Educational Policy

Considering alternatives for federal education policy in the United States: a critical perspective on No Child Left Behind

by Alexandra D'Urso

Towards a Science- and Technology-Based Innovation of Turkey's Educational System

by D. Matthew Boyer

Boyer, D. M. (2012). Towards a science- and technology-based innovation of Turkey's educational system. Paper presented at the Eurasia Business and Economics Society 2012 Conference, İstanbul.

Through its structure, objectives, contents, and reform efforts, the Turkish educational system contributes to the... more Through its structure, objectives, contents, and reform efforts, the Turkish educational system contributes to the development of its students toward their roles as modern Turkish citizens. Scholastic achievement viewed through a comparative, international lens shows how aspects of the Turkish educational system contribute to marked differences between Turkish students and their foreign peers. Previous policies and practices have resulted in the current status quo, but innovative, systemic changes based on science and technology can help Turkish schooling keep pace with exceptional growth in economic and business sectors. Projects such as FATİH seek to modernize schools through a large investment in trendy commercial technologies, but focus too heavily on one area while ignoring other interconnected issues throughout the system. This work focuses on how a holistic approach to innovation in the Turkish educational system can be supported through a focus on science and technology.

Освітня політика як знаряддя національного відродження у добу Віші

by Ivan Gomza

Internationalist values’ domination in interwar France decreased a social prestige of officers. The officers,... more Internationalist values’ domination in interwar France decreased a social prestige of officers. The officers, consequently, adopted an antiliberal interpretation of patriotism, self-sacrifice and other values they supposed themselves to protect. Coming to power, they tried to implement an openly antidemocratic social project by the means of reforms in educational and youth policies.

Closing the Racial/Ethnic Gap Between Students of Color and Their Teachers: An Elusive Goal

by Katie Strom

This article examines minority teacher recruitment policies and programs of the past two decades and
explores... more This article examines minority teacher recruitment policies and programs of the past two decades and
explores their influence on the racial/ethnicmakeup of the teaching force in elementary and secondary
public schools. The results show that while important progress has been made toward increasing the
overall number and proportion of minority teachers in the public schools, those gains have been
eclipsed by the rapid growth of the minority student population. As a result, the racial/ethnic gap
between students of color and their teachers has actually increased over the years. The authors provide
an overview of current minority teacher recruitment state policies and introduce the Teacher-Student
Parity Index, a new metric for comparing the proportions of teachers and students from different
racial/ethnic groups to gain a more textured understanding of the demographic reality of today’s
schools than is presently found in the literature. The authors conclude with recommendations for
policy and research.

Misyurov D.A. Dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas // Credo New. 2012. №2

by Dmitry Misyurov

The article suggests dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas: formula with... more The article suggests dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas: formula with dominant and the non-dominant elements; universal formula; formula with symbolic weight of elements; tautological formula. For example, it suggests an opportunity to use the dialectical formulas for modeling and artificial intelligence creation, etc.

Responsibility and School Choice in Education

by Ben Colburn

Journal of Philosophy of Education 46 (2012).

Consider the following argument for school choice, based on an appeal to the virtues of the market: allowing parents... more Consider the following argument for school choice, based on an appeal to the virtues of the market: allowing parents some measure of choice over their particular children’s education ultimately serves the interests of all children, because creating a market mechanism in state education will produce improvements through the same pressures that lead to greater efficiency and quality when markets are deployed in more familiar contexts. The argument fails, because it is committed to a principle of equal concern, which (after analysis) implies that a market in education is acceptable only if it is right to hold children disadvantaged by their parents’ poor market choices substantively responsible for the fact. Since that claim is untenable, the market-based argument for school choice not only fails, but also turns out to rely on principles which in fact condemn the very policy it was supposed to support.

Preferential policies and ethnic differences in post-secondary education in Peninsular Malaysia

by Hui Liew

Dr. Victor Agadjanian is the first author.

In this study the authors use the second wave of the Malaysian family life survey conducted in 1988-1989 to examine... more In this study the authors use the second wave of the Malaysian family life survey conducted in 1988-1989 to examine the effects of the national economic policy (NEP) instituted by the Malaysian government in 1971 to promote educational opportunities of hitherto disadvantaged ethnic Malays. The analysis focuses on the probability of entering post-secondary education, given the completion of secondary school, across generational cohorts (pre-NEP and post-NEP) and across the three main ethnic groups-Malays, Chinese and Indians. The results show an increase in the likelihood of entering post-secondary education in each subsequent cohort for all the three ethnic groups but the rate of the increase varies across these groups. Reflecting the effects of the NEP, the cohorts of Malays that reached college age after 1971 experienced a much larger increase in the odds of continuing beyond secondary education relative both to their Chinese and Indian counterparts and to the pre-NEP cohorts of Malays. The results also show a reduction in gender inequalities in post-secondary education among post-NEP cohorts.

School Leaders, Community Cohesion and the Big Society

by Nicola Horsley

La diversité religieuse dans les écoles suisses: problème ou potentiel?

by Marius Rohrer

Co-authored with Sabina von Fischer.

Putting Participation into Practice: re-evaluating the implementation of the Citizenship curriculum in England.

by Avril Keating

Co-authored with David Kerr. Forthcoming in Hedtke, R. and Tatjana Zimenkova (eds.) Education for Civic and Political Participation: A Critical Approach (Under contract with Routledge; Expected publication October 2012)

Sense and Sensibility: Mothering practices and school choice under neoliberalism

by Andrew Wilkins

For consideration in ‘Mothering in the Age of Neoliberalism’.  M.V. Giles (ed.)

Draft copy only.
Please do not quote without permission from author.

Since the late 1970s/early 80s political and public policy opinion in England has been saturated with inflated claims... more Since the late 1970s/early 80s political and public policy opinion in England has been saturated with inflated claims to the waste and inefficiency generated through government intervention over the control and delivery of public services.  As a corrective to such top-down bureaucracy, neoliberal ideologues insist that citizens should be ‘empowered’ to pursue their own self-interest as a condition of their rights (and obligations) as consumers of public resources.  The expectation here is that market-driven reform will produce direct incentives for welfare providers to improve their services through appealing to welfare users as rational economic actors; in other words, informed and discriminating.  In the case of education, parents are expected to exercise choice over which school to send their child to.  But how do parents know how to choose and how are parents expected to know what is the ‘right’ choice? This chapter intends to move beyond the abstractions and estimations posited through government advice on choice in order to capture the fractures, tensions and dilemmas pertaining to mothers’ choice-making practices.  Utilising in-depth data taken from semi-structured interviews with several mothers, this chapter brings into question the neoliberal orthodoxy that works to subsume human behaviour to fit with a tidy, narrow utilitarian construction of the parent as consumer.  In doing so, it offers a grounded discussion of the ways in which neoliberal meanings and representations are lived as well as negotiated through sites and practices of mothering.

English in India’s National Development: Hindi-Dravidian Politics and the Retention of a Colonial Language

by Derrick Nault

Asian Englishes, Vol. 15, No. 1, Summer 2012.

The widespread usage of the English language in India today has been explained in numerous ways. Theorists most... more The widespread usage of the English language in India today has been explained in numerous ways. Theorists most commonly view it as a consequence of structural forces such as colonialism or contemporary globalization. Others stress local initiative in the form of prescient top-down language policy decisions or individual rational choice on the part of language learners. Although cultural diversity is occasionally mentioned as a factor promoting English in India, the role inter-ethnic language conflict has played in the process has been downplayed or received less attention. Focusing on Indian political developments in the colonial and postcolonial eras and assessing the impact of key actors and events on language policy formulation, this paper argues that sustained resistance from the Dravidian-speaking South to New Delhi’s plans to make Hindi India’s sole official language and eliminate English in education and government after independence was the key factor that laid the foundations for the spread of English in postcolonial India. If globalization in more recent years has encouraged Indians to learn and use English in ever increasing numbers, earlier linguistic and ethnic disputes between the North and South and the ad hoc language policy decisions they engendered were pivotal for making this possible. With this in mind, the paper recommends that social theorists revisit Indian history and reflect more deeply on the role played by ethno-linguistic discord in conditioning local and global patterns of English language diffusion.

Linguistic Duopoly: A Case of Mewati

by Prerna Bakshi

Considerable attention has been drawn recently towards the plight of immigrant languages or minority languages. Much... more Considerable attention has been drawn recently towards the plight of immigrant languages or minority languages. Much is being done to maintain these languages and to bring the issues surrounding them to the public eye. However, not much has been done on linguistic varieties labelled as 'dialects'. This study seeks to fill this gap by exploring the issues surrounding a language variety called Mewati.

This paper examines the status of Mewati in relation to the other dominant languages of Hindi and Urdu and attempts to explain how social institutions like local state run schools and madrasas contribute towards language shift. Additionally, the study explores the relationship between language, religion and identity and the politics thereof. It is recommended that school curriculums must make a room for Mewati if its maintenance is to be ensured. 

A Principles-Based Approach for English Language Teaching Policies and Practices

by Ahmar Mahboob

Mahboob, A. & Tilakaratna, N. (2012). Towards A Principles Based Approach for ELT Policies and Practices. Alexandria: TESOL International.

This TESOL white paper introduces the notion of a principles-based approach (PBA) for English language teaching... more This TESOL white paper introduces the notion of a principles-based approach (PBA) for English language teaching policies and practices. PBA identifies six principles aimed at helping policymakers, researchers, and practitioners build effective and successful practices within varied contexts while identifying and engaging with the challenges that the implementation of these practices will encounter. The principles are collaboration, relevance, evidence, alignment, transparency, and empowerment (CREATE). While acknowledging the complexities inherent in the process of language policy and planning, this white paper also includes a discussion of how these principles have emerged as a result of the demands of globalization and the interests of the local populations of countries in which the teaching and learning of English is having a major impact.

Jones, T. and Hillier, L. (2012). Sexuality education school policy for Australian GLBTIQ students. Sex Education, ifirst http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14681811.2012.677211 Accessed 10.05.12.

by Tiffany Jones

Education is state-run in Australia, and within each of the eight states and territories there are both government and... more Education is state-run in Australia, and within each of the eight states and territories there are both government and independent schooling systems. This paper details the position of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (GLBTIQ) students within Australian education policy documents nationally, focusing on the three largest states and educational sectors in Australia. Survey data are used to report on the schooling experiences of over 3000 Australian GLBTIQ young people aged 14–21 years. Data from interviews with key policy informants identify both the obstacles to implementing policies, and how such obstacles have been overcome. Much official policy sees sexuality education as promoting inclusive, protective and affirming messages around GLBTIQ students. There exist significant correlations between policy and a variety of well-being and psycho-social outcomes for GLBTIQ students, including lowered incidence of homophobic abuse and suicide, and the creation of supportive school environments. Ideal policy visions are outlined, along with practical recommendations of relevance to a variety of stakeholders.

Learning the Hard Way

by STAMATIA KREMMYDA

published in 'Insight, Edinburgh University Economics Magazine', page 30

From ‘Red and Expert’ to Market Socialism and the Knowledge Consumer: The Political Economy of Education and Inequality in China.

by Ian Wash

Postgraduate Dissertation

On Educational Sensemaking and the Antinomy of Liberty and Equality

by Karen Paiva

published in the Journal of Educational Controversy, Volume 1, Number 1, Winter 2006

Social partnerships: Practices, paradoxes and prospects of Local Learning networks

by Terri Seddon

Reference: Seddon, T. Clemans A. and Billett, S. 2005 Social partnerships: Practices, paradoxes and prospects of LLEN. Australian Education Researcher 32 (1), pp. 25-48

This paper discusses the formation, character and contradictions of social partnerships. We report on a specific... more This paper discusses the formation, character and contradictions of social partnerships. We report on a specific initiative, the Local Learning and Employment Networks (LLEN) established by the Victorian Government in Australia in 2001, documenting the nature of this initiative and how it is playing out. We draw attention to some of the tensions that exist between different agencies, including different agencies within government. Through this detailed case study it is possible to identify parallels between LLEN and other social partnership initiatives developing in other parts of the world. This process of situating a specific Australian partnership within the wider trend to social partnerships permits a more contextualised analysis. It shows the way social partnerships are developing as a consequence of education reform shaped by neo-liberal governance and various patterns of compliance and resistance to this political rationality.

Research Education: Whose space for learning?

by Terri Seddon

Reference:

Doecke, B and Seddon, T. 2002 Research Education: Whose Space for Learning? Australian Education Researcher 29 (3), pp.85-100

Recent changes in the funding of research degree programs in Australia have had an impact on the way research students... more Recent changes in the funding of research degree programs in Australia have had an impact on the way research students are prepared and licensed as researchers. In particular, the design of programs must now address issues of student progress, support and pacing in order to access funding for timely completions. In a sense, the social space within which research training has traditionally been addressed is being reconfigured through the application of funding levers, coupled with increased reporting procedures relating to a specified set of research outcomes. This paper draws on recent theorising of social space in order to investigate the scope and character of this reconfiguration. We argue that research education remains a complex and contested zone despite the pressures of neo-liberal globalisation to impose a model of research in its own image.