Violence in Nigerian Secondary Schools: Implications for Educational Management and Sustainable Development

2019 ◽  
pp. 57-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisca N. Ogba ◽  
Ntasiobi C. N. Igu
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Educational Management

scholarly journals How Education Can Be Used to Improve Sustainability Knowledge and Thinking Among Teenagers

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 280-282
Author(s):  
Randolph James Brazier
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Young People ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Role Play ◽  
Curriculum Review ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Short Course ◽  
Survey Results

AbstractSignificant progress has been made with respect to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in tertiary education institutions, particularly universities. There are also examples of ways in which sustainability has been incorporated into secondary schools and curricula, but with varying levels of success. ESD that has been incorporated in secondary schools has been shown to engage students and give more context to the curriculum, as well as enable students to develop the critical thinking required to tackle the big issues that face the planet now and into the future.In the United Kingdom, while some aspects of sustainability have been introduced into the secondary school curriculum, they are often merged into other subjects and do not attract as much attention as traditional subjects. Furthermore, sustainability emphasis varies between schools, exam boards and teachers, leading to differing levels of understanding among teenagers. As a result, it could be argued that some young people fail to engage with global issues, which could be contributing towards the lower rates of young people voting in the United Kingdom. Promoting sustainable development, and how engineering can contribute towards it, could also potentially help reverse the decline in engineering student entries at universities, by attracting more interest to the engineering field. Thus, the question is raised as to how sustainability knowledge can be improved among teenagers.The research investigated the scale and quality of ESD at secondary schools in the United Kingdom and recommended a range of solutions to improve sustainability teaching and thinking among teenagers. A range of research tools were used, including a literature and curriculum review, interviews and surveys with teachers and students, and a role-play case study.The research involved a survey being conducted with 475 UK secondary school students aged 12–18 years. The survey was conducted to determine the current level of sustainability understanding of the students, where they learned about it, their preferences relating to issues facing the Earth, and how they think sustainability teaching could be improved. Surveys were purposely open ended, and teachers were instructed not to give prompts prior to the survey, to enable an accurate reflection of students’ knowledge. Results of the surveys varied across age group, school, overall attainment levels of students and exam boards. In general, results showed that while students are interested and knowledgeable about current issues, their level of understanding of sustainability is poor to moderate, and they want it to be taught in more subjects.A gap analysis was then conducted with a curriculum review, survey results and interviews with teachers as inputs. The aim of the analysis was to determine the difference between a desirable level of knowledge and teaching of sustainability, and current practice. Among other things, the analysis indicated that interactive learning would be beneficial, and thus a role play, set in Cambridge and covering environmental, social and economic aspects, was designed and run at two schools in Cambridge. An element of competition was included, as well as a relatively open set of rules, to invoke creative solutions. Observation during the game indicated engaged students. Feedback from students indicated that the game was a fun and useful learning tool. Feedback from teachers was also positive, indicating that interactive teaching tools, like role plays, class debates and field experiments, can be very valuable towards teaching students about the complexities of sustainability.After the role plays, the students were surveyed with identical questions to the initial survey. Results were compared, and sustainability knowledge and the ability to identify environmental issues was seen to increase significantly, far more so than originally expected. This increase in knowledge was highlighted by the students themselves in subsequent feedback sessions.Finally, steps were proposed to improve sustainability education that could be implemented by schools and teachers or at the UK National Curriculum level: •a ‘Sustainability Week’ or sustainability short course to be run at early secondary school, with the aim to give students a holistic overview of sustainability;•aspects of sustainability, including real-world examples, to be included in all subjects and lead on from the short course;•interactive learning tools to be strongly encouraged and made available to all teachers;•training and support to be provided to teachers to improve understanding and ability to teach sustainability;•extra-curricular sustainability activities to be offered at all schools. These steps, along with continual lines of communication and feedback between politicians, the public, industry, students and educators, will ensure that students understand sustainability and develop critical ways of thinking, leading to a more engaged generation.

scholarly journals Discursive Representations of Education for Sustainable Development in Policy Documents by English Medium Instruction Schools in Estonia and Norway

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-66
Author(s):  
Oleksandr Kapranov
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Constructivist Approach ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
English Medium Instruction ◽  
Discursive Representations

Abstract This article introduces and discusses a study that aims at illuminating discursive representations of education for sustainable development (henceforth – ESD) by means of compiling and analysing a corpus of policy documents written by English medium instruction (EMI) secondary schools in Estonia and Norway, respectively. Informed by the constructivist approach (Foucault, 1981), discursive representations of ESD in the study were operationalised as discursive strategies that were employed in naming, referring to, and providing an evaluative perspective to ESD-related topics. In this study, the corpus of policy documents published by EMI secondary schools in Estonia and Norway was collected in order to analyse discursive representations of ESD by means of applying a qualitative content analysis. The results of the analysis indicated that the discursive representations of ESD were similarly construed in policy documents written and communicated by EMI secondary schools in Estonia and Norway. Those findings were further discussed in the article in conjunction with their didactic implications.

scholarly journals Applying Citizen Science for Sustainable Development: Rainfall Monitoring in Western Nepal

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan D. Paul ◽  
Katarzyna Cieslik ◽  
Neeraj Sah ◽  
Puja Shakya ◽  
Binod Prasad Parajuli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Rain Gauge ◽  
The Social ◽  
Development Context ◽  
Science Clubs

We introduce a case-study agnostic framework for the application of citizen science in a sustainable development context. This framework is tested against an activity in two secondary schools in western Nepal. While the purpose of this activity is to generate locally relevant knowledge on the physical processes behind natural hazards, we concentrate here on its implementation, i.e., to obtain a better understanding of the dynamic of the activity and to learn how it should be implemented. We determined the social capital of secondary schools as a gateway to the local community: they provide a unique setting to bring different stakeholders together. We find that co-designing a teaching programme is an effective means of both complementing local curricula and ensuring continued buy-in of local stakeholders (i.e., teachers). Student engagement depends on the local relevance of teaching materials, with more holistic or global concepts, such as climate change of lesser importance. Our activity focused on rainfall, including student-led data collection. These rainfall data provide a very good fit to co-located rain gauge data, with an average difference on weekly readings of 11.8%, reducing to 8.3% when averaged over all student readings. The autonomous development of student-organized science clubs suggested that our original framework underestimated students' capacity to apply knowledge elsewhere creatively. These clubs may be used to obtain participant feedback to improve and tailor future activities. Quantitative assessment of long-term sustainability remains challenging, due in part to high levels of student turnover. We suggest that integrating scientists wherever possible within a school or local community has a direct and positive result on participant retention.

scholarly journals Performance Supervision and Employees’ Productivity in the Ministry of Lands, Environment and Natural Resources of Taita Taveta County, Kenya

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (19) ◽  
pp. 142
Author(s):  
Anachuna Obinna Nonso ◽  
Obi Emenike
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Teacher Turnover ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Educational Management ◽  
Informal Mentoring ◽  
Anambra State ◽  
Mentoring Practices ◽  
Faculty Of Education ◽  
Measurement And Evaluation ◽  
Descriptive Survey

The seeming teacher turnover in secondary schools in Nigeria necessitated this study on mentoring practices of principals for teachers’ retention in public secondary schools in Anambra State. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. One research question guided the study. The population of the study comprised 256 principals and the entire population was used for the study. Researchers’ developed questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. The instrument was validated by three experts, two in Educational measurement and evaluation, Department of Educational Foundation and the other in Educational planning and management, Educational Management and Policy, all in the Faculty of Education Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The Cronbach’s alpha method was used to determine the internal consistency of the items which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.75. The researchers with the help of ten research assistants distributed and successfully collected 256 copies of the questionnaire administered. The research question was answered using the arithmetic mean. It was found among others that principals in public secondary schools in Anambra state use formal and informal mentoring to a very low extent for teachers’ retention. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that government should provide adequate resources necessary for effective mentoring programme in secondary schools in Anambra State.

scholarly journals The relevance of Sathya Sai Baba's philosophy to the educational leadership of secondary school principals in the central Stanger area

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Teddy Kommal
Keyword(s):  
Educational Leadership ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Secondary Schools ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Secondary School Principals ◽  
School Management ◽  
Research Focus ◽  
Educational Management ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Positive Effect

The ultimate goal of this research is to demonstrate the positive effect that can be achieved in the educational management arena by following the teachings of Sathya Sai Baba. This work attempts to add the voice of Sathya Sai Baba in classroom and school management and to demonstrate how his teachings could be used to the benefit of school principals, fellow educators and learners. In this research, focus is placed on secondary schools in the central Stanger area as the researcher is a principal in this area

Extent of Application of Information Management Principles by Principlals of Public and Private Secondary Schools in their Schools Administration for Quality Assurance.

2019 ◽  
pp. 275-281
Author(s):  
Ani C.I.
Keyword(s):  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Information Management ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Educational Management ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Enugu State ◽  
Measurement And Evaluation

The main purpose of this study was to determine the extent principals of private and public secondary schools in Enugu State apply the identified information management principles in the administration of their schools for quality assurance. The population for the study consisted of 816 principals and 3,128 teachers in the public and private secondary schools in Enugu State. Stratified, proportionate random sampling technique was used to get a sample of 394 respondents using 10% of each stratum. The design of the study was a descriptive survey. The instrument for data collection was a researcher made questionnaire, validated by 3 experts, one in the area of Measurement and evaluation and two in the area of educational management. The reliability of the instrument was tested using the responses from 10 principals and 46 teachers in public and private secondary schools in Ebonyi State. Four research questions and four hypotheses guided the study. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation, while the hypotheses were tested using t-test statistics.

The Development and Application of Regional Education Informatization in China

2014 ◽  
pp. 320-336
Author(s):  
Mingzhang Zuo ◽  
Sisi Liu ◽  
Ziyun Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Network Infrastructure ◽  
Technology Infrastructure ◽  
Integrated Education ◽  
Technology Service ◽  
Regional Education

Education informatization has become a significant symbol of educational modernization. Over the past 20 years, China has made remarkable achievements in the development of information technology infrastructure, resources, and personnel training. Despite the initial success on the education informatization management, China is still facing many challenges in primary and secondary schools’ education informatization: ineffective digital educational resource sharing mechanism (lack of public information technology service platform), insufficient quality education resources (i.e., campus network infrastructure and teachers’ information technology capabilities), poorly integrated education informationalized system management (i.e., slow deployment and limited functionality), insufficient information capabilities training for the teacher, imbalanced development in regional education informatization (i.e., funding shortage in rural areas), and lack of sustainable development policies. Thus, how to resolve these challenges and to prepare primary and secondary schools for the 21st century classroom has become an urgent issue in reaching China’s ambitious goal of 100% network connection. By examining the current status of education informationalized development in three different economic areas in China, this chapter collects, complies, compares, and evaluates the application and development of regional education informatization including information technology hardware, informational network, information capabilities, and education informatization development funds in primary and secondary schools. Recommendations are made to improve the process of education informatization development and application; to reduce the regional gaps in education informatization; to accelerate the development of network resources, network infrastructure, and informationalized platform; to improve information technology capability training; and to establish better policies for sustainable development of education informatization in China.

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