This article argues that one of the main goals of social or civic studies is to empower students. However, traditional teaching practices often have the opposite effect of disempowering students. Traditional teaching practices are understood to emerge from the history and context of public schooling, from early practices, which have been reified.…

Empowering learners and using powerful techniques are prominent elements in the discourse of adult and vocational education. But what constitutes the elements of what might be considered as powerful teaching? This paper begins by examining the way educators talk about power and then proposes four elements that lie at the heart of powerful…

In the educational psychology literature, self-regulated learning is associated with empowerment, agency, and democratic participation. Therefore, researchers are dedicated to developing and improving self-regulated learning pedagogy in order to make it widespread. However, drawing from the educational philosophy of Paulo Freire, teaching students…

Sustainability education is becoming an integral part of education for all students. The paper revisits startling results from large scale international studies that show the dissonance between young people's sustainability knowledge and the resistance of young people to put into practice. The reluctance to enact sustainability knowledge…

While developmental education in community colleges has the potential to prepare students for college-level work, its effectiveness and need is often questioned. Further, while Latinx students are overrepresented in developmental courses, there is a dearth of literature on their experiences in such courses and how to effectively serve their needs…

As teachers of the arts we are committed to nurturing the creative potential of all our students. We value process and want to inspire young artists to find their unique voices. But do we? Habitual models of teaching, along with external pressures in the settings in which we teach--including pursuing models and language of "best…

While research has documented the many ways in which student voice can enable educational change, the process of how adults can help to enable student voice is less clear. This article examines how adults new to working as advisors of student voice initiatives begin to develop partnerships with young people. Using a Youth-Adult Partnership…

Based on a review of works by Indigenous educators, this paper suggests a four-domain framework for developing course outcome statements that will serve all students, with a focus on better supporting the educational empowerment of Indigenous students. The framework expands the three domains of learning, pioneered by Bloom to a four-domain…

This paper engages with assessment practices in Aotearoa New Zealand. "Te Whariki," the internationally recognized early childhood curriculum framework, lies at the root of contemporary narrative assessment practices, and the concept of learning stories. We outline historical and societal underpinnings of these practices, and elevate the…

South African higher education relies primarily on English as the medium of education. This is a result of the colonial history of the country, yet it disadvantages a large section of South African students who undertake their education in a language that is not their first language. It also reproduces the monolingual norm and anglonormativity.…

In addressing literacy in high school education, it is important to foreground the particular issues faced by growing numbers of English Language Learners (ELLs). In our increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms, this is a matter for all literacy teachers, as well as ELL specialists. In Australia, teachers of ELLs are…

In this essay, Jennifer Keys Adair aims to clarify the concept of "agency" as a tool for improving the educational experiences of young children in the early grades. She conceptualizes agency in the context of schooling as the ability to influence what and how something is learned in order to expand capabilities, drawing on economic…

This article examines part of an action research project carried out in a Spanish public school. We explain the complex reality of an early childhood education classroom. Focusing on early childhood education, the project was developed in collaboration with a teacher from one of the classrooms of four year olds. Several of the children in the…

This article discusses theory and methods of researching the everyday experiences of children in the city environment combined with the question of giving a voice to children. The article is organised into three parts. Part one provides a conceptual background, theorising the relational as well as intergenerational character of the concept of…

This article argues that the concept and practice of "self-organized learning", as pioneered by Sugata Mitra (and his team) in the "Hole-in-the-Wall" experiments (1999-2005) that inspired the novel "Q & A" (2006) and the resulting movie, "Slumdog millionaire" (2008) bear direct, but not uncritical…