This study is based on the creation of a theoretical tool for determining competencies and knowledge in science education which stakeholders value as necessary for students to become productive members of the future work force as well as responsible citizens. Stakeholders' opinions (N = 85) were gathered from persons in different walks of life by…

The present research was conducted with 518 students enrolled at the 6th, 7th and 8th classes of primary schools. A likert-type scale developed by Tuan, Chin and Shieh (2005) and translated into Turkish by Yilmaz and Cavas (2007) was used to examine the motivation levels of students towards science learning. Research findings revealed that gender,…

Fifteen young people who had received sequential bilateral cochlear implants were interviewed about their experiences. The majority had become full-time users, and all found improvements in listening with the second implant, including those who did not continue to wear it. All would recommend sequential bilateral implantation to their peers. For…

A semi-structured interview format was used to explore the experiences and attitudes of twelve parents and twelve teachers of young people, aged 11-18 years, who had received sequential bilateral cochlear implants. The parents stressed the importance of involving the young person in the decision to go ahead with the second implant. Although all…

This article is drawn from a larger doctoral study that explored hearing mothers' experiences of discovering that their babies had a permanent hearing loss in Australia in 2008. The particular focus for this paper is the period in time after a concern is flagged, either by a newborn hearing screener or the mother herself, until a hearing loss is…

This overview focuses on Europe, a linguistically diverse region and moreover home to a number of minority languages. Over the past five decades, the focus of research on bi- or multilingual education has shifted from an initial emphasis on speakers' identities and their membership of homogenous imagined communities to an interest in learners'…

Multicultural education respects cultural differences and affirms pluralism which students, their communities and teachers bring to the learning process. It is founded on the belief that a school curriculum which promotes the ideals of freedom, justice, equality, equity and human dignity is most likely to result in high academic achievement and…

Traditional bilingual education programmes in regional linguistic minority contexts face major challenges within the recent paradigm of linguistic diversity against a background of increasing migration, mobility and trans-locality. Based on three case studies, the authors of this paper focus on how particular dual-medium models are applied in…

Advocating mother tongue education implies recognising the centrality of linguistic and cultural diversity in quality and accessible education planning and delivery. In minority linguistic settings, this need becomes particularly urgent. Decades of exclusive promotion of foreign languages have rendered the educational system incapable of…

This paper documents the new trend towards a first-language-first multilingual model in formal education in three former French colonies of West Africa, namely Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. It compares the sociolinguistic situations, the conditions of the development of multilingual education and the achievements of mother-tongue-medium education…

This paper questions notions of individualism underpinning technocratic approaches to education that marginalise indigenous and migrant peoples' knowledges in tertiary education. Focusing on New Zealand ("Aotearoa") with its colonial and immigrant history, its Maori and Pacific Islander citizens, the authors ask whether education, as its process…

Over the last three decades, regional minority languages in Europe have regained increased recognition and support. Their revitalisation is partly due to their being taught in schools. Multilingualism has special characteristics for speakers of minority languages and it poses unique challenges for learning minority languages. This article looks at…

Although Germany has experienced net in-migration for the past five decades, this fact has only recently been officially acknowledged. Furthermore, Germany is marked by a general monolingual self-concept very much attached to the idea of a nation-state with one homogeneous language. However, in large urban areas of Germany about 35 per cent of the…

In the modern era, the prevailing model of public education has been that of "one size fits all", with private schooling being a small but notable exception. Language (of instruction) was generally viewed as a minor variable readily overcome by standard classroom instruction. As researchers have sharpened their focus on the reasons for educational…

Multilingualism in education is a conceptual as well as a pedagogical challenge of the 21st century. Luxembourg, with its three statutory official languages (Luxembourgish, French and German), is an especially complex setting. The gap between traditional principles of language education on the one hand and the challenging impacts of today's…