Examines how the Montessori community can work for peace within individuals, the schools, and the Montessori community itself by building school identity, creating family-friendly schools, building community within the faculty, and building a community of schools among the competing schools in the local area. Describes several peace programs for…

Looks at the notion made popular in the 1960's by Paul Hirst and Richard Peters that knowledge is intrinsic to the educational enterprise. Suggests that the acquisition of knowledge remains the primary justification for educational experiences, and proposes a concept of knowledge as "rationality's database". (Contains 16 references.) (NB)

Examines the discussion of a constructivist consideration of learning for its capacity to limit the position of educational instruction by a new perspective on the subject. Offers a learning theory that understands learning as a subjective activity in the context of society. (CMK)

In this interview, influential educator Deborah Meier discusses her education philosophy, especially as it relates to current reform efforts focusing on standardized testing. Meier stresses that there is a big difference between standards and standardization, and that standardized testing is incapable of measuring complex and subtle qualities…

Examines the prospect of 'internationalizing' curricula and curriculum studies in the context of increasingly complex patterns of global interconnectedness in social production and organization. Explores ways in which diverse knowledge traditions can be sustained locally and amplified transnationally. Includes references. (CMK)

States that Paulo Freire distinguished between authoritarianism and the legitimate exercise of authority, aligning legitimate authority with the assurance of freedom. He also linked freedom with the process of struggle, indicating a strong relationship between freedom and social justice. (NB)

Interviews with staff and students explore the purposes of Puget Sound Community School (Seattle, Washington), which offers self-directed and community-based learning for students aged 12-18. Since its inception 7 years ago, the alternative school gradually became more scheduled, until the students initiated a restructuring to restore flexibility.…

Discussion of ethics in special education focuses on four challenges: (1) examination of special education's history within an ethical framework; (2) articulation of character morality as well as choice morality in special education ethical dilemmas; (3) examination of special education in a liberal democracy; and (4) development of an ethical…

The body of literature on the concept of the "knowledge economy" is both recent and rapidly growing, especially in the related fields of economics and management, yet both less recognised and less established in the field of education. It is a concept that has inspired many national governments and world policy institutions such as the OECD and…

This article explores the Sami philosophy of the gift as a basis for a transformative pedagogical framework. Grounded on the Sami land-based worldview, this philosophy calls for the recognition and reciprocation of gifts, whether gifts of the land, interpersonal gifts or giftedness of an individual. In particular, the article considers two Sami…

This article investigates some of the antecedent conditions underlying the imputation of autonomy within conceptions of "teaching" and "learning". It links the history of those concepts with the separate roles and functions assigned to males and females in specific instances of educational practice. "Teaching" and "learning" are psychoanalysed as…

American Catholic universities and colleges are a large component of the global strength in Christian higher education and scholarship, but they currently do not participate in international collaboration in proportion to their capacity. The Roman Catholic hierarchy looks to the numerical, structural, and curricular strength of Catholic…

This article considers changing the purposes of education held by pre-service teachers. It argues that purposes of education are inextricably linked to life meanings and purposes. Employing an existential perspective, mainly through Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre and Morris, the fundamental beliefs that one has regarding the meaning and…

Among art education theorists and writers, university faculty, graduate and some undergraduate students, notions of visual culture are being advocated, played with, and adopted as theoretical frames for preservice and graduate art education programs. In this paper, the author addresses the gap between theory and policy, examines possible responses…

The author of this article, president of NCSS (2004-2005), is a professor of social studies education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. This address was delivered at the 84th NCSS Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, November 2004. The author's vision for social studies and NCSS in the twenty-first century comes from growing up in a…