Welfare Reform on the Web (July 2002): Education - Overseas
ACCELERATION: STILL AN OPTION FOR THE GIFTED.
A Heinbokel
Gifted Education International. vol. 16, 2002, p. 170-178
Discusses the use of various forms of acceleration for gifted pupils in Germany. Covers Individual grade skipping, early school entrance, acceleration in one subject and use of special classes.
THE ASSESSMENT OF UNIVERSITIES IN ARGENTINA AND AUSTRALIA: BETWEEN AUTONOMY AND HETERONOMY
M. Mollis and S Marginson
Higher education, vol. 43, 2002, p. 311-330
Argues that worldwide convergence around particular systems of university assessment points to the salience of neo-liberal forms of globalisation. In Argentina this is expressed through the direct intervention of international agencies such as the World Bank. In Australia it is expressed through voluntary imitation coupled with the policy influence of global finance. Assessment is global in impetus, but supervised by national and institutional elements. However there are important variations despite the global pattern of convergence. Such variation is shaped by historical-cultural differences.
THE CHALLENGE OF ENHANCING INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
C J Eleweke and M Rodda
International Journal of Inclusive Education, vol. 6, 2002, p. 113-126
Article is concerned with enhancing inclusive education (IE). It explores how the successful implementation of IE could increase the number of those with disabilities receiving education and other services in developing countries. It identifies and discusses factors such as absence of support services and relevant materials, inadequate personnel training programmes, lack of funding structure and the absence of enabling legislation as the major barriers to the effective implementation of I.E.
CREATING SCHOOL CHOICE: THE POLITICS OF CURRICULUM, EQUITY, AND TEACHERS' WORK
J. Gaskell
Canadian Public Policy, vol. 28, 2002, p. 39-50
Article uses a case study of a specialist fine arts school to explore the processes that encourage and constrain differentiation in the Canadian state school system. Limits to how much difference could be achieved in the school were determined by complex district politics, teachers' views of examination and curriculum, decisions about admissions and public relations policies, and interpretations of the collective agreement with teachers.
CURRICULUM ACCESS FOR PUPILS WITH DISABILITIES: AN IRISH EXPERIENCE
M. Shevlin, M Kenny and E McNeela
Disability and Society, vol. 17, 2002, p. 159-169
Although government policy in Ireland favours inclusion of disabled pupils in mainstream schools, in practice there is little evidence of formal, systematic planning to facilitate this. Article presents the results of a qualitative study of pupils with physical disabilities which shows that they often experienced exclusion from full curricular access. Concludes that planners need to address questions of physical access to buildings, relationships with teachers and engagement with the curriculum simultaneously in order to ensure inclusion.
GIFTED EDUCATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY
J. J. Gallagher
Gifted Education International, vol. 16, 2002, p. 100-110
Discusses five areas in which there have been major changes in views on a number of factors which impinge on the education of gifted students. Changing views on the nature of intelligence have led to changed definitions of giftedness. Models for the use of instructional strategies for gifted students have changed as the impact of new technology has changed the role of teacher and student and made lifelong learning a possibility. Finally, a tension has surfaced in the US between the need to encourage excellence and the need to promote equity by improving the chances of disadvantaged students.
THE GLOBAL POLITICS OF EDUCATION: BRAZIL AND THE WORLD BANK
K. Kempner and A Loureiro Jurema
Higher Education,, vol. 43, 2002, p. 331-354
Dominant countries and agencies such as the World Bank perceive all developing countries as having basically the same problems and assume that the same solutions can be imposed in all cases. Through analysis of the failures of World Bank programmes in Brazil, the authors argue for greater recognition of the problems inherent in imposing cosmopolitan and global solutions in local contexts. Concludes that globalized solutions for local contexts are inappropriate when they ignore local culture.
NATION-BUILDING UNIVERSITIES IN A GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT: THE CASE OF AUSTRALIA
S. Marginson
Higher Education, vol. 43, 2002, p. 409-428
The mass system of higher education in Australia is a product of the publicly financed nation building strategies of the 1955-1990 period. The project is now in crisis due to:
- withdrawal of government funding;
- "corporatisation" of internal university systems and cultures leading to a crisis of academic identity;
- the need for new strategies in a globalising environment.
QUALITY ASSURANCE IN AUSTRALIAN HIGHER EDUCATION: GLOBALISATION AND "STEERING AT A DISTANCE"
L. Vidovich
Higher Education, vol. 43, 2002, p. 391-408
It is argued that quality assurance was introduced in Australian universities in the 1990s as a device for increasing government control and reforming the management of both the higher education sector as a whole and individual institutions. However in the late 1990s government funding was reduced and universities were forced to seek other sources of finance. In response, quality assurance is being reconstructed as a device to facilitate the marketing of Australian higher education, particularly overseas.
QUALITY ASSURANCE IN EUROPE AND THE US: PROFESSIONAL AND POLITICAL ECONOMIC FRAMING OF HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY
G.Rhoades and B. Sporn
Higher Education, vol. 43, 2002, p. 355-390, 2002
Article analyses to what extent and through what processes the concepts of quality assurance and strategic management have been borrowed from the US and adapted in European higher education.