Marketisation of adult education: principals as business leaders,standardised teachers and responsibilised students

The marketisation of education is a global phenomenon and has attracted increased interest during the last three decades, not least in terms of research on school choice and its consequences. However, while much research has been conducted on the marketisation of schooling, less attention has been directed at adult education. In this paper, focus is directed at institutional logics and institutional responses to the process of marketisation of adult education. More specifically, we focus on how a procurement system, implemented in order to create competition and to increase quality in adult education, influences how students construe themselves, as well as the way principals and teachers work. Our results indicate that teachers emerge as the main source of resistance towards an institutional logic emerging in the wake of marketisation, while principals and students to a large extent conform to the emerging institutional demands.     

我国高等教育财政改革的基本思路

我国高等教育财政的改革,虽已取得相当的成效,但仍存在不容忽视的问题,因此进一步加快我国高等教育财政体制改革,建立在公共财政框架下高等教育财政的多样化职能作用的协同性,是我们面临的一项非常重要而紧迫的任务。     

高等教育全球化与日本大学改革

在高等教育全球化的背景下,日本大学正在经历着重大变革,同时给大学教育提出了许多新课题。大学教育应高度重视评价体系的确立等战略性课题,同时对“马太效应”等新课题进行研究。在全球化的背景下,应努力做到不被潮流所淘汰,同时也要觉察到全球化的误区。     

Understanding reforms,school reactions to major changes: the case of Israel

ABSTRACT

Two major education system reforms were introduced by Israel’s government in collaboration with the teachers’ unions. These reforms redefine principals’ and teachers’ roles, increasing teachers’ work hours, and the scope of their work. School principals absent from the reform negotiations, are expected to apply the reform, although their work conditions were harmed. This research examines how principals cope with those reforms, and why they sometimes apply them in ways that seem to contradict their interests? Semi-structured interviews with 30 school principals, and 10 schoolteachers, indicated that the reforms have encumbered school principals’ complex tasks. They have little time or ability to thoroughly apply the reforms, responding to multiple stakeholders, political pressures, the exam regime, human resource management, etc. They often ignore policy directives, delegating authority to others, refrain from using certain resources provided by the reforms and allow internal forces to lead, while remaining uninvolved. Conclusions are presented.     

DESCP factors: the ‘invisible’ impediments to reforms in education

ABSTRACT

Policymakers often overestimate the power of agentic players in the system and their own as the causes for the successes and failures of reforms. These are but a small part of the powers in play. The article sheds light on contextual factors that are underestimated when planning and implementing reforms in education. The study utilises a case study method to explore three failed reforms in public education to identify the influence of DESCP (i.e. demographic, economic, social, cultural and political) factors on reform success. The study provides an in-depth understanding of why factors in the action environment are as important as agentic players when aspiring to improve national education. The analysis highlights the impact of DESCP factors on basic capacities toward successful implementation of educational reforms. The DESCP factors are discussed, their relevance to reform success is explicated, and their impact is exemplified with policy cases.     

高等师范院校如何应对基础教育课程改革的挑战

不断深入和快速发展的基础教育课程改革给高等师范院校提出了前所未有的挑战,高等师范院校必须服从服务于基础教育课程改革的需要。为此,高等师范院校应抓住机遇,大胆改革,更新教育观念,用“教师教育”的理念取代“师范教育”的观念;优化课程结构,加强教育类课程,突出师范教育特色;开设跨学科综合课程,扩大选修课程;加强与中小学的伙伴关系建设。     

The attitudes of hong kong primary school principals toward integrated education

Positive attitudes of key stakeholders, such as school principals, towards a new policy are considered a necessary pre-requisite to implement any such policy. Hong Kong has recently formulated a policy that supports the integration of students with disabilities into regular schools. This study investigated the attitudes of Hong Kong primary school principals toward integration, with a view to determining if these school leaders are prepared to implement integrated education practices in their schools. A modified version of the School Principals’ Attitudes toward Inclusion scale (Bailey, 2004) was used to collect data from participants. Based on the responses of 130 primary school principals, it was found that their attitudes toward integration were slightly negative. Principals who had less teaching experience and who were administering schools with smaller student enrolment were found to hold more positive attitudes toward integration. The variable of “having a family member or close friend with a disability” had a significant and positive effect on the principals’ attitudes toward integration.     

How inclusive education is understood by principals of independent schools

Inclusive education has become a practice that has been adopted by many schools across the globe and most usually in first-world countries. As a whole-school system, it occurs less frequently in developing countries including South Africa which unlike many developing countries has a sound infrastructure and many excellent schools in both the state and the independent sectors. Education White Paper 6: Special education: Building an inclusive education and training system was published in 2001 with the express intention of developing an inclusive education system in South Africa. Some South African independent schools have successfully implemented valuable forms of inclusion in their schools and this is the phenomenon that was studied. This study reveals various aspects of the inclusive process including the pivotal role that principals play in the transformation process of which inclusive education is the harbinger. It also analyses why principals choose to embrace a paradigm that on the surface is uncomfortable and not an easy option. We used narrative research as methodology for this qualitative research. The basic tenet was that inclusion leads to belonging and excellence in education. The major findings were that inclusion to most principals was about taking action, humanity and emotion. The principals also described inclusion as personal and pragmatic. The implications for action are of interest not only to principals, but to anyone who is seriously interested in innovative and more humane forms of anti-oppressive education.     

美国基础教育改革的市场化趋势及其借鉴意义

20世纪70年代以来美国政府和社会各界为了提高基础教育的教学质量,促进教育机会均等,对基础教育进行了多种形式的具有市场化特征的教育改革,对学校办学模式、资金来源、教学个性化等方面进行了比较成功的探索。我国在借鉴美国基础教育改革经验的过程中应分析美国基础教育改革的政治、经济和化背景,不能离开中国的具体国情。     

The fading of a teaching profession? reforms of early childhood teacher education in Sweden

In Sweden, working with young children in institutions outside the home dates back to the late nineteenth century when public child care provision developed in a context of industrialization, urbanization and democratization. Out of the charitable work of unmarried women in these early institutions, pre‐schools and teacher education programmes developed. Over the years, pre‐school teacher education has undergone major changes, the most recent reform being the move into a system within which the previous eight distinctive teacher education programmes, pre‐school teacher education being one of them, have been replaced by one integrated teaching degree. This article addresses some major features of the development of pre‐school teacher education and concludes with a discussion of the most recent reform and its consequences for the early childhood teaching profession.     

The UK 14–19 education reforms: perspectives from a special school

The pilot research reported in this article is part of the Centre Research Study (CReSt) which evaluates the impact of the educational reform programme on schools, colleges and other centres in England. The article reports findings from one special school, based on interviews with teachers (including the headteacher), students and a parent. The aim of the article is to identify factors that appear to be having an impact on this special school, and these are presented under four headings: curriculum choice and flexibility; partnership challenges; concerns about Foundation Learning; and curriculum opportunities. This is a small‐scale study, and the conclusions are tentative – future research will reveal whether the findings apply over time and to other special schools.     

Challenges associated with curriculum alignment,change and assessment reforms in Namibia

Aligning curriculum change and assessment reforms has been a topic of great concern in Namibia for over the past 23 years. This is because during the pre-colonial period and continuing in post-independence Namibia, national examinations have been used mainly for the certification and selection of learners at Junior and Senior secondary school phases. Despite this, there is great need to align curriculum changes, standards and assessment in Namibia, since this is viewed as critical for the effectiveness of any education system. Hence, this paper attempts to cross-examine the challenges associated with curriculum alignment issues, changes and assessment reforms in Namibia. This was done by reviewing and analysing relevant documents such as curriculum, policies and examination results among others. Particular attention is paid to the Junior and Senior secondary school levels due to the fact that at these phases there are two major national terminal examinations.     

高职商务英语专业改革初探

为了更好地满足社会经济发展的需求，商务英语专业改革需从社会需求出发，建立教学分流模块，强化实践教学，开展双语教学。     

School reforms,principal leadership,and teacher resistance: evidence from Korea

Many countries design and implement school change with a focus on the fundamental reconfiguration in the structures of schooling. In this article, we examined the relationship between principal leadership and teacher resistance to school reforms driven by external interveners. For an empirical analysis, we took advantage of extensive data derived from 967 teachers and 32 principals in Korean vocational high schools that are now experiencing school reforms launched by the government. Our results revealed the importance of human aspects of school changes and reforms, in particular, driven by the external intervener. We first showed that a principal's initiative leadership is significantly related to the reduction of teacher resistance to change, in particular on the emotional and behavioural dimensions. Not surprisingly, teachers showed a higher level of resistance when their schools participate in the government-driven reform. Finally, teacher resistance depended upon characteristics of teachers as well as principals. These findings provide some useful policy implications for facilitating successful school reform efforts. Foremost, school reformers are advised to rethink the school change model design in a way of fully capturing human aspects in the reform process.     

我国高等教育体制改革专家问卷调查的结果与分析

本文是我们就当前我国高等教育体制改革的进展状况及一些热点问题 ,在全国高校范围内进行的一次专家问卷调查的基础上 ,所作的结果统计及分析。调查结果显示 ,目前我国高等教育体制改革已取得一定成效 ,但改革的各项内容进展参差不齐 ;扩大高等学校办学自主权仍未有实质的进展 ;一些制度因素是困扰社会力量办学的主要因素等等     

Why mission matters more for (some) charter principals

Reflecting post-bureaucratic organisation theory, education reformers intended charter schools to empower school-level leaders, most typically principals, with autonomy to pursue clear, student-centred missions. Yet little research explores whether charter school principals have more power than traditional public school counterparts. We summarise the limited literature addressing the issue. Second, we present findings from interviews with nine charter leaders from six US states who have experience in leading both charter and traditional public schools, a unique data set. Both prior research and our findings suggest that generally, leaders feel more likely to be held accountable for results in charter schools than in traditional public schools. Furthermore, without oversight from school boards and central office administrators, charter leaders report having more power over budget and personnel, and more ability to collaborate with teachers. At the same time, standalone charter leaders report needing business support and training, while those from charter management organizations feel free to focus on academic success.     

Large-scale change and survival of school principals in Turkey

ABSTRACT

Turkey possess one of the most vibrant educational systems in the World. This study specifically aims at revealing Turkish school principals’ perceptions about the large-scale changes imposed by the Ministry of Education and the strategies they follow for coping with these changes. The study was designed as a generic qualitative study. Twenty principals from different schools at different levels were identified through snowball sampling and semi-structured interviews were conducted with each of them. The decoupling between change interventions and the needed change, inappropriate change implementation process, the passive role of the school principals in the design phase of change interventions are some of the major challenges that school principals encounter. The passivity of the principals during design phase put them into a state of reluctant activeness to find out resources, create readiness and adopt a mediating role between top authority and the teachers in order to implement the imposed changes.