Volume 9 (2018): Issue 1 (June 2018)

While researchers, educators, state and national organizations, and policy makers are taking strides to help transform traditional mathematics classrooms into inquiry-based classrooms, they fail to address how to bridge the gap between creating discussions to developing mathematical discourse. One key component for producing inquiry-based classrooms is to have effective discussions (Smith & Stein, 2011). However, to have effective discussions, social norms must be in place that promote active participation from students (Sherin, 2002). Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to synthesize educational research on social norms in the mathematics classroom to identify key components teacher educators can focus on to help teachers establish and implement social norms that promote sustainable inquiry-based classrooms. Results suggest social norms must be developed through collaboration of the teacher and students, the classroom environment must be supportive of mathematical discussion, and finally, norms should be (re)negotiated to help change students’ ways of thinking.

The article reflects results from a web-based survey of early career teachers who had taken a required, hybrid course focused on sustainability science. Many alumni reported early efforts to integrate sustainability topics and ways of thinking into their K-8 classrooms. Teachers reported modeling of classroom behaviors that promoted sustainability more than implementing sustainability into the curriculum. Read-aloud books and videos were used frequently, suggesting the need for available high quality children’s books and videos on sustainability topics. Supports that were most helpful to teachers included school-wide initiatives, curricular and instructional resources, like-minded colleagues and supportive administrators. Lack of time and alignment with curricula were barriers that hindered some teachers’ progress, suggesting the importance of systemic curricular reform that brings awareness to the Sustainable Development Goals.

An objective of the European Union’s Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan is to address high levels of youth unemployment in Europe by promoting entrepreneurship. Implementing entrepreneurship education in schools, colleges and universities is one of three strategic interventions proposed by the Action Plan. Sustainable entrepreneurship is a recognised branch of the wider field of entrepreneurship and the literature on sustainable entrepreneurship sees it as a means of addressing some of the sustainability challenges of the 21^st century. This article compares the pedagogical approaches and the competences of ESD (Education for Sustainable Development) with those of entrepreneurship education to identify how ESD might influence entrepreneurship education in order to develop entrepreneurs that contribute to a sustainable future. This comparison is placed in the context of the broader debate on the need to transform the dominant neo-liberal economic systems as part of the precondition for achieving a more sustainable future.

Survival of organizations nowadays depends on their ability to learn properly and quickly increase their efficiency and their performance and to adapt to the changing environment. Creating an organizational learning culture (OLC) could achieve an increase in the survivability of organizations.

This paper examines the OLC questionnaire, the developed research methodology, adapted andapproved by Israeli local authorities. This study analyses 529 questionnaires filled in by municipalitiesi employees.

The aim of the research: the development of a mechanism for increasing the efficiency of the local authorities by influencing the behavior of employees through the creation of Organizational Learning Culture (OLC).

Effective teaching is considered to be one of the factors that can facilitate learner achievement. The present study investigated the indicators that constituted good teaching from the perspective of higher-education students at Applied Linguistics departments, Iran. To do this, following a substantial review of the literature, the five major indicators (with their sub-components) defining teaching effectiveness were identified (viz. Preparation-Organization, Knowledge, Learning-Thinking, Enthusiasm and Delivery). Next, the questionnaire developed by Delaney et al. was administered to 80 higher-education students who were selected through convenience sampling by emails. The open-ended nature of the data needed a manual approach to the analysis and coding of the data. Overall, 13 final characteristics were observed based on the analysis and were further discussed and elaborated on.

Sustainability has become an important issue in the world today for both business and society. As accounting faculty members, it is important that we add aspects of sustainability into accounting classrooms to help prepare students for what they will see in the workplace. The article aims to discuss areas for faculty to share with students the importance of sustainability. The methods of discussing sustainability in the classroom come from the teaching experiences of the authors. Cost, managerial, and intermediate accounting courses, as well as auditing at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, serve as conduits for sustainability concepts. Examples include discussing the triple bottom line, examining CSR reports and assurance services for them, talking about required environmental reporting and integrated reporting, and examining green balanced scorecards. The hope is that faculty can help students learn not only accounting but how to be better citizens with a global perspective on sustainability.

There is no doubt about the necessity for the inclusion and the integration of minority groups in German school system. Although there are different recognised politics and developments within the school policy of the 16 federal states in Germany, there are also common important political issues. While heterogeneity in minority groups is emphasised, the under-representation of minority groups in the education workforce can also be recognised. Of course, this can be seen not only as a matter of social justice, but also as a question of a responsible integration-policy by the (national) state, its political system, institutions, and culture. The present study outlines the problems and chances which are connected with the practical work of teachers with a migration background for the school service in Germany. In addition, examples of good practice in aspects of networks and mentoring, information and awareness-raising are indicated.

Quality teaching, being a key factor in shaping students’ academic and personal growth, has been at the centre of scientific debate for many years. Sustainable professional development of novice teachers has recently been recognized worldwide as one of the key areas for improving the quality of teaching and learning in schools. Given that the initial years on the job are generally characterised by novice teachers as the most challenging and intense in their career, the following questions typically arise: What can be done to sustain and facilitate teaching at the early developmental stages in teachers’ career? What are the contextual factors and the prerequisites leading to the quality of teaching and learning?

The article presents the findings from a two-year longitudinal qualitative study aimed to contribute to the research base for understanding this crucial stage. More specifically, the purpose of this study was to provide deeper understanding and insights into key factors influencing and shaping novice teachers’ early professional development and learning, as well as their capacities to effectively adapt to their new roles and operate in complex and dynamically changing open-ended school environment. The research is framed as a cross-case analysis of 4 cases of novice teachers working in public secondary schools. The data were collected through multiple sources (i.e. semi-structured in-depth interviews, questionnaire, and focus groups) over a two-year period spanning the participants’ first and second full-time teaching years. Substantial differences in experiences and beliefs among the novice teachers, with varying levels of job satisfaction and professional support received, were identified in the study. The authors have also identified numerous patterns of novice teachers’ teaching practice closely associated with teachers’concerns and early professional experience interpretations, which might result in substantial fluctuation in teaching quality and teacher’s career paths.

Implications for teacher education programs, mentoring, supervision, teachers’ professional development, and future research are discussed.

Entrepreneurs keep our economy and society vibrant by implementing new ideas, which is why our society needs people with entrepreneurship competences. The development of our entrepreneurship competences does not begin with the start of our professional lives, but is initiated in earlier phases of our socialisation. Entrepreneurship education can trigger and support this process. A common goal of entrepreneurship education is to strengthen entrepreneurs with value orientation for a sustainable society. All entrepreneurs of the future are in school today, the nature of their value-oriented education and their willingness to participate is shaped by today’s learning. This article provides information about entrepreneurship education, with a focus on Entrepreneurial Challenge-Based Learning for a sustainable future. Entrepreneurial Challenge-Based Learning touches on the basic personal and social issues of responsibility and autonomy and is intended to foster a culture of solidarity in our society.

Several high-level strategies devote special priority to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Given the seriousness of the ESD agenda in SIDS, it is vital that ESD programmes perform at a level where potential positive impacts on schools and communities can be realised. Contemporary literature on ESD has shed light on the most effective educational approaches for addressing the types of complex sustainability problems facing islands. This study set out to identify the types of changes which Indian Ocean ESD professionals are working towards on the ground, and how these relate to contemporary ESD theory. Despite the practical and urgent issues facing Indian Ocean SIDS, this research reveals a general rejection of traditional expert-driven instrumental/behaviourist approaches in favour of a dominant emancipatory approach and full grasp of the need for transformative change and a holistic ‘whole institution approach’ to ESD among ESD professionals in the Indian Ocean. The study goes on to illuminate how the professionals believe transformative change can be recognisable in Indian Ocean schools, and finally proposes four indicators for evaluation.