Education for a Civil Society

Social and emotional skills children need.

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Making Good Citizens

divAmericans have reason to be concerned about the condition of American democracy at the start of the twenty-first century. Surveys show that civic participation has declined, cynicism about government has increased, and young people have a weak grasp of the principles that underlie our constitutional system. Crucial questions must be answered: How serious is the situation? What role do schools play in shaping civic behavior? Are current education reform initiatives—such as multiculturalism and school choice—counterproductive? How can schools contribute toward reversing the trend? This volume brings together leading thinkers from a variety of disciplines to probe the relation between a healthy democracy and education. Their original and provocative discussions cut across a range of important topics: the cultivation of democratic values, the formation of social capital in schools and communities, political conflict in a pluralist society, the place of religion in public life, the enduring problems of racial inequality. Gathering together the most current research and thinking on education and civil society, this is a book that deserves the attention of everyone who cares about the quality and future of American democracy./DIV

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Reversing Education Disadvantage

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Civic Education for Civil Society

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Civil Society and Social Responsibility in Higher Education

This volume explores different angles of sustainability, university corporate social responsibility, and the role of civil society in the context of education, with a focus on curriculum development and teaching.

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Civil Society Education and Human Formation

Education has been widely criticised as being too narrowly focused on skills, capacities and the transference of knowledge that can be used in the workplace. As a result of the dominance of economic rationalism and neo-liberalism, it has become commodified and marketed to potential customers. As a consequence, students have become consumers of an educational product and education has become an industry. There is deep dissatisfaction with these neo-liberal developments. What is missing is any conception of education as a key factor in the 'human formation' that will lead students to develop the virtues and values that they will need to not only lead successful lives, but also be responsible members of their communities -- working for the common good and acting to transform them into just societies. This volume draws together a number of different perspectives on what is meant by 'human formation', argues that for a much richer conception of education, and addresses the lack of attention to human fulfilment. It also highlights the importance of philosophy in the articulation of novel ways of conceptualising education -- providing alternatives to the dominant neo-liberal and economic rationalist models. The central question with which the book is concerned is a renewed understanding of education as the formation of persons, of civil society and the role of philosophy in fostering that renewal. In this volume there are a variety of voices from diverse traditions and cultures. Both East and West are represented and it might be expected that this would result in a divergence of opinion about the purpose of education. However, in spite of the diversity, there is some significant convergence in thinking about the ways in which education ought to serve the needs of both the individual and their communities. What is also particularly useful, and what is fresh about the essays presented here, is that there is also diversity in the philosophical approaches to the problem. This means that the convergence on the importance of 'human formation' as the cornerstone of education does not rely on a privileged philosophical method.

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Civil Society Or Shadow State

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Empire Civil Society and the Beginnings of Colonial Education in India

Offers a new perspective on the making of colonial education and the history of modern schooling in India.

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Governance and Civil Society in Myanmar

Most international attention on Myanmar has focused on the political situation, where the military, in power since 1962, continues to refuse to acknowledge the results of democratic elections, and on related human rights issues. This book, by focusing on education, health and environment, and on the institutions which formulate and deliver policy in these fields, shows how the international community can make a significant difference to strengthening Myanmar's civil society and to supporting a future democratic form of government, by encouraging institutional developments in these fields. Such developments in turn, the author argues, will re-skill the younger generation, promote economic development and poverty alleviation, and, through a participatory approach to policy-making, nurture the conditions from which democracy will grow.

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Civil Society Citizenship and Learning

" Writing the story of democracy might seem like writing a story of success. In more and more countries all over the world democracy has been established as the leading form of government. However, democracy also has a less positive and optimistic side. Political scandals and corruption continue to shatter people's trust in its promises and institutions. This brings us to the topic of active democratic citizenship and civil society. Since the late 1980s these topics have continued to rise in importance in the fields of social and political sciences, and their influence has yet to reach a peak. In comparison, civil society and citizenship remain relatively new topics for adult education, dating to the beginning of the 1990s. We also see that the respective national discourses within the different European countries differ immensely. Whereas the discourse on adult education and active democratic citizenship is quite lively in Great Britain or in Poland, in Germany there is only very little interest. ""Civil Society, Citizenship and Learning"", the second volume of the Bochum Studies in International Adult Education, presents a variety of different perspectives on the topics of citizenship and civil society. The goal of this book is to give an overview of the European discourse on citizenship and civil society as well as on the discourse in some selected countries. Agnieszka Bron ist Professorin am Institut für Pädagogik der Universität Bochum. "

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Nonformal Education and Civil Society in Japan

Nonformal Education and Civil Society in Japan critically examines an aspect of education that has received little attention to date: intentional teaching and learning activities that occur outside formal schooling. In the last two decades nonformal education has rapidly increased in extent and significance. This is because individual needs for education have become so diverse and rapidly changing that formal education alone is unable to satisfy them. Increasingly diverse demands on education resulted from a combination of transnational migration, heightened human rights awareness, the aging population, and competition in the globalised labour market. Some in the private sector saw this situation as a business opportunity. Others in the civil society volunteered to assist the vulnerable. The rise in nonformal education has also been facilitated by national policy developments since the 1990s. Drawing on case studies, this book illuminates a diverse range of nonformal education activities; and suggests that the nature of the relationship between nonformal education and mainstream schooling has changed. Not only have the two sectors become more interdependent, but the formal education sector increasingly acknowledges nonformal education’s important and necessary roles. These changes signal a significant departure from the past in the overall functioning of Japanese education. The case studies include: neighbourhood homework clubs for migrant children, community-based literacy classes, after-school care programs, sport clubs, alternative schools for long-term absent students, schools for foreigners, training in intercultural competence at universities and corporations, kôminkan (community halls), and lifelong learning for the seniors. This book will appeal to both scholars of Japanese Studies/Asian Studies, and those of comparative education and sociology/anthropology of education.

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Civil Society through the Lifecourse

Are young people blindly self-interested? How does university shape students’ political participation? Can busy parents and grandparents find time to volunteer? Challenging conventional thinking, leading academics explore how individuals’ relationships with civil society change over time as different lifecourse events and stages trigger and hinder civic engagement. Drawing on personal narratives, longitudinal cohort studies and national surveys, this unprecedented study considers rarely examined aspects of civic engagement including school students’ sense of social responsibility and the charitable legacy bequests of elderly people and highlights significant implications for those promoting greater civic and political participation.

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Education Between State Markets and Civil Society

*How should education be organized in pluralistic and multicultural societies? *What are the roles in education of civil society, markets, governments, and the family? *How can the idea of the civil society help to reorient education policy discussions that are sometimes stuck in either-or juxtapositions of "market versus government" or "individualism versus communitarianism?" *What are some of the traditions of civil society--across countries and across history--that educators and policymakers today can revive or build on? These questions are at the center of this book. Its goal is to understand how we can accommodate cultural, ethnic, and religious pluralism in a political and conceptual framework that is sufficiently flexible to combine choice with equity, a commitment to a shared civil and political culture with openness to exploring and affirming the distinct ethnicity, race, creed, or culture of different groups. To address these questions, the authors take up the notion of the civil society, an idea that has experienced a popular and scholarly revival in recent years as numerous citizens, action groups, political philosophers, and social scientists make the case that only a democratic civil society can sustain a democratic state. The implications of this development for education have to date been very little explored. This book is a step toward addressing this gap. Going beyond simple juxtapositions of "market versus government" in education reform, the book as a whole develops an integrative perspective informed by the idea of the civil society. It combines current policy issues with a look at their historical development, and evaluates U.S. educational policy in the context of a range of international cases. The authors--education scholars, sociologists, economists, historians, and philosophers-- explore from diverse disciplinary, political, and philosophical points of view, the potential of the civil society and civic associations for education. At the same time, they share the hope that a thorough reconsideration of the role of the state, the market, and the civil society will help to energize ongoing experiments with charter schools, voucher schemes, and a variety of other plans to increase educational and school autonomy.

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Toward a Civil Society

Providing the theoretical ground for service learning by showing how this pedagogy can be used in helping institutions of higher education become active partners in their communities and thereby develop sustainable democratic communities.

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Civil Society Organizations in Latin American Education

Examining the roles, impacts and challenges of civil society organizations (CSOs) in Latin America, this volume provides a broad perspective on the range of strategies these organizations employ and the obstacles they face in advocating for and delivering educational reform. Building on previous research on international and comparative education, development studies, research on social movements and nongovernmental organizations, chapter authors provides new insights about the increasing presence of CSOs in education and offer case studies demonstrating how these organizations‘ missions have evolved over time in Latin America.

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In Search of Civil Society

Civil society as a concept is currently much discussed in the political arena and now frequently referred to in academic texts. But what does it mean in practice and how does it relate to more familiar ideas like voluntary action? This new book by a leading commentator explores the connections between the two and provides a wide range of examples of situations in which civil society has provided an arena for voluntary association and action which has had a real impact on events at local, national and, latterly, the global level.

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State Civil Society and Right to Education

Right to Education has been a major concern at the global level and in developing countries like India, both in the domains of state and civil society. Making education a fundamental entitlement is a landmark development in the history of relationship between state and its children, further strengthened by various civil society organisations working towards the similar goal. However, despite these developments, various socio-cultural issues, polity, economy and governance continue to pose a huge challenge to achieve this goal in the Indian context. As such, rights approach to education is to be understood in the tradition of social, economic and political reality of a people. The book emerges out of a rigorous research engagement, focusing on school education and its interlocking relationship with the larger social, political and economic dynamics of the state of Manipur. To achieve a radical education agenda, such as 'right to education', requires societal reforms, and not just reforms in the education sector alone. The study thus sheds light upon regional challenges, which are a part of the nationwide phenomenon. The book will be of great value to teachers, educationists, parents and all those engaged in the area of right to education, including research scholars, social activists and policy makers.

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International Encyclopedia of Civil Society

Recently the topic of civil society has generated a wave of interest, and a wealth of new information. Until now no publication has attempted to organize and consolidate this knowledge. The International Encyclopedia of Civil Society fills this gap, establishing a common set of understandings and terminology, and an analytical starting point for future research. Global in scope and authoritative in content, the Encyclopedia offers succinct summaries of core concepts and theories; definitions of terms; biographical entries on important figures and organizational profiles. In addition, it serves as a reliable and up-to-date guide to additional sources of information. In sum, the Encyclopedia provides an overview of the contours of civil society, social capital, philanthropy and nonprofits across cultures and historical periods. For researchers in nonprofit and civil society studies, political science, economics, management and social enterprise, this is the most systematic appraisal of a rapidly growing field.

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Resources in Education

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Socialization and Civil Society

There is a clear relation between the way children are raised and the way the world is heading. Famous philosophers and educationists such as Kant, Dewey, Montessori and Freire, exposed clearly the direct link between the social and political abuses of their time and the way in which children were brought up. From their analysis they each conceived the ambition of making the world a better place through educational reform. For various reasons it is not fashionable these days to make any kind of direct connection between child upbringing and ‘the state of the world’. The project of child-rearing gradually became focussed on individual development. In this book, Dutch child-psychologist Micha de Winter argues that there should be much more to child-raising, education and youth policy – for example, to learn to understand and practice democratic citizenship, humanity and freedom. What does it mean to live in a democratic society, how do you resist the seductions of ‘them-versus-us’ thinking which both offers the feelings of security and of belonging to a group and at the same time invites the risk of dehumanizing and excluding the other? Socialization from this perspective is a common responsibility that requires an educative civil society.

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