Abstract/Notes: The current system of education in Kenya is the 8-4-4 structure, where children study for eight years of Basic (primary) education, four years of Secondary education and four years of University education. This system was introduced in 1985 to promote man-power capable of performing blue collar jobs, as compared to the former 7-6-3 system that targeted developing a local workforce to replace the British workforce who largely held white collar jobs in the new, independent Kenya. However, over the years, the 8-4-4 curriculum has been widely criticised for a myriad of reasons. The criticisms against this curriculum are that it is too heavily loaded with content, purely examinations-oriented, and generally violating the Rights of the Child by placing undue physical and psychological pressure on learners. In order to address this problem therefore, a new curriculum was hastily crafted and taken through a rushed pilot drive in April 2017 and is expected to replace the current 8-4-4 system by January 2018. Admittedly, this new education system addresses some of the weaknesses of the current 8-4-4 education system, since it is competency-based and focuses more on skills acquisition as opposed to a purely knowledge-based acquisition system. The issues addressed in this paper is how this new and hurriedly crafted curriculum (as well as the introduction of Free Secondary School Education) will be implemented by teachers who are yet to come to terms with the new paradigm shift of teaching and learning. The second issue addressed is whether the crafters of this system took into consideration children’s rights, or whether at all, the system was crafted from a child-centred perspective. The concerns are that apart from the manner in which this syllabus was been crafted and planned for implementation, if not reviewed comprehensively may not only violate the rights of future generations of children, but also enhance negative ethnicity from a linguistic perspective

Language: English

ISSN: 2394-9686

Language: German

Published: Würzburg, Germany: Königshausen und Neumann, 1990

ISBN: 3-88479-423-X

Abstract/Notes: The present study was intended to investigate the current status of Montessori education practices in Korea and to suggest future direction for its improvement and successful implementation of Montessori education in Korean kindergarten. This study was conducted by self-administered questionnaire survey. Subjects served for the study consisted of 85 Montessori teachers among 30 Montessori Kindergartens located in Seoul area, sampled from Korean Montessori kindergarten, using random sampling method. Data were analysed by IBM-PC computer, using SAS program. Statistical methods employed were frequency of item, t-test, and ANOVA. The summary of the research findings was as follows: It was revealed that Korean Montessori teachers who have worked for Montessori Kindergarten with the large amount of Montessori materials on hand had considerably higher recognition of the practical application of Montessori materials and teaching method of Montessori`s theory and program than Montessori teachers with small amount of materials in their Montessori kindergarten. However, the educational instruments for assessing the whole development of children held in stock by Korean Montessori kindergarten generally were below the mean number of holdings. Therefore, the author suggests the importance of educational assessment instruments for Montessori children and those proper application methods.

Language: English

ISSN: 1226-9557, 2733-9653

Abstract/Notes: Project SYNC (Systems, Yoked through Nuanced Collaboration) details perspectives of a community of stakeholders committed to the enhancement of early childhood (i.e., prekindergarten through grade 3) education. Although there is a growing number of public-school programs informed by the Montessori philosophy, Montessori educational experiences often take place within affluent communities. SYNC aimed to enhance the prekindergarten through grade 3 educational experiences for traditionally underserved students by transforming two traditional early childhood classrooms to Montessori settings within a diverse, Title I school. Montessori pedagogy, curricula, and materials aligned with the school’s dedicated commitment to social justice. The study, one in a series, explored the impact of Montessori education on a neighborhood school community as evidenced through stakeholder opinions, project implementation, and teacher attitudes. Project data illustrate that a Montessori educational experience created learning opportunities that supported children from culturally and ethnically diverse communities in a traditional, Title I elementary school.

Language: English

DOI: 10.17161/jomr.v6i1.8539

ISSN: 2378-3923

Abstract/Notes: Based on a database of over 500 resources, this paper explores the educational alternatives that exist today between the cracks of mainstream education and culture. It presents information about the growing numbers of schools and education centers that call themselves learner-centered, progressive, and/or holistic. Sources of data for this summary report also include over 3 years of informal interviews with and observations of people at alternative schools. The paper begins by examining terminology issues, discussing qualities for distinguishing educational alternatives, and describing eight types of schools (democratic and free schools, folk education, Quaker schools, homeschooling/unschooling/deschooling, Krishnamurti schools, Montessori schools, open schools, and Waldorf schools). It also presents frameworks for education (maps for understanding the territories of alternatives), and it discusses the three orientations of a competency based education: transaction (progressive), self-directed (learner-centered), and transformation (holistic). After looking at political issues around school choice which could impact the growth of the various philosophical alternatives, the paper concludes that in a society where issues of pluralism and diversity are valued as part of creating a more sustainable world and just democracy, the diversity of philosophical perspectives in education needs to be acknowledged. (Contains 41 references.) (SM)

Language: English

ISSN: 1094-3838, 2158-8414

Language: English

Language: English

Published: New York, New York: A. A. Knopf, 1930

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: Based on a database of over 500 resources, this paper explores the educational alternatives that exist today between the cracks of mainstream education and culture. It presents information about the growing numbers of schools and education centers that call themselves learner-centered, progressive, and/or holistic. Sources of data for this summary report also include over 3 years of informal interviews with and observations of people at alternative schools. The paper begins by examining terminology issues, discussing qualities for distinguishing educational alternatives, and describing eight types of schools (democratic and free schools, folk education, Quaker schools, homeschooling/unschooling/deschooling, Krishnamurti schools, Montessori schools, open schools, and Waldorf schools). It also presents frameworks for education (maps for understanding the territories of alternatives), and it discusses the three orientations of a competency based education: transaction (progressive), self-directed (learner-centered), and transformation (holistic). After looking at political issues around school choice which could impact the growth of the various philosophical alternatives, the paper concludes that in a society where issues of pluralism and diversity are valued as part of creating a more sustainable world and just democracy, the diversity of philosophical perspectives in education needs to be acknowledged. (Contains 41 references.) (SM)

Language: English

Published: New Orleans, Louisiana, 2002

Abstract/Notes: L’occasion de lancer des recherches sur les liens entre le mouvement théosophique et l’éducation en Espagne et l’intérêt que celles-ci pouvaient présenter surgirent à partir de la lecture du Petit Journal d’Adolphe Ferrière dans les Archives de l’institut J.-J. Rousseau de l’université de Genève. En 1930, de passage à Barcelone sur le chemin de son long voyage vers l’Amérique latine, le pédagogue suisse fut reçu par Maria Solà de Sellarés, Attilio Bruschetti et José Forteza. Cependant ces personnages n’apparaissent pas dans les pages de l’historiographie de l’éducation nouvelle et de la rénovation pédagogique en Catalogne au cours du premier tiers du XXe siècle. Après les recherches qui s’imposaient, nous sûmes qu’ils militèrent dans l’hétérodoxe mouvement théosophique et que, suivant les pas de Béatrice Ensor, ils se rapprochèrent de sa pédagogie par le biais de la Fraternité internationale de l’Éducation. La vocation éducative du mouvement théosophique se manifesta dans l’organisation de cours et de conférences, l’édition de livres et de dépliants à caractère doctrinal et didactique, la création d’espaces de sociabilité et, entre autres initiatives, par la fondation d’un certain nombre d’écoles et de centres éducatifs qui tentèrent de rejoindre les mouvements rénovateurs européens, tout en restant fidèles au spiritualisme oriental. Plus tard et malgré les distances que leur imposèrent dissidences et fractures, un autre courant allait apparaître à l’horizon de l’évolution de ce mouvement: l’anthroposophie de Steiner et la pédagogie Waldorf. Cet article se propose d’analyser, dans les contextes européen et international, la fonction sociale, éducative et socialisatrice de la théosophie et des réseaux socioéducatifs théosophiques, hors et dans l’école, en Espagne au cours du premier tiers du XXe siècle. Cette recherche part de l’analyse de sources orales (membres de familles de théosophes et personnes ayant des liens avec le mouvement théosophique) et de sources écrites (directes et indirectes) consultées et étudiées dans diverses archives : Biblioteca de Cataluña (Barcelone), bibliothèque privée de la Branche Arjuna de Barcelone, Centro nacional de la Memoria histórica de Salamanque (Espagne), archives privées de la famille Jover Dalmau (ancien élève de l’école Damon) et Archives historiques municipales de Sabadell (Catalogne). [The opportunity to launch research on the links between the theosophical movement and education in Spain and the interest that these could present arose from the reading of the Petit Journal d'Adolphe Ferrière in the Archives of the institute J.-J. Rousseau from the University of Geneva. In 1930, passing through Barcelona on the way to his long journey to Latin America, the Swiss teacher was received by Maria Solà de Sellarés, Attilio Bruschetti and José Forteza. However, these characters do not appear in the pages of the historiography of new education and educational renewal in Catalonia during the first third of the twentieth century. After the necessary research, we learned that they were active in the heterodox theosophical movement and that, following in the footsteps of Beatrice Ensor, they approached her pedagogy through the International Fraternity of Education. The educational vocation of the theosophical movement was manifested in the organization of courses and conferences, the publication of books and leaflets of a doctrinal and didactic nature, the creation of spaces for sociability and, among other initiatives, by the foundation of a number of schools and educational centers which tried to join the European renovating movements, while remaining faithful to Eastern spiritualism. Later and despite the distances imposed by dissidence and fractures, another current would appear on the horizon of the evolution of this movement: the anthroposophy of Steiner and the Waldorf pedagogy. This article aims to analyze, in European and international contexts, the social, educational and socializing function of theosophy and theosophical socio-educational networks, outside and in school, in Spain during the first third of the twentieth century. This research starts from the analysis of oral sources (members of families of Theosophists and people with links to the Theosophical movement) and written sources (direct and indirect) consulted and studied in various archives: Biblioteca de Cataluña (Barcelona), library private of the Arjuna Branch of Barcelona, ​​Centro nacional de la Memoria histórica de Salamanca (Spain), private archives of the Jover Dalmau family (former pupil of the Damon school) and Municipal Historical Archives of Sabadell (Catalonia).]

Language: French

Published: Rennes, France: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2018

ISBN: 978-2-7535-5561-7

Series: Histoire