Paradoxes in School Educational Policies and Practices: Equity in Chaos

This paper explores the paradoxes inherent within the intentions of Nepal’s public education policies and their actual implementation in local communities. It looks specifically at Nepal’s Constitutional Right to equitable quality education for socio-economically disadvantaged children. It highlights paradoxes in four major areas: 1) free and compulsory education, 2) equity and inclusion, 3) localizing education policies, and 4) the use of language in education, in the federal context of Nepal. To analyse school education policies and documents, we used participatory methods to generate data under the interpretive paradigm. More specifically, we held FGDs and interviews with women, Dalits, people with disability, indigenous groups, local governments, parents, teachers and students. The results show a number of significant paradoxes between the educational policies and the lived experiences of those in the local communities. The education policies deviate from the spirit of the Constitution and implementation is unsuccessful in delivering equitable education for all. A policy on paper does not guarantee equitable quality education and there are a number of questions that the government needs to consider to achieve the equity agenda.

Cyber victimization within the Routine Activity Theory Framework in the Digital Age

This quantitative-based research determined whether the routine activity theory influences cyber victimization. To measure the dimensions of the theory, defined as exposure to a motivated offender, suitable online target, and absence of a capable guardian, a valid and reliable questionnaire was used. The cyber victimization questionnaire developed by Álvarez-García, Dobarro, and Núñez was applied to 1,285 students selected at random from schools in Colombia. Findings: 46% are identified as exposed to a motivated offender, 37.5% are suitable online targets, and 29.8% have no capable guardians. The interdependence of these three elements revealed that 3.9% of students are at risk due to their routine activities, which had a significant influence on cyber victimization. It is proposed that these findings should be considered in the design of communicative and educational policies aimed at a responsible use of technologies.

MOOCs as a Pedagogical and Strategic Tool in the Implementation of Institutional Policies Related to Gender Inequality in Educational Institutions

As a privileged means of socialization, the school's mission is to promote equal opportunities and educate for the values of pluralism and gender equality. The introduction of a gender perspective in educational policies is a fundamental tool to fight gender inequalities. This chapter aims to present a theoretical-methodological proposal for the development of a massive open online course (MOOC) addressed to those interested in learning and studying about gender inequalities and women's empowerment. The MOOC will introduce inspiring examples of feminine resistance and resilience from Portugal and Brazil, showing women who have fought for the rights and policies for gender equality, against gender biases, and building women's citizenship in and through education. The integration of MOOCs as an educational tool raises questions and challenges both in the didactic-pedagogical forum and about institutional policies.

Humanization in Educational Environments; Aspects Necessary for Living in School Today

While it is true, quality has always been measured through statistics and percentages, often forgetting the training of the whole person.Now, when we talk about issues such as humanism and education supported by technology, we can fall into extremes: it is common to label technology as the provider of all the evils of today’s civilization; or the opposite assumption; to argue that incorporating technologies into education would be the panacea for all the problems it faces and finally, to assume that the subject of the humanities is more typical of actions and attitudes of the past than as a current need, giving vitality to any educational process. However, and fortunately for the educational community, today there are global efforts to make the educational task a human action that minimizes inequities and the abysmal differences that exist in countries like ours. Fernando Reimers says: “Equal educational opportunities must be the priority objective of educational policies, the aim of education must be to contribute to creating just societies. This requires improving the learning environments of the poor, but not only along the paths that have been started over the last decade. This aspect pointed out by Reimers is precisely the central aspect that all educational action must contemplate, the educational policies that are implemented in our country must guarantee, above all, the construction of a just and egalitarian society, strengthening the cultural wealth that we have, with respect to to the diversity of people, their past, their present and especially their future”.

A Policy Brief on Vocational and Technical Education in Turkey

The importance of vocational and technical education (VTE) is increasing in response to the rapidly changing information, technology, production methods, and developments in every aspect of life. The only way to survive in this age and to compete with this challenge is to continuously develop comprehensive educational policies that relate to each other (MoNE, 2018). In this sense, VTE has a very central role in providing societies with the knowledge and skills that the 21st century requires (Çınar, Döngel, & Söğütlü, 2009). For this reason, in educational policy discussions, an area that requires as much attention as other areas of education is VTE. This paper aims to review the current problematic states of VTE in Turkey and make recommendations for improving it.

No Sinecure Acting as Public Intellectual in Education

The author has earlier made a plea for educators acting as public intellectuals in society to counteract still influential neo-liberal tendencies in educational policies and practices. Against emphases on overstretched attention for measurable output and accountability in education, the aim of education in schools is formulated in terms of holistic personhood formation. Interviewing three educators in different phases of their carrier, it becomes clear that working in academia nowadays it is no sinecure to act as a public intellectual. The author also presents his own experiences in different roles, and makes clear that the instructional niche one is working in could be of utmost importance for really taking that role. To realize a change, it is, according the author, necessary to stop with too much focus on highly cited publications in academic journals, and on individual researchers instead of on research groups working collectively together in joint research programs and with societal partners.