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Visual representations of teachers and teachers’ work over the past century and a half, in both professional literature and popular media, commonly construct teachers’ work as teacher‐centred, and built around specific technologies that privilege the teacher as the active, dominant and legitimate principal agent in the educational process. This article analyses a set of photographs that represent an ‘alternative’ educational approach to normalised mainstream schooling, to explore the ways such practices might enact pedagogy within different social relations. Butler’s discussions of performativity and Foucault’s concept of technologies of self, offer a theoretical framework for understanding the educative and political work such visual representations of teachers work might perform, in the construction of capacities to imagine what teachers’ work looks like, with implications for capacities to enact teaching. The photographs analysed present a pedagogy in which the teacher is less visibly central and less overtly directive in relation to children’s learning than in normalised pedagogy. Thus, in important respects, they offer material from which to construct a different vision of what teachers’ work looks like, and, consequently, to enact teachers’ work differently. In this article I explore a set of photographs of Montessori methods at Blackfriars School in Sydney in the early twentieth century. I do so in order to establish whether such photographs offer a representation of teaching that differs significantly from conventional ‘normalised’ understandings of teachers’ work. This in turn is intended to inform one part of a transformative agenda to address problematic aspects of contemporary schooling.

A deeper understanding of cognitive development in the situation of a neither‐nor‐dilemma is the purpose of this paper.

The approach is an evaluation of experimental studies of Montessori, Lewin, Piaget and my own studies of mental development under conditions of neurological and psychological syndromes with the help of von Foerster's mathematical models. Von Foerster suggested the use of specialized knowledge of mathematics and natural sciences – but without their methods of reduction – to solve the hard problems in humanities. One of the hardest problems in humanities is the question: How does a new pattern arise in the mind of an observer? Piaget theoretically influenced von Foerster and agreed with von Foerster's order‐from‐noise model as a principle of explanation for the equilibrium of cognitive structures.

The finding is an improved game‐theoretical simulation of Piaget's equilibrium theory: a remarkableness matrix. This matrix shows the way, in which a new cognitive pattern – or in other words: a new worldview – can arise by the reiteration of always the same experience.

The research implication is a new way of mathematical description of this process.

The practical implications are improvements of educational settings and a basic research for a diagnostic manual for Eigen‐behaviors.

The newness of this paper is the connection of von Foerster's deductive simulation of Eigen‐behavior with Piaget's inductive probability model. The results may be helpful for educators, therapists, psychologists and other researchers in the field of cognitive sciences.

In Australia as elsewhere, kindergarten or pre-school teachers’ work has almost escaped historians’ attention. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the lives and work of approximately 60 women who graduated from the Adelaide Kindergarten Training College (KTC) between 1908 and 1917, which is during the leadership of its foundation principal, Lillian de Lissa.

The paper is a feminist analysis and uses conventional archival sources.

The KTC was a site of higher education that offered middle class women an intellectual as well as practical education, focusing on liberal arts, progressive pedagogies and social reform. More than half of the graduates initially worked as teachers, their destinations reflecting the fragmented field of early childhood education. Whether married or single, many remained connected with progressive education and social reform, exercising their pedagogical and administrative skills in their workplaces, homes and civic activities. In so doing, they were not only leaders of children but also makers of society.

The paper highlights the links between the kindergarten movement and reforms in girls’ secondary and higher education, and repositions the KTC as site of intellectual education for women. In turn, KTC graduates committed to progressive education and social reform in the interwar years.

It is well-known that Beatrice Ensor, who founded the New Education Fellowship (NEF) in 1921, was a Theosophist and that from 1915 the Theosophical Fraternity in Education she established laid the foundations for the NEF. However, little research has been performed on the Fraternity itself. The travels of Theosophists, texts, money and ideas between Auckland, India and London from the late nineteenth century offer insights into “New Education” networking in the British Commonwealth more broadly. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This paper draws on archival documents from the Adyar Library and Research Centre, International Theosophical Society (TS) headquarters, Chennai, India; the archive at the headquarters of the New Zealand Section of the TS, Epsom, Auckland; the NEF files at the archive of the London Institute of Education; papers past digital newspaper archive.

New Zealand’s first affiliated NEF group was set up by the principal of the Vasanta Gardens Theosophical School, Epsom, in 1933. She was also involved in the New Zealand Section of the Theosophical Fraternity, which held conferences from 1917 to 1927. New Zealand’s Fraternity and Theosophical Education Trust had close links with their counterparts in England and India. The setting up of New Zealand’s first NEF group was enabled by networks created between Theosophists in New Zealand, India and England from the late nineteenth century.

The contribution of Theosophists to the new education movement has received little attention internationally. Theosophical educational theory and Theosophists’ contributions to New Zealand Education have not previously been studied. Combining transnational historiography with critical geography, this case study of networks between New Zealand, Adyar (India) and London lays groundwork for a wider “spatial history” of Theosophy and new education.

The current study seeks to focus on highlighting the extent of changes in consumer behavior by character/ethics education. The research is designed as a pioneer empirical study, sampling Egypt as an example of a growing consumer market as well as an illustration of the relevance of character education programs for inducing changes in consumption patterns. The central aim of the work is to contribute to the body of knowledge of marketing science and marketing ethics with respect to strategic issues like targeting new and growing consumer segments. The practical relevance of the chosen research problem is increasing as character/ethics education (as a trend) itself is increasing, thus possibly influencing the behavior and consumption patterns of children as current and potential buyers of goods and services in the market. In addition, the research proposes character education as a potential solution to growing concerns about childhood consumerism.

The research utilized a mixed research methodology, where qualitative research was first used to develop the model, which was tested using a quantitative approach through a post‐test only control group design. Four variables were tested, namely consumption style, opinion leadership, humanitarianism, and ethnocentrism. The best‐known scales in the consumer research literature were compiled and modified to form the instrument for this research.

The results showed an overall significant difference between the consumer behavior of the test and control groups.

The present empirical study focused on the effect of character education programs on tweens in Egypt. Future research should extend into testing other forms of character development such as social‐emotional learning, positive psychology, and Montessori education. Cross‐cultural research is also recommended in this largely under‐represented area.

Character education is a growing trend. Marketers can benefit from this research, as they are more able to assess the consumption behavior of a growing market segment. Government officials and public policy makers can also make use of the research in their decisions related to implementing character education programs.

Humanitarianism was an obvious dimension of character education effects. The present research indicates that children exposed to character education are likely to exhibit ethical consumption on the consumer level as well as a greater inclination toward corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the managerial level. On the other hand, marketers can utilize the present research results to take note of their societal contributions and achieve balance in the societal marketing triad through assessing the long‐term effects of their actions on consumers, especially young consumers.

The research is ground‐breaking in its assessment of the overlaps between character education and consumer behavior. The research is important for parents, educators, marketers, and policy makers.

The purpose of this paper is to propose the activity‐based focus group as a useful method with which to generate talk‐in‐interaction among pre‐schoolers. Analytically, it aims to illustrate how transcribed talk‐in‐interaction can be subjected to a discourse analytic lens, to produce insights into how pre‐schoolers use “Coca‐Cola” as a conversational resource with which to build product‐related meanings and social selves.

Fourteen activity‐based discussion groups with pre‐schoolers aged between two and five years have been conducted in a number of settings including privately run Montessori schools and community based preschools in Dublin. The talk generated through these groups has been transcribed using the conventions of conversation analysis (CA). Passages of talk characterized by the topic of Coca‐Cola were isolated and a sub‐sample of these are analysed here using a CA‐informed discourse analytic approach.

A number of linguistic repertoires are drawn on, including health, permission and age. Coca‐Cola is constructed as something which is “bad” and has the potential to make one “mad”. It is an occasion‐based product permitted by parents for example as a treat, at the cinema or at McDonalds. It can be utilised to build “age‐based” social selves. “Big” boys or girls can drink Coca‐Cola but it is not suitable for “babies”.

This paper provides insight into the use of the activity‐based focus group as a data generation tool for use with pre‐schoolers. A discourse analytic approach to the interpretation of children's talk‐in‐interaction suggests that the preschool consumer is competent in accessing and employing a consumer artefact such as Coca‐Cola as a malleable resource with which to negotiate product meanings and social selves.

Existing histories of the free kindergarten movement in South Australia scantily acknowledge the key role of Lucy Spence Morice in helping to found the Kindergarten Union (KUSA) in 1905 and subsequently guiding the organisation through financially troubled times, internal conflict with respect to the independence of the Training College (Adelaide KTC) from Education Department control, changes of directorship, and in accordance with its original mission. This article seeks to restore Lucy Spence Morice to a place in South Australian annals alongside that of her distinguished aunt Catherine Helen Spence: teacher, journalist, author, Unitarian Church preacher, philanthropist, political and social reformer, self‐styled ‘new woman’ of the late nineteenth century, and to niece Lucy a dear friend, mentor and inspirational role model. In the light of fresh evidence contained in the papers of Mrs Marjorie Caw (an early KTC graduate), and informed by the work of Caine, Lewis, Ryan, and Goodman and Harrop most especially, it re‐assesses Mrs Morice’s contribution to kindergarten reform from a feminist revisionist historical perspective. I utilise biographical methods and network analysis in order to point up the genesis of Lucy’s zeal for the cause of kindergarten education; also to argue that her informal but expansive social ties, plus her links to professional women and other activists in the fields of child health, welfare and education were central to her work for the Kindergarten Union.

The purpose of this paper is to determine if there is value in performing studies comparing a cybernetic approach over a traditional teaching approach in regards to improved pre-school tuition.

A two independent groups design was implemented with each group receiving a different treatment. The first group had their lesson presented in the traditional teaching approach while the second group were part of a cybernetic approach. After each group had their lesson, each child was assessed and asked a series of ten questions. The total correct answers for the traditional group was compared to the total correct answers of the cybernetic group. The results were statistically examined using a t-test and Pearson r correlation.

The group who took part in the cybernetic lesson had a 46 per cent increase in the total number of correct answers. The cybernetic approach to the pre-school lesson was an improvement in terms of memory retention. This initial study justifies a series of further experimental designs.

This study provides a basis for further studies of comparative educational approaches to pre-school education and learner memory performance. A cybernetic approach to pre-school instruction has a lot to offer and is especially beneficial for children who are learning language, whether first or second language. This is a model to develop further, for use in the teaching-learning environment.

The use of Teachback within a pre-school context may have additional benefits such as improved language acquisition through additional practice of verbal expression. A practical method of addressing the challenge of cybernetics training was also presented in this study.

When the Teachback is performed, the person creates a verbal expression based on their language and background. As the Teachback occurs in a social context amongst peers, an opportunity for an exploration into the diverse backgrounds of the individual pre-school children can take place, especially beneficial when in a multi-cultural setting.

There are few cybernetics studies conducted on pre-school aged children. This is the first study whereby cybernetic tools such as Teachback have been used in pre-school education.

Socially disadvantaged parents often concentrate on providing for their children instead of stimulating them to learn because of their own low self‐efficacy as learning agents. This study describes the development and pilot evaluation of a programme designed to empower new immigrant parents in Hong Kong to assume active, systematic and confident roles to teach their pre‐school children learning skills. A needs assessment was conducted to guide the development of the programme, which was also informed by research evidence and community engagement. A pilot trial was conducted and qualitative data were obtained from the participating parents. Parents reported improvements in their children's motivation to learn and the parent‐child relationship. The research provided information on programme design, delivery and implementation strategies. It suggested important entry points to engage and empower parents to provide timely stimulation to their young children.

The purpose of this paper is to inform designers and researchers about the current state of play in videogames in education and its broader context.

This synthetic piece reflects the author’s past decade of work and observation in the domain. It is not a research piece but a reflective essay.

Structural issues inflect the development of games for learning. Here, the author argues for the incubation of a new indie scene in educational domains on par with the burgeoning indie scene in commercial entertainment games.

This is a short essay for scholars, designers and leaders in games for learning who work inside academics yet aspire to have their work impact not only on publications but also on products.