Studia Paedagogica – serie

This book discusses educational research as a social discourse, as a discursive practice, in relation to epistemological issues, and in the light of questions of ethics. A number of historians and sociologists of educational sciences have demonstrated that the preference in the social and behavioral sciences for what was seen as a superior quantitative approach rested not just on developments within these disciplines but also and equally on external changes associated with the social context in general and with the dominance, in particular, of meritocratic values with the rise of the neo-liberal society. At the same time some of the work of certain philosophers of education over the last two decades has exposed the naivety of thinking dominated by the naive means-end schema. To a greater and greater extent, the idea of an applied science in which educational intervention is a simple consequence of understanding is being abandoned in favor of a theory of development that is realized in the intervention itself. In line with this, one sees an evolution in which the innovative role of pedagogical research can be emphasized again. Thus, "utopian" perspectives acquire a new legitimacy: the integration of empirical and philosophical research, of quantitative and quantitative methods forces itself anew upon us.

Research on learning disabilities has known a tremendous growth the last 25 years. Yet, despite the progress that is made in diverse domains, learning disabilities still stay a serious challenge to teaching and instruction. In this book the authors try to link original research findings on learning disabilities with instructional methods and teaching practices. The first part of the book brings together contributions about the cognitive, metacognitive and socio-emotional correlates of learning disabilities. The second part of this book goes deeper into research on intervention and instruction methods. After reading this book, not all challenges of learning disabilities to teaching and instruction will be tackled. But it surely can offer some contribution in getting away from some of them. The authors hope it gives a lot of inspiration to the diverse audience they had in mind, practitioners as well as researchers of different disciplines.

Over the past years a substantial amount of research has been undertaken relating to the development of powerful learning environments for the acquisition in students of worthwhile educational objectives focussing on conceptual understanding, higher-order cognitive and metacognitive skills, and self-regulated learning. This research has been mainly undertaken from three distinct perspectives in the study of learning and instruction, namely instructional psychology, instructional technology, and instructional design. Against this background a "research community" involving 14 European research teams has been initiated with the aim of interactively contributing to the advancement of theory and methodology relating to the design, implementation, and evaluation of powerful learning environments. This volume constitutes a collective output of this research community, focussing on the identification and analysis of major components and dimensions of powerful learning environments aimed at the promotion of deep conceptual and strategic learning in major domains of school curricula, like mathematics, physics, history, and social sciences. In Part I of the volume three chapters present general perspectives on the central theme of the third workshop. In Part II six studies are reported wherein novel learning environments for elementary and secondary mathematics education have been designed, implemented and evaluated. In Part III of the volume another set of five investigations is presented relating to the design, implementation and evaluation of powerful learning environments in other subject-matter domains and in teacher training.

This book deals with the implementation and application of the "in the best interests of the child principle" in research and practice. With contributions by authors from nine different countries (United States, Belgium, France, Norway, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Israel, Ireland, Canada) an international perspective is adopted. An outline of the theme is given in the introductory chapter. The main part of the book consists of three parts. The first part contains three chapters illustrating the search for theory-driven and empirically-based models to deal with the complexity of parenting. In the second part which contains five chapters, illustrations about the implementation and application of the best interests principle in child and youth care practice are given. Part three (four chapters) is focusing on the organization of child and youth care systems according to the best interests principle.

For far too long Catholic teaching sisters have been denied their rightful place in the history of education. It is only during the past twenty-five years that researchers in many countries have begun to reveal the fundamental role played by these women in the schooling of children of both the masses and the elite during the 19th and 20th centuries. This essay provides for the first time a detailed overview of the historiography of the teaching sisters in Western Europe, North America, Latin America and Australasia, surveying scholarship since 1985. It reviews the literature on six major themes: contribution to schooling, teaching orders and schools, educational philosophy, content and practice, life and lived experience of teachers and students, the professionalization of teaching, and changes in the composition of the teaching staff. Very rich in bibliographical references, this book is indispensable for all further research on this significant but underexplored group of women teachers.