Key concepts in political socialization, tolerance, groups, rights and responsibilities can be used to understand the way in which young people struggle with sexual identity issues. Educators may promote greater tolerance for homosexuality among heterosexuals by situating sexual identity issues within a broader discussion of democratic principles.…

Civic education and its call for social studies to prepare students for citizenship in a participatory democracy have been limited to the political domain and touted as participation with the already existing political domain. This paper is a reflection of how engaging with and challenging heterosexism, homophobia, and heteronormativity in a…

In this article I discuss how observed discourses of resistance indicate the exclusion of the standpoint of primary school practitioners from feminist theorization, as well as the exclusion of feminist perspectives from primary school practice. I do so from a feminist position which sees the modernist policy framework of the gender-inclusive…

This paper examines how knowledge about racism has been represented in high school Canadian history textbooks authorized by the Province of Ontario during the 1960s and after the year 2000. I argue that even though historical racisms have increasingly made their way into Canadian history textbooks as valid and important topics of study, the idea…

The globalization of youth culture complicates young people's relationship to democracy as traditionally conceived. More and more young people define themselves as cosmopolitan citizens, connected through popular culture, digital technologies, and migration histories to social geographies outside their own local and national contexts. Despite…

This paper addresses the ethical and social justice implications of an educational movement called, The New DEEL (Democratic Ethical Educational Leadership). In particular, this paper emphasizes the ethical underpinnings of this movement by focusing on the paradox in the form of the dyad of control/democracy. This important paradox is developed…

This article comments on Fullinwider and Lichtenberg's "Leveling the Playing Field". It reviews their central claims and comments on both their arguments and their reform proposals, and suggests alternative, bolder, egalitarian proposals which involve a higher degree of effective privatization than theirs. (Contains 1 note.)

Australia and New Zealand are two South Pacific nations with a shared history of British colonisation and close links maintained through kinship, travel, shared media and business relationships. Our public education systems also reflect a shared history of educational ideas and responses to the challenges of increasingly heterogeneous populations.…

Purpose: This paper aims to discuss how public school administrators with a social justice perspective have an obligation to permeate society beyond their schools and how they might address the perilous politics associated with advocating social change. Using George Counts' landmark 1932 speech, Dare the School Build a New Social Order? as the…

In this article, the author starts by introducing three women from the Pacific whose lives illustrate the main points she addresses. She then discusses why place and gender matter in issues concerning the environment. Lastly, she touches on the implications of gender on environmental education.

This paper reports a three-year study of Praxis Inquiry based developments in teacher education undertaken by an international consortium of university colleagues who have worked in Australia, Iceland, Latvia, and the United Kingdom. Our study suggests that the attainment of inclusive community responsive pedagogies--in schools and in teacher…

The Doorways training program was designed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Safe Schools Program (Safe Schools) to enable teachers, community members and students to prevent and respond to school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV). Teachers can play a central role in violence prevention, and they can also help…

This article explores the notion of "risk" and the consequences of both "taking risks" or "not taking risks" in doing anti-homophobia (or anti-heterosexist) education within broader anti-bias and social justice agendas in early childhood education. Informed primarily by the author's collaborative research and…

From the early 1900s, education in the Torres Strait was dominated by protectionism and segregation. In 1964 on Thursday Island the segregated state school system was abolished: "coloured children" could attend the high top from 1964 and thus secondary schooling became available to all as far as year 10. Since then there have been…

Empowerment is a social-action process through which people gain greater control, efficacy, and social justice. One way to develop empowerment is through active, meaningful participation in community groups and activities. Social cohesion is an emerging construct that expands the notion of community participation to include elements such as shared…