The status of learning styles theory in educational studies is uncertain as we inhabit the liminal phase between the theory's death as proclaimed by educational psychologists who avow to have disproven it and whatever afterlife will follow. At this moment, with both past and future in view, that we have an opportunity to reflect on the…

There are steps formally initiated by the Government of India to maintain its adherence to the norms of Inclusive Education. Such schemes, acts and policy drafts are brought into discussion in this paper along with an appraisal of their draft and scope. This include the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan which became operational from the year 2001, The Right…

Defining what is meant by 'life' seems, on the face of it, straightforward. But, as this article explores, once you delve below the surface you find that providing a definition that everyone agrees upon is nearly impossible. By first considering how biologists and philosophers of science debate the issue of defining life, the article then goes…

The new Curriculum for Wales seeks to develop young people who are ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world and committed to the sustainability of the planet. While the curriculum requires the integration of subject knowledge, the associated guidance fails to suggest a philosophy of knowledge to inform such integration. Having linked…

It appears that in September, 2011, Rome experienced much more than a dialogue on dialogic pedagogy but a gladiatorial clash of personalities and ideas. Heat, we are told, was generated (above, p.1) and in the dissipation of this heat on to the page, even the reader gets hot and flushed. We are told that arguments "fail" (above, p.16);…

Although there is universal consensus both in the science education literature and in the science standards documents to the effect that students should learn not only the content of science but also its nature, there is little agreement about what that nature is. This led many science educators to adopt what is sometimes called "the consensus…

Scholarship that moves from research into practice shares characteristics that make it visible to teachers, friendly to their worldview, practicable for realities of K-12 schools, and easily sharable. That doesn't mean however, that it's good or effective. Connecting research and practice is important work, if only because it has the…

The Capabilities Approach places dignity at its core, emphasising people as ends not means who should be enabled to achieve the plans and goals they have reason to value. Focussed on the entitlement of all people to flourish and to be treated with equal respect, we argue here that this approach lends itself to a consideration of ethical issues…

John Dewey proposes the "educative" experience as the goal of instruction. Yet, in focusing on the educative experience, Dewey may discount other sorts of learning which occur in school, and indeed in life. This piece proposes a recapitulation of Dewey's theory through Peirce's categorical system of experience, leading to three categories of…

I use Ian Hacking's views to explore ways of classifying people, exploiting his distinction between indifferent kinds and interactive kinds, and his accounts of how we "make up" people. The natural kind/essentialist approach to indifferent kinds is explored in some depth. I relate this to debates in psychiatry about the existence of mental…

Although teaching games for understanding has been increasingly incorporated into physical education curricula around the world, many physical education teachers find it challenging to provide students with learning opportunities that foster critical thinking. Specifically, teachers have difficulty identifying problems in and potential solutions…

The paper takes a retrospective look at the work of Henry Evelyn Bliss, classificationist theorist and author of the "Bibliographic Classification". Major features of his writings and philosophy are examined and evaluated for the originality of their contribution to the corpus of knowledge in the discipline. Reactions to Bliss's work are analysed,…

The demise of the Communist Party's monopoly over education in Europe created a new dilemma for educational leaders in post-Communist states. They faced a difficult question: How should a nation-state that accepts ideological pluralism handle the difficult relationship between religion and education? As is well known, Western liberal democracies…

This article describes a process of incorporating future school administrators' value clusters into a university preparation program. The university's role in integrating a values dimension in school administrators' preparation programs is elucidated. The "Principal's Reflective Experiential Preparation Program" is described, with an emphasis on…

This article aims to develop a paradigm of lifelong learning situations. The starting point is the EU-Commission policy document where three kinds of learning situations are identified: formal, non-formal and informal. The article tries to deepen this categorisation by searching for the underlying ontological and epistemological dimensions. The…