This issue of International Education begins with a focus on a particular preschool in P.R. China, and then turns its attention to school reform policy in Finland and professional development of teachers in the U.S., as well as support for special education teachers in Jordan

Thayer-Bacon, Barbara

English

University of Tennessee, Knoxville: Trace

International Education Volume 39 Issue 1 Fall 2009 Editorial Comments Barbara Thayer-Bacon University of Tennessee, Knoxville, utktrace@gmail.com Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/internationaleducation Copyright © 2009 by the University of Tennessee. Reproduced with publisher's permission. Further reproduction of this article in violation of the copyright is prohibited. https://trace.tennessee.edu/internationaleducation/vol39/iss1/9 Recommended Citation Thayer-Bacon, Barbara (2009). Editorial Comments. International Education, Vol. 39 Issue (1). Retrieved from: https://trace.tennessee.edu/internationaleducation/vol39/iss1/9 This Editorial Comments is brought to you for free and open access by TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Education by an authorized editor of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact trace@utk.edu. FALL  2009 EDITORIAL COMMENTSMore changes are coming to International Education.  I invit-ed the members of our Editorial Board to consider developing a themed issue of the journal, and three board members have accept-ed that invitation.  Starting in 2010, one of our two issues will be a themed issue, thus giving us a way to showcase top international scholars in various fields of education as well as address timely, important international educational topics. This issue of International Education begins with a focus on a particular preschool in P.R. China, and then turns its attention to school reform policy in Finland and professional development of teachers in the U.S., as well as support for special education teach-ers in Jordan.  The lead-off essay is by Ping Liu, professor in the Teacher Education Department at California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, California, U.S.  Titled “Integrating Thinking, Art, and Language in Teaching Young Children,” Liu’s study inves-tigates learning outcomes of four-year-old children at a preschool in P.R. China.  The children are educated in a school ecology designed to address cognitive, social, linguistic, and psychological develop-ment, where an instructional technique, “Integrating Thinking, Art, and Language” (ITAL) is applied to support them in developing multiple intelligences.  Sixty-seven beginning or pre-level I Chinese preschoolers participated in the study.   Liu provides scenarios of ITAL instruction, and children’s samples, and reports and analyzes the assessment of their learning outcomes.  Results indicate that the preschoolers demonstrated significant growth in art as well as other subjects, oral language expression, and social interpersonal skills through producing and communicating about their artwork. Our second essay, by Scott Ellison, visiting assistant professor at Pellissippi State Community College, Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S., compares two policy approaches to fostering educational innova-tion in public schools:  the marketplace approach and the Finnish approach.  The results suggest that an innovative public education sector is characterized by de-centralized decision-making institu-tional space for risk-taking, and strong support systems to both encourage risk-taking on the part of teachers and to spread innova-tive ideas throughout the education system.  The results also sug-gest several areas in need of further inquiry, including professional development.Susie Burroughs, Peggy Hopper, Kay Brocato, all associate, as-sistant, and associate professors located at Mississippi State Uni-versity in Starkville, Mississippi, U.S., and Mary Lee Webeck, Di-rector of Education at the Houston Holocaust Musuem, Houston, Texas, U.S., take us to the topic of professional development in their “Democracy Camp for Teachers:  Cross-cultural Professional De-velopment for Preparing Educators to Create Social Justice-Minded INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION4Citizens.”  The Civitas Democracy Camp for Teachers provides professional development for educators to collaboratively explore ideals of citizenship and citizenship education in democratic societ-ies.  They report on the findings of a study of the camp experience of a cross-cultural group of educators who examined the concept of social justice and ways to teach their students about it.  The partici-pants were 28 educators from Florida, Texas, Mississippi, Hungary, Romania, Panama, and Peru.  Results of the study indicate that the participants broadened their definitions of social justice, expanded their recognition of the importance of teaching about social jus-tice, and enhanced their understandings of approaches for teach-ing about social justice.  The findings indicate that cross-cultural professional development can have positive effects in altering and expanding educators’ content and pedagogical knowledge of social justice.In our final essay, titled “Sources of Social Support Among Special Education Teachers in Jordan and Their Relationship to Burnout,”  Osamah Bataineh, Chairman of Counseling and Edu-cational Psychology, at Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan, inves-tigates the source of social support that is the most efficient in re-ducing burnout among special education teachers.  Bataineh learns through the completion of eighty-three questionnaires by special education teachers (male and female), and the analysis of the data collected, that there is a significant correlation with family support. Personal accomplishments, marital status, age, and teaching ex-perience were not significantly related to any of the three burnout dimensions.  Bataineh helps us interpret the results and suggests implications for special education teachers. Concluding this issue is a book review by one of our board members, Patricia Kubow, professor of comparative education at Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, U.S.  Kubow reviews Curriculum Development for Adult Learners in the Global Community (Volume II, Teaching and Learning).  We hope you will enjoy having your attention drawn to this edited book intended for adult educators who wish to develop skills in curriculum design and development in the field of vocational and adult education. Our Guidelines for Submissions can be found on the final page.  I invite your contributions to this journal and look forward to hear-ing from you.                                                                                                                                     Barbara J. Thayer-Bacon

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