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Understanding Chinese Principalship—An autobiographical approach
Get PDFCultural context matters in leadership. Traditions and cultures may saliently impact how leadership is conceptualized and enacted in practice. With the influence of Chinese traditions and culture, particularly Confucianism and Confucian culture, Chinese principal leadership may differ from the dominant leadership approaches that reign in the literature. Therefore, an in-depth understanding of leadership in a Chinese context is long overdue. Informed by an autobiographical approach, this study aims to explore a Chinese principal’s daily leadership practices. Autobiography renders accounts of layered reality, affords access to inner experiences, and unpacks the rationale in decision-making when engaging in the leadership process. The influence of various traditional (particularly Confucian) culture variables is crystalized through the subjective experience of the principal, as articulated in the autobiography and the analysis followed. This study provides an example of how traditional (particularly Confucian) culture permeates into a principal’s daily practice, including how the principal understands his role and deals with guanxi (network of relationships) using leadership tactics
Analyzing the success of Hispanic boys in meeting college and career readiness standards in rural Texas high schools
Get PDFExamined in this investigation were the percentages of Hispanic boys who were college ready or not college ready as a function of the district’s rural setting for three consecutive school years (i.e., 2016-2017, 2017-2018, and 2018-2019). Descriptive statistics were calculated for all three rural school district types combined and then separately for the three rural school districts (i.e., Rural Remote, Rural Distant, and Rural Fringe). With respect to this investigation, 41% of Hispanic boys met a College, Career, and Military Readiness indicator in mathematics. All three rural school district types had positive trends or negligent changes over the three consecutive school years for Hispanic boys who met a College, Career, and Military Readiness indicator in mathematics. More than a third, 34.36%, of Hispanic boys from rural distant school districts met a college readiness indicator in mathematics. Similar percentages were present for Hispanic boys in rural remote school districts, 35.74%, and for Hispanic boys in rural fringe school districts, 36.01%. However, approximately two-thirds of Hispanic boys did not meet a college readiness indicator in mathematics in any of the three rural district type settings over three consecutive years. As such, educational leaders are encouraged to expand their efforts in this area, along with evaluating the efficacy of their current strategies
The Top 10 Trends in P-12 and Higher Education, 2024
Get PDFIn the editorial for this edition of Culture, Education, and Future, the editor-in-chief, the editors, and the editorial board present our choices for the top 10 trends in education for 2024. These trends are side effects of technological advances, political changes, and shifting cultural preferences; we project that they will affect educational systems in the foreseeable future. We have generated two Top-10 lists, one for P-12 education and one for higher education.
We generate these lists to accomplish two goals. First, the intent is to focus readers’ attention on emerging futures germane to this journal, events that emerge from or that generate cultural changes that affect education—culture, education, and the future. Second, the lists hopefully will stimulate researchers to write about subjects of interest to our readership, which will be appropriate submissions for CEF. If the list catches on, we may also make the top 10 trends an annual editorial.
The criteria for inclusion in our Top 10 lists is related to a trend’s importance as reflected in the frequency of headlines, editorials, and concerns found in educational news outlooks, such as Education Week and Chronicles of Higher Education (or equivalent outlets in various cultures). We additionally polled our Editors and the Editorial Board, who come from all over the globe, about trends in their cultures.
Several trends identified in the two lists are specific to given cultures, but most have more global influence. We invite scholars to write from both perspectives. The two sources list occasionally overlapped as they did regarding the impact of artificial intelligence, for example. In other cases, a trend was identified by different respondents for opposite reasons, such as when diversity policies were mentioned as opportunities by some and a problem by others. Finally, we saw regional differences that reflected efforts to rectify prior conditions such as colonialism or tradition. In each case, I have attempted to identify trends that are characteristic of large numbers of, if not cultures and nations
Currere as Punctuated Manifestions
Get PDFCurrere emphasizes individual experience and how one can learn from these experiences (Pinar, 2011). This paper explores how one’s individual experience (currere writing) affords “punctuated manifestations” in which one who is spatially and temporally embodied and entangled engages in a recursive helictical motion of transformation while wandering through various thresholds of understanding toward infinity and traversing between/across the imagined and unimaginable and beyond. In associating with ancient Chinese novels and certain ideas in Chinese Taoism, this paper illuminates the construction and reconstruction of layers of experience, which may contribute to an alternative way of understanding currere by highlighting currere as a method that embraces the endless fluidity of one’s experiences creating an infinite, yet subliminal myriad of intersectionalities, crossings, and synthesis. Such a currere of punctuated manifestations describes emanating intersectionalities of particularity and universality, lived crossings of subjectivity and contingency, entangled convergences of past, present, and future, orienting us toward our “interiority” (Doll, 2017, p. 96). Then, currere becomes a thriving centerpiece from which to extend, to punctuate, to attune. Unfolding through contingency, the punctuated manifestations of currere stress endlessly approaching one’s “interiority” while embedding oneself within expanding encounters with self and others
An analysis of gender differences in industry-based certification attainment rates of Texas high school graduates
Get PDFIn this statewide, multiyear study, industry-based certification attainment rates were examined by gender for Texas high school graduates. Industry-based certifications included in the study were vetted by the Texas Education Agency and reported through the Texas Academic Performance Reports for the 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022 school years. Inferential analyses revealed statistically significant differences in industry-based certification attainment rates for each of the three school years of data analyzed. Both boys and girls demonstrated increases in certification attainment across the years analyzed; however, the attainment rate of Texas male high school graduates increased at a faster rate than the attainment rate of Texas female high school graduates. Differences in attainment rates and associated attainment gaps between male and female graduates are presented for each of the three school years of data analyzed, as well as recommendations for future research
Barriers and resilience: The impact of early marriage on girls’ education in Balochistan
Get PDFEarly child marriage is still prevalent in many parts of the world today, especially in areas like Balochistan, where this paper found cultural and socioeconomic factors play an influential role in early marriage. The purpose of this qualitative research is to examine the effect of early marriage on the education of young girls in Balochistan. Guided by the intersectionality framework and gender role theory, this research explores the educational disruption and psychosocial implications, as well as the community and family pressures undergone by these girls, with 10 participants interviewed. The evidence presented shows that regardless of the education achieved prior to marriage, girls drop out of school at the moment they get married and, depending on the custom, continue their education either sparingly or not at all, as their responsibilities shift to housekeeping and child raising. On self-perceived psychosocial impact, participants mentioned isolation, loss of self-esteem, and increased psychological stress as some of the major effects. The challenges were, however, compounded by social and cultural dictating that education for married girls was unnecessary as they were already expected to be wives and future mothers; in-laws also added to this by rejecting the girl’s education. Still, in these circumstances, the participants’ spirit and desire for change remained high; most of them wanted to go back to school if only they had a chance. Such findings underscore the importance of developing the appropriate programs and services that would facilitate the removal of barriers educationally and psychologically facing young married girls. This study has established the need to educate married girls and supply all the necessary encouragement they need to combat the difficulties that early marriage brings
Meditative inquiry for educators: Understanding the significance of spirituality, contextual and cultural awareness, and organic change
Get PDFThis conversational paper explores the concept and practice of meditative inquiry in the context of teacher education. Meditative inquiry is a holistic approach to teaching, learning, researching, creating, and living. Due to its strength and versatility, meditative inquiry has been taken up in a variety of educational settings (Kumar, 2022). By employing dialogical meditative inquiry (Kumar & Downey, 2018), which aims to delve deeper than a typical interview, the authors engage in a dialogue that probes into the significance of meditative inquiry for educators. Leaning into the authors’ experiences with secondary social studies and teacher education, this paper: 1) discusses philosophical and pedagogical aspects of mediative inquiry by examining the differences and similarities between critical reflection and meditative inquiry; 2) explores the significance of a spiritual perspective for social studies education; and 3) offer pointers on how teachers can adopt meditative inquiry in the context of classroom teaching
“Racism is alive and well”: (Re)visiting the University of Florida’s Black Student Union’s history through composite counterstorytelling
Get PDFThis study centers on the origins of the Black Student Union (BSU) during the late 1960s and early 1970s at the University of Florida (UF) presented as a speculative fiction composite counterstory. The story presented in this manuscript serves as a cautionary tale of what the future of higher education will be, if white supremacy persists, even when white people will no longer represent a numerical majority. Though the findings utilized in this piece are decades old, we offer the current climate of public institutions and DEI initiatives to emphasize the importance of counterstories that underscore the resistance and activism that challenges oppressive systems and birthed such organizations as Black Student Unions, which are now increasingly under threat of elimination. Utilizing BlackCrit, we look backward to explore the permanence of anti-Black racism in our future. We invoke the genre of speculative fiction to give form to our findings - a fictional short story that posits a possible future world that runs counter to expectations for a post-racial future on college campuses and in the United States more broadly. Through a deeper understanding of how Black students drew upon their social networks during the Long Black Student Movement era, we aim to spark dialogue about the future of Black student advocacy at predominantly white American colleges and universities
Ethnicity/race disparities in disciplinary consequences: A comparative analysis of White, Hispanic, and Black girls
Get PDFIn this multiyear investigation, the most frequently committed student misbehaviors were determined, and then the most common disciplinary consequences that were assigned as a result were identified as Grade 6 White, Hispanic, and Black girls. Differences were evident in disciplinary consequences that were assigned by the ethnicity/race of girls. Grade 6 Black and Grade 6 Hispanic girls were more likely to be assigned exclusionary discipline consequences, such as In-School Suspension, than were Grade 6 White girls. Grade 6 White girls were assigned consequences that did not interrupt learning, such as Lunch Detention and Detention Before School, much more often than Grade 6 Hispanic and Grade 6 Black girls. Grade 6 Black girls were assigned Saturday School more than twice as often as Grade 6 Hispanic girls and almost 8 times as often as Grade 6 White girls
Preparing early educators for the current context of social emotional learning: A content analysis of course descriptions
Get PDFDespite the well-established need for teacher preparation in child guidance and social emotional learning, studies have found a lack of robust course offerings in these areas. Further, the United States context for children’s social emotional development is changing due to the global pandemic, racial unrest, and increased gun violence. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has put forth updated teacher competencies to address the changing context as well as new research on early learning. However, little is known about how teacher education programs have implemented the updated guidelines around teacher competencies. For this journal article, we systematically examined 314 early childhood education programs of study from U.S. universities. We share a content analysis of 237 course descriptions from courses dedicated to children’s social emotional learning. We found 26% of programs require no course on social emotional learning. We also identifed the four most and three least represented competencies around social emotional learning. Our content analysis reveals that behaviorist theory is predominant in the design of courses and sociocultural influences are under-represented. We provide implications for regularly updating course descriptions to address the needs of children and families in the ever-changing context of education