Twenty-five years ago, the aspirational vision of a newly formed national SENCER initiative led one of the authors (Wood) to initiate a long-term relationship between the Smithsonian Institution and George Mason University, involving a residential, immersive approach to education focused on biodiversity conservation. In the Smithsonian-Mason…

As theorised by Etienne Wenger, communities of practice are becoming settled as a framework for community engagement within Aotearoa New Zealand schools. In this article, the authors critically analyse the assumptions and inequities that can arise when communities of practice prioritise school values and staff comfort over the priorities of…

Community-partnered educational research projects exist in a complex network of stakeholders, values, time constraints and funding limitations. Many researchers are beholden to mandates around their funding, as well as the tenure clock and the 'publish or perish' mindset. However, building rapport and trust with communities takes time and resource…

Is assessment a top-down bureaucratic mandate, an undertaking that seems to have little to do with improving practice, an inauthentic activity that frustrates and disempowers, an afterthought? Or is it a process embraced and enacted together by all stakeholders as a means to learn and grow and enact change in the world? The authors of the…

The paper focuses on the importance of Internationalisation at Home, access and support mechanisms which are provided and co-created by students and university departments to encourage sanctuary scholarship. The paper gives particular attention to activities that encourage meaningful interaction with local communities and widen international…

Educators and policymakers have increasingly turned their attention--and $2.8 billion in funding-- to community school strategies as a way to mitigate the learning of the COVID-19 pandemic. A healing-centered community school implements a whole child approach to teaching and learning to address the fundamental physiological and safety needs of…

The primary aim of this study is to promote social justice and educational equity by empowering the voices of parents and community members in a rural public-school community with a diverse minority population. The research questions focused on understanding how their perceptions, beliefs, experiences, and values influence their engagement with…

This paper presents the results of the concept analysis of co-creation of learning and discusses how this concept is applied in the educational context. The concept co-creation of learning is a border concept, which is increasingly used in diverse areas, however, there is a lack of a current theory regarding the subject in the existing educational…

The recent wave of test-based accountability reforms has negatively impacted the provision of K-12 arts educational experiences. Advocates contend that, in addition to providing intrinsic benefits, the arts can positively influence academic and social development. However, the empirical evidence to support such claims is limited. We conducted a…

"The Final Journey: How Judaism Dignifies the Passage" is a trailblazing curriculum developed to teach Jewish death rituals to high school seniors. For the students, it served as a transformative experience. They emerged more reflective, more spiritual, and with a greater sense of the importance of community involvement. The article…

This article examines the nature of an on-going educational partnership between a Higher Education institution and a number of Further Education (FE) colleges in the West Midlands region of England, forged against the backdrop of sectoral marketisation and neoliberal reform. The partnership originates in the organisation and administration of…

How does a early career faculty member survive the pursuit of campus-community initiatives? This article draws on experiences gained through a unique faculty position that combines community engagement with full academic responsibilities. "Survival" in this position emerges from the integration of community engagement with the…

Research to date about the English government's policy to make schools independent of local authorities (LAs) has looked at the "macro" level of national policy and at the "micro" level of the institution. The study of which this article is a part, explores changes at the "meso" level--the locality. The article…

This article shares lessons learned from the implementation of a community-based character education program in Malaysia. The program at Jenjarom Learning Center is directed toward the transformation and empowerment of local children and youth through moral and character education. The stated purpose of the program has been to awaken the…

The aim of this study is to analyze the core values embedded in the philosophy of Basic Education in Oman. Those values are used to develop a standard to guide the administrative work and performance related to teaching and learning in secondary schools in Oman. 449 school administrators (principals, their assistants, educational supervisors and…