Welfare Reform on the Web (February 2002): Education - Overseas
COLLABORATING TO REDUCE POVERTY: VIEWS FROM CITY HALLS AND COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANISATIONS
M. J. Rich, M. W. Giles and E. Stern
Urban Affairs Review, vol. 37, 2001, p184-204
Authors report the results of a national survey of US city officials and executive directors of non profit organisations that was conducted by the National League of Cities in 1998 to gain a better understanding of the ways in which community-based organisations (CBOs) and city governments are working together to reduce poverty and regenerate neighbourhoods. Results showed deeply embedded barriers to collaboration. City officials were irritated by the failure of CBOs to see the city-wide picture, while CBO officials were frustrated by the bureaucratic decision-making and central structures of local government. There was much commitment to collaboration on both sides, but the relationships identified seem best characterised as a "thin" version of this. Cities and CBOs mostly work together at the needs assessment and initiation phase of projects.
THE DUTCH POLICY OF INTEGRATION PUT TO THE TEST: DIFFERENCES IN ACADEMIC AND PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF PUPILS IN SPECIAL AND MAINSTREAM EDUCATION.
S. Karsten et al
European Journal of Special Needs Education, vol. 16, 2001, p. 193-205
In 1991 the Dutch government introduced a policy of accommodating pupils with problems in mainstream education and putting a stop to the proliferation of special schools. Results of a large scale study of the new system show that the general assumption that at-risk pupils would do better in special education was not borne out by the facts. All school types had at-risk pupils who were doing well from an academic and/or psychosocial perspective and others whose progress was not encouraging. Little evidence was found that at-risk pupils made less progress in either their academic or their psychosocial development in regular schools than in special education.
KEEPING UP PERFORMANCE : AN INTERNATIONAL SURVEY OF PERFORMANCE BASED FUNDING IN HIGHER EDUCATION
B. Jongbloed and H. Vossensteyn
Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, vol. 23, 2001, p. 127-145
Paper describes the mechanisms for funding universities in 11 OECD countries and the extent to which grant levels are linked to performance. Finds that few countries explicitly link funding levels to results in the areas of teaching and research outputs. Enrollment-based funding mechanisms remain popular, and a number of tentative reasons for this are advanced in the final section of the paper.
A POLICY ANALYSIS OF THE FINANCING OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN CHINA: TWO DECADES REVIEWED
X. Wong
Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, vol. 23, 2001, p. 205-217
Analysis reveals that with the expansion of enrollments, declining funding from central government, increasing demand for greater quality and efficiency and the ascendance of market orientations and solutions, a new mechanism of administration and financing has emerged to adapt Chinese universities to change. Study describes four trends in higher education financing in China: 1) shifting responsibility for financing from national to provincial governments; 2) supporting universities with income from contract research and consultancy, donations and endowments, etc; 3) sharing of the costs of higher education with students and parents; and 4) increasing efficiency through consolidation and mergers.
QUALITY, RACE AND THE URBAN EDUCATION MARKET PLACE
F. M. Hess and D. L. Leal
Urban Affairs Review, vol. 37, 2001, p. 249-266
Using a dataset encompassing 50 urban school systems in the UK, the authors investigate the effect of perceived school performance, religion and race on decisions by parents to abandon the state school system and enroll their children in private schools. Results suggest that families are slightly more likely to turn to private schools in those urban school districts where state schools are performing poorly. Race and religion also play a role in decisions to send children to private schools.
TWO MODELS FOR PREVENTING STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS FROM DROPPING OUT OF EDUCATION IN FINLAND
M. Jahnukainen
European Journal of Special Needs Education, vol 16, 2001, p. 245-258
Article discusses two programmes aimed at preventing young people from dropping out of education in Finland. The Create Your Own Career programme uses alternative learning methods and productive learning to encourage young people's self-motivation, self-development and responsibility for their own life. Much of the learning takes place in the workplace, not in the school. The second model consists of a voluntary extra year of compulsory schooling which acts as a bridge to further education.