Alberto Arenas

Civic service through schools: an international perspective

Civic service, which refers to activities that seek to improve the local, national or international community either through community service or service learning, is widespread in secondary schools around the world. Despite this pervasive presence, there are few studies that approach the subject from a cross‐comparison perspective. This article addresses this gap by providing a comprehensive review of the international literature on civic service in terms of history, theory, research and practice. In terms of history and theory, the article brings together the work of several key proponents of civic service who, despite working in different countries and continents, placed civic service high in their educational agenda. In terms of research, it presents the most up‐to‐date research on the potential benefits and pitfalls of civic service. In terms of practice, it lists various limitations related to its implementation and presents possibilities for overcoming these. This section stresses the importance of establishing a respectful and honest relationship with intended beneficiaries to avoid fostering unhealthy social patterns, a key problem of many civic service programs. The article ends with areas for future research.

Privatization and vouchers in Colombia and Chile

The voucher model of financing schooling is becoming increasingly common throughout Latin America, with at least 12 countries using vouchers or voucher-like schemes. The present study focuses on the voucher models of Colombia and Chile, which have the most extensive programs of this type and those of the longest standing in the region. Using empirical evidence, the author compares the two models along four evaluative dimensions: educational quality, segregation, choice and socialization. After weighing the successes and weaknesses of each system, he concludes that, among other characteristics, the most effective and equitable voucher model features: (a) a flexible interpretation of educational quality; (b) financial grants which target solely the poor; (c) vouchers which cover the entire cost of tuition; (d) open enrolment at participating schools; (e) the participation of both secular and religious private schools; (f) accessible and meaningful information to parents; and (g) strong systems of accountability.

School-Based Enterprises and Environmental Sustainability.

This article uses an educational framework of environmental sustainability to examine the production process and the final products and services delivered by School-Based Enterprises (SBEs). Whereas the fledging literature on SBEs has extolled their many benefits for improving learning, it has been slow to acknowledge the importance of promoting ecological awareness through vocational education. This article defends the importance of “greening” SBEs in order to raise students’ and teachers’ consciousness about the importance of environmental stewardship, and it also explores key limitations faced by SBEs that attempt to follow such a framework. This environmental educational framework is used to analyze qualitatively the actual practices of SBEs in two public secondary schools in Colombia, South America.

Successes and snags of a sustainability course in higher education

By means of an action-research methodological approach, this paper analyses the accomplishments and challenges of a university-wide course that offers sustainability theory and practice to help students adopt pro-sustainability behaviours and analyse public policies that seek to transform urban areas into truly sustainable places. Through the lens of the four pillars of sustainability - environmental, social, economic, and cultural - the course explores various topics related to sustainability (e.g., energy and water conservation; housing design and construction; transportation; social and biological diversity; and war and peace) but pays particular attention to the themes of education; food production; and intentional communities. Despite the popularity of the course, it has encountered various ideological and logistical challenges that at times have imposed significant constraints on the courses trajectory. The paper examines ways of overcoming these obstacles.

When Indigenous and Modern Education Collide in the Global Culture

Indigenous education has been heralded as an effective pedagogical strategy for perpetuating and reinvigorating the history, culture, and language of indigenous groups globally. In this chapter, we present the case that the specific goals and practices of indigenous education, with an indispensable particularistic approach, find opposite hegemonic counterparts in national systems of education, which end up diluting and weakening its intended purpose. By exploring the curricular and pedagogical issues, relationship between children and nature, connections between school and community, promotion of certain languages above others, and commodification of education, this chapter analyzes the common tensions that arise from the divergent epistemologies of indigenous and Western, modern education in the global culture. The chapter concludes that if indigenous education is to be successful, it must continuously re-invent itself to ensure that it honors the basic cultural tenets of the ethnic groups that it serves, recognizes the hybrid nature of many indigenous practices, and uses learning as a springboard to foster social and environmental integrity both locally and globally.

7 Reasons for Accommodating Transgender Students at School.

Schools have become ground zero for clashes over transgender rights, and critics are denouncing academic institutions — and more recently, the Obama administration — for supporting transgender students in their right to use restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity. This article responds to the seven most common claims made by critics and explains why these arguments are problematic.

Evaluating TVET Programmes through Appreciative Inquiry

In connecting TVET to sustainable development, one of the areas ripe for exploration is evaluation. In the field of evaluation, an approach that is still in its infancy is appreciative inquiry (AI), a relatively new assets-based approach derived from the field of organizational development. This chapter seeks to bridge both gaps by proposing the use of AI to evaluate TVET programmes. AI is a practical philosophy and tool that highlights the best in individuals and organizations and encourages them to strive towards a more positive future. As an evaluative approach it offers a practical strategy for encouraging change based on two main theoretical bases, positive imagery and social constructivism (Preskill and Coghlan, 2003). It encompasses elements from such inclusive techniques as empowerment evaluation (Fetterman, 1994), participatory evaluation (Cousins and Earl, 1995) and advocacy evaluation (Greene, 1997), but it goes beyond these through its systematic data collection process and its call to focus on the most successful aspects of a group. It is in these two latter points where AI differs the most from traditional evaluations. The typical evaluation is deficit-based, focusing on the needs of a group and trying to come up with ways of addressing them. This is most evident through the data-collection interviews (‘What are the main obstacles you face? What prevents you from doing your job well? How could you minimize these problems?’). Consequently, evaluations often fail to acknowledge the organization’s positive aspects and run the risk of alienating the same people they seek to support, possibly leading to evaluations left fallow. Moreover, TVET evaluations have traditionally focused on a very specific set of outcomes (job placement, academic achievement, programme costs) at the expense of other important goals as those spelled out by sustainable development (such as social equity and environmental protection). In contrast, because of AI’s highly participatory nature, because it focuses on the most affirming aspects of an organization and because