Critical Global Perspectives


Book Description

The primary purpose of this book is to invite educators to (re)think what it means to critically conceptualize knowledge about the world. In other words, imagining curriculum in a critical way means decolonizing mainstream knowledge about global societies. Such an approach re-evaluates how we have come to know the world and asks us to consider the socio-political context in which we have come to understand what constitutes an ethical global imagination. A critical reading of the world calls for the need to examine alternative ways of knowing and teaching about the world: a pedagogy that recognizes how diverse subjects have come to view the world. A critical question this book raises is: What are the radical ways of re-conceptualizing curriculum knowledge about global societies so that we can become accountable to the different ways people have come to experience the world? Another question the book raises is: how do we engage with complexities surrounding social differences such as gender, race, ethnicity, religion, etc., in the global contexts? Analyzing global issues and events through the prism of social difference opens up spaces to advocate a transformative framework for a global education curriculum. Transformative in the sense that such a curriculum asks students to challenge stereotypes and engages students in advocating changes within local/global contexts. A critical global perspective advocates the value of going beyond the nation-state centered approach to teaching about topics such as history, politics, culture, etc. It calls for the need to develop curriculum that accounts for transnational formations: an intervention that asks us to go beyond issues that are confined within national borders. Such a practice recognizes the complicated ways the local is connected to the global and vice versa and cautions against creating a hierarchy between national and global issues. It also suggests the need to critically examine the pitfalls of forming dichotomies between the local (or the national) and the global or the center and the periphery.




Understanding Old Age


Book Description

Providing a comprehensive overview of issues of ageing from a global perspective this ambitious text introduces the reader to a wide range of issues and policies on ageing. Topics examined include: theoretical perspectives on ageing in society; demographic trends; roles played by older people as political actors; migration; health; pensions; family and institutional care; and elder abuse. This will be an essential text for students of social gerontology, as well as an invaluable resource for students of nursing, social work, social policy and development studies.




Global Perspectives on Critical Architecture


Book Description

Judging from the debates taking place in both education and practice, it appears that architecture is deeply in crisis. New design and production techniques, together with the globalization of capital and even skilled-labour, have reduced architecture to a commodified object, its aesthetic qualities tapping into the current pervasive desire for the spectacular. These developments have changed the architect’s role in the design and production processes of architecture. Bringing together essays and interviews from leading scholars such as Kenneth Frampton, Peggy Deamer, Bernard Tschumi, Donald Kunze and Marco Biraghi, this volume investigates and critically addresses various dimensions of the present crisis of architecture.




Sex and Journalism


Book Description

Paradoxically, while sex is everywhere in the media (sex sells!) the research into the coverage of sexuality by journalists is seriously marginalised in the academy. Look for texts on journalism's representation of love-making (in all its many manifestations) or a definition of 'sex journalism' and you will find very little. The opening section of Sex & Journalism: Critical, Global Perspectives provides two important overviews by Belinda Middleweek and Matthew Ricketson.The second section carries case studies by an international group of distinguished journalists-turned-academics. Subjects include:*reporters who dare to appropriate normally pejorative terms such as 'slut' and 'sex object' to promote progressive notions about gender and sexuality; *the ethics and methods in Gay Talese's The Voyeur's Motel; *a group of prostitutes in Mexico who turned to journalism to tell their unique stories; *sex crimes, cover-ups and conspiracy theories;*the coverage of homosexuality in 1980s Portugal; *and how a television investigation disrupted consent laws in New South Wales, Australia. Contributors include Kylie Cardell and Emma Maguire, Todd Schack, Claire Konkes, Julie Wheelwright, Antonio Castillo, Manuel Coutinho and Anna Hoyles. The editors are Sue Joseph, Senior Lecturer, University of Technology Sydney, and Richard Lance Keeble, Professor of Journalism at the University of Lincoln and Honorary Professor at Liverpool Hope University.




Global Citizenship Education


Book Description

This open access book takes a critical and international perspective to the mainstreaming of the Global Citizenship Concept and analyses the key issues regarding global citizenship education across the world. In that respect, it addresses a pressing need to provide further conceptual input and to open global citizenship agendas to diversity and indigeneity. Social and political changes brought by globalisation, migration and technological advances of the 21st century have generated a rise in the popularity of the utopian and philosophical idea of global citizenship. In response to the challenges of today’s globalised and interconnected world, such as inequality, human rights violations and poverty, global citizenship education has been invoked as a means of preparing youth for an inclusive and sustainable world. In recent years, the development of global citizenship education and the building of students’ global citizenship competencies have become a focal point in global agendas for education, international educational assessments and international organisations. However, the concept of global citizenship education still remains highly contested and subject to multiple interpretations, and its operationalisation in national educational policies proves to be challenging. This volume aims to contribute to the debate, question the relevancy of global citizenship education’s policy objectives and to enhance understanding of local perspectives, ideologies, conceptions and issues related to citizenship education on a local, national and global level. To this end, the book provides a comprehensive and geographically based overview of the challenges citizenship education faces in a rapidly changing global world through the lens of diversity and inclusiveness.




Global Governance


Book Description

In recent years, the role of global institutions such as the United Nations, World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund and the World Bank has never been more important to the lives of individuals throughout the world. This edited book provides critical perspectives on the role of these institutions and how they use their policies, procedures and practices to manage global political, socio-economic, legal and environmental affairs. In contrast to previously published books on this subject, Global Governance is organized thematically rather than by institution. Each chapter examines core issues such as labour, finance, the environment, health, culture, gender, civil society, poverty and development. It should be essential reading for undergraduate students of international politics, international political economy and international economics.




Elementary Education


Book Description

Elementary education provides the foundation for a learned and literate global citizenry. Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that everyone has the right to education. Likewise, the document states that elementary education should be free, compulsory, and universally accessible to all children. Parents, leaders, and policymakers recognize the importance of education in developing basic skills. Yet, the purpose of education goes beyond just skill building; the purpose of education, as Paulo Freire asserts, is for emancipation and the development of independent thought and critical awareness. Education is freedom. It is as Nelson Mandela once declared "the most powerful weapon to change the world." Again, elementary education provides the roots for the world and for our future. Yet, each society situates their systems of elementary education based on their society's cultural values, economic goals, political whims, and socio-historical context. To understand the larger goals of elementary education it is important to have a comparative and international lens, which is provided in this new NOVA Science book titled Elementary Education: Global Perspectives, Challenges and Issues of the 21st Century. The book is co-edited Dr. Erik Jon Byker and Dr. Akesha Horton, both editors are long-time global educators committed to social justice. The purpose of this book is to describe and explain the perspectives, challenges, and issues related to elementary education in this current, twenty-first century global age. The book's authors and the content of the book's chapters represent several countries across the globe including India, Indonesia, Greece, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, and the United States of America. The book is organized into three sections: (1) context, (2) competencies, and (3) content. The context section examines the historical and current context for elementary education from international perspectives. The competencies section focuses on the skills and dispositions necessary for pre-service and in-service teachers to navigate the contours of elementary education in a global age. The content section explores elementary education subject matter-largely in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)-that will continue to eminent throughout the twenty-first century. Elementary Education: Global Perspectives, Challenges and Issues of the 21st Century is a timely book for internationally-minded educators, government leaders, parents, practitioners, and policymakers for gaining deeper insight into the critical role of elementary education in preparing children for our dynamic, interconnected, and globalized world.




Global Perspectives on Home Education in the 21st Century


Book Description

Home education is the fastest growing educational movement in the world, yet the research remains limited on why and how it has become so popular. As more and more families seek to homeschool, it is imperative that further studies are undertaken to understand how students’ lives are impacted, as well as the challenges and opportunities that arise from this method of schooling. Global Perspectives on Home Education in the 21st Century is an edited collection that focuses on the major factors behind the global rise of the home education movement and explores many of the current issues faced in relation to homeschooling. The book examines key themes that include parents’ and children’s experiences of home education, how and why families choose to home educate, and what happens to home educated children once they are finished. Including topics such as unschooling, self-directed learning, willed learning, and holistic education, this book is primarily intended for home educators, school administrators, policymakers, researchers, academicians, and students.




Global Leadership Perspectives


Book Description

A critical, global counterpoint to more western-centric texts that will appeal to critical leadership scholars, those teaching leadership from a critical perspective and those teaching leadership with an international focus. Split into two parts; its first part presents the local and regional variations in leadership from across the globe, with each of the twenty individual authors presenting the histories, cultures, tensions and social changes that shape the practice of everyday leadership in their respective region. Regions and countries included are: the Arab Middle East, Argentina, ASEAN, Australia, Brazil, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Scandinavia, South Africa, Turkey, UK, USA. In the second part, the editors then critically analyse these chapters and identify the key themes and specific issues, enabling the reader to challenge their own leadership perceptions and move beyond the normative, uncritical approach to leadership. Suitable reading for leadership students, researchers and practitioners looking to enhance their knowledge of global leadership.




Critical Perspectives on PISA as a Means of Global Governance


Book Description

This volume offers a critical examination of the Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA), focusing on its origins and implementation, relationship to other international large-scale assessments, and its impacts on educational policy and reform at national and cross-national levels. Using empirical data gathered from a research project carried out by the CeiED at Lusofona University, Lisbon, the text highlights connections between PISA and emergent issues including the international circulation of big science, expertise and policy, and identifies its conceptual and methodological limits as a global governance project. The volume ultimately provides a novel framework for understanding how OECD priorities are manifested through a regulatory instrument based on Human and Knowledge Capital Theory, and so makes a powerful case to search for new humanistic approaches. This text will benefit researchers, academics and educators with an interest in education policy and politics, international and comparative education, and the sociology of education more broadly. Those interested in the history of education will also benefit from this volume.