Citizenship as an Aim of Higher Education

The focus of this chapter is on the merits of civic education as an aim of higher education. First, the chapter explains how a legitimate and justifiable liberal civic education for children must (and can) strike a balance between the goods of political stability and individual freedom. Second, it makes the make the case for extending civic educational goals to higher education. The third and fourth sections show how civic educational aims look like a promising foundation for the justification of higher education. But a closer look reveals that this justification cannot strike a balance between stability and freedom. The upshot is that while it makes sense to cherish the indirect benefits of higher education for the civic capacities of graduates, these benefits ought not be understood as the overarching aim that justifies state involvement in its management and provision.

La saisie emotive du kairos avec des enfants : entre acte philosophique et geste didactique

Emotional Grasping of the Kairos in Children Talk: between Philosophical Act and Didactical Gesture. An essential gesture of animating a philosophical dialogue with children consists in grasping within their talk, an opportune word or turn of phrase, the kairos, and bouncing off it to advance reasoning. Based on the analysis of expert practices, we propose a typology of the emotional grasp of Kairos that reflects the tension between investigative and educational aims in these exchanges. Beyond the effect of surprise, regulation makes it possible to welcome and share one's emotions and to make them evolve into wonder, astonishment or doubt. Such trajectories are decisive for the future of the new idea. But other reactions are frequent, offering other opportunities for the current activity and children training in the long term. Keywords: educational dialogue, emotional regulation, kairos, opportunity, philosophical inquiry.

A Critical Review of the Role of Repair Cafés in a Sustainable Circular Transition

Extending the useful life of consumer products is a critical element in the circular economy. Although commercial repair is an established part of the global economy, the repair is often conducted informally. This means that non-commercial repair ecosystems exist, including the international network of repair cafés, spreading worldwide to over 2000 repair cafés in 37 countries (April 2021). As the first review on this topic, this article investigates and gains more knowledge about repair cafés, and critically assesses their role as a sustainability initiative, i.e., how the concept may translate into a broader sustainability context. A systematic literature review (2010–2020) was conducted, including 44 articles in descriptive and content analyses. The bibliometric data revealed an increase in the number of publications on repair cafés, particularly over the last four years, indicating that repair cafés as a research topic have started to gain attention, and this is likely to grow in numbers. However, the significant number of different places of publication indicates that this is not (yet) a well-established field with defined research channels. The content analysis revealed that the concept has spread to a range of different contexts, beyond the original scope, influencing the mindset and acts of a broad field of practitioners. This indicates a wide range of possibilities for the expansion of the concept of repair cafés, bringing different expectations on calling into question the future role of repair cafés. However, the aims of the people involved in repair cafés span from the altruistic and strategic, over personal gains, to critical consumer, financial and educational aims. This may challenge repair cafés’ future role(s), i.e., ambitions set by the international organisation of repair cafés. Notably, the ambition for actors at the micro-level is to feed in data on repair and achieve ‘collaborative repair’, as the aims of the people involved are complex, and their expectations lack alignment, both vertically and horizontally.

Discussion and inquiry: A Deweyan perspective on teaching controversial issues

There is a steady line of academic discourse around the topic of controversial issues and how to approach them in and through education. In this line of discourse, discussion is widely seen as a primary method of democratic education that is especially suitable to foster its major educational aims, such as tolerance, reciprocal respect, or political autonomy. The aim of this contribution is to show that the widespread emphasis on the educational and political value of discussions as a way to handle controversial issues in education can be problematic and one-sided. It is argued that the focus on discussions sometimes tends to be interpreted as a ‘magic bullet’ to all different sorts of controversies, without sufficient inquiry into the details that make up the controversy. This uniform solution threatens to downplay and underestimates other relevant components which are essential for the intelligent handling of controversial issues, such as practices of inquiry. Instead of questioning the political value and central educational role of discussing controversial issues tout court, the contribution points out some of the blind spots of the current debate and thereby aims to broaden the spectrum of theoretical and practical perspectives on how to approach controversial issues in education.

The definition of pulmonary hypertension: history, practical implications and current controversies

The definition of pulmonary hypertension (PH) is based on a growing body of evidence and represents the result of ongoing discussions within the PH community over the past 50 years. In 2018, the most recent World Symposium on Pulmonary Hypertension introduced significant changes in the definition of PH by lowering the mean pulmonary arterial pressure threshold to >20 mmHg and (re)introducing the pulmonary vascular resistance ≥3 WU cut-off for all forms of pre-capillary PH. These changes and their potential clinical impact have been the subject of lively discussions in the community and some important questions and controversies have been identified.In this review we aim to present the development of the definition of PH over the past decades and discuss the main arguments that led to relevant modifications. In addition, we address the practical implications of the most recent changes and controversies that still exist.Educational aimsTo review the historical development of the definition of pulmonary hypertension.To discuss practical implications and current controversies of the currently recommended definitions of pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary arterial hypertension.

The definition of tuberculosis infection based on the spectrum of tuberculosis disease

Latent tuberculosis infection was the term traditionally used to indicate tuberculosis (TB) infection. This term was used to define “a state of persistent immune response to stimulation by Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens through tests such as the tuberculin skin test (TST) or an interferon-γ release assay (IGRA) without clinically active TB”. Recent evidence indicates that the spectrum from TB infection to TB disease is much more complex, including a “continuum” of situations didactically reported as uninfected individual, TB infection, incipient TB, subclinical TB without signs/symptoms, subclinical TB with unrecognised signs/symptoms, and TB disease with signs/symptoms. Recent evidence suggests that subclinical TB is responsible for important M. tuberculosis transmission. This review describes the different stages described above and their relationships. It also summarises the new developments in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of TB infection as well as their public health and policy implications.Educational aimsTo describe the evolution of the definition of “tuberculosis infection” and didactically describe the continuum of stages existing between TB infection and disease.To discuss the recommended approaches to prevent, diagnose and treat TB infection.

AN ANALYSIS OF EDUCATIONAL AIMS IN TURKEY: A SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXT

Que tipo de modelo humano deve ser o objetivo da educação? Neste estudo, os significados atribuídos aos objetivos da educação e representações do modelo humano foram examinados com base em abordagens ontológicas, ideológicas e psicológicas, e a mudança histórica dos objetivos educacionais no sistema educacional turco. A Turquia, um país integrado aos sistemas internacionais, tem sido constantemente afetado pelas transformações mundiais ideológicas, econômicas e sociais e buscou adaptar-se a essas transformações com as regulamentações do sistema educacional. No âmbito deste estudo, os objetivos do sistema educacional turco e as representações do modelo humano juntamente com as transformações socioeconômicas e políticas foram analisados no processo histórico desde os anos de fundação da República. Neste contexto, os períodos de transformação foram determinados examinando-se as estruturas de pensamento dominantes no sistema educacional turco e a e discutindo-se a mudança nos objetivos educacionais nesses períodos. Abstract: What kind of a human model should be the aim of education? In this study, the meanings attributed to the aims of education and human model depictions were examined based on ontological, ideological and psychological approaches and the historical change of educational objectives in the Turkish education system. Turkey, a country integrated with international systems, has been constantly affected by the ideological, economic and social transformations in the world, and sought to adapt to this transformation with the regulations for the education system. Within the scope of this study, the aims of the Turkish education system and the human model depictions together with socio-economic and political transformations were analyzed in the historical process since the foundation years of the Republic. In this context, the periods of transformation were determined by examining the thinking structures dominant in the Turkish education system, and the change in educational aims in these periods were discussed.

Strategies of Teaching Writing at Saudi Tertiary-Level Institutions: Reality and Expectations

Teaching writing in English is a particularly daunting task for EFL teachers. Much of it concerns teaching accuracy in text production, development and thought expression which is usually not the teachers’ stated aim. Thus, teachers’ perceptions to the teaching of writing and the actual classroom practices need examination, which is the aim of this study, a prerequisite to recommending pedagogical changes to bridge the gap that exists between educational aims and outcomes so far as the teaching of writing to EFL learners in Saudi tertiary level educational institutions is concerned. The study applies a quantitative approach via a survey conducted with one hundred EFL teachers at Imam Mohammed Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMBSIU, henceforth), Qassim University and King Khaled University, Saudi Arabia. Results suggest that inadequate English resources and inefficient teaching methods are, in general, the main causes of poor writing skills. Further, the teachers perceive limited lexis, irregular sentences, and orthographical differences with the mother tongue as impediments in the learners’ ability to write well in English. The study concludes with some pertinent recommendations to remedy the situation.

Strategies of Teaching Writing at Saudi Tertiary-Level Institutions: Reality and Expectations

Teaching writing in English is a particularly daunting task for EFL teachers. Much of it concerns teaching accuracy in text production, development and thought expression which is usually not the teachers’ stated aim. Thus, teachers’ perceptions to the teaching of writing and the actual classroom practices need examination, which is the aim of this study, a prerequisite to recommending pedagogical changes to bridge the gap that exists between educational aims and outcomes so far as the teaching of writing to EFL learners in Saudi tertiary level educational institutions is concerned. The study applies a quantitative approach via a survey conducted with one hundred EFL teachers at Imam Mohammed Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMBSIU, henceforth), Qassim University and King Khaled University, Saudi Arabia. Results suggest that inadequate English resources and inefficient teaching methods are, in general, the main causes of poor writing skills. Further, the teachers perceive limited lexis, irregular sentences, and orthographical differences with the mother tongue as impediments in the learners’ ability to write well in English. The study concludes with some pertinent recommendations to remedy the situation.