Learning standards have become a prominent feature for schools and school systems worldwide. Our paper describes the development of recent English teaching standards in California, China, and Mexico, as well as analyzing them for their theoretical orientations. We begin with an overview and critique of the standards movement. Our analysis of the standards in California, China, and Mexico reveals a substantial shift from a grammatical accuracy focused approach towards a communicative approach to language instruction. While this turn may be welcomed by professional educators, there are practical policy questions to be answered. We end our paper by noting additional challenges to implementing the new standards. Our general assessment is that the authors of the standards firmly believe that the new guidelines will improve instruction.

This essay sheds light on the “father of epigenetics,” Conrad Hal Waddington’s (1905–1975) tacit critique of one of the most prominent biologists of the twentieth century, Julian Huxley’s (1887–1975) theses concerning the evolutionary meaning and importance of learning and education for the human species. This topic has great significance today when it comes to educators both recognizing and being able to orient themselves in relation to the profound biological and evolutionary aspects of their role and purpose, and in determining their own ethos and modes of activity therein. Here, I highlight Waddington’s stance in relation to Julian Huxley’s thesis that education comprises humanity’s new “psycho-social,” or alternatively, “socio-genetic,” mode of biological inheritance parallel to, yet beyond, the “rawer” biological struggle for existence that most other living organisms are engaged in, namely, that involving natural selection acting on genes or genomes and the exigency of adapting successfully to the environment. According to Huxley, the gradual, yet cumulative, transmission of the knowledge and attainments of one generation to the next, over evolutionary time, via various modes of learning and education, has enabled the human species to have surpassed the capacities of all other organisms on the planet, such that it has become super-dominant. Waddington was in general agreement with Huxley’s thesis regarding the evolutionary significance of humanity’s learning and education here, as well as the latter’s notion that education is an epigenetic phenomenon, namely, comprising a distinct, yet interrelated inheritance system beyond that of genetic inheritance. However, Waddington tacitly disagreed with Huxley’s assertions that in light of such realizations, going forward: (1) humanity should exert the power of its selective agencies so as to take control of the biological processes of all life-forms on the planet; (2) formal education should be reformed into a function of evolutionary humanist ideology, eugenics, and transhumanism; (3) humanity ought to attempt to transcend its current capacities, as though there were a linear progression to some higher stage of biological development that is mechanistically calculable in advance. Waddington’s chief argument against Huxley is that this “socio-genetic” and/or epigenetic system of inheritance has part of its foundation in ethics and in the moral conduct of teacher and learner, and that Huxley’s inert vision of the future of education and of the role and conduct of educators therein are unethical. As such, for Waddington, Huxley’s view can be said to undermine the very inheritance system that has enabled humanity to reach its privileged place, rendering it unsustainable. From a Waddingtonian standpoint, Huxley’s stance is “biologically unwise” in that it undermines the teacher-learner relationship, given that it treats learners mechanistically, namely, as means only to the ends of evolutionary humanist and transhumanist ideology, rather than organismically, meaning as having selective agency and intrinsic worth (a notion that is grounded in the notion that living organisms are bearers of intrinsic purposiveness, as evidenced by the homeostatic, chronobiological, and autopoietic processes belonging to them which enable persistence in the face of entropy). On the contrary, Waddington calls for the cultivation of “biological wisdom” surrounding formal education (e.g., in relation to the aims of such education, its content, its curricula, the behaviour of educators, and the educational activities to be engaged in by learners), that would serve to strengthen the foundations of education qua humanity’s “psycho-social” inheritance system rather than to diminish or undermine it. Last, I associate the Waddingtonian notion of “biological wisdom” with the evolutionary-environmental ethic of “critical pan-selectionism.”

This qualitative study explored the level of implementation of the policy of inclusion within selected high schools. The policy of inclusion is one of the key policies enacted by the Department of Education in South Africa since the demise of apartheid. The implementation of the inclusive approach is reported to be facing multiple challenges. In this study, in-depth interviews and focus group interviews were used to collect data regarding the challenges faced by high school teachers in Gauteng Province, South Africa, as they attempt to implement the inclusive teaching approach. The study revealed that teachers faced challenges ranging from a lack of support, negative learners’ attitudes, parental disagreements and examination-oriented systems. The study makes recommendations such as the organisation of in-service teacher training on inclusion to improve teachers’ repertoires of dealing with issues of inclusion.

It has been widely asserted that general English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in postsecondary education has a limited future, given both the benefits of discipline-specific EAP, and the widespread use by universities of international standardized assessments for proof of English language proficiency (such as IELTS, PTE, TOEFL, etc.). The extra time and expense required for completion of EAP courses is a less appealing admission route than it is to “IELTS-out” (bypassing an EAP program by obtaining a standardized test score that enabling direct admission into a university program). This article investigates capacity of nine widely-used measures of English language proficiency to predict post-secondary student achievement (n = 1918) across multiple academic programs at a Canadian university, over a seven-year admission period. All standardized tests measuring English language proficiency for admission readiness (including IELTS and TOEFL) were insignificant and/or problematically weak predictors of achievement, in both first and final semester of study. In contrast, completion of pre-enrolment EAP programming proved to be a significant predictor of academic achievement, with significant, moderate association. With general EAP the only measure of language proficiency a significant predictor of student achievement, the study’s findings question whether predictions about the demise of such programs are premature.

Amidst declining state revenues, high transfer rates, and low student retention rates, academic advisors play increasingly crucial roles in attracting and retaining students at their institutions. Using a blend of structural functionalism and professionalism frameworks, the purpose of this literature review is to inform student affairs professionals and college administrators about the importance of academic advisors in their roles to encourage students to persist through their education at their postsecondary institutions. The findings from this review are intended to inform academic advisors and administrators at institutions of higher education on the roles academic advisors play in student retention efforts.

This paper is an attempt to summarize the contrast between the respective outlooks of the closed and the open societies, here presented as two separate coherent and consistent sets of ideas, principles, arguments and values. It was originally conceived as support for the thesis that the sense behind the apparent senselessness of our educational systems is that they function as a fifth column of the closed society entrenched within the open society, which thesis will be expounded upon in another envisaged paper. Yet, its usefulness is hoped to extend to other areas as well.

This study explored the effects of relationships between lecturers and students on the learning abilities of students in selected rural universities. Quantitative and qualitative research methods were adopted for data collection. Questionnaires were administered to 934 randomly selected students and interviews were conducted for 8 purposively selected lecturers in two rural based universities in South Africa and Nigeria. The findings of the study show that student–lecturer relationship influence the learning abilities of students and consequently affect their academic performance in different ways. The self-confidence of students is dependent on the relationship, however, lecturers are sceptical about relating with students due to the tendencies of being misunderstood by students who may be disrespectful to them. Amongst others, the study recommends that periodic workshops, seminars and trainings which are aimed at promoting cordial student–lecturer relationship, influencing, motivating and ensuring that lecturers relate adequately and appropriately with their students should be organised.

This research attempts to explore the implications of Bill C-45: The Cannabis Act and how this could influence educational policy in schools. The researchers sought the perspectives of multiple stakeholders involved in education, specifically their views on mitigating the transition, and other topics such as attitudes towards policy change, drug testing, and the impacts on students and teachers. This research includes components of qualitative research, statistical analysis, and review of academic literature and policy. The qualitative research portion was undertaken through in-person interviews with three teachers, four principals, and a board of education trustee in a large city in Western Canada. The statistical analysis portion of the investigation was conducted through a survey distributed to a sample of 384 people of the general public over the age of 18. This article focuses on three of the five predominate themes found in the research: (i) sustainable approaches to educating stakeholders about cannabis following legalization, (ii) comparison of views for and against drug testing between educators and the general public, and (iii) the nature of consumption does matter. There will inevitably be countless implications to follow based upon this political shift in Canada that will directly and indirectly affect stakeholders in education. Findings addressing these perceived impacts and considerations can help educational professionals mitigate the possible negative consequences of Bill C-45.