Rethinking governance from the bottom up: the case of Muslim students in Dutch universities

This paper discusses the results of a study of faculty and university staff at two major universities in the Netherlands: the University of Amsterdam and the Free University of Amsterdam. I sought to understand how faculty viewed the role of the university in relationship to national and European goals promoting social cohesion and the integration of Islamic minorities in Dutch society. To a person, my informants were convinced that European universities did not, and should not, play a major role in promoting social cohesion. Some faculty members were merely indifferent to the problem and the university’s role; others were actively hostile to the idea that the university should address what was clearly, in their minds, a state political problem. The paper discusses the governance implications of promoting social cohesion within these challenging institutional contexts, by building social networks among students and reinterpreting traditional policies of pillarization.

Academic social cohesion within higher education

This article explores the theoretical foundations of social cohesion as it relates to higher education institutions. In so doing it seeks (a) to understand the core elements of social cohesion—social capital, human capital and ethical behavioural norms that serve a common good—and (b) to establish a flexible framework for understanding the combined contributions of higher education to society. Tertiary institutional phenomena (those occurring in higher education) that are involved in the creation of social cohesion are hereafter termed academic social cohesion. The particular emphasis is on higher education’s role in cultivating moral awareness as a vital product of institutions’ primary activities. These core functions of colleges and universities are discussed in relation to both academic social cohesion and the degree to which they should involve the creation of specific ethical norms.

Reflections on Investigating Emotion in Educational Activity Settings

This article represents our current reflections on our approach to inquiry on emotions in education. Our views reflect an eclectic blend of, educational, psychological, and social historical approaches to inquiry on emotion and emotional regulation. In an effort to explicate our approach, we address our working definitions of emotion and emotional regulation. Next, we discuss our views on transactions among cognition, motivation and emotions, as well as the methods and methodologies that guide our inquiry on emotions in education. We conclude with some of the problems associated with, as well as a discussion of why, in spite of the challenges related to doing inquiry on emotions, the study of emotions can be useful for improving educational processes.

The influence of personal networks and social support on study attainment of students in university education

In this paper, the influence of personal networks and social support on study attainment of students in university education is examined. Furthermore, the paper aimed at clarifying the possible mediating role of achievement motivation, time spent on studying and working, procrastination and self-esteem. The study is a follow-up of the ’89 cohort study, but is restricted to those students who have transferred to university education after finishing secondary education. The students have been approached with a questionnaire in 2004. Multinomial logistic regression shows that social support has no effect on study attainment, but that personal networks do have an effect on attainment. The relationship between social support and personal networks on the one hand and study progress on the other hand is not mediated by the before mentioned variables.

Responding to diversity: the challenge of expanding basic education for young people in the south

This article explores the extent to which and how non-formal education (NFE) contributes to the development of a more diversified basic education system and thus to the achievement of EFA. It outlines the current nature of NFE, the frameworks provided by the EFA movement, and the evolution of reflection, policies and practices in NFE in relation to basic education as a whole. Based on significant developments in various countries across the South, the article also discusses some key challenges that ministries of education and their partners need to face in moving towards relevant and equitable diversity in education. The article posits that, despite the many problems faced by NFE, there is justification for building on its experiences and integrating these within a larger policy and systems framework that responds more effectively to needs and circumstances of children and young people.

Judicial Splits: The Supreme Court’s New Message for Education

When the Supreme Court pronounces on race and education it makes headlines. On 28 June 2007 the Supreme Court revealed its long-anticipated decisions on Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 and Meredith v. Jefferson County, proving that maneuvering the minefield of America’s race relations is just as difficult and divisive as it has ever been. In this carefully constructed essay, George R. La Noue examines the details of these cases and the implications of their decisions on K–12 and higher education. The future role of race in admissions, scholarships, hiring, classes, housing, recruiting, and contracting are all discussed. Facts may be stubborn things, but for some justices constitutional law seems to be infinitely malleable. Divisions in the Supreme Court place increased importance on state constitutional initiatives. Professor La Noue warns that from a political standpoint, Americans need to reaffirm our core value that individuals have the right not be discriminated on the basis of race.

A Network Approach to Preparing Underrepresented Students: The LEAD Model

Results are reported from an empirical study of an interorganizational collaboration to prepare underrepresented students for elite postsecondary education and beyond. The LEAD (Leadership Education and Development) Program in Business is an initiative involving twelve U.S. universities, nearly forty multinational corporations, a federal government agency, and a nonprofit organization working together to introduce students to business education and careers in business. This article analyzes the conditions that give rise to the collaboration, its essential structural characteristics, and the consequences that flow from it.

Inclusive education: pushing the boundaries

This special issue is introduced. The issue draws together a selection of articles uniting theoretical and field research dealing with the notion of inclusive education and the challenges encountered in the policy-making and implementation processes. These articles represent diverse, multifaceted theoretical, disciplinary and methodological approaches to inclusion. Throughout the issue, inclusion is seen as a guiding principle, helping to accomplish quality Education for All (EFA)—education systems that benefit from diversity, aiming to build a more just, democratic society. This special issue is devoted to the theme of the 48th International Conference of Education, “Inclusive Education: The Way of the Future” (Geneva, 25–28 November, 2008).

Retooling Education: Testing and the Liberal Arts

The motivation and methodology for measuring intelligence have changed repeatedly in the modern history of large-scale student testing. Test makers have always sought to identify raw aptitude for cultivation, but they have never figured out how to promote excellence while preserving equality. They’ve settled for egalitarianism, which gives rise to “culturally fair” tests that substitute vagaries for knowledge, deprive students of any real appreciation for language, and trivialize education. Robert Jackson yearns for traditional oratorical approaches to schooling that venerate and imitate essential, time-tested masters. Unfortunately, he writes, such an education defies measurement with today’s multiple-choice instruments.

Students’ socio-scientific reasoning on controversies from the viewpoint of education for sustainable development

In this article, we study third-year university students’ reasoning about three controversial socio-scientific issues from the viewpoint of education for sustainable development: local issues (the reintroduction of bears in the Pyrenees in France, wolves in the Mercantour) and a global one (global warming). We used the theoretical frameworks of social representations and of socio-scientific reasoning. Students’ reasoning varies according to the issues, in particular because of their emotional proximity with the issues and their socio-cultural origin. About this kind of issues, it seems pertinent to integrate into the operations of socio-scientific reasoning not only the consideration of values, but also the analysis of the modes of governance and the place given to politics.

Introduction to the Open File

After briefly describing the emergence and evolution of the global movement toward Education for All (EFA), the Introduction discusses the difficulties of employing target goals to bring about significant policy change and educational transformation. The article then presents a comprehensive overview of the uneven progress towards EFA since 2000, both across regions and within countries, but also across the six goals themselves. The final section outlines the priority steps to be taken by international agencies, national governments, civil society and donors to support EFA in the years to come.

Education for All in India: assessing progress towards Dakar goals

About 60 years ago India established a policy of providing free and compulsory education to all children and began transforming the elite education system inherited from its colonial past into a mass education program. The task became a race against a rapidly growing population, which outstripped the pace at which children could be enrolled and educated in schools. Notwithstanding this demographic challenge, the system grew in size and the number of children participating in school grew many-fold. The struggle to reach the long cherished goal of universal elementary education continues even today. The present paper highlights two decades of EFA progress, paying particular attention to quantitative trends since 2001, and the policies framed and the strategies implemented to achieve greater equity and quality in the provision of basic education.

Compatibility between cultural studies and conceptual change in science education: there is more to acknowledge than to fight straw men!

In this response, we attempt to clarify our position on conceptual change, state our position on mental models being a viable construct to represent learning, indicate important issues from the social cultural perspective that can inform our work on conceptual change and lastly comment on issues that we consider to be straw men. Above all we argue that there is no best theory of teaching and learning and argue for a multiple perspective approach to understanding science teaching and learning.

No shared vision for achieving Education for All: Turkey at risk

Turkey is still far from realizing any of the six EFA goals. Since the Dakar Conference there have been many policy initiatives aiming at improving the quality of Turkish education. The impact and effectiveness of those policy initiatives are yet to be evaluated. The deficit of high quality analytical and empirical research constitutes a major weakness. So does the level of attention on monitoring and evaluation from policymakers. The recent introduction of strategic planning and performance-based budgeting could promote more emphasis on evaluation and monitoring in the coming years. In addition, a transparent, overarching education policy could foster policy dialogue among stakeholders. Overall, this article draws attention to the following critical factors for the EFA success in Turkey: political and economic support for education reform; the need to adopt strategy-oriented sector policies; increased capacity and emphasis on evaluation and accountability of educational policy-making; the need for a new national impetus to improve quality in education.

Remarks Made During “Dialogue on Intellectual Diversity,” a Forum Held 11 October 2007 at the University of Missouri–St. Louis

In 2006, a bill was submitted in the Missouri Legislature designed to address issues raised during a lawsuit by a Missouri State University social work student contesting requirements that Missouri public colleges and universities take steps to insure tolerance of diverse perspectives in the classroom and on campus. Although the legislation did not pass, it motivated university administrators among other measures to sponsor a forum on “intellectual diversity,” held on 11 October 2007 on the University of Missouri–St. Louis campus. In his remarks as a faculty panelist, J. Martin Rochester makes five distinct points about the realities and pitfalls of regulating tolerance and the true meaning of diversity on a college campus.

Border Crossings: Engaging Students in Diversity Work and Intergroup Relations

As an innovative model for diversity education, Dickinson College designed the Crossing Borders program to encourage culturally diverse students to live, work, and study together in multiple contexts both within the United States and abroad. Envisioning a series of crossings, the program brings together up to 20 students from Dickinson College, a predominantly White Institution, and Xavier University, Dillard College, and Spelman College, three Historically Black Colleges/Universities, to spend 4 weeks studying together in Cameroon. West Africa. Students then study at Dickinson for one semester and at one of the Historically Black Colleges/Universities for one semester.

Institutional change and higher education

Institutional change includes the supplanting of the old model of production with a new one, the elimination of old markets and the emergence of new ones. As higher education around the world shifts from national markets to an integrated transnational market, and possibly toward a virtual market, Christian higher education, like other market sectors, will have the opportunity to redefine its market niche. Emerging opportunities linked to new institutional rules will challenge higher education in ways that may not yet be obvious to its present managers and faculties. How the university in its portfolio of options might negotiate the elimination of old markets and the creation of new markets is the subject of this essay. A general set of principles and recommendations is offered.

Technology in Support of Collaborative Learning

This paper reviews the research conducted in the last 20 years on the application of technology in support of collaborative learning in higher education. The review focuses primarily on studies that use Internet-based technologies and social interaction analysis. The review provides six sets of observations/recommendations regarding methodology, empirical evidence, and research gaps and issues that may help focus future research in this emerging field of study.