Welfare Reform on the Web (June 2000): Education - Overseas
CONCURRENT DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION POLICY AND INDUSTRALIZATION STRATEGIES IN KOREA (1945-95): A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Y. H. Kim
Journal of Education and Work, vol. 13, 2000, p. 95-117
The policies of sequential educational expansion by school level which enabled basic education to be universalised early and rapidly were very efficient in supplying industry with unskilled but qualified manual workers in the early and middle stages of labour-intensive industrialisation. So too were the financial policies which accommodated the maximum number of students in schools at the minimum unit cost under severe financial constraints. However cheap education is likely to become an obstacle to continuous economic development in the international knowledge economy.
DEVELOPING CORE SKILLS: LESSONS FROM GERMANY AND SWEDEN
D. Gibbons-Wood and T. Lange
Education and training, vol. 42, 2000, p. 24-32
Paper compares the ways in which core skills and key competencies are identified, measured and used in Germany and Sweden. Particular attention is devoted to vocational training as a mechanism for a successful school-to-work transition, which stimulates and supports the development of core skills. Some case study material (Germany) and policy responses (Sweden) have also been incorporated to provide some practical help and guidance when it comes to defining, implementing, assessing and administering the concepts of core skills and key competencies.
FOR RICHER OR POORER: BUILDING INCLUSIVE SCHOOLS IN POOR URBAN AND RURAL AREAS
K. Beloin and M. Peterson
International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, vol. 47, 2000, p. 15-24
Throughout the world educators are struggling to shift their delivery of services to children with disabilities from a segregated to an inclusive approach. Article describes a framework for building inclusive schools in poor rural and urban communities called "Whole Schooling". Identifies the many barriers to inclusive schools, articulates the commonalties and differences between poor rural and urban schools, and describes specific strategies for utilising available resources to build more effective rural and urban schools in which inclusive education is central.
GOVERNMENT POLICY AND SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT
D. Hopkins and B. Levin
School Leadership & Management, vol. 20, 2000, p. 15-30
Governments around the world have been embarking on programmes of reform to develop more effective school systems and raise levels of student learning and achievement. However, government policy has not taken adequate account of researchers and practitioners' knowledge about school development. The article argues that government efforts are less effective than they might be and that many school improvement efforts have to swim against the current of government regulation. The article outlines an approach that would be more likely to help governments achieve their educational objectives by building policy initiatives more explicitly on the knowledge base of school development.
INTENSIFICATION, EXTENSION AND COMPLEXITY OF TEACHERS' WORKLOAD
C. Easthope and G. Easthope
British Journal of Sociology of Education, vol. 21, 2000, p. 43-58
Teachers in Tasmania gave accounts of their experience of increased workloads between 1984 and 1994. They reported working longer house and having increased professional, pastoral and administrative duties. Reasons for this increased workload include: less money being spent on education; changes in student assessment from a norm basis to a criterion basis; changes in administrative structure within the state colleges where they teach; and a change in the student population.
TEACHER RECEPTIVITY OF SYSTEM-WIDE EDUCATIONAL CHANGE
R. Moroz and R. F. Waugh
Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 38, 2000, p. 159-178
Study focuses on the receptivity of teachers in Western Australia to a system-wide educational change, the use of student Outcome Statements that help teachers classroom planning, student learning and assessment. Results showed that teacher receptivity was positively associated with non-monetary cost benefits, alleviation of fears and concerns, availability of significant-other support at schools, awareness of the advantages of the change, involvement in decision-making and teacher learning opportunities.
US BILLIONAIRE TO LAUNCH FREE CYBER UNIVERSITY
B. Macintyre
Times, Mar. 16th 2000, p. 18
Reports that Michael Saylor, Chief Executive of MicroStrategy, plans to donate $100 million to found a free Internet university. Teachers, leaders and experts would videotape lectures and seminars at a centre to be built near Washington, DC. These would then be made available on the Net, along with other academic and research materials.
VISIT TO USA: RAISING EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS AND THE ROLE OF THE PRIVATE SECTOR
Education and Employment Committee
London: TSO, 2000 (House of Commons papers, session 1999/2000; HC290)
Report of a study tour of the USA which looked at standards-based reform of public schools in Massachusetts and North Carolina, the role of charter schools, use of IT, and the role of business, universities and charitable foundations in school improvement.