Picking winners: An empirical analysis of the determinants of educational outcomes in India

We use data from the Young Lives longitudinal survey to analyse the effect of socioeconomic conditions and gender on the educational performance of young children in India. In particular, we use data for standardised scores on two cognitive tests: the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) and a maths test. Our results show that there are significant gender differences in the way that household wealth affects the educational performance of children. Specifically, boys born into wealthier households perform significantly better in maths than those from worse-off economic backgrounds. The effect of wealth on the PPVT is stronger for girls than it is for boys. The results are robust across a range of specifications. The effect of household wealth on performance differed between the genders, even when we focused our analysis on the bottom 10% and top 10% of the performance distribution. One possible explanation for these differences is parental aspirations. We tested this hypothesis and found that boys from wealthier households with higher parental educational aspirations are positively and significantly associated with higher maths scores. Further analysis showed that the moderating role of parents’ educational aspirations was more pronounced at the top of the test score distribution, an indication that more able children are associated with wealthier and more ambitious parents.     

Adult higher education in the Netherlands: National policy and local practice

Policy papers published by the Ministry of Education and Science in the Netherlands show that the government is strongly interested in the concept of recurrent education. One possible way of implementing this idea is through university level evening programs. In the Social Science Faculty of the Erasmus University in Rotterdam the evening program in sociology (which was established through the institution's own initiative) has recently taken on an institutionalized character. This article reports the results of research on the first year's experience of the day and evening students who began their studies in 1974. Attention is devoted to evening student recruitment, motives to take up university study and sociology in particular, minimum conditions within the institution's infrastructure, the curriculum and output. University evening education in general is also discussed and some policy conclusions are formulated regarding the realization of university evening education in the Netherlands.Translation: Drs. Ray Jurkovich.     

Picking up the pieces: themes in Macedonian midcareer transitions

Addressing midcareer transition in post-socialist Macedonia, this work sought to provide practical help to participants through a range of techniques. Four themes are identified as important options for transitioners. Enthusiasm for ??entrepreneurship?? is tempered by a lack of funds and ??portfolio careers?? are also viewed with caution. ??Employment in a small firm?? provides participants with cause for optimism, although the link between lifelong learning and ??employability?? is not clear to them. Career support for Macedonians experiencing midcareer transition is valued.     

The Netherlands: Participation in the School

Various arrangements have existed to ensure the participation of pupils' parents in school life, in particular, parent committees, which are obligatory in public schools. Private schools merely had the obligation to permit parents to form such a committee. This distinction was abolished by the new law concerning participation in education that went into effect February 1, 1982. This law is equally applicable to private or public education, nursery schools, primary schools, special schools, secondary schools, and higher professional schools (for a provisional period pending the establishment of specific regulations), as well as to part-time instruction and evening schools.     

论教师专业发展中的选窝效应

选窝效应是一种促进教师差异化发展的实践策略,旨在让窝内教师避免生态位重叠,实现错位化共生发展.在教师专业发展中营造选窝效应,有利于激活一线普通教师的自主发展意识,避免名优骨干教师的溢出效应,实现教师集群协同化发展.选窝效应的营造,需要秉持充分开放、自主介入、协同竞争和互利共生的原则.同时,学校领导者还要规范中小学教师选...     

In-Service Teacher Training in Higher Education: the Netherlands

In-service training within an organization is justified only if day-to-day practice does not meet certain standards. Not all the gaps, however, between the desired and the actual practice can be bridged or even narrowed by in-service training. A preliminary analysis of the practical problems may be warranted before one can decide upon any in-service training programme. Other solutions should be considered as well.     

Speech Education in the Netherlands

ABSTRACT

This paper highlights how the application of principles of formative assessment and a generous reading protocol changed my perspective on disappointing student work and led to course adjustments to positively impact student learning.     

Sex Education Materials in The Netherlands and in England and Wales: A comparison of content,use and teaching practice

Sex education in The Netherlands and in the UK [1] has attracted attention because of the huge differences between the teenage pregnancy rates. There are substantial similarities in the way in which sex education is structured in the two countries, and yet the approach to the subject is very different. We used documentary sources and interviews to explore the political debates; compared both science and PSE texts aimed at 14-15- year-olds; and carried out exploratory field work in three secondary schools in each country. While sex education is controversial in both countries, the British debate is adversarial and the Dutch strive to seek consensus, making use of professional sex educators in the process. The difference in approach is reflected in both the sex education materials and the approach taken in the classroom. We conclude that the Dutch are significantly more successful in addressing the problem of ignorance and of promoting a coherent sex education message.     

Audio-Visual Training in the Netherlands

In 1972 the Netherlands Institute for Audio-Visual Media (NIAM) in the Hague established a new department in Rotterdam to provide information and advice on the selection of audiovisual equipment and training in the use and applications of the different media. The information service was to be provided free of charge, but a fee would be charge for the training courses.     

Moral Education in the Netherlands

Abstract

Although moral education is or ought to be a standing concern, both in the family and in society, this article mainly deals with moral education in basic schools in the Netherlands. As such it is a counterpart of religion in the denominational schools. It is organized by the Dutch Humanistisch Verbond (Humanist League) which is also responsible for the teacher's training and the methods of teaching. That defines the humanist context of this form of education. Thus humanist moral education makes a major contribution ‐‐ albeit only in a minority of schools ‐‐ to a humanist development of children.     

Twelve Years On: the new teacher training in the Netherlands

The author draws upon his experience as Director of one of the ‘new’ Dutch teacher training institutions, for lower‐secondary pupils, created after the Mammoth Act of 1968. Although outside the university system, they have been subject to university supervision, which led to some problems. The relationship, for example, is hierarchaic, and many universities and professors are interested only in the academic subject. There has been a progressive move away from university dominance.

Considerable effort has gone into the creation of an institutional strategy. While each of the ‘new’ colleges was free to choose its own approach, that adopted at the SOL Utrecht was radical. On the basis of the identification of the needs of future teachers, teams of specialists from different areas—for example, pedagogues as well as subject specialists —were brought together to plan, as a team, for the courses offered. This approach makes heavy demands on staff attitudes, which must be allowed for.

The school practice experience is important, and carefully planned for. Also, much use is made of audio‐visual media, including videotaping of lectures, once course content has been fixed.

The institution is committed to an integrated approach to the training of teachers.     

Women in Engineering in the Netherlands

This paper discusses the situation of women who study engineering in the Netherlands. Quantitative data expressing the underrepresentation of women in engineering is presented against the background of some characteristics of the Dutch society. Next we consider the position of the women who did enter a technical university. Their drop-out rates are compared with those of men. Drawing on the results of our qualitative interviews, we sketch a picture of factors and processes which influence the course of their study. It is argued that the social intergration of women affects the way they deal with the two dominant questions ‘can I do it’ and ‘do I want this’.     

Islamic Schools in the Netherlands: Expansion or Marginalization?

In the Netherlands, the constitutional freedom of education offers the opportunity for the growing number of Muslims to establish state-funded Islamic schools. At the moment there are 46 Islamic primary schools; a number of schools are in the process of being established and there is still a need for an additional 120 such schools. Right from the start Islamic education has been a highly controversial issue. Events such as 9/11 and the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh have fueled the discussion, which turned from open-minded and accommodating to critical and even demonstrably negative. This article focuses on Islamic schools in the Netherlands: how they have evolved, their objectives, their achievements, and the problems they have encountered – and continue to encounter. Specific attention is paid to a number of empirical studies that focus on the functioning of Islamic schools.