Addressing inequality: Educators responding to the contexts of young children’s lives?

A child's early relationships and experiences influence their long-term development and learning. In Australia, some children can face complex levels of deprivation when compared to their peers. This study sheds light on how educators are responding. Data analysed consist of individual interviews with early childhood educators working in diverse communities. The findings highlight educators’ accounts of responsiveness as narrowly framed with attention focused on children's cultural heritage which overshadows other equity groups. The paper argues that by becoming sensitive to the contexts of children's lives, there is potential to build the early childhood workforce's capacity for addressing inequalities in childhood.     

Young people's orientations to the future: navigating the present and imagining the future

This article discusses the findings of the Imagine Sheppey project (2013–2014) which studied how young people are ‘oriented’ towards the future. The aim and approach of the project were to explore future imaginaries in a participatory, experimental, and performative way. Working with young people in a series of arts-based workshops, we intervened in different environments to alter the space as an experience of change – temporal, material, and symbolic. We documented this process visually and made use of the images produced as the basis for elicitation in focus groups with a wider group of young people. In this article we discuss young people's future orientations through the themes of reach, resources, shape, and value. In so doing, we reflect on the paths that our young respondents traced to connect their presents to what is next, what we call their modes of present–future navigation. We explore the qualities and characteristics of their stances within a wider reflection about how young people approach, imagine, and account for the future.     

‘Queen of the world’: experiences of ‘at-risk’ young people participating in equine-assisted learning/therapy

There is a significant body of research into the benefits of animal-assisted therapy (AAT) but less into the fields known as equine-assisted learning and therapy (EAL/EAT) where horses are incorporated in therapeutic and learning interventions. This paper explores the experiences of seven ‘at-risk’ young people who participated in a therapeutic horsemanship (TH) programme. The study followed a practice-near approach seeking to capture the young people's experiences within a participative ethnography. Themes related to the risk and resilience literature such as self-confidence, self-esteem, self-efficacy and a sense of mastery, empathy and the opening of positive opportunities are explored in this paper.     

What is a person‐centred approach? Familiarity and understanding of individualised funding amongst carers in New South Wales

Person‐centred approaches place individuals with a disability at the centre of decision making, with their carers and family invited to be partners in the process. Rather than being required to fit within existing service programs, person‐centred approaches enable individuals to choose the support options that best meet their needs. In order to facilitate this, person‐centred approaches will be accompanied by the introduction of individualised funding. This means the individual will be provided with funding to purchase services of their choosing. Given these significant changes occurring in the disability sector, Carers NSW surveyed informal carers of people with a disability to identify what they knew about person‐centred approaches and how they felt about their introduction. Survey results indicate that there is a need to increase the capacity and willingness of carers significantly in order to engage with person‐centred approaches and individualised funding. Carers require targeted and comprehensive information about these concepts in order to understand fully the changes occurring within the disability sector. These findings also indicate specific areas that need to be addressed in order to increase carers' awareness of these concepts and also to address existing negativity and confusion.     

提升工科专业青年教师教育能力的若干途径

本文分析了工科专业青年教师队伍现状和特点,论述了工科专业青年教师教育能力存在的主要问题,提出工科青年教师应从教学、实践、科研以及学生非专业素质培养等方面提升自身教育能力。     

成人高等教育教学管理模式改革的思考

目前成人高等教育在教学管理中仍然存在许多不足，结合我院成人学生教学管理所取得的成绩和经验，针对当前所面临的现状和问题，指出应进一步深化成人学生教学管理模式改革，并提出了相应的对策措施。     

新形势下用科学的手段完善成人学籍管理

论述成人学籍管理是成人教育的生命线,只有有效地落实成人学籍管理,才能更好地维护学生的合法权益、维护高等学校的稳定性;从新形势视域看,高等学校成人学籍管理有待加强.应当以新形势为背景,了解成人学籍管理的实际情况,合理运用科学手段,提高成人学籍管理信息化、现代化、有效化水平,提高成人学籍管理的作用.指出新形势下有效利用科学手段,利于完善与提高成人学籍管理.     

新形势下高校教师思想政治工作困境及对策研究

师德师风建设是高校教师思想政治工作的核心内容。当前高校教师思想政治工作还面临一些现实困境：工作重心转移, 方法手段单一且落后,教师人格养成的后现代嬗变,市场本位导向下的思想政治工作主体地位嬗变。创新思想政治工作,就必 须进行观念创新,以高校青年教师为主要对象,以师德师风建设为主要内容,充分占领网络制高点,注重实效,以机制构建和路 径创新为核心,增强高校教师思想政治工作实效。     

农村幼儿早期阅读现状及解决对策

早期阅读是学前时期幼儿通过绘画、文字、色彩、倾听等多种方式认知、探索世界的重要学习方式之一。通过阅读幼儿能够了解、认知世界,开阔幼儿的视野,对幼儿口头表达能力、记忆力、观察力、思维力有很大的提高。同时,为幼儿社会生活适应能力打下一定的基础。在与农村幼儿园教师、家长的长期接触中发现：家、园对于阅读并不是太过注重,只是作为一些环节补充,可有可无,这种不利局面应该得到关注及改善。本文对农村幼儿早期阅读现状进行了解,分析出幼儿早期阅读易出现的误区表现为：阅读方式的不合理、阅读过程的不科学、阅读内容的不全面等问题。应营造阅读氛围、引起阅读兴趣、培养幼儿阅读技能、养成良好阅读习惯、贴近生活,注重延伸及时鼓励表扬幼儿等是解决对策。     

成人高等教育概念的诠释

文章从方法论的角度对国内四种有代表性的成人高等教育概念表述进行了分析,认为成人高等教育是指对符合规定标准的在业或非在业成年人实施的属于高等教育水平的教育,它具有对象的成人性和性质的高等性两大本质属性,其外延可分别从办学渠道、教育对象、层次规格和办学形式等不同角度进行划分。在此基础上,文章还对与成人高等教育相似相近的几个概念进行了辨析,阐明了成人高等教育与终身教育是被包含关系,与继续教育是包含关系,而与高等职业教育是交叉关系。