Presenting European Anthropology of Education through eleven studies of European schools, this volume explores the constructing and handling of difference and sameness in the central institutions of schools. Based on ethnographic studies of schools in Greece, England, Norway, Italy, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Spain, Austria, Russia, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark, it illustrates how anthropological studies of schools provide a window to larger society. It thus offers insights into cultural lessons taught to children through policies, institutional structures and everyday interactions, as well as into schools’ entanglement in state projects, cultural processes, societal histories and conflicts, and hence into contemporary Europe.

The Pedagogy of Special Needs Education: Phenomenology of Sameness and Difference outlines how to understand the inner and behavioral lives of children with intellectual disability through the psychology and phenomenology of "stories" derived from the experiences of living with these children. The book inquires into the meaning of the experiences of children with intellectual developmental disability using a phenomenological method. It examines how the external behaviors of children with special needs may look different from children without these needs, but actually do share many similarities at the phenomenological level of lived experience. Themes of difference and sameness are employed for exploring the significances of phenomena such as "finger play," "eating as self-feeding," "smiling and turn-taking," "self-talk," and "don't touch me." Throughout the narrating and interpreting of the case studies within the book, the author shows the tensional dialectic between individual difference and collective difference, in order to understand what is required to help children with intellectual disability become themselves and form their personal self-identity. The Pedagogy of Special Needs Education can be used in schools, seminars, and courses related to special education programs, and in special needs curricula for children with developmental disabilities. It can also support childcare professionals who carry orthopedagogical responsibilities and who are concerned about the well-being of children and their families experiencing special needs. Additionally, this book is valuable to students, researchers, teachers, and others interested in a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to human science, professional practice issues, and qualitative research methods.

Presenting European Anthropology of Education through eleven studies of European schools, this volume explores the constructing and handling of difference and sameness in the central institutions of schools. Based on ethnographic studies of schools in Greece, England, Norway, Italy, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Spain, Austria, Russia, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark, it illustrates how anthropological studies of schools provide a window to larger society. It thus offers insights into cultural lessons taught to children through policies, institutional structures and everyday interactions, as well as into schools’ entanglement in state projects, cultural processes, societal histories and conflicts, and hence into contemporary Europe.

Now in Paperback! Demographic changes in the U.S. are increasing and accelerating diversity. This book provides an in-depth review and analysis of student diversity and how these differences affect learning. Diversities in race, gender, culture, social class, and learning ability are examined, and assessment and multiple intelligences are explored.

This book investigates how cultural sameness and difference has been presented in a variety of forms and genres of children’s literature from Denmark, Germany, France, Russia, Britain, and the United States; ranging from English caricatures of the 1780s to dynamic representations of contemporary cosmopolitan childhood. The chapters address different models of presenting foreigners using examples from children’s educational prints, dramatic performances, travel narratives, comics, and picture books. Contributors illuminate the ways in which the texts negotiate the tensions between the Enlightenment ideal of internationalism and discrete national or ethnic identities cultivated since the Romantic era, providing examples of ethnocentric cultural perspectives and of cultural relativism, as well as instances where discussions of child reader agency indicate how they might participate eventually in a tolerant transnational community.

This special issue looks at the constantly changing face of education in the world today. Topics covered include educational values, cross-cultural studies, leadership, social impacts, and the role of technology in education.

Teachers + Schooling Making a Difference takes seriously the question that teachers ask, 'What do I do on Monday?' and does provide answers.' From the foreword by Professor Michael Apple, University of Wisconsin Education debates are currently dominated by free-market ideologists who push privatisation and competition as the answer to every problem, regardless of damage to schools and pupils. Teachers + Schooling Making a Difference shows that we can think about education in a far more productive way.' Professor R.W.Connell, University of Sydney This book is a lesson in making hope practical.It makes a compelling argument for recognising, supporting and enabling teachers as central to progressive school reform.' Professor Jenny Ozga, University of Edinburgh What teachers do in the classroom really matters, even though schools cannot compensate fully for difficulties children may face at home and in society. Good teachers and good schools have been making a difference in children's lives for generations, but what exactly is it that works? Based on extensive research in 1000 primary and secondary classrooms, this book examines the tough questions about teaching methods, curriculum, assessment and teachers' professionalism. The authors isolate the key elements that make the difference in the classroom, and offer teachers practical approaches to working with all their students. Teachers and Schools Making a Difference is essential reading for teachers and school administrators who want to improve their professional skills and offer a genuinely democratic education.

First Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

A study of both traditional and new approaches to the study of schools and their communities. The book emphasizes discourse, critical pedagogy and ethnicity.

Confessional and often hilarious, in Normal Sucks a neuro-diverse writer, advocate, and father meditates on his life, offering the radical message that we should stop trying to fix people and start empowering them to succeed Jonathan Mooney blends anecdote, expertise, and memoir to present a new mode of thinking about how we live and learn—individually, uniquely, and with advantages and upshots to every type of brain and body. As a neuro-diverse kid diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD who didn't learn to read until he was twelve, the realization that that he wasn’t the problem—the system and the concept of normal were—saved Mooney’s life and fundamentally changed his outlook. Here he explores the toll that being not normal takes on kids and adults when they’re trapped in environments that label them, shame them, and tell them, even in subtle ways, that they are the problem. But, he argues, if we can reorient the ways in which we think about diversity, abilities, and disabilities, we can start a revolution. A highly sought after public speaker, Mooney has been inspiring audiences with his story and his message for nearly two decades. Now he’s ready to share what he’s learned from parents, educators, researchers, and kids in a book that is as much a survival guide as it is a call to action. Whip-smart, insightful, and utterly inspiring—and movingly framed as a letter to his own young sons, as they work to find their ways in the world—this book will upend what we call normal and empower us all.