicability and adaptability within diverse global educational contexts. This book serves as an essential resource for teacher candidates, educators, researchers, and academics specializing in refugee education and general pedagogy, combining rigorous theoretical perspectives with actionable, real-world strategies.

This first volume presents narratives from science education researchers of African ancestry, reflecting on the significance of a professional home. Through personal and scholarly perspectives, Black researchers share experiences of seeking, establishing, or finding belonging in science education across diverse settings. Authors from various institutions offer insights into traditionally White universities and a distinct home in Africa. By showcasing counter-narratives and strategies, this book supports the next generation of science education researchers and teacher educators. Drawing from interdisciplinary traditions—historical, philosophical, psychological, and sociological—it provides a nuanced understanding of research, identity, and community within the field.

This open access book addresses relevant issues related to higher education and sustainable development goals (SDGs). The book has a high degree of originality and brings innovation to the contemporary solution for 21st century higher education, innovative contextualisation and conceptualisation of ICT-enabled critical thinking. It facilitates the achievement of the UN-defined SDGs and introduces a framework for SDG development that addresses both the national and international needs of current and future higher education. 

Addressing all 17 SDGs from different perspectives, the book provides a systemic view that enables students to increase their ability for transformative learning by developing a deeper self-awareness and a more open perspective, which may lead to a profound change in their worldview. Transformative learning combined with systems thinking are key to successfully educating future generations in innovation, resilience, leadership and sustainability. The activities proposed in the book embrace and strengthen active (non-traditional) pedagogy.

This volume reviews the theory and research on teacher agency to critique and substantiate the common claims in literature that teachers can and do act as change agents. Focusing on the interplay between teacher agency and its structural conditions, the book considers wider social and institutional contexts that shape educators’ practice. Its chapters consider the developmental aspects of teacher agency such as a sense of purpose and competence in inclusive practice, and their embeddedness in the policy and social contexts that create conditions for agency and reflection. Current research evidence is synthesized to highlight the critical factors such as relationships and community-building, as well as practical applications that support educators in cultivating these capacities. In doing so, the volume both affirms and scrutinizes prevailing assumptions about teacher agency. It offers empirically grounded insights, tools, and resources relevant to researchers, teacher educators, practitioners, and policy makers committed to empowering teachers as transformative professionals.

This book explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping higher education through practical, real-world strategies and grounded research. It begins with accessible introductions to key concepts—such as generative AI, machine learning, and natural language processing—before progressing to theoretical frameworks and empirical studies of how students, faculty, and institutions are responding to these technologies. Topics include ethics, AI literacy, digital equity, technology integration in teaching and learning, and student-led efforts like the AI Café. Drawing from participatory research, institutional case studies, and global AI policy analysis, the book provides actionable insights for faculty, instructional designers, academic leaders, and researchers. Emphasizing inclusive and culturally responsive approaches, this book is an essential resource for advancing faculty development, enhancing student engagement, and navigating the evolving role of AI in academic life.

This book provides a comprehensive exploration of Black women academics’ legacy of knowledge production and intellectual thought, while balancing the intersecting pressures of social, familial, and academic responsibilities. Through the (her)stories of Black scholars, educators, activists, and mothers, it highlights how Black mothers in the academy navigate the interconnectedness of human rights, educational access, scholarship, pedagogy, and community service. Grounded in the intersectional experiences of Black womanhood—particularly mothering and othermothering—this book illustrates the profound impact of gender and race within higher education.

Edited by two Black motherscholars, this book centers the narratives of Black women in academia, amplifying their voices in response to the silencing of their experiences. It challenges institutions to reimagine policies and practices that support Black women scholars, addressing how they disrupt traditional understandings of knowledge production, Black womanhood, and motherhood in predominantly white academic spaces. This book explores five key themes: 1) Black motherscholars’ joy and wholeness as a form of resistance, 2) challenging white-centric notions of mothering and othermothering, 3) intergenerational experiences of Black motherscholars, 4) the impact of daughtering on their academic lives, and 5) revolutionary mothering in hostile academic environments. 

This book incorporates a range of contributions, including empirical research, conceptual works, and creative expressions such as photography, and poetry, incorporating gender-expansive experiences of Black motherscholars beyond heteronormative perspectives. This book calls on higher education leaders to confront white patriarchy and the exploitation of Black women’s labor, providing strategies to support revolutionary mothering in academia. It amplifies Black motherscholars’ call for radical care and connection, fostering a more equitable academic future for Black women and their children.

This international book provides a series of viewpoints on academic integrity from the perspective of social sciences. It brings together multiple aspects of academic integrity, but with the consistent theme of being at a level of analysis that considers people and their place in the world. It covers topics such as how academic integrity can be taught, and why academic integrity breaches occur.

This book informs the work of researchers, educators, and practitioners as we go forward in understanding academic integrity and addressing academic misconduct. The social sciences include academic disciplines such as sociology, economics, psychology, education, anthropology, political science, and criminology. Researchers and theorists in these fields offer a range of unique and valuable perspectives on academic integrity with questions ranging from: “Why do students cheat and how best do we teach them not to?” to “What are the societal and political implications of academic cheating?”

This volume problematizes the intentions of early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS) from two new perspectives – the context of small island states and the bi-directional, intergenerational learning about the environment and sustainability that takes place in a variety of contexts, including the family home and school. It questions how belonging to a small island and the children’s home influence learning in the early years of life. In doing so, this book offers new insights and new theoretical perspectives into intergenerational environmental learning in the school, family and beyond. Informed by consideration of the most recent literature in early childhood education and sustainability, this volume also looks at how these informal learning spaces provide young children with the opportunities to enhance further learning in the field, thus portraying the fluidity of intergenerational learning from different theoretical standpoints. 

It provides a deep insight into ECEfS and intergenerational learning about the environment and environmental issues in early childhood education from a perspective of a small island state by adopting a children’s rights perspective. It additionally explores the relationship between early childhood theories, children’s rights and postcolonial theory.

This edited volume brings together innovative research in the field of Science Education, fostering scientific citizenship in an uncertain world. The nineteen chapters presented in this book address diverse topics, and research approaches carried out in various contexts and settings worldwide, contributing to improving and updating knowledge on science education. The book consists of selected high-quality studies presented at the 14^th European Science Education Research Association (ESERA) Conference, held online (due to the Covid-19 pandemic) by the University of Minho, Portugal, between August 30th and September 3^rd, 2021. Being of great relevance in contemporary science education, this book stimulates reflection on different approaches to enhance a deeper understanding of how better prepare the coming generations, which is of great interest to science education researchers and science teachers.

This book examines dominant discourses affecting race, ethnicity and gender in education and societies globally. It presents cutting-edge research on the major global trends in globalization, race, ethnicity and gender education globally. Using diverse paradigms, ranging from critical theory to discourse analysis, the book examines major trends in race, ethnicity and gender research, with a focus on the ambivalent and problematic relationship between race, ethnicity and gender discourses, ideology and the state. It discusses and critiques key issues in race, ethnicity and gender research.

Readers will gain a more holistic understanding of the nexus between race, ethnicity and gender discourses and dominant ideologies, both locally and globally. It also provides an easily accessible, practical, yet scholarly insights into local and global trends in the field of race, ethnicity and gender education. With contributions from key scholars worldwide, this book will be useful to abroad spectrum of readers, including policy-makers, academics, graduate students, education policy researchers, administrators and practitioners.

This book examines dominant discourses in values education globally. It critiques dominant discourses and debates pertaining to values education and cultural identity, set against the current backdrop of growing social stratification and unequal access to quality education. It addresses discourses concerning globalisation, ideologies and the state, as well as approaches to values education in schools. The book explores the ambivalent and problematic connections between the state, globalisation and values education. It also explores conceptual frameworks and methodological approaches applicable to research on values education, multiculturalism and identity politics.

Drawing on diverse paradigms, ranging from critical theory to globalisation, the book focuses on globalisation, ideology and values education and critically examines recent research dealing with cultural diversity and its impact of identity politics. Given the need for a multiple perspective approach, authors from diverse backgrounds offer a wealth of insights, contributing to a more holistic understanding of the nexus between values education, multiculturalism and national identity. With contributions from key scholars worldwide, the book should be required reading for a broad spectrum of users, including policy-makers, academics, graduate students, education policy researchers, administrators and practitioners.

This book analyses major discourses of cultural diversity and human rights. The chapters contained in this book examine critically major issues confronting cultural diversity and human rights, both locally and globally. They analyze the challenges that different societies are confronted with, as they attempt to implement, protect and defend cultural diversity and human rights in an ever-changing world, and culturally diverse environment. Topics covered include celebrating cultural diversity in sport, human rights legacies of the African slave trade and the long-term implications of colonialism, assessment of human rights and sports, effectiveness in intercultural dialogue in dominant discourses of cultural diversity and human rights, and the rising importance of cultural diversity and human rights in sport for children and youth.

This book will be helpful to readers to explore their own views and consider more broadly what may be in the best interests of a fair and just society, as envisioned in human rights treaties, human rights education in schools, and cultural diversity.

The book draws on a range of studies covering the higher education response to the several facets of data in society, from data surveillance and the algorithmic control of human behaviour to empowerment through the use of open data. The research reported ranges from literature overviews to multi-case and in-depth case studies illustrating institutional and educational responses to different problems connected to data. 

The ultimate intention is to provide conceptual bases and practical examples relating to universities’ faculty development policies to overcome data practices and discourses' fragmentation and contradictions: in a nutshell, to build “fair data cultures” in higher education.

This volume provides an overview of the state of the art of research on the politics of higher education policy in Canada, the US, and Western Europe. Each thematic chapter combines an extensive literature review with original empirical work that further advances our understanding of policymaking dynamics in higher education.

The book covers five key aspects of policymaking, namely the politics of governance as well as funding reforms, the role of interest groups, policy diffusion, and policy framing. These aspects are explored using a unique comparative design that combines comparisons within as well as between regions, and among the five key aspects of policymaking. The conceptual framework is anchored in approaches from institutional theory, namely sociological and historical institutionalism.

“This rare book coherently focuses on the same critical challenges that higher education faces in a changing global and national environment. These include vital governance and finance issues and how these are framed and contested by different organizations and interest groups as well as state actors. Within a broad institutionalist framework that reflects the tensions between historical university and national legacies on the one hand and regional and global influences on the other, the authors focus on policymaking in Western Europe, Canada, and the US. This is an engaging and creative endeavor, a must-read for scholars and policymakers alike.”

Francisco O. Ramirez, Graduate School of Education Stanford University

“This is a real achievement that will contribute to the development of research in politics of higher education policy, finance, and economic development. It is timely in an era when higher learning is increasingly salient to national policy, interest groups, and supranational bodies such as the EU. The focus on Canada, the US, and Europe frames a comparative approach to a competitive higher educational policy arena thathas not received systematic study."

Sheila Slaughter, Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education, University of Georgia

Marius R. Busemeyer, Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Konstanz

The perception of a permanent enrollment crisis in US postsecondary foreign language education has shaped our profession’s image for an entire generation of educators. Over the past 30 years, this crisis rarely invited self-examination or inspired creativity. Instead, it was routinely attributed to external factors: shrinking budgets, unsympathetic administrators, disengaged students. This volume is refreshingly optimistic: After providing a nuanced picture of the complex enrollment situation and focusing on perceptions of language education among undergraduate students, the volume features an inspiring panorama of successful models that revitalized language programs at a wide range of institutions. The diversity of approaches to post-secondary language education in the United States featured in this volume highlights that there are no simple “one size fits all” solutions. To be transformational, initiatives need to be intimately calibrated to the evolving needs and desires of our institutions’ most important stakeholder: the student. Per Urlaub, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA, USA