This article traces the phenomenal improvement in public relations efforts over the past 40 years made by Catholic secondary schools. The improvements were brought about by crises, a theological paradigm shift, professional lay involvement, a growing awareness and appreciation of public relations, competition, and increasing financial need. The…

Ludwig Wittgenstein's thought embraces two complementary projects: what he called his therapeutic work which was aimed at treating philosophical questions as though they were an illness, and his reconstructive work which emerges from this therapeutic endeavor. Wittgenstein describes his therapeutic work as an exercise that involves destroying…

Japan has often been criticized for allegedly teaching its schoolchildren about the history of Imperial Japan 1895-1945 in selective and misleading ways. Is this criticism justified, and how does it compare with the record of another former colonial power in East Asia: England? International criticism of history teaching in England has been…

This paper considers the work of Martin Heidegger and its relation to situated cognition. The motivation for the paper springs from the perceived misconception that many educators have on situated cognition by applying situated learning strategies in a dualistic orientation, whereas situated cognition is fundamentally relativist (non-dualistic) in…

The student population in contemporary public middle schools is growing increasingly more diverse. While heterogeneously grouped classrooms are consistent with middle school philosophy as well as recommendations from leading middle school advocacy groups, many teachers in these settings seem to downplay the differences among the students and…

In his Pulitzer Prize winning work, "Anti-intellectualism in American Life," Richard Hofstadter set out to trace the social movements that altered the role of intellect in society from a virtue to a vice. In so doing, he explored questions regarding the purpose of education and whether the democratization of education altered that…

This article examines the curricular constructions that influence our perceptions of learner "ability" within games education. Games education has both inherent and intrinsic value for learners, and within this context, teachers make important choices about what they believe will be of most value and interest for students. This in turn impacts the…

This paper draws on data collected in a one-year research project focusing on elucidating theory/practice relations in learning to teach. As a teacher educator I grapple with the nature and role of teaching methodology. The notion of method, with its implied order and certainty, is confronted alongside prospective teachers throughout their…

For whatever reasons, whether state and local curriculum requirements, mandated assessments, or other political forces, textbook authors have elected to include Christianity and the Religious Right in their presentations of U.S. history. Therefore, a major concern is the impressions authors create that shape the way students understand and view…

In this article, the authors discuss Karen Cross's critique on LiFE (Living in Faith Everyday) curriculum. Cross's critique focuses on the following issues: (1) racism; (2) sexism; (3) classism; (4) suburbanism; (5) Reformed theology; and (6) method. To respond to Cross's critique is an invitation for everyone to examine not only one particular…

A Response to Intervention (RTI) model proposes identification of students with reading difficulties on the basis of a series of progressively more intensive instructional interventions over extended periods of time. Learners with serious reading difficulties are those whose difficulties are not resolved by the interventions. Three advantages of…

While the term "learner-centered" is invoked in many curriculum standards documents, packaged curriculum materials, mission statements and criticisms of educational practice, there is little agreement on its meaning. Shallow understandings and conflicting practices abound. And rarely do the meanings ascribed to the term take into account the…

This paper discusses the contributions history can make to educational administration and how history needs to be conceptualised as a humanities discipline to serve this purpose, including two aspects of the field of particular relevance to educational administration and leadership, biography and comparative studies. The value of history is…

"Education for all" is a demand that keeps on appearing in various historical contexts and is not just a phenomenon of the modern age. Taking the demand for "education for all" as a normative principle, this paper pursues the questions of how this demand was reflected in pedagogical reform programmes and in what way, as well as…

This paper develops a critical methodology which could be applied to the study and use of e-learning environments. The foundations are, first, an ontological appreciation of environments as multiple, dynamic and interactive: this is based on the environmental theories of Vladimir Vernadsky. The next step is then into epistemology, and here use is…