Welfare Reform on the Web (January 2006): Education – Overseas

The 2004 re-authorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

C.J. Russo and others
Education and the Law, vol.17, 2005, p.111-117

Article identifies the major changes in the 2004 version of the US Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and reviews them in the order in which they appear in the statute.

A critical evaluation of education reforms in Hong Kong:  counting our losses to economic globalisation

P.-K. Choi
International Studies in Sociology of Education, vol.15, 2005, p.237-256

Article presents a critical evaluation of recent education reforms in Hong Kong, which were introduced in response to economic globalisation.  These centrally imposed changes include:  education privatisation, introduction of managerialism, competition between schools, performance management, and standardisation and surveillance of the curriculum.

Globalisation and its educational discontents: neoliberalism, and its impacts on education workers’ rights, pay and conditions

D. Hill
International Studies in Sociology of Education, vol.15, 2005, p.257-288

Article analyses some of the impacts of the neoliberalisation of schooling and further education on teaching and learning.  It is suggested that neoliberalism has had a major adverse effect in many countries on the job security, pay, workload and trade union rights of the education workforce.

Issues in educating gifted students in Israel

S. Rachmel
Gifted Education International, vol.20, 2005, p.123-128

Article explores three major dilemmas in gifted education in Israel:

• Is there a need for education tailored to the needs of talented children?
• What is the best kind of of programme for gifted students?
• What approach should be used to identify gifted students?

Network learning for educational change

W. Veugelers and M. J. O’Hair (editors)
Maidenhead: Open University, 2005

Networks bring teachers, principals and other stakeholders together to share ideas, observe best practices, identify and analyse problems, and develop strategies for improved teaching, learning and community life. The book examines how networks can bring about change in education

The open world and closed societies: essays on higher education policies ‘in transition’

V. Tomusk
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004

The book is about higher education reforms in the post-socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. It analyses these reforms in a broader political, economic and social context and relates them to global higher education developments.

Seeing things differently:  restorative justice and school discipline

S. Varnham
Education and the Law, vol.17, 2005, p.87-104

From a New Zealand perspective, article considers processes whereby bullying, harassment and anti-social behaviour may be dealt with by the school community as a whole, based on the restoration of relationships rather than punishment.  It looks particularly at use of restorative justice practices such as peer mediation and school community conferencing for the resolution of student conflict.