The paper explores the efforts of Kerala to align its undergraduate education with global standards and competence through the introduction of the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUGP) in the realm of curriculum reforms. The paper highlights the significance of curriculum reforms in the context of transforming the State of Kerala into a…

Although teaching would seem to be exclusively coupled to each country's economic and technological development, it can also be associated with social transformation, provided that it promotes social innovation: in other words, new ways of conceiving society. This leads us to ask how music teachers are being trained in terms of innovation, a…

In this article I shall reflect on the issue of humanising pedagogy, taking a view that dehumanisation, in general, comes from two kinds of oppression. I shall argue that, apart from oppression of the political type, tertiary education is also a victim of another type of oppression which contributes to its dehumanisation, viz. the oppression…

This article aims to connect and ground the innovative pedagogies described in this issue by looking at the meaning of 'pedagogy' in a holistic way. Drawing on a strong European tradition which originated in the German Enlightenment, it outlines deep principles such as independent thinking, criticality, freedom and social engagement. In…

Due to the rapid development of information and communication technology, society has had to change the way it lives, works, communicates, collaborates, educates and learns. Academic research has begun to focus on this phenomenon, which is widely known as digital transformation (DT). This chapter explores how e-learning and information culture…

At first glance a Russian anarchist's revolutionary address to the youth of his day made in the late 19th century and the address to youth made by a contemporary French philosopher may appear to have little in common as their context and era are ostensibly very different. How would Petr Kropotkin's address be understood in our time? Are…

Could knowledge work practices become pervasive in formal education? Could knowledge creation pedagogies help us close the gap between graduates' knowledge work competencies and fast changing needs of the knowledge society? In this commentary, I first revisit the most notable contributions of this special issue. Then, I turn to some overarching…

Pope Francis describes the greed-driven global economy as an idol colonising society and enforcing values contrary to the gospel. In this context, education is essential to develop the skills in critical and creative thinking needed to identify, resist, and transform the anti-gospel aspects of global capitalism. But this education must do more…

Many have argued that higher education should play a central role in addressing today's complex political, economic, and ecological challenges. However, there is also great anxiety and disagreement about how we should prepare students for an uncertain future, and produce knowledge that responds to contemporary challenges. In this article, I…

China and the US have responded to the challenges of a knowledge-based society, technological advancement, and global competition by implementing educational reforms to impart skills or competencies required of 21st century students. This study compares the rationales, content, and curricula design of both countries' key competencies frameworks…

This article provides a critical and theoretical exploration into teacher performance dispositions (orientations towards performance). The article explores research literature on dispositions, highlighting the representation of teachers in education policy and standards documents across several nations of the OECD: Australia, the USA and the UK.…

This article argues that imparting literacy through the mother tongue of the child and in the setting of an inclusive classroom are the two essential steps for fostering universal elementary education. Nurturing appropriate methodological orientations specific to the material, life and human sciences is critical in accelerating the development of…

This paper provides a comparative analysis of policies, strategies and programmes for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) integration in primary and post-primary education, that were active in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and in the Republic of Ireland in 2016. The analysis showed that while KSA was a relative newcomer to the…

The basic aim of this paper is to discuss the concept 'Knowledge Democracy' (KD) and what it can mean in the school context, its implications on knowledge production and dissemination and on the educational practices. We try to enrich this discussion by presenting action research projects to provide case studies of how thinking about KD can…

Recent significant changes in technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and big data analysis have a wide impact in many areas of human societies, not least in education. Advances in efficiency of new technologies, with impacts in renewable energy and transport affected by environmental concerns and climate change mitigation, demand a…