The media is full of reference to failing schools, troublesome pupils, underperforming boys, disappearing childhood and a teaching profession in crisis as more and more teachers contemplate abandoning their careers. Key Questions in Education looks at the current and historical debates of each of these issues, examining how a multitude of stakeholders have viewed, and still view, childhood and schooling. In highlighting how these same or similar issues have persistently been debated throughout time, John T. Smith shows something of their complexity and the need to break apart these key enduring questions in education. Each chapter covers a key question such as: How far should the state interfere in education? Should schools feed their pupils? and Why do children misbehave? Analysing each key question, chapters discuss how such issues were viewed or defined in the past, what solutions and outcomes were envisaged and compare and contrast how this relates to where we are now. Clear links are made throughout between historical sources and current ideology, policy, practice and research. In opening up these debates through case studies and vignettes, students are encouraged to reflect on how these contentious issues might be resolved and how this affects them as future educators.

This edited volume offers a crosscutting view of STEM and is comprised of work by scholars in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. It offers a view of STEM from the disciplines that comprise it, while adhering to the idea that STEM itself is an interdisciplinary treatment of all the associated disciplines in a meaningful way. This book raises and answers questions regarding the meaning of STEM education and research. This volume is divided into three sections: the first one describes the nature of the component disciplines of STEM. The next section presents work from leaders representing all STEM disciplines and deals with aspects such as K-12 and post-secondary education. The last section draws conclusions regarding the natures of the disciplines, challenges and advantages of STEM education in terms of theoretical and practical implications. The two final chapters compile arguments from the research chapters, describing themes in research results, and making recommendations for best STEM education practice, and examining areas for future research in STEM education.

This volume encompasses the range of research questions on language-related problems that arise in language teaching, learning and assessment. The [150] chapters are written by experts in the field who each offer their insights into current and future directions of research, and who suggest several highly relevant research questions. Topics include, but are not limited to: language skills teaching, language skills assessment and testing, measurement, feedback, discourse analysis, pragmatics, semantics, language learning through technology, CALL, MALL, ESP, EAP, ERPP, TBLT, materials development, genre analysis, needs analysis, corpus, content-based language teaching, language teaching and learning strategies, individual differences, research methods, classroom research, form-focused instruction, age effects, literacy, proficiency, and teacher education and teacher development. The book serves as a reference and offers inspiration to researchers and students in language education. An important skill in reviewing the research literature is following a study’s “plan of attack.” Broadly, this means that before accepting and acting upon the findings, one considers a) the research question (Is it clear and focused? Measurable?), b) the subjects examined, the methods deployed, and the measures chosen (Do they fit the study’s goal and have the potential to yield useful results?), and c) the analysis of the data (Do the data lead to the discussion presented? Has the author reasonably interpreted results to reach the conclusion?). Mohebbi and Coombe’s book, Research Questions in Language Education and Applied Linguistics: A Reference Guide, helps budding researchers take the first step and develop a solid research question. As the field of language education evolves, we need continual research to improve our instructional and assessment practices and our understanding of the learners’ language learning processes. This book with its remarkable 150 topics and 10 times the number of potential research questions provides a wealth of ideas that will help early career researchers conduct studies that move our field forward and grow our knowledge base. Deborah J. Short, Ph.D., Director, Academic Language Research & Training, Past President, TESOL International Association (2021-22) As a teacher in graduate programs in TESOL I frequently come across the frustration of students at centering their research interests on a particular topic and developing research questions which are worth pursuing so as to make a contribution to the field. This frustration stems from the fact that our field is so vast and interrelated, that it is often impossible to properly address all that interests them. Hence, I wholeheartedly welcome this most relevant and innovative addition to the research literature in the field of TESOL and Applied Linguistics. Coombe and Mohebbi have created a real tour de force that stands to inform budding researchers in the field for many years to come. Additionally, the cutting-edge depiction of the field and all it has to offer will no doubt update the research agendas of many seasoned researchers around the world. The 150 chapters are organized in a most powerful, yet, deceptively simple way offering a positioning within the topic, suggesting questions that might direct inquiry and offering a basic set of bibliographic tools to start the reader in the path towards research. What is more, the nine sections in which the chapters are organized leave no area of the field unexplored. Dr. Gabriel Díaz Maggioli, Academic Advisor, Institute of Education, Universidad ORT del Uruguay, President, IATEFL

After a period of relative neglect in many countries, apprenticeships and other forms of work-based learning are experiencing a revival. Their effectiveness in easing school-to-work transitions and serving the economy is increasingly recognised. However, engaging individuals, employers, social ...

Much has been written about special education and about inclusive education, but there have been few attempts to pull these two concepts and approaches together. This book does just that: sets special education within the context of inclusive education. It posits that to include, effectively, all children with special educational needs in schools requires an integration of both concepts, approaches, and techniques. It has never been more timely to publish a book that helps professionals who work with schools, such as psychologists, special education professionals, and counselors, to identify effective practices for children with special needs and provide guidelines for implementing these in inclusive schools.

Disability studies in education is a provocative and innovative field of social inquiry that challenges standard ways of thinking about disability in education, practices that serve to exclude disabled people from equal educational opportunity, and policies that support or drive inequality. This book brings together the best disability studies in education scholars to address the pressing questions facing the field. It provides an introduction to the field for the newcomer, a sharp challenge to the status quo in special and general education, and a map to understanding the serious disability issues confronting education today.

Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages provides a comprehensive history of language teaching and learning in the UK from its earliest beginnings to the year 2000. McLelland offers the first history of the social context of foreign language education in Britain, as well as an overview of changing approaches, methods and techniques in language teaching and learning. The important impact of classroom-external factors on developments in language teaching and learning is also taken into account, particularly regarding the policies and public examination requirements of the 20th century. Beginning with a chronological overview of language teaching and learning in Britain, McLelland explores which languages were learned when, why and by whom, before examining the social history of language teaching and learning in greater detail, addressing topics including the status that language learning and teaching have held in society. McLelland also provides a history of how languages have been taught, contrasting historical developments with current orthodoxies of language teaching. Experiences outside school are discussed with reference to examples from adult education, teach-yourself courses and military language learning. Providing an accessible, authoritative history of language education in Britain, Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages will appeal to academics and postgraduate students engaged in the history of education and language learning across the world. The book will also be of interest to teacher educators, trainee and practising teachers, policymakers and curriculum developers.

This book discusses higher education research as a field of study in Asia. It traces the evolution of research in the field of higher education in several Asian countries, and shares ideas about the evolving higher education research communities in Asia. It also identifies common and dissimilar challenges across national communities, providing researchers and policymakers essential new insights into the relevance of a greater regional articulation of national higher education research communities, and their further integration into and contribution to the international higher education research community as a whole.

Based on fieldwork and comparative historical analysis of Rwanda, this book questions the conventional wisdom that education builds peace.