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Article
Publication date: 1 March 2022

Matthias Kowasch

Sustainability is a major concern in education policies. This paper aims to describe how alternative economic education including concepts of the circular economy (CE), cradle to…

Abstract

Purpose

Sustainability is a major concern in education policies. This paper aims to describe how alternative economic education including concepts of the circular economy (CE), cradle to cradle (C2C) and zero waste can be addressed by teacher education. The author asks to what extent such alternative concepts contribute to sustainability education and transitions and empower students and future teachers, through fieldtrips.

Design/methodology/approach

Fieldtrips to three extracurricular learning places in Graz (Austria) – a plastic waste disposal facility, an upcycling design atelier and a supermarket without packaging – were organized as part of a university seminar on economy and sustainability. Based on student essays reflecting the fieldtrips, this praxeological paper provides insights on how students perceive awareness-raising and innovative responses to mass consumption, recycling/upcycling and waste prevention issues.

Findings

Including altermatic economic frameworks, such as CE/C2C and zero waste, into teacher education contributes to reflections on the economic growth paradigm and promotes more sustainable futures. In various statements, students highlighted social-ecological change and awareness-raising. They rather focussed on recycling, upcycling and (plastic) packaging than on the problematic eco-efficiency of downcycling.

Originality/value

Alternative economic concepts can be addressed and critically reflected in sustainability education, even if rarely taught. Although the extracurricular learning places described offer partial solution from the perspective of degrowth, they can serve as an eye-opener and promote alternative economic education, where students can share experiences, knowledge and creative ideas to engage in sustainability transitions.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 23 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 May 2011

John E. Osinski

The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief history of the Animal Welfare Act and suggest that librarians and other information professionals can play an active role in…

1062

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief history of the Animal Welfare Act and suggest that librarians and other information professionals can play an active role in helping researchers to comply with the Act.

Design/methodology/approach

The author attended workshops directed towards Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC) and Biomedical Researchers. As a result of attending these workshops, the author recognized the potential for librarians and information specialists to assist researchers in performing literature searches, a required component of research protocols. The purpose of the literature search is to seek alternatives to the use of animals in experiments and to ensure that the researchers are not unnecessarily duplicating previous experiments. A research guide consisting of proprietary databases, free databases, books, web sites, and tutorials facilitates the literature review mandated by the Act.

Findings

While serving on his institution's Animal Care and Use Committee, the author was charged with reviewing research protocols involving the use of live, vertebrate animals. These protocols call for a literature review to determine if there are acceptable alternatives to the use of animals, or to methods that cause pain and distress to the animals. The author found that the majority of the searches that were performed needed improvement, with many failing to meet the minimum requirements of the Animal Welfare Act. Through his participation in relevant workshops, the author also found that many researchers were unaware of the requirements of this search for alternatives, and that they lacked familiarity with the resources available to them.

Originality/value

The author performed a search in Library and Information Science Abstracts and Library/Information Sciences & Technology Abstracts using the keywords “alternatives” and “animals” and received only four relevant results, dated 1990, 2001, 2004, and 2007.

Details

Reference Services Review, vol. 39 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0090-7324

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 October 2011

Eddie Blass, Mary Thornton and Bernice Rawlings

This paper seeks to outline four scenarios developed for the future of the South West Midlands region of England. Like many depressed regions in the UK, the foundation industries

1046

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to outline four scenarios developed for the future of the South West Midlands region of England. Like many depressed regions in the UK, the foundation industries that initially developed the region have gone. Manufacturing is continuing to decline and the low‐skilled economic underpinnings of the region have all but disappeared. The population, however, has not changed with the times, but remains low‐skilled and largely unemployable to many of the industries the region is trying to attract to regenerate itself. Despite this economically depressed picture, the region is renowned for its sense of community and regional identity, and hence crime is uncharacteristically low given the economic and demographic circumstances of the region.

Design/methodology/approach

A range of methodologies were employed to inform scenario building for the future of the region, including a literature review, interviews with employers and community leaders, a word association exercise and questionnaire with children approaching school leaving age, and data analysis of demographic and economic trends.

Findings

Four scenarios were developed as possible futures for the region to help inform policy making, in particular educational policy to encourage more young people to remain in education for longer and gain higher qualifications.

Practical implications

The paper offers practical ideas for (re)engaging young people in education in a depressed region where the value of education has never really been appreciated.

Originality/value

This paper offers readers alternative perspectives on an area of education that might otherwise be ignored and finds positive ways forwards to further promote education in the region.

Details

Foresight, vol. 13 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-6689

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 2005

Irving H. Buchen

To identify emerging education alternatives to traditional higher education.

1371

Abstract

Purpose

To identify emerging education alternatives to traditional higher education.

Design/methodology/approach

To survey and examine three types of alternative providers.

Findings

To demonstrate that there are now at least two major providers of professional development in the market.

Originality/value

To posit a more complicated and competitive future for higher education but also to note the prospect of convergence.

Details

Foresight, vol. 7 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-6689

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 March 2023

Katherine Gajardo, Félix Lobo de Diego, Guillermo Alejandro Campos Cancino and Enrique-Javier Díez-Gutiérrez

The study aims to provide relevant information on the educational processes experienced by university students in Spain during the period of compulsory confinement. To this end…

Abstract

Purpose

The study aims to provide relevant information on the educational processes experienced by university students in Spain during the period of compulsory confinement. To this end, the key factors of the emergency educational model implemented by the country's universities have been analysed.

Design/methodology/approach

The study investigated, through qualitative, exploratory research and 30 in-depth interviews, how university students have lived the process of change to alternative forms of education during the crisis, what training experiences stand out and what factors related to virtual education they identify as relevant keys.

Findings

Participants usually focus on three main topics: (1) The impacts of changes in training development with regard to methodologies and forms of assessment; (2) The facilities and difficulties in this new modality of online training; and (3) The consequences of the crisis on higher education in the medium and long term.

Originality/value

Students participating in the study offer relevant and critical information on the adaptations developed by Spanish universities during the Coronavirus crisis. This information can be fundamental for the conscious decision making of the institutions, so that they can develop educational processes more adequate to the needs and possibilities of the university students in times of crisis.

Details

Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, vol. 16 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-7003

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 May 1983

David R. Cohen

During times of budgetary restraint, the opportunity costs of health care expenditure are highlighted. As a result, policies on the prevention of ill‐health, which may have always…

Abstract

During times of budgetary restraint, the opportunity costs of health care expenditure are highlighted. As a result, policies on the prevention of ill‐health, which may have always been desirable for their own sake, are increasingly being viewed as alternatives to expenditures on curative care. Within a fixed budget, such alternatives share a common objective to maximise the overall return, measured in terms of reduced morbidity and mortality, to the expenditure. Health education is advocated as a major instrument of prevention policy. Since the link between increased knowledge, changed attitudes and altered behaviour is unproved, this article considers only those health education programmes which aim at specific behavioural changes. These programmes alone yield a return which can be com‐pared with those from expenditures in curative care.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 10 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Article
Publication date: 1 June 2003

Ian Boxill

This paper argues that tourism development in Belize should avoid going the traditional mass tourism route of most Caribbean destinations. Instead, it suggests that Belize is at…

4122

Abstract

This paper argues that tourism development in Belize should avoid going the traditional mass tourism route of most Caribbean destinations. Instead, it suggests that Belize is at the appropriate stage in its development to forge an alternative model, which draws and builds on its geographical location, history, culture and ecology. In making this case, the paper identifies a number of limiting and facilitating factors to tourism development. These facilitating factors recommend the alternative model. Specifically, the alternative model includes nature, education and community tourism; and a type of cruise tourism that is linked to education and culture. For this effort to succeed, the paper recommends that government and civil society work together to develop the country’s human resources and to structure a strategy to achieve the goals.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 15 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 September 2011

Zoharah Omar, Steven Eric Krauss, Rahim M. Sail and Ismi Arif Ismail

The purpose of this paper is to explore objective and subjective career success and to identify factors contributing to career success among a sample of technical and vocational…

2127

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore objective and subjective career success and to identify factors contributing to career success among a sample of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) “late bloomers” working in Malaysia.

Design/methodology/approach

Incorporating a mixed method design, the authors quantitatively surveyed 86 TVET graduates from two multinational companies, followed by in‐depth qualitative interviews with five high‐performing “late bloomer” TVET graduates.

Findings

Quantitative results indicate that the respondents progressed in their careers both in terms of salary and promotions, while most were satisfied with their careers and felt that they were internally and externally marketable. Qualitative findings indicate that the success of the late bloomers was the result of a perceived good fit between an individual's strengths and the organization's ability to compensate, motivate and support the individuals in their career progression.

Research limitations/implications

The limited sample size employed can only provide initial insights into career success levels and contributing factors of career success. The results may spur larger scale research on career success of TVET graduates in Malaysia and the neighbouring region.

Practical implications

The paper provides important initial findings on the technical and vocational career line as an alternative pathway for Malaysian youth, particularly school leavers and underachievers, to achieve career success and enhanced social inclusion through higher salaries, job status and educational attainment.

Originality/value

The paper highlights the unexplored potential of career success as a facilitator of educational attainment and social inclusion, rather than the traditional path of educational attainment first, followed by career success.

Details

Education + Training, vol. 53 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0040-0912

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 May 1991

Myriam Bacquelaine and Erik Raymaekers

Non‐formal Education (NFE) is widely seen tofoster development and to provide an alternative toformal education in developing countries. The articlesurveys the emergence of NFE in…

Abstract

Non‐formal Education (NFE) is widely seen to foster development and to provide an alternative to formal education in developing countries. The article surveys the emergence of NFE in developing countries; discusses definitions, classifications and terminology, case studies and inventories of NFE. The objectives of many NFE programmes are seen to be restrictive and ill‐considered and provision is not adapted to the real needs of target groups. General trends in NFE are outlined by region; its costs, funding and resources are analysed. Finally the contribution of NFE to development is discussed and the desirability of better integration of NFE with formal systems.

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 5 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 October 2015

Tom G. Griffiths and Jack Downey

The Australian Radical Education Group (RED G) was created in June 1976, which in turn launched a magazine for radical(ising) teachers, the Radical Education Dossier (RED), that…

Abstract

Purpose

The Australian Radical Education Group (RED G) was created in June 1976, which in turn launched a magazine for radical(ising) teachers, the Radical Education Dossier (RED), that would be published for the next 30 years. The purpose of this paper is to characterise the emergence and first phase of RED’s publication up to its name change in 1984.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors draw on interviews with key members of the magazine’s editorial collective, and a review of RED’s contents, to identify the major political ambitions as manifest in RED in historical context. The authors contextualise this radical education project in the post-1968 world context of social and political upheaval, rejecting the Cold War options of either Soviet style Communist or US-based capitalist pathways.

Findings

In this context RED generated powerful critiques of dominant educational policy in multiple areas. The critique was part of a project to promote a socialist understanding of mass education, and to promote the transformation of Australian society towards socialism. The authors argue that the debates and struggles within RED in this period, seeking to define and advance a socialist educational project, reflected a broad and consistent critique of progressive educational reforms, rooted in its radical political foundations.

Originality/value

This paper provides an historical review of a 30-year radical education publishing initiative in Australia, about which no accounts have been published. It connects directly with contemporary educational issues, and offers insights for interviews with those directly involved in the historical project.

Details

History of Education Review, vol. 44 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0819-8691

Keywords

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