What could the principle of a parental right to educational authority mean for democracy in the long run? Taking its starting point in three models of educational authority, this article questions the current permissive attitude to a parental right in this area. It does so in the light of the shortcomings of such a right with regard to pluralism…

This article examines how interest groups in Hong Kong have politicised national history, an unpopular school subject, for their own political ends and allied themselves with the PRC against the SAR government and its policy of not making it a single, independent, compulsory core subject in the school curriculum. The article argues that this has…

Attention to virtual space is growing in Russia. Russian politicians have an interest in the Internet: the president has his own blog and reads Twitter, and the United Russia Party is starting to work with the iPad on a mass scale. Opposition leaders and movements are not lagging behind either. Online surveys of various Internet resources are…

This review of literature explores current research addressing political bias in higher education. The perception of a pervasive liberal political bias in academia is addressed first. This discussion focuses on the debate surrounding the Academic Bill of Rights, a document that outlines principles defending students' academic freedom and advocates…

Cinemas are an important site of learning for young people. Far from being a passive means of instruction, films aimed at children and young people provide an opportunity for a nation's youth to interact with films' messages both in and outside the cinema. From deciding which films to attend, to discussing the film's ideas with their peers,…

This study outlines the current and recent "state of play" in Israeli and Palestinian schools concerning the education of students about "the Other". This is seen to be far from satisfactory. An examination of the complexities involved in learning about "the Other" and of education programmes in other countries that…

This article looks at the evolution of the social studies curricula in Pakistan, which are of critical importance in shaping the outlook of many young Pakistanis, who are affected by this polarised discourse. The author argues that this trend of polarisation springing from dynamics of education also effectively contributes to a widening social…

In this article, Thea Renda Abu El-Haj draws on qualitative research conducted with Palestinian American high school students to explore school as a key site for nation building. By focusing on their teachers' talk and practice, she examines how U.S. nationalism and national identities are produced through everyday racialized and gendered…

The building and maintaining of a tolerant society requires both a general policy of toleration on the behalf of the state, as well as a minimal number of acts of intolerance by individual citizens towards their fellow citizens. It is this second area of citizen-citizen relations that is of most interest for education policy. There are those who…

How do researchers and practitioners understand and interrogate education reform when it is heralded as the solution to many problems, not all of which are educational? As importantly, how can applied educational researchers delve "beneath the skin" of "given" problems to solve or report, and suggest a range of explanations? In…

Problem Statement: The island of Cyprus, due to its strategic location, was under the influence of many conquerors throughout the centuries. Cultural traces of these captors have survived to the present day. This long, turbulent history has had a profound effect on the Cypriot educational system, with the most recent influence being the impact of…

This article focuses on Enquiring Minds, a three-year curriculum development project funded by Microsoft as part of its Partners in Learning programme and run by Futurelab. The article suggests that the project is best understood as an example of a new type of "curriculum entrepreneurialism" that is impatient with the traditional…

Using data from a large-scale survey of Norwegian youth, the study examines the relationships that the performance in key academic subjects and aiming for higher education have with political socialization at home. The more often adolescents aged 13-16 talk with parents about politics and social issues, the better their performance is and the more…

The development of the Irish system of education was, not unlike all critical aspects of Irish identity, fundamentally shaped by its relationship with its colonial neighbour. Prior to Independence in 1922, the system of education promoted was a fundamental part of a strategic effort to ensure cultural assimilation and political socialisation.…

Community colleges occupy a growing role in the American education system. Their unique cross-section of students poses a challenge for teachers of political science. This paper uses information from a survey completed by over 2,000 students at 20 colleges and universities across the United States to shed light on some of the most significant…