Caring; A Feminine Approach To Ethics and Moral Education

The Challenge to Care in Schools: An Alternative Approach to Education Nel Noddings. New York: Teachers College Press, 2005. 193 pages. ISBN: 0-8077-4609-6Reviewed by Karen A. Heid and Zach KelehearUniversity of South CarolinaMath instruction and learning matter. Science instruction and learning matter. And, to show how much they matter, federal and state policy makers (if we use NCLB mandates as evidence) emphasize that teachers should spend copious amounts of time, energy and money preparing students for standardized assessments of those content areas. One might conclude, in fact, that the more often something is assessed, then the more important it must be.In keeping with this line of thinking, other curriculum offerings that are of value should act and look more like math and science. This tension is also an argument not unfamiliar to some scholats who must negotiate the perceived value between arts-based research and qualitative studies versus quantitative analysis. NeI Noddings, in this recasting of her earlier 1992 work, asserts that what matters most is not a debate characterized as either- or m terms of what part of the curriculum is most important or how often it should be assessed. Rather, she frames the debate about what matters most in today's schools as a measure of how students and teachers can create a context for cultivating care. Whether die pedagogical practice or curricular assumptions be progressive or traditional, whether die subject be mathematics or art, Noddings notes that the essential conversation should be one focusing on ways in which we might help students be reflective, curious, and caring in all school subjects, with all people, and with our environment. It is this notion of what we call the "cult of care" that guides her analysis and discussion in this 2005 edition The Challenge to Care in SchooL·: An Alternative Approach to Education.In this review, we consider three aspects of Noddings' work, with particular attention to their applications to art education. First, we discuss her guiding principles and assumptions regarding the notion of care. Secondly, we reflect on her assertions regarding assessment and the focus on disciplines as related to discipline-based art education (DBAE). Lastly, we detail her view of care as the binding thread for all curricula in a global and democratic society.Noddings establishes throughout her book that care is the sine qua non for authentic learning. And by authentic (our word), she is considering learning where students are collaborators in both the selection of subject and the development of understanding. But for Noddings, care is not a matter of looking after someone or sympathizing with another ... or worse, pitying another. Noddings explains: "An ethic of care embodies a relational view of caring; that is, when I speak of caring, my emphasis is on the relation containing carer and cared-for" (p. xv). It is this bidirectional nature of caring that moves Noddings assertions away from care as solely one person's responsibility.In many ways, Noddings' notion of care requires a major shift in the nature of power and responsibility in school cultures. Can care be something that a teacher brings to a child? Certainly there are many giving teachers who care for their students. Many of us have heard good people, who happen also to be teachers, speak of their love for their young charges. But for Noddings, this notion of giving care is only half of the necessary equation. In order to balance the equation, care must also be reciprocated, and it is the responsibility of the teacher, in large part, to cultivate an environment that supports such an egalitarian context. In order for such an equitable process to emerge, one that certainly reflects notions of a democratic society, teachers must relinquish some of the power and control that many jealously protect in today's classrooms.Reciprocal, egalitarian, openness, honesty, fairness, collaboration, reflection-these and other characteristics are the descriptors of Noddings' school built on care. …

The Challenge to Care in Schools: An Alternative Approach to Education

Accelerated Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: an agenda for action

The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the ETF or the European Union.

Key competences for lifelong learning

The spread and popularity of mobile devices has led to their increased application in higher education. While studies have reviewed mobile learning initiatives in different contexts, none has explored this subject in Africa. This systematic review collates and compares studies published between 2010 and 2016 on mobile learning in higher education in the African context to explore the application, impact and challenges of mobile technology-supported learning. Findings show that mobile learning within higher education institutions in Africa increased student and lecturer collaboration and, provide dinstant communication, increased student participation and engagement, facilitating authentic learning and reflective practice, as well as fostering learning communities. A change in the lecturers’ approaches to teaching also occurred. The findings also indicate significant challenges in integrating mobile learning in higher education institutions within Africa: poor technological infrastructure, lack of access to modern mobile devices, lack of mobile learning pedagogical skills among lecturers, poor attitudes among students and lecturers, and incompatibility of mobile devices with the university online management systems. Policies to guide the implementation of mobile learning were also lacking.

Large-scale studies assessing the effectiveness of mobile learning within African higher education institutions are lacking and existing studies lacked a theoretical framework. The review highlights enabling conditions for successful integration of mobile learning in African institutions addressing access, training, curriculum design, support and technical requirements. The absence of studies reporting on existing mobile learning projects reflects the limited penetration of this technology and associated pedagogies and a need to strengthen research in this emerging field.

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A Systematic Review on Mobile Learning in Higher Education: The African Perspective.

It is now widely accepted that the transmission of disciplinary knowledge is insufficient to prepare students leaving higher education for the workplace. Authentic learning has been suggested as a way to bring the necessary complexity into learning to deal with challenges in professional practice after graduation. This study investigates how South African higher educators have used emerging technologies to achieve the characteristics of authentic learning. A survey was administered to a population of 265 higher educators in South Africa who self-identified as engaging with emerging technologies. From this survey, a sample of 21 respondents were selected to further investigate their practice through in-depth interviewing using Herrington, Reeves and Oliver's nine characteristics of authentic learning as a framework. Interrater analysis undertaken by five members of the research team revealed both consistencies and differences among the twenty one cases across the nine elements of authentic learning. The highest levels of authenticity were found for the elements authentic context and task, and the lowest for articulation. Furthermore, there was a moderate correlation identified between levels of authenticity and the role played by emerging technologies in achieving the authenticity, showing a potentially symbiotic relationship between them.

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The use of emerging technologies for authentic learning: A South African study in higher education

This introductory paper provides the background to the Cape Town Statement on Characteristic Elements of a Lifelong Learning Higher Education Institution that appears in this Journal. It describes the journey of a network of adult educators and academics from the North, South, East and West through contested terrain from Hamburg, to Paris, Mumbai and Cape Town in 2000. At a conference held in Cape Town in October 2000, the delegates concluded that there were six essential characteristics of a higher education lifelong learning institution. This paper reviews the essential elements of these characteristics and comments on the journey of their development.

Lifelong learning, higher education and active citizenship: from rhetoric to action

This article contextualizes and reviews the third global report on adult learning and education (ALE) released by UNESCO in 2016. The authors suggest that it is a visionary document, which is articulated through the bringing together of data from a range of areas that are usually kept apart. They recognize the report as a bold attempt to project what role ALE plays, or could play, within a holistic philosophy and approach to lifelong learning. They argue that given the ambitious nature of the task, and the inevitable tensions and contradictions that exist within a report of this nature, the report both fails to present a robust picture of ALE and succeeds as an advocacy document toward achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. They recognize that the political and pedagogical work undertaken by the third Global Report on Adult Learning and Education is at an early stage. Alongside this work, they argue for the importance of the broader nonformal and informal ALE, including popular education, as a ...

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Reflecting on the "Global Report on Adult Learning and Education" in the "Post-Truth Society".

The paper's starting point is to consider adult education as embedded in the political, social, cultural and economic processes of society. The writers believe that it is necessary to develop an understanding of these contexts in order to understand the role of adult education in Southern Africa in the last 20 years. The paper then looks at adult education in the Southern African context in terms of three themes. These are: adult education for survival; for economic development and for political and cultural development. Finally the paper considers the shift from adult education to lifelong learning.

Twenty years of adult education in Southern Africa

Roughly every 12 years starting in 1949, UNESCO has convened an International Conference on Adult Education (Confintea) – in 2009 it was Confintea V1. At these conferences Members of UNESCO commit ...

Kathy Watters

Papers

The use of emerging technologies for authentic learning: A South African study in higher education

Lifelong learning, higher education and active citizenship: from rhetoric to action

Reflecting on the "Global Report on Adult Learning and Education" in the "Post-Truth Society".

Twenty years of adult education in Southern Africa

3rd Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE 111)