International Perspectives on Alternative Education


Book Description

"Alternative education encompasses a diversity of schooling types and organizations. International Perspectives on Alternative Education explores alternative forms of schooling from the position of academics, policy workers and those working and studying in such schools across the world. The first-hand accounts by those working and leading in alternative schools, and the analyses by those working at the policy level, bring alive their dilemmas and challenges. Complementing these are the academic contributions, which examine over-arching questions about social justice and the meanings of achievement, success, choice and purpose across education. The issue of alternative education and why it is relevant in today's educational landscape is an international one, and the book draws on contributions from Australia, Indonesia, Korea, Denmark, England, Germany, Scotland and the United States. The book will be of interest to all educators, teachers, academics, students, policy workers and others concerned about issues of social justice and education."--




Innovating to Learn, Learning to Innovate


Book Description

This book summarises and discusses key findings from the learning sciences, shedding light on the cognitive and social processes that can be used to redesign classrooms to make them highly effective learning environments.




Helping Students Graduate


Book Description

This book describes the fifteen strategies identified through research reviewed by The National Dropout Prevention Center and Network at Clemson University. Each chapter in this book was written by a nationally recognized authority in that field. Research has shown that these 15 strategies have been successfully implemented in all school levels from K - 12 in rural, suburban, and urban centers; as stand-alone programs or as part of systemic school improvement plans. Helping Students Graduate: A Strategic Approach to Dropout Prevention also covers No Child Left Behind and its effects on dropout rates; Dealing with Hispanic dropouts; Differences and similarities between rural and urban dropouts. These fifteen strategies have been adopted by the U.S. Department of Education. They are applicable to all students, including students with disabilities.




Alternative Approaches to Education


Book Description

This book is designed to give parents and teachers information on the alternative education options available in the UK. It covers three main areas: Outside the state system: small schools; Steiner Waldorf schools; Montessori schools; democratic schools and other schools with alternative philosophies Doing it yourself: setting up a small school or learning centre; educating at home; flexible schooling Alternatives within the state system: how some state schools are finding different ways of working The values, philosophies and methods of each alternative are described, including the first-hand experiences and accounts of children, teachers and parents. There are answers to common questions and useful sources of further information. This accessible and informative book is the ideal introduction for parents deciding how best to educate their children. It will be of interest to teachers looking to build their knowledge of different education philosophies.




Alternative Schooling in India


Book Description

This book brings into focus the innovative methods of learning in many Indian schools. It sheds light on schools that make the learning process fun for the teacher as well as the taught, in contrast to the whirl of examination-oriented learning in mainstream schools. The researched data on alternative schools in the country offer the reader an array of institutions all over the country, where efforts are being made to move away from traditional and mainstream learning. It includes exclusive articles by leading practitioners in the field, who offer an insight into the ground reality when a certain philosophy is applied to a school, and also experiential accounts of how such alternative practices mould the learner, teacher and impact the parent as well. The book also consists of a directory of alternative schools in India, including many schools that are tucked away in remote corners of the country. Interestingly, the common thread binding these ‘alternative schools’ is concern for the welfare of the child by teachers who see their work as much more than a job.




Supporting Early Career Teachers With Research-Based Practices


Book Description

Teachers in their first few years of their teaching career require high quality, structured support to begin the journey towards becoming experts. Establishing research-based best practices and working habits set up early career teachers for a fulfilling and successful career. The requirements of teachers are constantly changing, and teachers need to continually adapt their knowledge and practices to fit schools’ changing demographics. Having a toolbox of research-based best practices to draw upon can support early career teachers as they move from theory to practical application when the learning curve is the steepest. Strengthening the system of support includes increasing teachers’ influence over their day-to-day work and developing positive and supportive cultures of learning. Supporting Early Career Teachers With Research-Based Practices presents both theoretical and practical research to support the conceptual understanding of educational praxis for common areas with which early career educators may require additional expertise or support. This book is intended to be a valuable contribution to the body of literature in the field of education by supplying research-based teaching practices for modern education. Primary topics covered include professional learning, classroom management, student-teacher relationships, teaching diverse students and inclusive educational practices, and teacher self-care strategies. This book is a valuable reference tool for early career teachers of all subject areas and grade levels, school administrators, teacher mentors and guides, education faculty in higher education, educational researchers, curriculum developers, instructional facilitators, practicing teachers, pre-service teachers, professional development coordinators, teacher educators, researchers, academicians, and students interested in teaching practices and support for the early career teacher.




Alternative Universities


Book Description

Imagining the universities of the future. How can we re-envision the university? Too many examples of what passes for educational innovation today—MOOCs especially—focus on transactions, on questions of delivery. In Alternative Universities, David J. Staley argues that modern universities suffer from a poverty of imagination about how to reinvent themselves. Anyone seeking innovation in higher education today should concentrate instead, he says, on the kind of transformational experience universities enact. In this exercise in speculative design, Staley proposes ten models of innovation in higher education that expand our ideas of the structure and scope of the university, suggesting possibilities for what its future might look like. What if the university were designed around a curriculum of seven broad cognitive skills or as a series of global gap year experiences? What if, as a condition of matriculation, students had to major in three disparate subjects? What if the university placed the pursuit of play well above the acquisition and production of knowledge? By asking bold "What if?" questions, Staley assumes that the university is always in a state of becoming and that there is not one "idea of the university" to which all institutions must aspire. This book specifically addresses those engaged in university strategy—university presidents, faculty, policy experts, legislators, foundations, and entrepreneurs—those involved in what Simon Marginson calls "university making." Pairing a critique tempered to our current moment with an explanation of how change and disruption might contribute to a new "golden age" for higher education, Alternative Universities is an audacious and essential read.




Understanding by Design


Book Description

What is understanding and how does it differ from knowledge? How can we determine the big ideas worth understanding? Why is understanding an important teaching goal, and how do we know when students have attained it? How can we create a rigorous and engaging curriculum that focuses on understanding and leads to improved student performance in today's high-stakes, standards-based environment? Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD framework since its introduction in 1998, the authors have greatly revised and expanded their original work to guide educators across the K-16 spectrum in the design of curriculum, assessment, and instruction. With an improved UbD Template at its core, the book explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks. Readers will learn why the familiar coverage- and activity-based approaches to curriculum design fall short, and how a focus on the six facets of understanding can enrich student learning. With an expanded array of practical strategies, tools, and examples from all subject areas, the book demonstrates how the research-based principles of Understanding by Design apply to district frameworks as well as to individual units of curriculum. Combining provocative ideas, thoughtful analysis, and tested approaches, this new edition of Understanding by Design offers teacher-designers a clear path to the creation of curriculum that ensures better learning and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike.




Alternative Educational Methodologies


Book Description

This volume brings together a number of papers presented at the international conference on “Specific Methodologies in Educational Alternatives” held in June 2016, at the Bistriţa University Extension of the Educational Sciences Department of Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The event served to promote the most recent theoretical and practical findings related to educational alternatives, and attracted the attendance of over 250 theorists and experts in the field. The conference represented a significant opportunity to know and develop this field of study, based on research and examples of good practice. The contributions here specifically explore the six educational alternatives that exist in Romania, namely Step by Step, Waldorf, Freinet, Curative Pedagogy, Montessori and the Jenaplan.




Safe Work in the 21st Century


Book Description

Despite many advances, 20 American workers die each day as a result of occupational injuries. And occupational safety and health (OSH) is becoming even more complex as workers move away from the long-term, fixed-site, employer relationship. This book looks at worker safety in the changing workplace and the challenge of ensuring a supply of top-notch OSH professionals. Recommendations are addressed to federal and state agencies, OSH organizations, educational institutions, employers, unions, and other stakeholders. The committee reviews trends in workforce demographics, the nature of work in the information age, globalization of work, and the revolution in health care deliveryâ€"exploring the implications for OSH education and training in the decade ahead. The core professions of OSH (occupational safety, industrial hygiene, and occupational medicine and nursing) and key related roles (employee assistance professional, ergonomist, and occupational health psychologist) are profiled-how many people are in the field, where they work, and what they do. The book reviews in detail the education, training, and education grants available to OSH professionals from public and private sources.