This article explores how John Dewey's concept of democracy can contribute to our understanding of what is required from education amid growing nationalism and populism, even in what are usually perceived as established democracies. The purpose of the study is to explore how standards-based curricula for citizenship education can be problematised…

This book identifies the cultural and moral foundations of country-specific educational governance and school leadership and presents the principles of justice and the diversity of common goods that guide leadership practices in schools. It contributes to an existing research field that studies diversity and ethical leadership in schools. The…

Purpose: The purpose of the article is to examine knowledge about successful principalship and discuss the methodology that has emerged throughout the history of the International Successful School Principals Project (ISSPP) and their implications for future progress. Design/methodology/approach: Historical analysis is used as a strategy for…

One of the key challenges for educators is how to ensure inclusion of all learners in diverse classrooms. One effective way of providing an inclusive environment is by using Cooperative learning. When teachers use Cooperative learning a democracy stance (Vinterek 2010) emerges (Ferguson-Patrick 2014). Such classrooms use inclusive pedagogies that…

The research presented in this paper explores how preschool teachers in Sweden negotiate tensions stemming from perceived cultural dilemmas among themselves, the children they work with, and the children´s parents or guardians. The aim in characterising this process of negotiation is to expand knowledge about how to adapt pedagogically to the…

For more than 40 years, health and physical education (HPE) academics in universities and teacher education colleges have drawn attention to issues of social justice specific to the context of PE and advocated for teachers in fields, gymnasiums and other physical activity spaces to do a better job of promoting more equitable outcomes for all…

How questions concerning democracy and emancipation thread through teacher education is currently under theorized and there is a paucity of cross-national studies examining the problem. In this study, we draw from a number of theoretical frameworks for their discursive positioning of democracy and emancipation in teacher education and what we are…

The neo-liberal move to depoliticise and deregulate governance of public sectors by transferring them to the technocratic and administrative marketplace management endangers the political and democratic processes at all levels. It influences education and educational leadership at their very core: the purpose of education is shifting from…

In the article on the basis of the psycholinguistic experimental data obtained in 2009-2010 from Russian and Swedish students, we consider internal features of several complex values ("Harmony", "Freedom", "Democracy", "Tolerance" and "Patriotism") and analyze their external systemic organization,…

The aim here is to describe and discuss how different cultural meanings, offered in education, can contribute to unjust cultural relations such as othering and xenophobia. By analysing the cultural and discursive content in curricula using a (neo)pragmatic curriculum theory research method, dominating ideas, values and discourses between 1948 and…

In this article we argue that culturally variable values and morals have a key role in educational initiatives that address a global dimension. The article suggests that looking at values and morals in relation to a teaching practice is a way of adding knowledge to this field. Our study inquires into how an intercultural experience can evoke…

Today there is a strong tendency to involve local citizens in community work, and to mobilize social forces in poor urban districts. We will focus on one specific method used to educate and help immigrant parents raise and foster their children. This method is described as part of a wider ambition to integrate and involve immigrants in Swedish…

Intercultural dialogue is a concept and discourse that dates back to the 1980s. It is the major means for managing diversity and strengthening democracy within Europe and beyond. It has been adopted by the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe as the basis for interreligious and interfaith initiatives and has become increasingly…

Examined ethical concepts in children's stories derived from Swedish, Hungarian, and Chinese cultures. Identified 12 qualitative categories of ethical meaning. Examined deeper, underlying psychological consequences from the standpoint of prevailing notions. (Author)

This contribution provides an "outside" commentary on several of the articles provided in this special issue on environmental education and education in the context of sustainability in Denmark and Sweden. Although there is no uniform position or shared single outlook expressed in the articles in this special issue, there are some…