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This chapter examines early childhood pedagogy in Germany. It developed in the wake of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) education debate, and the expansion of higher education led to new types of application-oriented courses. For a long time, child day care in Germany was not seen as a subject of theoretical worth. Vocational training for kindergarten teachers, overwhelmingly employed in day care centers, has not yet been academized. The academic study of childhood pedagogy is a thereof separate project, taught especially at universities of applied science. Nevertheless, constructions of new disciplines are directed toward professional fields, for which they claim relevance with their academic training. With its focus on “Bildung” childhood pedagogy in Germany claims to offer a scientifically based solution to the practical problems of action in child day care. This chapter discusses the specific content of the curricula statistical figures of graduates at universities and in the fields of practice. It provides first empirical clarification on observable phenomena of a scientific “penetration” of cognitive rationality in kindergartens. It fosters an academic habitus that induces a distancing from direct interaction with children, leads to a diversification of tasks in day care centers, and promotes hierarchical processes of professional role differentiation in the field of childcare.

For an extended period of time education was mainly formal, that is a system with clear roles, goals and responsibilities. Education resembled an immutable and closed system with few, if any, connections to other parts of society. However, during the last century significant changes occurred in many areas of society, culminating in global reform movements to democratise education and to increase participation by opening up education. A current and prominent example of such a movement is Open Educational Resources (OER), which is a global attempt to facilitate the flow of knowledge, reduce the costs of education, and establish an educational system based on humanistic and moral values (i.e. sharing). Yet, recent developments are progressing at such an accelerated speed that it is hard to predict the ‘real’ value of OERs for educational purposes. Also, within OER little reference has been made to previous forms of Open Education, such as Open Classroom/Open Learning in the 1960s and 1970s or to the even older German progressive education (Reformpädagogik). Current OE forms can be characterised as a mixture of economical (‘education as a commodity’), moral (‘education as a common good’) and social (‘education as a shared enterprise’) claims, each of which contribute to the emergence of Open Education. This introductory chapter attempts to set the stage for a sound engagement with openness in education. It provides a conceptual framework that discusses major developments throughout the history of Open Education from a philosophical standpoint. Special attention will be paid to the concept of Bildung (self-realisation, self-cultivation) as an in-depth theory that can not only inform what happens when learners utilise OER but also allows one to reflect on the impact of OER on society. Selected cases of Open Education will be reviewed and then framed with the theory of Bildung. Eventually, this will lead to a set of lessons learned that are aimed at guiding current debates on Open Education.

Industry 4.0 or the Fourth Industrial Revolution is characterized by robotic process automation and machine-to-machine communications. Since computers, machines, and robots share information and knowledge more swiftly and effectively than humans, the question is what human beings' role could be in the era of the Internet-of-Thing. The answer would be beneficial to institutions for higher education to anticipate. The literature reveals a gap between the intended learning outcomes in higher education institutions and the needs of employers in Industry 4.0. Evidence is shown that higher education mainly focused on knowledge (know-what) and theory-based (know-why) intended learning outcomes. However, competent professionals require knowledge (know-what), understanding of the theory (know-why), professional (know-how) and interpersonal skills (know-how and know-who), and need intrapersonal traits such as creativeness, persistence, a result-driven attitude et cetera. Therefore, intended learning outcomes in higher education should also develop interpersonal skills and intrapersonal characteristics. Yet, personality development is a personal effort vital for contemporary challenges. The history of the preceding industrial revolutions showed the drawbacks of personality and character education; politicians have abused it to control societies in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the discussion section, the institutions for higher education are alerted that the societal challenges of the twenty-first century could lead to a form of personality education that is not in the student's interest and would violate Isaiah Berlin's philosophical concept of ‘positive freedom’.

An assessment of Axel Honneth’s reception and appropriation of Hegel’s theory of normative reconstruction as presented in his Freedom’s Right (Columbia University Press, 2014).

A comparative assessment of Honneth’s and Hegel’s approach to normative reconstruction focusing on three basic issues: general methodology, understandings of the logic and program of the Philosophy of Right, and analyses and assessments of modern market societies as detailed in Hegel’s account of civil society (bürgerliche Gesellschaft).

For Honneth, normative reconstruction consists in reworking modes of social rationality already realized in modern institutions. By contrast, Hegel is shown to advance an approach to reconstruction in which an account of social rationality is properly fashioned only in the reconstruction process itself. In this way Hegel is also shown to proffer an approach to normative reconstruction that is at once more robustly reconstructive and more robustly normative than is the case with Honneth.

The paper demonstrates the ongoing value of Hegel’s thought for social and political theory. It illuminates Hegel’s uniquely dialectical approach to immanent social critique, dedicated not only to explicating existing tensions and “bifurcations” (Entzweiungen) but – with the help of a distinctive account of Bildung (cultivation or formation) – to engaging those tensions and bifurcations in order to delineate the conditions for their constructive supersession. It also elucidates different ways in which critical social theorists, committed to notions of “immanent transcendence,” draw on the resources of market societies to mount normative challenges to the aporias of those societies.

This chapter provides a didactic analysis of a course-based service-learning research experience. The author explores undergraduate honors college students’ development of self-determination, co-determination, and solidarity vis-á-vis a Humboldtian theory of human bildung – cultivation of humanity. This particular analysis provides a case study for using course-based service-learning research experiences with undergraduate students in larger research-intensive universities. It provides students with an opportunity to learn and practice qualitative research methods and analysis, and provides time and space for them to make a difference in the world, which they seem so keen to do.

In light of a need for more critical education about datafication, this paper aims to develop a framework for critical datafication literacy that is grounded in theoretical and empirical research. The framework draws upon existing critical data literacies, an in-depth analysis of three well-established educational approaches – media literacy, the German “(politische) Bildung” and Freirean “critical pedagogy” – and empirical analyses of online educational resources about datafication.

The study interconnects theoretical analyses with an empirical mixed methods investigation that includes expert interviews with creators of online educational resources about datafication and a qualitative survey with educators interested in teaching about data technologies.

The research identified novel findings on the goals of resource creators and educators, such as a focus on empowering and emancipatory approaches, fostering systemic understanding of datafication and encouraging collective action. Such perspectives are rare in existing critical data literacy conceptualisations but show resemblance to traditional education scholarship. This highlights how much can be learnt from practitioners and from these more established educational approaches. Based on these findings, a framework for critical datafication literacy is suggested that aims for systemic understanding of datafication, encouraging critical thinking and enabling learners to make enlightened choices and take different forms of action.

The study is unique in its interconnection of theoretical and empirical research, and it advances previous research by suggesting a grounded framework for critical datafication literacy.

The position of the relatively new non‐classical education as opposed to traditional classical education was the subject of intense discussion in the Netherlands from the second half of the nineteenth century onwards. The Dutch case was not unique, however. In Western Europe the traditional form of secondary education, with Greek and Latin as key subjects, long retained its dominant status. The classical languages were considered essential if sons of the elite were to become civilised men with disciplined minds, a refined sense of human cultural values and a coherent general education. This educational ideal ‐ culture generale in France and Bildung in Germany ‐ embraced the classics at the expense of professional expertise and knowledge about modern society. A focus on commerce and technology was considered inferior. The Bildung ideal rejected practicality and purposeful work in favour of leisured cultivation and aesthetic interests. Yet modern education slowly grew in status, and non‐classical schools sought to gain greater dominance in the school system.

The purpose of this paper is to comment on Steven Laporte’s review of About and on Behalf of Scriptum Est by Suominen with the aim of clarifying conceptual confusions related to the notion of constitutive and the notion of value-in-itself in the review.

The notion of constitutive as it appears in the reviewed monograph and Laporte’s reasoning around the notion of value-in-itself as challenges to are discussed and their differences are analyzed.

The notion of value-in-itself appears problematic as the reviewed monograph already claims. The notion of constitutive provides us with a more plausible foundation for challenging the exclusively instrumentality-based views of the rationality of the practice of the library and librarianship. Compared to the notion of constitutive as used here, the notions used by Laporte remain abstract.

The notion of constitutive could be a key notion opening a perspective for conceiving of the historical, cultural, social, and political conditions of being of the humans as the foundation of the rationality of the library and librarianship.

The purpose of this paper is to revisit three successful schools to see how the principals and the schools had sustained success over a period of five years.

A case study research design was used building on the 2005 design. This time the principals were interviewed.

The study is a case study over five years. In the first round of visits to schools four‐to‐five years ago in the ISSPP context, it was found that the modernization of Danish society was beginning to show new forms in the every day life and discourses of schools. It could be seen that the links between the state, local authorities and schools were changing. Some were being loosened and some were beginning to be tightened. Returning to three schools in 2008, it was found that the tightening of links had accelerated, so the new governance of schools through accountability, contracts and networks was at this stage implemented with a number of effects in schools and in school leadership. While rather big differences were seen between the schools at the first visit with respect to relations and leading, the differences seem to have diminished over the past four‐to‐fast years. Principals then considered it a major responsibility to act proactively in “setting and negotiating” the direction of the school. Now they are more inclined to name those activities as “translations” of external expectations to staff in a more reactive way because the expectations have been made more explicit and detailed. The political trend towards narrowing the focus of schooling seems to be successful in terms of test results. All three schools perform better now than previously in the national tests.

The challenge to the principals and teachers is to sustain this development and at the same time take care of the comprehensive vision of “Democratic Bildung”. And the challenge to principals is to find ways of communicating with teachers and influencing teachers that are legitimate and effective.

The paper adds knowledge to the literature on sustaining school success and to the literature on relations between external policies and internal practices.

Even though the progress in creating inclusive learning environments varies across different countries, the implementation of inclusive education systems can clearly be considered a European shared policy goal. However, there is still a lack of both a clear definition of inclusive education and indicators on the provision of necessary resources in order to implement a high-quality inclusive school system. In the presented study, we aimed to shed light on how teachers who work at different schools in Austria perceive the resources provided to them in order to realize high-quality inclusive education. Furthermore, the study searched for factors, which influence teachers' subjective perception of resources, like years of work experience or the number of students in a classroom. To assess teachers' perception of resources, a revised version of the Perception of Resources Questionnaire (PRQ) developed by Goldan and Schwab (2018) was used focussing on three dimensions: human resources, material resources and spatial resources. The results generally indicate that teachers feel ambivalent or have a somewhat positive perception of available resources. In line with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) principles of inclusive education ‘each according to his needs’, we argue that it is not possible to clarify what ‘adequate resources’ might be. The creation of an inclusive learning environment requires considerable effort, and the degree of pedagogical support should be decisive for the allocation of resources. This can only be evaluated if the main learning barriers for each student are identified.