As the postmodern view on local perspectives and situated knowledge is becoming increasingly more important, educational issues regarding ethnic minority groups and multicultural aspects of learning are rapidly turning into a major focus throughout the international educational world. Distinct minority cultures and languages are rarely given enough attention within formal school settings. Instead national languages and curriculum are mandatory, leaving minority students confused and at a disadvantage. The Akha people of Northern Thailand find themselves sharing these minority struggles and this paper sets out to explore issues of continuity and change within Akha discourses from an educational perspective. Eight semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with individuals from the Akha minority group in regards to their views on education. The aim was to analyze how their educational discourses were constructed and what perceptions they carried, primarily in relationship to knowledge and learning. When analyzing the interview material it became evident that the informants’ discourses about education constructed two completely different worlds. Their descriptions of traditional Akha learning in a community setting was distinctly different from how they depicted the mandatory Thai schooling. Conflicts between continuity and change also emerged in the interview material. At the same time as a strong wish for continuity of traditional Akha culture was clearly visible, the interviewees also expressed the necessity to change and adapt to the outside world. This paper, therefore aims to discuss these conflicting discourses in relation to four different aspects of life where education seems to play an essential role for the informants in promoting and preventing changes and continuity: knowledge and learning, social structures, morals and ethics, and cultural identity. It will also be discussed how these discourses construct and impact reality, as well as how perceptions are constructed and reproduced. Furthermore, this paper will also consider how the different issues and conflicts mentioned above could be addressed by a formal Akha school setting.

<p>As the postmodern view on local perspectives and situated knowledge is becoming increasingly more important, educational issues regarding ethnic minority groups and multicultural aspects of learning are rapidly turning into a major focus throughout the international educational world. Distinct minority cultures and languages are rarely given enough attention within formal school settings. Instead national languages and curriculum are mandatory, leaving minority students confused and at a disadvantage. The Akha people of Northern Thailand find themselves sharing these minority struggles and this paper sets out to explore issues of continuity and change within Akha discourses from an educational perspective.</p><p>Eight semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with individuals from the Akha minority group in regards to their views on education. The aim was to analyze how their educational discourses were constructed and what perceptions they carried, primarily in relationship to knowledge and learning.</p><p>When analyzing the interview material it became evident that the informants’ discourses about education constructed two completely different worlds. Their descriptions of traditional Akha learning in a community setting was distinctly different from how they depicted the mandatory Thai schooling. Conflicts between continuity and change also emerged in the interview material. At the same time as a strong wish for continuity of traditional Akha culture was clearly visible, the interviewees also expressed the necessity to change and adapt to the outside world. This paper, therefore aims to discuss these conflicting discourses in relation to four different aspects of life where education seems to play an essential role for the informants in promoting and preventing changes and continuity: knowledge and learning, social structures, morals and ethics, and cultural identity. It will also be discussed how these discourses construct and impact reality, as well as how perceptions are constructed and reproduced. Furthermore, this paper will also consider how the different issues and conflicts mentioned above could be addressed by a formal Akha school setting.</p>

The problem with which this study is concerned is the development of a process model through which culturally-relevant learning materials could be developed. "Culture-based learning materials" are defined to be materials which take into account the child's cultural/linguistic/experiential background and his natural interests. An illustration of the use of the model, for the purpose of demonstrating how to devise culture-based learning experiences via the model, is provided. Teachers of elementary school children in three school districts in northeastern New Mexico were invited to participate in the illustration. Their duty was to collect data via the instrument designed in the second part of the model. The data collected indicate that the majority of children attending these schools are "bilingual" in Spanish and English. Certain literature on teaching Mexican-American children is therefore summarized. For illustrative purposes mathematics was chosen to represent the school's curricula. Hence a synthesis of certain literature on teaching mathematics to "bilingual" children is also provided. Illustrative culture-based mathematics learning experiences for use by teachers in northeastern New Mexico are presented and discussed.

Placement into educable mentally handicapped (EMH) programs is necessary for some students in order to allow them the opportunity to receive an education appropriate for their special needs. Nonetheless, identification as EMH is often perceived as negative and demeaning. Decades of research have substantiated the over-representation of black students into certain categories of special education, including EMH, in comparison to white and Hispanic students. This disparity has raised questions within schools, academe and research communities, and legislative and governing bodies as to the causes, compelling factors, and related variables impacting the phenomenon. This study investigated the apparent over-representation of blacks identified as EMH in the 67 public school districts in Florida in 2001-2002. It also analyzed the effects certain school district characteristics had on the identification of white, black, and Hispanic students as EMH. Analysis of data derived from the Florida Department of Education database for school year 2001-2002 led to the following findings: (1) there was over-representation of blacks in EMH within the 67 public school districts in Florida, since results showed that blacks were identified as EMH 2.5 times more often than whites and Hispanics; (2) socioeconomic status of school districts had a significant effect on the identification of black students as EMH,for example, when the school district was identified as a high socioeconomic status district, there was a greater likelihood that a larger proportion of black students would be identified as EMH; (3) as the wealth of school districts rose, there was a significant likelihood that the proportion of black students identified as EMH would also rise; (4) black students had a greater likelihood of being identified as EMH in suburban school districts; (5) blacks were over-identified in school districts that had 60,000 to 89,000 students; (6) when there was a high percentage of white, full-time, non-instructional staff (80% or more) in school districts, blacks had a greater likelihood of being over-identified as EMH; (7) blacks were three times more likely to be identified as EMH regardless of the type of degrees teachers had; and, (8) as district expenditure per student (FTE) increased, the tendency for over-identification of blacks as EMH decreased. For every variable analyzed, the proportion of black students identified as EMH was significant when compared to the proportions of white and Hispanic students also identified as EMH.

No description available.

This exploratory multiple embedded case study investigates perspectives on education reform under conditions of minority language endangerment in Sunan Yughur Autonomous County, a minority-district in northwest China. The study included three school sites: a Yughur minority urban school; a Yughur minority rural district school, and a Yughur majority rural district school and four embedded cases: school administrators, teachers, parents and students, of Yughur, other minority, or Han nationality. Adult stakeholders were interviewed on what is important to learn in “education for quality”, and what aspects of Yughur knowledge, culture and language should be included in school curriculum as part of education for quality, while students were asked what they enjoyed studying and whether they would enjoy learning stories, poems and songs in Yughur in school. Findings include strong support among parents and students regardless of ethnicity or school site for Yughur language and culture as “essential qualities” to foster in Sunan County school curriculum, with moderate to weak support among educators ranges with some variation among sites. Three parallel visions emerge from the study of what it means today for Chinese minority student to be an educated person in contemporary China: (a) regular Chinese-medium education; (b) multicultural Chinese-medium education; and (c) maintenance bilingual education in Yughur and Chinese. The third vision envisions developing additive bilinguals who know the heritage of their minority as well as the national curriculum in Mandarin. A vision of balanced bilingualism and multiculturalism that sees heritage languages and Mandarin as “resources” is shared by the large majority of parents and students, most teachers and some administrators. Holders of other visions for local minority education largely share a “Language as Problem” orientation towards minority languages. One aim of devolution of school-based curriculum authority is to develop schools’ individuality. This study reveals three divergent models of local schooling that have developed in one minority school district: one that centres on a monolingual model of national culture, one monolingual, multicultural model, and one bilingual, multicultural model, with the latter model corresponding more closely to minority stakeholder perspectives that schools should play a stronger role in the maintenance and revitalization of their cultural and linguistic heritage.

Ethnocultural minority immigrant students carry diverse histories, perspectives, and experiences, which can serve as resources for critical reflection and discussion about social conflicts. Inclusion of diverse students’ identities in the curriculum requires acknowledgement and open discussion of diversity and conflictual issues. In democratic peacebuilding education, diverse students are encouraged to express divergent points of view in open, inclusive dialogue. This ethnographic study with a critical perspective examined how three teachers in urban public elementary school classrooms with ethnocultural minority first- and second-generation immigrant students (aged 9 to 13) implemented different kinds of curriculum content and pedagogy, and how those pedagogies facilitated or impeded inclusive democratic experiences for various students. In these classrooms, peers and teachers shared similar and different cultural backgrounds and migration histories. Data included 110 classroom observations of three teachers and 75 ethnocultural minority students, six interviews with three teachers, 29 group interviews with 53 students, document analysis of ungraded student work and teachers’ planning materials, and a personal journal. Results showed how diverse students experienced and responded to implemented curriculum: when content was explicitly linked to students’ identities and experiences, opportunities for democratic peacebuilding inclusion increased. Dialogic pedagogical processes that encouraged cooperation among students strengthened the class community and invited constructive conflict education. The implicit and explicit curriculum implemented in these three diverse classrooms also shaped how students interpreted democracy in the context of multiculturalism in Canada. Teaching students as though they were all the same, and teaching curriculum content as if it were neutral and uncontestable, did not create equitable social relations. Explicit attention to conflict provided opportunities to uncover the hidden curriculum and to acknowledge structures of power and domination, creating space for development of critical consciousness. Thus culturally relevant curricula and democratic learning opportunities encouraged social and academic engagement and resulted in the inclusion of a wider range of diverse students’ voices.

This exploratory multiple embedded case study investigates perspectives on education reform under conditions of minority language endangerment in Sunan Yughur Autonomous County, a minority-district in northwest China. The study included three school sites: a Yughur minority urban school; a Yughur minority rural district school, and a Yughur majority rural district school and four embedded cases: school administrators, teachers, parents and students, of Yughur, other minority, or Han nationality. Adult stakeholders were interviewed on what is important to learn in “education for quality”, and what aspects of Yughur knowledge, culture and language should be included in school curriculum as part of education for quality, while students were asked what they enjoyed studying and whether they would enjoy learning stories, poems and songs in Yughur in school. Findings include strong support among parents and students regardless of ethnicity or school site for Yughur language and culture as “essential qualities” to foster in Sunan County school curriculum, with moderate to weak support among educators ranges with some variation among sites. Three parallel visions emerge from the study of what it means today for Chinese minority student to be an educated person in contemporary China: (a) regular Chinese-medium education; (b) multicultural Chinese-medium education; and (c) maintenance bilingual education in Yughur and Chinese. The third vision envisions developing additive bilinguals who know the heritage of their minority as well as the national curriculum in Mandarin. A vision of balanced bilingualism and multiculturalism that sees heritage languages and Mandarin as “resources” is shared by the large majority of parents and students, most teachers and some administrators. Holders of other visions for local minority education largely share a “Language as Problem” orientation towards minority languages. One aim of devolution of school-based curriculum authority is to develop schools’ individuality. This study reveals three divergent models of local schooling that have developed in one minority school district: one that centres on a monolingual model of national culture, one monolingual, multicultural model, and one bilingual, multicultural model, with the latter model corresponding more closely to minority stakeholder perspectives that schools should play a stronger role in the maintenance and revitalization of their cultural and linguistic heritage.

Ethnocultural minority immigrant students carry diverse histories, perspectives, and experiences, which can serve as resources for critical reflection and discussion about social conflicts. Inclusion of diverse students’ identities in the curriculum requires acknowledgement and open discussion of diversity and conflictual issues. In democratic peacebuilding education, diverse students are encouraged to express divergent points of view in open, inclusive dialogue. This ethnographic study with a critical perspective examined how three teachers in urban public elementary school classrooms with ethnocultural minority first- and second-generation immigrant students (aged 9 to 13) implemented different kinds of curriculum content and pedagogy, and how those pedagogies facilitated or impeded inclusive democratic experiences for various students. In these classrooms, peers and teachers shared similar and different cultural backgrounds and migration histories. Data included 110 classroom observations of three teachers and 75 ethnocultural minority students, six interviews with three teachers, 29 group interviews with 53 students, document analysis of ungraded student work and teachers’ planning materials, and a personal journal. Results showed how diverse students experienced and responded to implemented curriculum: when content was explicitly linked to students’ identities and experiences, opportunities for democratic peacebuilding inclusion increased. Dialogic pedagogical processes that encouraged cooperation among students strengthened the class community and invited constructive conflict education. The implicit and explicit curriculum implemented in these three diverse classrooms also shaped how students interpreted democracy in the context of multiculturalism in Canada. Teaching students as though they were all the same, and teaching curriculum content as if it were neutral and uncontestable, did not create equitable social relations. Explicit attention to conflict provided opportunities to uncover the hidden curriculum and to acknowledge structures of power and domination, creating space for development of critical consciousness. Thus culturally relevant curricula and democratic learning opportunities encouraged social and academic engagement and resulted in the inclusion of a wider range of diverse students’ voices.

No description available.