The communities providing religious education and catechesis to Polish immigrants in England and Wales

Since Poland’s accession to the European Union in 2004, hundreds of thousands of Polish citizens have arrived in the UK in search of work, of which the majority landed in England and Wales. This process, although not as fast now, is still ongoing. The majority of immigrants from Poland are young people who start families and have children. Many of these children are born in the UK. For this reason, it is increasingly common for the children of Polish immigrants to be covered by the local school system. In addition to general knowledge, they also have the right to religious education and catechesis. This article presents a summary of the communities providing religious education and catechesis to Polish migrants living in England and Wales. It describes the specific features of religious education in state-run schools, Catholic schools and Polish Saturday Schools. The objectives of parish catechesis conducted by the Polish Catholic missions operating in England and Wales are also outlined. The primary objective of this discussion is to present the various options for religious education and catechesis for the children of Polish immigrants living in England and Wales.     

The Scottish Assisted Places Scheme: a comparative study of the origins,nature and practice of the APSs in Scotland,England & Wales

In 1981 two separate Assisted Places Schemes were launched. One was introduced for England & Wales, and another for Scotland. This paper examines the differences between the two schemes. It shows that they can be seen to be related to the differing educational systems of the countries, and to differences between the grant‐aided and direct grant schools which the schemes were designed, in part, to replace. It is shown that the Assisted Places Scheme is more important to the independent sector of Scotland than to that of England & Wales, for the scheme established in Scotland has been structured in such a way that it gives greater flexibility and greater funding to individual schools in that country.     

Violence in schools and representations of young people: a critique of government policies in France and England

This paper examines media discourses in France and in Britain relating to young people, violence and disaffection in schools, setting these within the framework of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which emphasises young people’s participation rights. It analyses policy initiatives developed since 1997 in each country to address concerns about young people, disaffection and violence, examining these in the light of research evidence. It considers how public policies are variously shaped by research findings and by media representations. In France, attempts to reduce violence in schools have been accompanied by recognition that schools structurally produce disaffection and violence. In England there has been a shift in policy discourses. In 1997 the primary emphasis was social inclusion, but greater weight has since been given to the need to combat crime. (Male) youth disaffection is linked to crime. Policies addressing standards and achievement have been prioritised over policies to combat social exclusion. In both countries researchers and the media give particular attention to urban communities where minority ethnic communities live. Individual schools are labelled as failing and large numbers of young people are excluded or marginalised. In both countries minority ethnic students are over‐represented among those formally excluded from mainstream education and in the least popular, most stigmatised, schools and classes. Violence and disadvantage are effectively institutionalised. Discourses in each country are racialised and disaffection is associated with minorities. Yet both countries offer universalist rather than targeted policy responses. Opportunities for student participation in school decision‐making are limited.     

Noise Rather than Numbers: Access to higher education in three European countries

This paper explores a number of special alternative arrangements for adults to access higher education in England and Wales, France and Germany and examines the impact on these arrangements of the relationship between the state and higher education in the three countries. The similarities and differences are analysed along two key dimensions: complexity-simplicity and rigidity-flexibility and the absence of clear statistical data in all three countries is accounted for by the way in which the various stakeholders justify their actions. Finally, Weiler's theory of compensatory legitimation is drawn on to assess the effectiveness of the policy innovations and to explain why the noise around them has been louder than the numbers involved might warrant.     

Politics,Economics, Society,and Overseas Chinese Teaching: A Case Study of Australia

Abstract

The history and current state of Chinese teaching in Australia has largely been determined by two key factors: first, the country’s policy on languages, and in particular its policy regarding foreign language education; and second, its immigrants and overseas students from Chinese-speaking countries and regions. Beginning in the 1980s, Chinese teaching gained powerful support under Australia’s official language policy, and the number of people studying Chinese has continuously grown. At the same time, it is worth noting that the majority of those learning Chinese are students of Chinese descent. The questions of how to design courses, prepare teaching materials, grade examinations, and train qualified teachers in response to this situation merit careful consideration.     

Inequalities in Entry to Higher Education: a Comparison Over Time between Scotland and England and Wales

This paper uses data from the Scottish School Leavers Surveys and the England and Wales Youth Cohort Study to analyse changes over time in gender and social class inequalities in the opportunities of young people to participate in higher education (HE) in Scotland, England and Wales. The results show that in Great Britain, in the period from the end of the 1980s to 2001–2002, HE expansion has benefited more women than men, and in the most recent time points has led to a reduction in social inequalities. However, gender and social class differences persist at degree level and in the choice of subject studied. The results also show that higher proportions of working class students enter HE in Scotland than in England and Wales, but that social inequalities are more marked in Scotland. The larger availability of vocational routes in Scotland, at both sub‐degree and degree level, may explain country differences in HE participation rate of working class students.     

Balancing the priorities of the classroom teacher with the imperatives of high stakes assessment of reading: An English perspective

The question underpinning this paper, and the international symposium on reading assessment at the University of Nottingham which preceded it, is this: “In what ways can we learn from each other how to improve reading assessment, at the personal, classroom, local and national levels?” This paper will attempt to answer the question “How can we learn from each other?” in the following ways: first some background information on the New Paradigms in Reading Assessment (NPRA) seminar will be presented; second, an account will be offered about what has been happening in language arts assessment (the subject termed ‘English’) in the United Kingdom, which goes some way to explaining why in England there has been a particularly urgent need to learn from the experiences of other countries; third, some examples will be given of new approaches to assessment in other countries, particularly the United States, Australia, and Scotland (which has the same government, but a different education system from that in England and Wales) from which those of us in England might learn; fourth, some principles which might underpin new assessment approaches within the English system will be put forward; and finally, an indication will be given of how some of these principles are being put into practice in classrooms in England, as pilot work on an international collaborative study.     

Teaching children the geography of England and Wales: an analysis of selected Georgian and Victorian textbooks and educational pastimes

Children in Georgian and Victorian times were expected to be familiar with the geography of England and Wales. This study analyses some of the resources then available which taught children this information. John Aikin’s England Delineated is evaluated as a geographical text and then compared with less formal games and puzzles, then on the market, which were also designed to teach the geography of these countries. Three further textbooks, which adopted contrasting approaches to teaching children the geography of England and Wales, are then also analysed and compared with Aikin’s approach. The study found that different resources associated towns and cities with different features, some by their notable products, others by their historic buildings, or their connection to historic events. Where places were defined by product, however, there was a high degree of consistency between product and place across the resources. Some resources describe places objectively, others subjectively. Of the resources analysed, England Delineated was considered the most geographical in content and in approach to that content. Games and puzzles were found to be valuable in complementing the Aikin text. Suggestions for future research are made in the conclusions.     

国别教育研究:意义、现状与发展趋势

国别教育不仅是比较教育研究的重要基础,而且是推动教育理解和教育改革的重要途径。从历史上看,国别教育研究在国别的选择上通常以美、苏、英、法、德、日等发达国家为重点。但20世纪中叶以后,国别教育研究的范围不断扩大,不仅国别上扩展到包括发展中国家在内的所有国家,而且研究的论题呈现出各国自身发展需要和人类发展共同需要并举的趋向,具体体现为以历史融合为取向,以文化研究为基石,以国际理解为使命的发展趋势。     

Cultural Constructions of Childhood and Early Literacy

This paper is based on the findings of two research teams, working collaboratively, between 1998 and 2000 in four countries: Australia, Singapore, France and England (see David et al 2000). Taking an ecological stance (Bronfenbrenner 1979), both teams adopted a cross‐cultural approach in order to gain a better understanding of the contexts in which young children become familiar with literacy. The team led by Bridie Raban worked in Singapore and Australia, that led by Tricia David in France and England. Early years practitioners in all four countries responded to questionnaires, were observed in action and interviewed. (Information about their training and about entry to primary school in each of the countries is given in the endnote.) In addition, the research teams carried out document analyses on Governmental, research and training literature and teachers’ plans, and discussed their findings with others in positions to be able to ‘authenticate’– or refute – findings. Further data were obtained through group interviews with parents of children attending selected settings involved in the research. Here we provide some of the evidence about the different views expressed by practitioners, our observational findings and analysis of the different pressures relating to literacy experienced in early childhood education and care settings. In each case the learning experiences practitioners provided for children were influenced by a range of factors, such as the contested role of preschools as preparation for schooling. In some settings this preparation was not explicit and practitioners often emphasised the importance of the ‘here and now’ nature of young children’s experiences. Rosenthal’s (2000) framework for exploring ‘collectivist’ and ‘individualist’ cultures in relation to their valued educational practices was applied to our findings, in order to identify how the cultural assumptions about literacy, learning and young children influenced the teaching approaches selected.     

A National Curriculum for Wales: A Case Study of Education Policy-Making in the Era of Administrative Devolution

The 1988 Education Reform Act legislated for a statutory curriculum in state-funded schools in England and Wales. This study explores how, out of a common curriculum framework for both countries, there emerged a school curriculum that was adapted to the distinctiveness of the linguistic and cultural context in Wales. The roles of those most closely involved in policy development in Wales are examined as is the relationship between the 'national' and 'territorial' arenas of policy-making in the months leading up to publication of the Education Reform Bill in November 1987. It is argued that a pragmatic approach to policy development in Wales during that period laid the foundations both for a reworking of the 1988 curriculum framework during the 1990s and for potentially more radical change following the 2002 Education Act.     

Expansion and social selection in education in England and Scotland

This paper examines trends in social class inequalities in young people’s educational attainment and HE entry between the mid‐1980s and the end of the 1990s in England and Scotland. Using time‐series data derived from the Scottish School Leavers Surveys and the England (and Wales) Youth Cohort Study, changes in both absolute and relative social class differences within and across the two countries were analysed through the use of a series of ordered logits. The results show that Scotland has higher educational attainment rates but also higher social class inequalities than England. Moreover, while in England social class inequalities at upper‐secondary and tertiary level have declined over time, in Scotland no evidence of such trend has been found. The conclusions highlight that possible explanations for these patterns reside in the different features of the two education systems and in the remarkable educational success of the Scottish middle class.     

社会问题、教育问题、抑或种族问题?--法国2005年城市骚乱简析

2005年10月始于巴黎后蔓延数省的法国城市暴力事件有着深刻的历史原因和社会背景,大部分参与者是身处弱势的移民子女.移民,在法国有时被纳入广义的"外国人"之列,后者约占法国总人口的十分之一,绝对不容忽视.法国教育政策的制定和实施中没有充分体现应有的平等、非功利和多元的性质,以及公民道德教育效果欠佳,这些都是身处弱势的青年,特别是移民青年反社会心理和行为形成的重要原因.     

The politics of ESOL (English for speakers of other languages): implications for citizenship and social justice

A number of countries in Europe, including the UK, have adopted language and citizenship tests or courses as a requirement for granting citizenship to immigrants. To acquire citizenship, immigrants to the UK must pass a test on British society and culture, or demonstrate progress in the English language. For those with an insufficient command of the language, there is the option in the UK of taking an English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) with citizenship course. These language and citizenship tests and courses are seen by governments as a way of encouraging immigrants to develop the competences believed necessary for social integration. Equally, these are seen as a means for immigrants to demonstrate their willingness to integrate. However, two types of criticisms have been made against compulsory tests and language programmes. The first questions the need for these. The second focuses on whether they are a genuine contribution to preparation for citizenship or whether these, in effect, constitute a gatekeeping mechanism, or otherwise lead to social injustice; related to this is the question of whether the emphasis on language as defining of nationhood and citizenship is a move away from multiculturalism towards a policy of assimilation. In addition, there are issues relating to funding. This paper presents the results of a study of a ‘skills for life’ ESOL course at a community college in London that is specifically intended to help immigrants seeking to qualify for British citizenship. An interview was carried out with staff involved in ESOL at the college, and a focus group discussion was conducted with a student group. The aim of the paper is to provide an account of the experiences of the students in the light of the criticisms that have made against compulsory tests and language programmes. We also examine the impact of policy changes, including funding cuts, on the college and students. Although we found the language and citizenship class to be a positive experience, we note inconsistencies and contradictions in policies and discourses around language.     

Competence of Irish and Polish teachers in the opinions of young Polish immigrants in Ireland

Since 2004, Ireland has experienced the arrival of immigrants from various countries from all over the world including Poland. The Polish came to Ireland with their families including children of school age obliged to attend compulsory education. These children have attended schools dissimilar from the ones they are accustomed to in their home country in terms of teacher–student relationships. The question then arises as to what an Irish teacher is like in the opinions of young Polish immigrants? Is the image different from the one of a Polish teacher, or does the peculiarity of this job make teachers in various countries alike? This research conducted among a group of Polish grammar school students in Ireland helps to answer these questions. This article is a comparative study of teachers’ competence, and their personality, as well as their substantive, methodological and educational competence. The information was obtained by group interview technique with Polish youth aged 13–15 studying in Irish secondary schools at junior cycle level.     

背离经济全球化的深刻教训--析拿破仑大陆封锁政策的失败原因

拿破仑的大陆封锁政策，背离了经济全球化的历史发展趋势，违反了资本主义经济发展的客观规律，不仅给英国，也给法国及欧洲大陆各国的经济发展造成严重影响，损害了欧洲各国人民的利益，引起了英国的反封锁斗争和欧洲大陆各国人民的抵制与对抗，致使大陆封锁政策以破产告终。它给后人留下了深刻的历史教训和启示。     

中外高中毕业考试制度的比较分析

文章对中外高中毕业考试制度进行考察,重点介绍了美、法、德、英、日等五个主要发达国家的高中毕业会考制度,从考试的组织、考试的类型、考试的标准、考试的内容、考试的形式、考试结果评估、考试的功能七个方面对国外考试制度进行了比较分析,通过中外高中毕业考试的特点分析,积极探索我国高中会考制度的形成与发展。     

Diverging or converging trends: an investigation of education policies concerning the incorporation of ethnic minority children in England,France and Germany

This article focuses specifically on the incorporation of ethnic minority children within the education systems of England, France and Germany. The trends in policy development after World War II in these countries are examined through the prism of three ideal-typical incorporation strategies – integration, assimilation and separation. This is done to test the theories of universalism, parallel development and particularism, which anticipate different trajectories with regard to these strategies. The paper finds evidence for convergence towards integration with regard to provisions for extra support in the host country’s language. This supports the theory of universalism. However, no evidence of convergence towards integration is found in four other policy areas. For instance, country-specific trends emerge on minority religious education and enrolment into mainstream schools, which is consistent with the particularist perspective. As there is little evidence of the three countries drawing closer in terms of all three adopting a strategy of incorporation promoted by transnational agencies, the expectation that national states can borrow in a straightforward fashion from internationally advocated models of ethnic minority incorporation appears unfounded. The paper further finds that local practices are sometimes significantly at odds with national educational policy, suggesting that future research should be directed more at the local level to determine the policies affecting ethnic minority children.     

Modern foreign language learning and European citizenship in the Irish context

This paper presents some of the findings of a study investigating young people's attitudes towards Europe and the European Union and their self-reported learning about European citizenship in Ireland. The paper considers adolescents’ attitudes and motivations for language learning in light of recent literature arguing for the role of modern foreign language instruction in the teaching of European citizenship. Findings based on the results of a knowledge test regarding the rights and opportunities offered through European citizenship are also included. Data provide evidence that Irish students possess more knowledge than their counterparts in England, Spain and France on the subject, while showing more positive attitudes than other students. The paper considers the contribution of modern foreign language teaching to this knowledge and their positive attitudes, drawing some possible inferences for other European member states.     

Models of English and Chinese word reading for adolescent Chinese–English bilinguals

These two studies examined the processes underlying English and Chinese word reading in Chinese–English bilinguals in relation to their experiences with their second language (L2), as determined by length of time in an English-speaking environment. Phonological awareness, morphological awareness and vocabulary measures were administered in English and Chinese to adolescents and young adults living in Canada. The results show that similar word reading processes were used to read English and Chinese for the bilinguals who were recent immigrants and had less exposure to English. Specifically, vocabulary knowledge was directly related to English and Chinese word reading in the more recent immigrants. However, phonological awareness was not related to English word reading in this group. Conversely, reading processes in the two languages were less similar for participants who were long-term immigrants. In the long-term immigrant group, English reading was related to phonological awareness. The writing system of the first language (L1) exerted an influence on L2 reading and the degree of influence was related to language experience.