Transformative approaches to teaching and learning have become ubiquitous in education today. Researchers, practitioners and commentators alike often claim that a truly worthwhile education should transform learners in a profound and enduring way. But what exactly does it mean to be so transformed? What should teachers be transforming students…

The first of two volumes dedicated to this little-explored topic, this volume gathers international perspectives to critically assess how Waldorf education has been perceived and discussed in both public and academic arenas. The book thereby challenges the historical concept of Waldorf education as an international movement championing…

This book explores a value-based research methodology, Living Educational Theory Research (LETR), which aligns a values-based approach with key tenets of professional development to inform and inspire future educators' practice. Written by world-leading scholars in the field of LETR, the chapters are global in reach and promote the evolving and…

This volume presents a novel, theoretical, micro-analytical model -- the 3A Methodology -- for assessing the quality of school education. Drawing on philosophers as well as theoretical and pedagogical traditions from European and American contexts, the authors construct a model that is relevant to teachers, researchers, and teacher educators…

This book addresses issues and challenges arising in the theory and practice of international education. Written by leading international experts in the field, it draws on up-to-date scholarship relating to this burgeoning area of study. The book reflects research that focuses on the increasing importance worldwide of the international schools…

It is important for educational researchers to possess an understanding that research (albeit a contentious area in terms of what indeed this constitutes) undertaken is done with certain pre-existing values and beliefs as to what we as individuals and teachers hold true. The methods and methodologies defined by Gough (2000, p.3) as "the reasoning…

This article explores the possibility of developing an ethico-politically coherent and practical research framework for studying the learning and knowledge-production and dissemination processes of utopian groups and movements. It seeks to develop understanding of utopias by identifying and conceptualizing their pedagogical aspects. At the same…

The autonomous and the ideological model of literacy, and their tentative effects on teachers' practices as well as on research will be discussed in this article, thus emphasizing the need for teaching children not only to read the word, but also the world. Cases where the possibility of implementing critical awareness from the very start of…

In this essay, Robert Floden reviews three recent volumes in the Philosophy, Theory, and Educational Research series that address the philosophical implications of three "isms"-- postpositivism, pragmatism, and poststructuralism--for empirical educational research. These volumes, written by D.C. Phillips, Gert J.J. Biesta, and Michael A. Peters,…

As the educational research community has struggled with research issues over the last few decades, we have turned almost exclusively to epistemologically oriented methodology for answers. Implicit in this methodological discourse are three questionable presuppositions about the relationship between methods and methodology and between researchers…

Development of a more scholarly approach to teaching at university may expose the novice university teacher to an apparent conflict in belief systems about teaching and learning (i.e. epistemological beliefs). Educational research is explicit in its recognition of a constructivist framework, whilst other academic research is often embedded more…

John Dewey is known as the greatest and the most representative of U.S. philosophers. His philosophy, influenced by and developed during a period of great expansion in U.S. history, and great upheaval in U.S. social life, is characterized by a common sense, extroverted pragmatism. Sigmund Freud, in a ironic twist of fate, has been an important…

Varying approaches to mathematics were raised in a Philosophy of Mathematics course. Students were asked which foundational schools they preferred and these preferences were compared with scores on hemispheric tests. The results indicate that preferences may be related to the brain's hemispheres. (MNS)

The goals of the Research Council for Diagnostic and Prescriptive Mathematics (RCDPM) and the extent to which they are being realized are considered. Also discussed is the role of RCDPM in the broader mathematics education community, as well as some challenges and future directions. (MNS)

This paper examines the a-priori ideological orientation of pupils in two different types of schools in the kibbutzim in Israel, the movement schools (Hatakam or Hashomer Hatzair) and the mixed schools. The paper attempts to show how different educational circumstances and environments develop a distinct a-priori ideological orientation in…