It is not difficult to hear or engage in a debate on the influence that a celebrity, politician, or an athlete have in society. However, outside of the immediate home environment, a teacher is the most influential person in the life of a person. They act as role models and offer guidance to our children. Teachers are the backbone of society. Teachers are the people responsible for socialand economic development of a society. What do we know about teachers in our public schools? According to the most reliable data, there are approximately 3.7 million (3.2 million public and 0.5 million private) full-time and part-time elementary and secondary school teachers in the United States. Teacher characteristics are often associated with other variables related to students' success.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on the Multidisciplinary Sustainability Education Project (MSEP) as a framework using sustainability-themed education modules to introduce students to the need for multidisciplinary approaches to solving twenty-first-century problems while retaining traditional course strengths and content.
Design/methodology/approach – The MSEP uses sustainability-themed education models and a multidisciplinary approach to link courses across disciplines. Modules are identified by an overarching question with activities designed to address the overarching question from course-specific perspectives, resulting in students writing short technical reports summarizing their results. Students then read and evaluate technical reports from other classes, and complete a summary activity designed to connect perspectives from different disciplines.
Findings – The multi-method assessment identified no loss or gain in discipline-specific learning; increased understanding about the characteristics of twenty-first-century problems, in particular those related to sustainability; and increased students ' favorable perceptions of introductory calculus. Assessment of increased understanding of how different disciplines can work together to understand complex problems was difficult to measure due to limitations of a project-developed assessment instrument.
Originality/value – This paper contributes to undergraduate sustainability education by describing a framework for connecting courses using sustainability-themed modules. By implementing an asynchronous manner where courses use materials from the project Web site and contribute materials to the Web site after implementing a module, it is easy to incorporate a module into existing courses, any educational institution's existing structure and across institutions. The framework's flexible design allows new courses from any discipline to connect to a module, allowing for multidisciplinary connections to grow over time.
This text views the contemporary economy as an economy of persuasion, where firms and institutions assign resources to rhetoric, image, and reputation rather than production of goods and services. It examines critically phenomena such as the knowledge society, consumption, higher education, organizational change, professionalization, and leadership.
A comment on Aleksandras Shtromas's article on achieving peace (see abstract in SA 45:3); Geert Van Cleemput's article on nationalism, chauvinism, & ethnic imperialism (see abstract in SA 45:3); & respective commentary from Gordon L. Anderson (see abstract in SA 45:3) & Russell Nieli (1995) agrees with Van Cleemput's definition of nation as a politically conscious ethnic group & state as an organization claiming territorial sovereignty. Shtromas & Van Cleemput support the formation of true nation-states. Nieli challenges this potential, because of the ethnic mixes in the world today, & Anderson advocates denationalization of the state. In accordance with Anderson, it is contended that statehood & nationalism should be decoupled favoring small states along subnational rather than national lines. M. Pflum
Abstract Nordic collaboration in issues of gender equality has a history spanning four decades. In recent years, the issue of gender equality in schools and preschools has received extensive attention. The reasons for this attention are one, that the development of Nordic societies has caused pressure to update gender equality laws to bring about equality and equity in schools; and two, that boys have begun to fall behind girls' achievements academically in many western countries, drawing attention again to gender issues. Changes in legislation create pressure for educational professionals to develop their practices. However, gender-equality promotion practices vary considerably between Nordic countries and between regions of single countries. In this project, funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers, participants gathered and compared data on current 'promising practices' relating to gender equality promotion at schools and kindergartens in each Nordic country. This project identified the following as the most promising practices for furthering gender equality in education: one; gender mainstreaming in education, both in teaching and learning; two, gender equality planning at schools (GEP); three, recruiting gender equality educators to municipalities; four, creating a national or a Nordic gender-equality certificate for educational institutions to acquire; five, promoting gender balance and diversity among educational staff; and six, gender equality work with the parents of students. Each practice is itself an influential activity; together, these six practices present a systematic approach to the development of the organisation of education, and a comprehensive strategy for promoting gender equality in education. This project report aims to contribute discussion on the issues, 'Can one speak of a 'Nordic equality model' in education?' and, 'How can Nordic countries benefit from a joint gender equality promotion?' and 'Can Nordic gender equality promotion be beneficial for non-European countries?'
Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the focuses, motivations and challenges of achieving campus sustainability in Chinese higher education institutions (HEIs).Design/methodology/approach– A multisite case study was conducted in Changchun City, Jilin, where eight HEIs of various types were examined. Structured interviews with school managers, students and government officials were accompanied with analysis of relevant documents.Findings– The focuses of sustainability among the studied HEIs were on water and energy conservation and on non-technical initiatives. The focuses can be explained by motivations and challenges. The HEIs are motivated by government and financial pressures and face challenges in limited accessibility to funding. The reliance of non-technical initiatives has negatively impacted student welfare and has become unpopular among students.Practical implications– The government is advised to increase funding to HEIs in relation to sustainability and to make the funding more equitable. The HEIs are advised to modify sustainability practices that severely affect the daily lives of students, to share the benefits of water and energy conservation with their students and to involve students in sustainability governance.Originality/value– This paper adds to the existing literature in two ways. First, it expands the geographical reach of the literature to developing countries, in general, and to China, in particular. Second, it adopts the multisite case study research approach to study the whole spectrum of Chinese HEIs and highlights the differences among these HEIs when it comes to sustainability.
