Going Deeper into Curriculum and Pedagogical Activity

This chapter takes a deeper dive into curriculum and pedagogy as these are defined and applied within education. Here terminology like pedagogy, curriculum, leadership (including leadership teams) and education itself are defined in terms of a particular ‘educational’ interest. Such an approach also features a mediation among state and national standards and the needs and interests of children. This approach sees the task of educating children as necessarily occurring in the pedagogical relation between teacher and student in classrooms and between formal leader/principal and teacher in schools and between district leader/superintendent and principals. We recognize the value of understanding the foundations of education developed in earlier times of political and cultural uncertainty. We explicitly define key terms for education, curriculum, pedagogy and leadership in school development using foundational understandings amidst the contemporary situation. Application of the concepts is explored through case studies.

The Child Seen as the Same or the Other? The Significance of the Social Convention to the Pedagogical Relation

The aim of this article is to explore the lifeworld of children as they experience everyday conventional situations where proper behaviour is expected and to understand the significance of the social convention to the pedagogical relation between adult and child. Based on interviews with adults recalling pedagogical episodes of handshaking, waiting, and thanking someone, we describe and interpret narrative examples by the light of Continental phenomenological pedagogy. Including children in the traditions of a society by exposing them to situations where conventional behaviour and adherence to social norms are expected is an unavoidable ingredient of pedagogical practice. Adults often expect children to adapt to social conventions simply by being introduced to them, and at the same time as adults we are somehow prevented from seeing the meaning of the situation for the child by our grown-up-ness and the conventional quality of the situation. The socialization of children, including the transfer of conventionally proper behaviour from one generation to the next, introduces ethical and pedagogical dilemmas. We suggest that although social conventions of proper behaviour are desirable and important factors of socialization for the child, the social convention itself can be a pedagogical impasse that anticipates homogeneity and assimilation and renders difficult a pedagogically caring practice.

Ambientes de aprendizagem, tecnologias digitais e formação inicial de professores

Technological advances require a flexible curriculum adapted to the new realities and challenges imposed to society and to education, in particular to current and future teachers. The initial teachers training constitutes an initial opportunity for socialization with the teaching profession and, in this sense, has to meet the profile of the student of the XXI century. However, there is a mismatch between the approach and contents of digital technologies and the needs for integrated, comprehensive and articulated training, as referred to in the ICT competency framework (UNESCO, 2011), and the curriculum for teacher training in media literacy and information literacy (Wilson et al., 2013). The aim of this exploratory article is to contribute to the state of the art about learning environments using digital technologies in the initial teacher training (methodological options, resources, theoretical reference, ...) based on a systematic literature review of 17 recent articles (2016-2017) from different countries. The main results point to a tendency to value the "testing" and application of theoretical models and the use of certain new or innovative digital technologies through observations, open questionnaires and pre-defined scales. At the same time, it was verified that the personal and professional development aspects of the future teachers, as well as the pedagogical relation, are not the research paper’s privileged focus. This work allows to conclude that the research follows the trend of the contexts of practice of initial teacher training, in which there is a disarticulation between theory and educational practices using digital technologies in a contextualized and meaningful way.

Twenty-First Century Learning as a Radical Re-Thinking of Education in the Service of Life

The education reforms called for in 21st century education initiatives have been characterized as radical. International efforts to reformulate education for 21st century teaching and learning are well-funded initiatives by coalitions including governments, not-for-profit organizations, and large corporations. This article is a critique of the emergence of 21st century learning showing that a preoccupation with competencies and skills can be interrogated for that to which 21st century learning gives voice, but also for that which it silences. The fundamental question of the purpose of education, or for what do we educate, is virtually absent in most discussions of 21st century learning. Finally, I offer an alternative curricular vision to the techno-optimistic belief in progress prevalent in the discourse of 21st century learning. In the call for radical reform, I propose another understanding of the word “radical,” one that includes an ecocentric, life affirming understanding that roots education in a life code of value and in a living community of relations large enough to embrace the multidimensionality, the responsiveness, and responsibility at the heart of the pedagogical relation.

Contributions to a successful e-learning process – a case study

Our study focuses on a post-graduation programme at Autonoma University, Portugal, whose regime has gone from face-toface (f2) to blended- and e-learning. Based on semi-structured interviews, this exploratory study aims to analyse the perceived satisfaction of students attending the programme in the different regimes. Considering the interviews made thus far, we have realised that most prefer f2f, though previous experience attending online courses seems to influence students to a more positive assessment of the e-learning regime. Students consider most relevant for their learning process the methodology used – collaborative learning – and the pedagogical relation fostered by recurring to social networks in addition to the virtual learning systems employed. We aim to introduce improvements to the programme itself, as well as assess the most important aspects and tools students perceive as contributing to a successful learning process. Keywords: e-learning, collaborative learning, virtual learning system, perceived satisfaction.

Dannelsesbegrebets rolle som regulativ ide i teoretisk pædagogik – Dannelsesbegrebet og den pædagogiske forskning

In this paper, it will be argued that the concept of ‘Bildung’ has a twofold role in pedagogical research. On the one hand, it holds a position for conceptual analysis and discussions of how a pedagogical relation is established between an individual and the world. In this sense, it belongs to theoretical pedagogics. Humboldt concepts of receptivity and self-determination (Selbstätigkeit) and Klafki’s theory of categorial pedagogy are central contributions to this discussion. On the other hand, the concept of Bildung has a role as a regulative idea due to the ideas and imaginations of various forms of humanity it contains. In this sense, it fulfills an ethical dimension since it is regulative for the pedagogical relationship between individual and world.