COST ANALYSIS AND ITS USE IN SIMULATION OF POLICY OPTIONS: THE PAPUA NEW GUINEA EDUCATION FINANCE MODEL

The article describes the structure and operations of a computer simulation programme used in Papua New Guinea that was developed with technical assistance from UNESCO. By establishing baseline data on student enrolments, teacher posts and costs of education at different levels, the model can be used to simulate various policies under consideration and provides output on the likely effects on student flows, teacher requirements and total costs over a ten-year period. The article describes the operations of the primary school model and highlights some of the policy options that can be simulated. It is country-specific but the purpose is to inform readers of how such a programme is helping planners to improve planning and policy-making in a developing country. The author, from Papua New Guinea, worked closely with the UNESCO expert in building the model.     

THE ROLE OF HEROES IN JEWISH EDUCATION

Rosenak has shown that contemporary Jewish education must negotiate the tension between relevance and authenticity. For those who embrace authenticity as a goal, education is often mediated through heroes--who are ideal cultural types. Such education is hampered by the diminution of heroes in contemporary culture: The hero has been replaced by the role model, and the aspiration to be like the hero has been replaced by individualism. This article explores the idea of heroes in education both in the philosophic literature (Taylor, McIntyre, Rosenak) and in various aspects of Jewish education in the United States, including a look at wider American Jewish culture in this regard. A brief comparison to Israeli Jewish education is also included, where similar tensions and dilemmas are found.     

ROLE OF THE UNIVERSITY IN THE PROMOTION OF ADULT EDUCATION

The Group of Experts on Training and Retraining of Adult Educators was set up in 1972 by the Council of Europe's Council for Cultural Co‐operation (CCC). In the conclusions reached by this group, it was reaffirmed that one of the most important functions of higher education institutions in the implementation of the concept of lifelong education is, in fact, the training and retraining of personnel for adult education.

Extracts From the report prepared by the Group of Experts are presented below.     

THE ROLE OF THE SOCIAL SCIENTIST IN THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

The four coauthors describe the twenty-five-year history of efforts of the Council of Learned Societies in Education (CLSE) to represent the interests of the social foundations of education in the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), including the evolution of CLSE into the Council for the Social Foundations of Education and its recent departure from NCATE after a quarter century of successful involvement. The coauthors, each personally supportive of foundational involvement in national accreditation, delineate advantages gained by both CLSE and NCATE during the quarter century of involvement, while also describing concerns and arguments that have led to the current disassociation of the Council for Social Foundations of Education (CSFE) fromNCATE. The article concludes with suggestions for the future and the coauthors' hope that this history and chronicle will provide incentive for reinvolvement of the foundations in national accreditation circles.     

UNESCO: PROMOTION OF THE ROLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN SOCIETY

UNESCO has just published its “Draft Medium‐Term Plan (1977‐1982)” which is one of the principal documents serving as a basis for discussion at the 19th session of the General Conference of the Organization, to be held during October and November 1976 in Nairobi. We give below extracts from this text concerning higher education.     

高等学校定位:竞争中的抉择

高等教育多样化是在社会竞争中由学校自主办学形成的。要用一种动态的眼光来看待所谓学校的“定位”。高等学校制定自己的发展战略是审时度势下的理性决策。政府的职能是完善社会竞争机制和宏观调节手段 ,构建合理的高等教育结构。     

社会转型时期社会治理的道德教育体系

社会转型时期社会治理的道德教育体系应该包括民主观、公正观、平等观、人道观和自由观,这些是善待他人的道德观,也是解决瑞士教育家裴斯泰洛齐道德教育难题二的重要教育内容。这五观在内容上相互包含,功能上相辅相成,实施中相互支撑,是全息统一的。     

THE MEDIUM IS NOT THE MESSAGE: IMPROVING AUSTRALIAN EDUCATIONAL AID TO PAPUA NEW GUINEA STUDENTS

Australia, like many developed countries expends a proportion of its budget in assisting lesser developed countries (LDC) in educational enterprises. Such efforts may have muted results if Australian educators assume that overseas students eventually adapt to their teaching. This paper argues that institutions which accept overseas students into their courses are obliged professionally to cater for students’ learning problems particularly, if the language of instruction is not the mother tongue. Often these problems have their genesis in the LDC because students are educated in a language in which their teachers’ themselves lack facility. Moreover, in the Papua New Guinea context the learning problems with English are associated with a lack of equivalence between the concepts in the academic discourse and the students’ existing conceptual framework. Learning problems in English are more about concept acquisition than translation.     

COMMUNITY COLLEGE BOARDS OF EDUCATION: THE PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE GAP

This investigation was designed to determine the knowledge and opinion of the public about locally elected community college area boards of education. Research questions included the extent to which the public was aware of both composition and activities of the boards, how the public believes the board works, public's sources of information, general public opinion, and extent of public involvement. The population included adults living in a selected midwest state geographically divided into subpopulations for each technical community college area of the state.

The information indicated that community college boards need to take a serious look at their public image and do a much better job of communicating to their constituents.