Perspectives on Educational Practice Around the World

Book excerpt: This book explores the philosophies, barriers and opportunities shaping education environments for children, teachers and student teachers in diverse countries around the world through a series of pertinent articles. These are drawn from the contributors' experiential knowledge of education in contexts such as Australia, Canada, China, Finland, India, Nepal, Palestine, Qatar, South Africa, the UK and Venezuela. The issues raised enable valuable insights into formal education from pre-school to higher education within individual national contexts, while also having significance across state boundaries. They are set against a background of international comparisons, global economies and communications, and environmental and social change. The topics covered include global citizenship, learning environments, inclusion and inequality. Each of the articles introduces a key issue, offers contextualized examples and questions to prompt discussion and further research, along with a guide to further resources. Thoughtfully structured, the editors provide an overarching introduction and concluding chapter, reflecting on global issues and directions of travel in educational policies as well as highlighting countries which are bucking current trends. They also include a short introduction to each part, drawing together chapters and challenging thinking.