The equity impact of public finance of private education provision in Côte d’Ivoire

The equity effects of public subsidization of private schools in Côte d’Ivoire are analyzed. The subsidy per student in private (and public) schools increases as one goes to higher household per capita expenditure groups. Students from families in the highest expenditure quartile receive twice the subsidy received by students from families in the lowest quartile, compared to four times more in the case of students attending public schools. However, the subsidy system is relatively progressive in the case of private school attendance as there is a clear tendency for the share of family education expenditure covered by subsidies to decline as one goes to higher quartiles.     

Cypriot Pre-Service Kindergarten Teachers’ Beliefs and Intensions about the Importance of Teacher/Child Interactions

Although a host of research has explored the association between beliefs and practices, limited research has been conducted exploring the association between beliefs and intensions. The present study aimed to explore Cypriot pre-service kindergarten teachers’ self-reported beliefs and intensions about the importance of teacher/child interactions and the relationship between them. Interaction has been chosen to be the focus of the present study due to the fact that research results indicate that one of the most important indicators of the quality of early childhood education and care is sensitive and responsive caregiving. Research results indicated that participating pre-service kindergarten teachers favor sensitive and appropriate caregiving. Thus, beliefs have been found to predict the sample’s intensions.     

The Role of ICT in Science Education

The role of ICT in education is not homogeneous; ICT currently provides a growing range of tools to manipulate digital data, as well as access to the vast range and variety of content which underpins the information age, only some of which is designed to support learning. In order to harness the power of these technologies to serve science education it is necessary first to identify the precise objectives of that education and then to match appropriate use of the technologies to the achievement of those objectives. The role of ICT in two models of a science curriculum are considered here, one based on empirical science and one on a model of scientific reasoning.     

Selective immigration policies as screening devices and the immigrant–native educational achievement gap

The literature on the immigrant–native educational achievement gap is suggestive of a better performance of immigrant students in countries practising selective immigration policies. However, the origin of such differences has not been investigated. I considered both important observed characteristics as well as the role of unobservables in the formation of immigrant–native achievement differences in 4 selective immigration countries. I found that, if the comparison is between selective immigration countries as a group and other European/Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, immigrant students in selective immigration countries perform better. However, the results are heterogeneous and different conclusions apply to each of the 4 countries. The findings are discussed in the context of successful immigration policies as screening devices, which induce a self-selection of immigrants with transferable and adaptive skills. Potentially important are also institutional differences with respect to how inclusionary and conducive to the integration of immigrants into the host country policies are.     

The Quality of Early Childhood Educators: Children’s Interaction in Greek Child Care Centers

Though quality in early childhood education and care has attracted last decades enormous research interest there is still not a unanimous agreement about its definition. Yet, almost all definitions attempted include interaction, group size, adult:child ratio and early childhood educators’ level of education, as important indices of quality. Relationships are key resources for young children. There is agreement among researchers that the quality of caregiving by professional caregivers in child care centres has been established as an important influence on various aspects of child development. Thus, structural characteristics have been proven to affect programs’ quality of services provided. The purpose of this research study was twofold: (1) to explore the quality of interaction between Greek early childhood educators and children; and (2) to record the structural characteristics of Greek child care centres. Correlations among structural characteristics and type of interaction were also examined. Research data indicate that Greek early childhood educators are positive but at the same time detached and permissive during their interaction with children, a finding that disputes their positive interaction. Thus, Greek child care centres have been found to adopt, based on Greek legislation, high ratios and group sizes, a finding which raises questions about the effects on children’s well being and development. Limited correlations have been found between the type of interaction and the structural characteristics. Research data highlight the need for further research to undergone and for changes in Greek legislation, concerning the operation of Greek child care centres.