(2013). The Role of Music in Education: Forming Cultural Identity and Making Cross-Cultural Connections. Harvard Educational Review, v83 n1 p127-134 Spr. In this reflection, Louise Pascale describes the evolution, development, and outcomes of the Afghan Children's Songbook Project, which is reintroducing children's ethnic songs to the children of Afghanistan and Afghan expats as well as to American schoolchildren. Her reflection highlights the potential for music to unify and strengthen community, thus joining people together in a common experience. She explores the suppression and resurgence of musical culture in Afghanistan and the connection of this experience to music education in schools in the United States…. [Direct]
(2017). Learning Peace (and Conflict): The Role of Primary Learning Materials in Peacebuilding in Post-War Afghanistan, South Sudan and Sri Lanka. Journal of Peace Education, v14 n1 p32-53. Post-war education is usually considered a positive contributor to peacebuilding; however, it can also reinforce divisive perspectives. Textbooks and learning materials can be instrumental in maintaining or exacerbating existing inequalities. This paper uses case study literature reviews of Afghanistan, South Sudan and Sri Lanka to explore the ways in which primary learning materials extend existing challenges of post-war education and potentially create new ones. An analysis of the literature on learning materials from these countries reveals that textbook development and uses are intertwined with larger national and international political and social power structures. We draw from Bourdieu and Giroux to consider how learning materials contribute to the reproduction of cultures of hostility, violence, divisiveness and silence or to transformatory cultures of peacebuilding, inclusivity and critical thought. Our resulting conceptual lens highlights how education can take on the role… [Direct]
(2020). Identity Disruption and Its Association with Mental Health among Veterans with Reintegration Difficulty. Developmental Psychology, v56 n11 p2152-2166 Nov. Most research and theory on identity integration focuses on adolescents and young adults under age 30, and relatively little is known about how identity adjusts to major life events later in life. The purpose of the present study was to operationalize and investigate "identity disruption," or a loss of temporal identity integration following a disruptive life event, within the developmental context of established adulthood and midlife. We used a mixed-methods approach to examine identity disruption among 244 Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans with reintegration difficulty who participated in an expressive writing intervention. Participants completed measures of social support, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity, satisfaction with life, and reintegration difficulty at baseline right before writing, and 3 and 6 months after the expressive writing intervention. The expressive writing samples were coded for identity disruption using thematic analysis. We… [Direct]
(2016). Why He Won't Send His Daughter to School–Barriers to Girls' Education in Northwest Pakistan: A Qualitative Delphi Study of Pashtun Men. SAGE Open, v6 n3 Jul. Resistance to girls' education in Pakistan has long been an intractable problem; the lowest enrolment figures are in Pashtun areas. This study focused on Pashtun men's perceptions of girls' education. Pashtun men of diverse backgrounds participated in a two-round Delphi exercise, followed by in-depth qualitative interviews in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan. Although contradictory ideas from religion, culture, and politics were elicited, consensus developed on major barriers to girls' access to education: poverty, "Pashtunwali" (tribal code), religion, accessibility, resources, shortage of female teachers, curriculum, and political apathy and corruption. Understanding the barriers to girls' education could help development professionals overcome them…. [Direct]
(2015). Global Inventory of Regional and National Qualifications Frameworks. Volume II: National and Regional Cases. UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning This second volume of the "Global Inventory of Regional and National Qualifications Frameworks" focuses on national and regional cases of national qualifications frameworks for eighty- six countries from Afghanistan to Uzbekistan and seven regional qualifications frameworks. Each country profile provides a thorough review of the main policy objectives, stakeholder involvement, validation of non-formal and informal learning, links to NQFs and important lessons and future plans. [Individual country sections contain a list of abbreviations and references.]… [PDF]
(2012). BRAC in Afghanistan: Building South-South Partnerships in Teacher Training. Prospects: Quarterly Review of Comparative Education, v42 n1 p55-70 Mar. Training paraprofessionals such as teachers is one of many significant challenges facing Afghanistan's educational system. This case study focuses on the innovations offered in that regard by BRAC, a large NGO based in Bangladesh that brought its many years of development experience to Afghanistan in 2002 and established itself there as the premier change agent on multiple developmental fronts. Through the use of structured and semi-structured interviews with stakeholders, classroom observations, and extensive document analysis, the authors conclude that by successfully modifying its teacher training programme in Bangladesh, BRAC has been able to develop an approach to teacher training in Afghanistan that may become a showcase example of effective South-South partnership in education. The article concludes by urging adoption of BRAC's innovations in teacher training and recruitment by other developing nations facing similar challenges…. [Direct]
(2021). Dialogues on the Experience of War: Using History and Student-Led Discussion Groups to Explore the Nature of Military Service. History Teacher, v54 n2 p357-374 Feb. In particular, the study of history–its scope, reliance on analytical narrative, and methodology of tracing change and continuity over time–provides for an exchange of meaningful narratives. As historians Martha Howell and Walter Prevenier argue, "All cultures, all peoples, tell stories about themselves, and it is these stories that help provide meanings that make a culture. In its most basic sense, this is what history is: the stories we tell about our prior selves." This insight provided the basis for a unique service-related, upper-level history seminar that the author and a colleague, Dr. Carolyn Vacca, offered in the spring semester of 2018 for the veteran and civilian students at a liberal arts college, St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York. This article discusses the course "Dialogues on the Experience of War," which was funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) special project, the purpose of which is to foster… [PDF]
(2015). Social Workers in Combat: Application of Advanced Practice Competencies in Military Social Work and Implications for Social Work Education. Journal of Social Work Education, v51 n1 p153-168. This article illustrates the types of situations that U.S. uniformed social workers have experienced in combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan with the purpose of preparing current and future social workers to effectively serve military and veteran clients in either military or civilian settings. Vignettes demonstrate the application of the military social work competencies as delineated by the Council on Social Work Education based on the 2008 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards. Implications for social work education are discussed along with the use of case studies through a problem-based learning approach…. [Direct]
(2015). More Substance, Less Hype: Using Digital Texts to Support Diverse Readers. Social Education, v79 n2 p98-101 Mar-Apr. A thoughtfully designed digital text can provide classroom teachers with a powerful resource for addressing an enduring challenge of the K-12 classroom: how to simultaneously provide individualized and student-centered learning experiences for large class sizes and highly diverse student needs. The author describes how she relied on digital texts in her World History classes, provides examples of embedded learning supports in high-quality digital texts, and highlights a unit on Afghanistan that she taught as a good example of how she usually integrates a digital text in the classroom…. [Direct]
(2012). "Delivering" Education; Maintaining Inequality. The Case of Children with Disabilities in Afghanistan. Cambridge Journal of Education, v42 n3 p345-365. Education for children with disabilities in Afghanistan, particularly disabled girls, continues to lag behind despite laudable efforts of the Ministry of Education to promote universal access for all. The opportunity for education constitutes not just a means of achieving learning outcomes but also a space for social interaction, individual development and psychosocial support, which are paramount in Conflict-Affected Fragile States (CAFS). However, many persisting barriers still need to be overcome in Afghanistan to allow education for all and change negative attitudes towards education of children with disabilities. In this paper we argue that viewing education as a basic commodity, which is the widespread practice in CAFS, is not conducive to expanding human freedoms and capabilities. More specifically, through analyses of a national survey, we demonstrate that despite considerable resources, increasing access to education in Afghanistan has maintained processes of marginalisation… [Direct]
(2016). The Materiality of Virtual War: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the Disabling Effects of Imperialism. Policy Futures in Education, v14 n4 p484-496 May. A slew of recent news coverage has reported favorably on the use of virtual reality video games as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Drawing on critical disability studies work, this paper argues that such depictions (re)produce a depoliticized framework for understanding PTSD that champions medico-technological interventions and hinders broader social and political activism by taking for granted and normalizing conditions of perpetual war. Through an analysis of medical research and media portrayals extolling such technologies, this paper unravels the contradictory logic in these celebratory depictions to condemn imperialism, problematize the use of virtual reality for PTSD treatment, and ultimately call for anti-imperialist disability studies scholarship and disability activism…. [Direct]
(2013). Women's Access to Higher Education in Afghanistan: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, University of Phoenix. This qualitative, phenomenological study was conducted to explore the lived experiences of 12 Afghan women enrolled in higher education institutions in Afghanistan. The objective was to develop an understanding of the participants' perceptions of the factors that led to their enrollment in higher education and the factors that inhibit Afghan women from participating in higher education. Data were collected through a demographic questionnaire; one-on-one, face-to-face interviews; and an open-ended questionnaire. The interview and questionnaire data were analyzed using Moustakas's modified van Kaam method. The following themes were identified through the data analysis: (1) Barriers inhibit Afghan women from obtaining higher education, (2) Afghan women perceive benefits of obtaining higher education, (3) Afghan women who enter higher education institutions have similar characteristics, and (4) educated Afghan women have opportunities to improve Afghanistan. These themes indicate that… [Direct]
(2014). It Takes a Village: Network Effects on Rural Education in Afghanistan. PRGS Dissertation. RAND Corporation, Ph.D Dissertation, Pardee RAND Graduate School. Often, development organizations confront a tradeoff between program priorities and operational constraints. These constraints may be financial, capacity, or logistical; regardless, the tradeoff often requires sacrificing portions of a program. This work is concerned with figuring out how, when constrained, an organization or program manager can utilize social networks to take advantage of inherent tendencies that will allow a program to thrive. Specifically, this study looked at the playmate networks of children in 31 rural villages of central Afghanistan and how that relational information could improve programming of a rural schooling program. To accomplish this, a two-stage approach was used, where network structure and composition was estimated using exponential random graph models (ERGMs) and then related to individual child outcomes in math and language performance using multi-level models (MLMs). Unique in this work was translating ERGM parameters to MLM covariates by using… [Direct]
(2019). Attitudes of Afghan EFL Lecturers toward Instructional Technology. TechTrends: Linking Research and Practice to Improve Learning, v63 n2 p170-178 Mar. The use of technology is an integral component in the learning and teaching of languages in the twenty-first Century. Around the globe, studies have been carried out to investigate the integration of technology in language classrooms. However, there is a lack of empirical research on this subject in Afghanistan. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore Afghan EFL lecturers' attitudes toward instructional technology, their actual use of instructional technology, and the challenges they face in successfully using instructional technology in EFL classrooms. This study was also conducted to examine 1) the relationship between teachers' demographic profiles and attitudes toward instructional technology; 2) the relationship between teachers' attitudes of instructional technology and their actual use in the classroom; 3) the relationship between perceived challenges and the actual use of instructional technology in the classroom. This study uses a quantitative research method in… [Direct]
(2021). Learning to Organize and Organizing to Learn: The Case of Dutch Military Expeditionary Task Forces. Learning Organization, v28 n3 p270-282. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide insight in how military expeditionary task forces cope with the dual challenge of organizing and learning, by reflecting on the experiences of Dutch expeditionary task forces in post-conflict missions in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. Design/methodology/approach: This paper reflects on the outcomes of a research project into the experiences of operators of different specific expeditionary task forces of the Dutch Armed Forces in dealing with everyday problems in their working environment. The case studies were based on interviews with military personnel of all ranks and focused on relating the process of making sense of environmental dynamics to characteristics of the organizational context. Findings: The case studies indicate that designing and learning become intertwined in the realities of everyday problem-solving in the more complex missions. As task forces are essentially tailor-made for the purpose of specific missions, units… [Direct]