Welfare Reform on the Web (August 2001): Education - Overseas
ACCOUNTABILITY AND EDUCATIONAL EQUITY IN THE TRANSFORMATION OF AN URBAN DISTRICT
J. W. Koschoreck
Education and Urban Society, vol. 33, 2001, p.284-304
Examines in depth the effects of accountability on raising academic achievement of children from disadvantaged groups in a single school district in Texas.
AUSTRALIA'S FEDERATED NETWORK UNIVERSITIES: WHAT HAPPENED?
P. Massingham
Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, vol.23, 2001, p.19-32
Australia's federated network universities have failed. They failed to manage the network structure, which became a source of inter-organisational conflict, and failed to use it to create competitive advantage through the generation of synergies. They failed to examine how their diversity and differences could be used to create competitive advantage and instead focused on removing their differences by integrating into a single whole.
THE AUTONOMY OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE DECLINE OF THE SUBJECT: POSTMODERNISM AND THE REFORMULATION OF THE UNIVERSITY
William G. Tierney
Higher Education, vol. 41, no. 4, June 2001, p.353-372
Article examines how, 'one might employ post modern assumptions in the study and analysis of comparative higher education.' It starts by critiquing modernism in a discussion about post modernism. Tierney outlines five tenets of postmodernism which revolve around the different ways of thinking about, 'knowledge production and identity construction.' It looks at modernist ideas about the university and the production of knowledge and its implication for comparative higher education.
CAN STATE ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEMS DRIVE IMPROVEMENTS IN SCHOOL PERFORMANCE OF CHILDREN OF COLOUR AND CHILDREN FROM LOW-INCOME HOMES?
E. J. Fuller and J. F. Johson
Education and Urban Society, vol. 33, 2001, p.260-283
Discusses the impact of accountability on educational equity at state level. Explores a variety of student performance measures in Texas that show improvements in school performance for children of colour and children from low-income homes. Among the data discussed are TAAS (Texas Assessment of Academic Skills) scores, NAEP (National Assessment of Academic Progress) scores, college entrance examinations, exemptions from testing and dropout rates.
CREATING PROFITS BY CREATING FAILURES: STANDARDS, MARKETS AND INEQUALITY IN EDUCATION
M. W. Apple
International Journal of Inclusive Education, vol. 5, 2001, p. 103-118
Research largely on the English and American experiences is used to document some of the hidden negative effects of two connected strategies of education reform: neo-liberal policies for marketization and neo-conservative policies for imposing national curricula, national standards and national testing. These reforms have benefited the better off who have been able to exploit opportunities for school choice and have led to loss of professional autonomy for teachers.
DEVELOPING COMMUNITY - EMPOWERED SCHOOLS
M. A. Burke and L.O. Picus
Thousand Oaks, Calif: Corwin Press, 2001
Book makes a case for improved learning through school-community partnerships. Gives a clear overview of the necessary strategies to develop these partnerships. Steps include assessing a school's strengths and weaknesses, identifying stakeholders, training staff, recruiting and training volunteers, creating a family literacy programme and building community collaborations for added resources.
DISPLACING DEFICIT THINKING IN SCHOOL DISTRICT LEADERSHIP
L. Skrla and J. J. Scheurich
Education and Urban Society, vol. 33, 2001, p. 235-259
Discusses the process by which state accountability changed the leadership beliefs and practices of five Texas public school superintendents. Findings were drawn from a larger, longitudinal research project on four Texas districts that had demonstrated sustained, substantially improved academic achievement for ethnic minority and low-income children.
EDUCATION AND THE PROBLEM OF SOCIAL INEQUALITY IN RUSSIA
V. Sobkin
International Journal of Inclusive Education, vol. 5, 2001, p. 293-303
Educational changes in Russia since the 1960s have included:
- reductions in the numbers of rural primary schools;
- creation of very large schools;
- emergence of specialist secondary schools (grammar schools and lyceums);
- emergence of private schools.
- social stratification and institutional changes in the education system;
- regional features and inequality in education;
- the school as the site of social differentiation.
EDUCATION, SOCIAL EXCLUSION AND THE SUPRANATIONAL STATE
J. Brine
International Journal of Inclusive Education, vol. 5, 2001, p. 119-131
The later half of the twentieth century saw the globalization of capital and the merging of nation states to form sub-global blocs and supranational states. The state provides adequately educated labour for the needs of global capitalism. The state benefits from this through the increased revenue linked to its economic growth. However beyond the core of valued skilled employees is a pool of surplus labour. The state deals with this potentially disruptive excluded class through subsistence welfare support increasingly linked to compulsory training programmes.
THE NETWORK UNIVERSITY
M. Latham
Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, vol. 23, 2001, p.7-17
Author points out the failures of marketisation and central regulatory control in the reform of higher education. He proposes a Third Way which lies in the organisational theory and practice of networks. The networked university would collaborate with, and draw research funding from, the private, voluntary and social sector.
QUALITY ISSUES IN THE INTERNATIONALISATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Dirk van Damme
Higher Education, vol. 41, no.4, June 2001, p.415-441
Article looks at the forms of current development in the internationalisation of higher education. The increase in student mobility, supported and stimulated by various programs and schemes has been a major factor. This coupled with teaching staff mobility and the internationalisation of curricula have all led to current trends. In addition branch campuses, institutional co-operation agreements and networking of transnational university networks (or mergers) have fuelled the move to internationalisation of higher education. The article goes on to discuss how these developments have impacted on the quality of higher education and the challenges that internationalisation brings in terms of; recognition of foreign diplomas and degrees; recognition of credits and study periods abroad.
WHAT IS SOCIAL JUSTICE IN SWEDISH EDUCATION TODAY? THE POLITICAL GOVERNING PROBLEM
I. Nilsson and I. Andersson
International Journal of Inclusive Education, vol. 5, 2001, p.257-263
To 1980, education in Sweden was centrally controlled by the national school administration with researchers as expert advisers. Since then responsibility for employing teachers has been devolved to the municipalities. A new national curriculum was introduced in 1994 which focuses on the goals and outcomes of education. "Responsibility for the results" and "management by objectives" are the new watchwords.
THE REGIONALIZATION OF YOUTH TRAINING IN FRANCE
V. Rogers
Regional Studies, vol. 35, 2001, p.259-277
In response to high levels of youth unemployment in the early 1990s, the Employment and Training Act 1993 and its associated reforms sought to bring together the disparate elements of youth training and to develop them more effectively in accordance with the economic and social needs of each region. Among the instruments created to facilitate this harmonization was a new Regional Youth Training Development Plan to be drawn up by the Regional Councils in co-operation with numerous other bodies. Article assesses the impact of these measures by examining the conduct of youth training policy in the regions before and after the 1993 Act.
SCHOOLS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY: DEVELOPING BEST PRACTICE
I. Dalten, R. Fawcett and J. West-Burnham (eds.)
Harlow: Pearsons Education Limited, 2001
This book contains a collection of 11 case studies which look at school-based reforms. It is a practical book aimed at head-teachers, deputy head-teachers, middle managers and education students. It provides discussion on issues that have changed best practice. It focuses on areas such as: school leadership, restructuring around learning, creative arts in schools, literature and emotional intelligence, school improvement, quality and achievement and social inclusion.
A ROAD TRAVELLED TOO FAR? A CASE STUDY OF THE RESTRUCTURING OF UNIVERSITY ADULT AND CONTINUING EDUCATION
B. Findsen
Studies in Continuing Education, vol. 23, 2001, p.71-94
Paper explores the restructuring of the provision of adult and continuing education at the University of Auckland over the past decade and tracks the effects of this repositioning over several domains: the conceptualisation of the role of adult and continuing education in the institution; curriculum development; teaching and learning in adult education; and relationships of adult educators with communities. Argues that the recent significant (primarily negative) changes within the Centre for Continuing Education have been driven by the ideologies of the New Right and that managers have knowingly contributed to this redirection.