Early Childhood Development (ECD) has emerged as a theme in international and African dialogue on education in recent years. UNESCO's Division of Basic Education Early Childhood promotes an integrated approach to Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) policy development and review. The study examines how this is implemented in three West…

This paper presents the pioneering experience of the Programa Primeira Infancia Melhor (the Better Early Childhood Development Program), also known as "PIM" that has been developed since 2003 in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. PIM's goal is to "provide guidance to families, based on their own culture and experiences, to allow them to…

Improving the quality of Early Childhood Education has been a priority in Brazil, but it is still a challenging issue to be faced. The fact that an indefinite number of institutions exist on the borders of the educational system, the lack of systematic supervision, and incomplete official statistics are only a few of the challenges. The Millennium…

This article proposes that for scholars in comparative and international education the study of "cosmpolitanisms" offers a productive avenue for thinking outside of the traditional paradigms of area studies and for understanding the new world-generating optics and multi-layered geographies that appear to be emerging with globalization. The piece…

is argued that Cosmopolitan theory and its main competitor, Realism, issue from fundamentally different presuppositions. Realists presuppose that communal/national identity overrides a shared humanity to the degree that the moral consideration of others stops at the border of the society. Based upon this presupposition, Realists also assume the…

Cosmopolitan and global discourses are more and more often used for conceptualization and interpretation of citizenship. However, in the United States, the majority of schools are still resistant to incorporating cosmopolitan and global perspectives into citizenship education curriculum. This paper addresses challenges of cosmopolitan and global…

This study examines how far education systems worldwide have progressed from depicting society as rooted in a homogenous, bounded nation-state towards cosmopolitan emphases on a common humanity and social diversity. The research uses a unique longitudinal and cross-national primary source of data--high school civics, history, and social studies…

This paper reports selected results from a broader study which focused on determining students' perceptions of the development of their global citizen identity within the context of an undergraduate global citizenship program, and what students believed were aspects of the program that contributed to this growth. Findings suggest that experiences…

In our times globalization and cosmopolitanism are terms that speak to the intensification of border-crossing, and in connection to education, to the global conditions and possibilities that are directing change in learning and teaching. Much of this change demands a rethinking of the identity of the teacher and a revisioning of the work of…

This paper begins by connecting cosmopolitanism to notions of universal and particular knowledge in contemporary conditions. Drawing on the work of Immanuel Wallerstein, we then outline a world-systems approach to knowledge. This approach focuses on the capacity of epistemological structures to either reinforce existing inequalities or produce…

Critiques that seek to examine cosmopolitanism as a concept suffer from a severe popularity problem. Rather than engage in this pro/con debate, we are interested in demonstrating that cosmopolitanism can wax and wane, ebb and flow, and has appeared as a grounding ideology for educational programs before, only to be torn asunder by those seeking to…

This essay examines the evolution of cosmopolitanism in relation to the individual and the broader scope of society. Cosmopolitanism seeks to affect changes in cultural norms through the cultivation of self-awareness, identity, empowerment, and agency. Coupled with education, these powerful tools contribute to shaping a global society. Examining…

This author feels that how one views NGOs (non-government organizations) depends on one's perspective, and thus his reflections in this article focus more on extending his earlier analysis, rather than revising it. The author does this by considering three relatively recent developments, which in different ways have provoked him to keep wrestling…

Sustainability strategies are closely tied to the logic of the donor in every institution. Philanthropies that are set up with a limited time-span tend to scale up their impact differently. The educational programs of the Open Society Institute, for example, prioritize institutionalization over any other sustainability strategy. This is how it…

"Can NGOs provide alternative development in a market-based system of global economics?" Today, a full ten years after the author first asked this question, individuals still have only partial answers. There is no doubt that NGOs are playing in a more significant role in global ODA (overseas development assistance). While the reasons for supply of…