A curriculum is a form of politics (Apple, 1993). The politics of a curriculum defines what is legitimate and valued and what is not. In Taiwan, the objectives of vocational high school (VHS) education are to prepare students to acquire relevant professional knowledge and practical skills and to integrate them into their future career development.…

This document provides guidelines for developing competency-based pathways in Iowa districts and schools and outlines waiver requirements and procedures. Competency-based pathways provide ways to validate learning of standards that occurs outside the structure of the traditional school and offer flexibility for schools to engage students in…

The Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC), founded in 1997, is dedicated to improving academic degree programs for professional educators--those who teach and lead in schools, pre-K through grade 12. TEAC accredits undergraduate and graduate programs, including alternate route programs, based on (1) the evidence they have that they…

The Teacher Education Accreditation Council's (TEAC's) "Guide to Accreditation" is primarily for the faculty, staff, and administrators of TEAC member programs. It is designed for use in preparing for both initial and continuing accreditation. Program personnel should understand and accept all the components of the TEAC accreditation process…

This article provides a critical examination of a variety of approaches to induction focusing especially upon Australia and other Pacific Rim countries. The question of the purposes induction serves for graduate teachers, experienced teachers and education systems is addressed in terms of whether it is a technical exercise which preserves the…

Teacher induction programs provide the critical support that new teachers need as they move from university teacher education studies to the everyday realities of teaching. Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) work through a range of new and challenging experiences as they explore their sense of themselves as professionals. Their identities are being…

The Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) "Guide to Accreditation" includes a full description of TEAC's principles and standards, the accreditation process and audit, and detailed instruction on writing the "Brief." This revision includes expanded information on (1) preparing an "Inquiry Brief Proposal" and the audit of the "Inquiry…

This Issue Brief, written through a collaboration between two federally funded technical assistance and research dissemination centers, the New York Comprehensive Center (NYCC) and the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality (TQ Center), describes what "teaching as a clinical practice profession" means to those in the field of teacher…

This article constructs learning to teach for social justice as a complex but assessable outcome of teacher preparation. It provides a conceptual framework and describes a set of assessment tools and studies that use quantitative and qualitative methods for the collection and analysis of data. We conceptualize learning to teach for social justice…

Place- and community-based education--an approach to teaching and learning that starts with the local--addresses two critical gaps in the experience of many children now growing up in the United States: contact with the natural world and contact with community. It offers a way to extend young people's attention beyond the classroom to the world as…

This article examines shifts in educational and social governance taking place in Queensland, Australia, through Education Queensland's Industry School Engagement Strategy and Gateway Schools program. This significant educational initiative is set within the context of Queensland's social investment agenda first articulated in its education policy…

A teacher recently said of her own education, "When I went to school, we knew a lot and understand nearly nothing. We had no idea how what we learned related to the world beyond the classroom. What a waste!" This teacher is right. Knowing, which is important, is not the same as understanding. Simply cultivating knowledge is, as the teacher said, a…

The Institute for Earth Education is a nonprofit volunteer group made up of an international network of individuals and member organizations devoted to helping people live more lightly on the earth. This book proposes an alternative path to solve environmental problems. The program, called the earth education path, seeks to accomplish one of…

During a fieldstudy of children's gardens in the United States in 2005, the author became aware that possibilities for providing learning experiences in children's gardens are bountiful and different styles are emerging. Anecdotally this appears to be a contested area with some within the discipline favoring a narrower definition of children's…

Describes a project to develop a comprehensive arts program in Cleveland. It is called "Education for Aesthetic Awareness", and is a total arts program, with an initial focus on inservice teacher education and embodying the most advanced thinking to date on aesthetic education. (Editor/RK)