Why University Education Matters: Youth Work and the Australian Experience

In many countries youth work education in the university confronts a precarious future. Paradoxically, this takes place as the labor market is unable to meet demands for qualified practitioners. This article makes a case for further investment in university-based youth work education. While presenting labor demand and supply arguments, we also suggest that a good university education is important for producing graduates capable of becoming experts and good practitioners in the Aristotelian sense of the word. This entails the provision of learning opportunities to attain specialist knowledge, technical expertise and ethical capacities of the kind that distinguish youth work practice from other approaches to work with young people. Such an education also promotes the prospect that practitioners are able to develop a professional habitus that advances youth work as a discrete field of professional practice. While the material used in this article is Australian, we suggest there are sufficient commonalities between the Australian experience and many other countries for the arguments, findings and recommendations made here to have more general applicability.     

Local Government and Local Governance: 1944–2011

Abstract

Since the establishment of the tri-partite system of state education after the Second World War, the once simple relationships between central government and local government and the individual school have become increasingly complex. This article considers the key governance issues for schools and colleges in England and how they have been affected by the redistribution of power between central government and local government. The principal foci are the main legislative changes and the impact they have had on the respective powers and responsibilities of central government, local government and schools and colleges. The radical developments since the formation of the coalition government in May 2010 have accelerated the shift of power to central government from local government and by the end of the first term of the coalition the local authority will have little more than a vestigial role in the provision of secondary education and a diminishing role in primary and special education. As academy status becomes the norm (as it already is for secondary schools in some authorities) central government will be dealing directly with autonomous schools and academy chains. With more schools directly employing staff and with funding levels set nationally, the pattern and nature of public education will have been irrevocably changed.     

Contested geopolitical messages for tourists at the Okinawa Peace Park and memorials

Abstract

Now marketed as a tropical beach destination, Okinawa's identity is also forever linked with the horrors of war. Okinawa's tumultuous past encompasses the Ryukyu Islands, which had close economic ties to China until being annexed by mainland Japan, were invaded by the US in the Second World War, were occupied until 1972 and, more recently, have become the centre of heated debates over the continued presence of US military bases. The Battle of Okinawa was one of the bloodiest of the Second World War and the inhabitants faced not only the American invasion but also the tactics of the Japanese army, who viewed the islands as expendable in order to slow invading forces from reaching mainland Japan. In the context of the seventieth anniversary of the end of the Battle of Okinawa in 2015, and beyond, it is argued here that these conflicting geopolitical disputes present significant challenges in terms of the messages presented to educational dark tourists visiting the Okinawa Peace Park and Memorials. The Peace Park Story Tellers or kataribe who are the Second World War survivors, have the critical task of mediating the message to both domestic and international tourists, some of whom are not prepared to hear anti-Japan sentiment. Through an examination of the historical and geographic background, and an analysis of the tourist experience at the Peace Park and Memorials, this paper explores the complexity of educational dark tourism where competing messages collide.     

推进网络辅助教学提高高校教学质量

网络辅助教学的特点和优势,决定了它在教育领域将发挥越来越大的作用,成为高校教育教学改革的重要方面。采用网络辅助教学对教师在提供资源、引导学生学习方面提出了更高要求。教师要努力钻研现代教育技术,提高教育信息化应用水平。学校要制定相应的措施,为信息技术与课程整合创造条件,还应调整相关机构的职能,促成网络辅助教学这一新模式的健康发展,不断提高教学质量。     

广西北部湾经济区率先实现现代化的思考

现代化是经济、政治、社会、文化以及人类本身的全面推进与提升的过程。广西北部湾经济区应抢抓叠加历史机遇,立足优势、突出重点、强化措施、齐心协力、攻破难点,进一步加快现代化进程,尽快建成经济新高地和发展新一极,率先实现全面的综合的现代化。     

高职高专大学生价值选择的现状及其教育对策研究

根据价值观现状的调查显示,高职高专的大学生比本科生表现出更强的价值目标现实化、价值取向功利化化、对社会主义核心价值观漠视以及信仰危机的特点,面对这一现状,高职高专的大学生价值观教育,应该从社会、学校、家庭以及大学生个人等方面来寻求有效途径。     

育人功能在校园文化建设中的有效呈现——以仰恩大学为例

校园文化具有认知的导向引领功能、心理和行为的调适调控功能、文化熏陶精神感染功能、实践的锻炼内化功能、群体意识的凝聚整合功能和激励功能等育人功能。如何发挥校园文化的重要育人功能成为高校校园文化建设的一个重要课题。以促进大学生的全面发展为目标，仰恩大学从德育、智育、体育、美育、劳动教育等方面，成功探讨了校园文化育人功能的有效实现方式。     

高职文科专业实践教学课程体系构建与实践教学方法研究

高等职业教育课程目标具有三个特性,即职业性、实践性和开放性.高等职业教育目标要求在人才培养过程中加强实践教学环节,构建实践教学课程体系.文科专业的实践教学课程体系和实践教学方法要在理工科院校“工学结合一体化”课程基础上进行创新,构建既符合高职教育目标又符合文科专业特点的实践课程体系和实践教学方法.     

英国高等教育创新的政策与实践及其启示

开拓创新是一个国家发展和兴盛的必要条件，作为知识经济时代创新的重要策源地，高等教育在整个创新体系中起着至关重要的作用。在英国，创新一直备受重视，政府从20世纪末就开始从宏观上进行一系列规划，并于近年明确提出了建设“创新国家”的目标。在这些宏观政策的鼓舞下，英国高等教育机构做出了积极反应，在微观层面积极践行创新国家的理念。通过对政府宏观政策和高校微观实践的分析，可以发现前者并非后者的充分条件，高等教育创新，更多的是一个政策扶持下的自发过程。这对我国目前大力推进的各项高等教育创新工作无疑具有重要启示。     

关于高职院校准军事化教育管理模式的探索

高职院校准军事化管理是根据高职生的教育特点,培养学生良好行为习惯,促进学生行为养成的一种管理模式。实行准军事化管理需处理好各个方面的关系,并要考查实施该模式的重要条件因素及如何完善该模式。