Product Description: Play is the central, universally significant activity of childhood. Self-directed play in which adults have a supporting rather than directing role is critical to the development and well-being of children. Yet as children have their days and nights increasingly scripted and planned for them, opportunities for play have disappeared over the last half century, especially in schools...read more

Presenting a robust and philosophically based account of education from the Catholic point of view, Sean Whittle engages with important debates and questions concerning the nature and purpose of Catholic education and schooling. The book opens with a review of the criticisms that have emerged about the prevalence of Catholic schools within the state system and, indeed, about the very notion of there being such a thing as 'Catholic education'. The author then goes on to survey official Church teaching on education and the work of key Catholic thinkers, Newman and Maritain, before moving on to discuss the writings of Karl Rahner, a leading twentieth century theologian. A Theory of Catholic Education argues that Rahner's approach, with his focus on the place of mystery in human experience, provides a way forward. Ultimately, Whittle demonstrates how Catholic theology can offer a unique and much needed theory of education.

Health Education: Critical perspectives provides a socio-cultural and critical approach to health education. The book draws together international experts in the fields of health and education who deconstruct contemporary discourses and practices, and re-imagine a health education that both connects with young people and offers a way forward in addressing issues of health and wellbeing. Chapters within specifically link academic work on neoliberalism, healthism, risk and the body to wider discourses of health and health education. They challenge current practices and call for a re-thinking of current health programs in education settings. A unique feature of this book is the analyses of health education from both political and applied levels across a range of international contexts. The book is divided into three sections: the social and political contexts informing health education how individual health issues (sexuality, alcohol, mental health, the body and obesity, nutrition) articulate in education in complex ways alternative ways to think about health and health education pedagogy. The overall theme of the book offers a perspective that the current approach to health education – promoting a fear of ill health, self-surveillance and individual responsibility – can become a form of health fascism, and we need to be cognisant of this potential and its consequences for young people. The book will be of key interest to academics and researchers exploring the political context of health education.

Product Description: A Practical Guide to Teaching Physical Education in the Secondary School is written for all student teachers on university and school-based initial teacher education courses. It offers a wealth of tried and tested strategies together with practical activities and materials to support both your teaching and your pupils’ learning...read more

Product Description: The Really Useful Maths Book is for all those who want children to enjoy the challenge of learning mathematics. With suggestions about the best ways to use resources and equipment to support learning, it describes in detail how to make learning the easy option for children...read more

This innovative and wide-ranging book shows how storytelling can open new worlds for learners with or without special educational needs. With sections that outline both therapeutic and educational approaches, the leading practitioners who contribute to this practical resource draw on their extensive experience, and distil their own approaches for the reader to use as inspiration for their own lessons. Providing a highly accessible combination of theory and practice, the contributors to this book: define their own approach to storytelling describe the principles and theory that underpin their practice demonstrate how they work with different types of story provide extensive case-studies and assessment frameworks for a range of different special needs and age ranges provide some ‘top tips’ for practitioners who want to start using stories in this way. Using Storytelling to Support Children and Adults with Special Needs will be of interest to all education professionals as well as therapists, youth workers, counsellors, and storytellers and theatre practitioners working in special education.

This book brings together leading representatives of activity-theoretically-oriented and socioculturally-oriented research around the world, to discuss creativity as a collective endeavour strongly related to learning to face the societal challenges of our world. As history shows, major accomplishments in arts and technological innovations have allowed us to see the world differently and to identify new learning perspectives for the future which were seldom limited to individual action or isolated activities. This book, while primarily focused on educational insitutions, extends its examination of creativity and learning to include other settings (such as government agencies) beyond the limits of schooling.

It is often assumed that picturebooks are for very young readers because of their emphasis on the illustrations and their scarcity of text; however, there are increasing numbers of picturebooks where the age of the implied reader is questionable. These are picturebooks whose controversial subject matter and unconventional, often unsettling style of illustration challenge the reader, pushing them to question and probe deeper to understand what the book is about. In addition to the book challenging the reader, the reader often challenges the book in an attempt to understand what is being said. These increasingly popular picturebooks work on many different levels; they are truly polysemic and worthy of in-depth analysis. They push the reader to ask questions and in many instances are intrinsically philosophical, often dealing with fundamental life issues. Challenging and Controversial Picturebooks examines these unconventional, non-conformist picturebooks, considering what they are, their audience and their purpose. It also considers: Children’s and adults’ thoughts on these kinds of picturebooks. How challenging and unsettling wordless picturebooks can play with the mind and promote philosophical thought. What creates non-conformity and strangeness … is it the illustrations and their style, the subject matter or a combination of both? Why certain countries create, promote and accept these picturebooks more than others. Why certain picturebooks are censored and what factors are in play when these decisions are made. The role of publishers in translating and publishing these picturebooks. Children’s creative and critical responses to strange, unsettling and often disturbing visual texts. This inspiring and thought-provoking volume explores the work of a number of highly respected, international picturebook experts and includes an exclusive interview with the legendary Klaus Flugge, Managing Director of Andersen Press, one of the few remaining independent children’s book publishers in England. It is an indispensable reference for all interested in or working with picturebooks, including researchers, students in higher and teacher education, English advisors/inspectors, literacy consultants and classroom teachers.

Product Description: Teaching the Holocaust  is an important but often challenging task for those involved in modern Holocaust education. What content should be included and what should be left out? How can film and literature be integrated into the curriculum? What is the best way to respond to students who resist the idea of learning about it? This book, drawing upon the latest research in the field, offers practical help and advice on delivering inclusive and engaging lessons along with guidance on how to navigate through the many controversies and considerations when planning, preparing, and delivering Holocaust education...read more

This essential guide offers a new approach to doctoral writing, written specifically for doctoral supervisors. Rejecting the DIY websites and manuals that promote a privatised skills-based approach to writing research, Kamler and Thomson offer a new framework for scholarly work to help doctorate students produce clear and well-argued dissertations. Drawing on a wide range of research and hands-on experience, the authors argue that making an original contribution to scholarly knowledge requires doctoral candidates to do both text and identity work. Their discussion of the complexities of forming a scholarly identity is illustrated by the stories and writing of real doctoral students.

Product Description: The explosive emergence of net-based learning in higher education brings with it new possibilities and constraints in teaching and learning environments.This edited collection considers how the concept of Academic Bildung - a term suggesting a personal educational process beyond actual educational learning - can be applied to net-based higher education...read more

Product Description: The outdoor environment is now an integral part of many early years settings and schools, but is it being used to its full potential? Providing extensive, challenging and ever-changing outdoor play experiences is an essential and valuable aspect of early years education...read more

Product Description: Teaching Religious Education Creatively offers a brand new approach for the primary classroom and is crammed full of innovative ideas for bringing the teaching of RE to life. It helps teachers understand what constitutes a healthy curriculum that will encourage children to appreciate and understand different belief systems...read more

Product Description: Photography in education involves the use of photographs to engage research participants in representing and reflecting upon their own experiences. This book explores how photographic images can be used in a range of educational settings in different cultural contexts, as a method of facilitating communication and reflection on significant issues in people’s lives...read more

Product Description: This bestselling book is filled with fun activities you can use to engage students in learning a world language. No matter what language and grade level you teach, you will love having a wide variety of tools at your disposal, from quick warm-up exercises to longer games and group activities...read more

Product Description: This book explores the idea of a childlike education and offers critical tools to question traditional forms of education, and alternative ways to understand and practice the relationship between education and childhood. Engaging with the work of Michel Foucault, Jacques Rancière, Giorgio Agamben and Simón Rodríguez, it contributes to the development of a philosophical framework for the pedagogical idea at the core of the book, that of a childlike education...read more

Product Description: Teach students how to engage in thoughtful discussions about a text. Socratic seminars are highly effective at helping students read closely and think critically about what they’ve read. They also teach students how to participate in authentic discussions...read more