The decentralisation of the school system in post‐communist Romania

Following the fall of the Iron Curtain in December 1989, the Romanian system of education has started a deep process of reconstruction that asked for a comprehensive package of reforms among which decentralisation. Broadly the paper aims to make a contribution to the emerging knowledge base about the realities of restructuring of post‐communist education systems and the impact that governance through markets is having on public services. The paper focuses on presenting and discussing the attempts to decentralise pre‐higher education in Romania in considering the role of the state and governance in the provision of public services and the introduction of market mechanisms in education. The decentralisation of education has been proposed by the then Minister of Education Andrei Marga. Although decentralisation in pre‐higher education has been piloted for three academic years and the policy documents that introduced it have been permanently amended and updated, more than a decade later, this reform has not reached its aims mainly due to the various changes on the political scene. However, provided that no major amendments will be made to the Laws of National Education (2009), decentralisation in pre‐higher education will be a reality from 2010–11.     

The socio‐political significance of changes to the vocational education system in Germany

This paper explores the effects on social inequality in Germany of ongoing changes to the employment system and, thus, vocational education. Results based on an examination of the literature indicate that students from increasingly middle‐class backgrounds with higher levels of general, rather than vocational, educational attainment are winning the competition for ever‐fewer apprenticeships. Progress for women in education is accompanied by relative declines in men’s performance on high school exit examinations and does not translate into success in the employment system. Employers are abandoning the corporate‐state organization of vocational education. The paper concludes that school degrees are increasingly important for later career opportunities. As a result, the educational system is increasingly stratified, contributing to social inequality in Germany.     

The Immigrant Project 1980‐81

The article deals with a teacher education response to a problem relatively new in Norwegian society, namely the immigration influx of the 60s and 70s. The need to educate for a multi‐cultural society is a new one for Norway.

The Immigrant Project at Levanger College of Education tackled this problem, with the aim of showing the positive side of cultural pluralism. New methods and new materials were needed, and an inter‐disciplinary approach was adopted. The strategies adopted are explained: first‐hand observation, field work and materials preparation are all important constituents, and students had extensive exposure to social and cultural conditions of immigrant life.

The article stresses also the importan?e of feedback into the college and of public presentation via the media. Finally, the author summarises the learnings and the achievements of the project.     

The high‐school science library

Student behavioral and emotional difficulties, often comorbid with each other and with learning difficulties and academic underachievement, have become an increasing concern to educational settings. This article first provides a conceptual framework for child assessment and highlights the role of behavior rating scales and personality inventories. This article reviews the role of behavior rating scales and personality inventories as a tool for screening students whose behavioral and emotional difficulties may affect their learning, their interpersonal relationships at school, and students who may pose significant management problems for teachers. The utility of specific uni- and multidimensional scales is reviewed relative to major behavioral and emotional difficulties shown by school students. Issues with using these tools are discussed. The Student Behavior Survey (SBS), a teacher-report scale, is described to illustrate the relative contributions of these scales.     

The micro‐politics of openness

In this paper, David Harris, senior lecturer in sociology at the College of St Mark and St John in Plymouth, explores the context in which our current definitions of openness have evolved. He goes on to suggest that it is time to shift interest away from the level of grand design and abstract typologies towards a ‘micro‐political’ level, involving analyses of concrete practice.     

The Self‐esteem of Pre‐service Physics Education Students

The self‐esteem as physics teachers of students taking pre‐service physics teacher education courses was investigated before and after the courses. It was found that students who dropped out from the courses had lower self‐esteem than either the students who satisfactorily completed them or similarly qualified students who did not take the courses. There was some evidence that learning pedagogical theory enhances self‐esteem if it takes place after practical teaching experience but has the opposite effect when taught first, in the absence of any practical teaching experience.     

The urban land use system in China

1. Introduction Land market is the base of real estate market. Most developed countries and regions have quite mature land market. There are two types of countries and regions in view of the land ownership, i.e. state-owned one that transfers only the usufruct to a land user such as in Singapore, Malaysia, etc., and privately owned one for which the land is owned by individual, such as in Japan, U.S., Britain, France, etc. Chinese urban land is owned by the state, so, what users acquire is …     

The Community School Curriculum 11‐16

This article addresses the responses of four mixed comprehensive schools to the apparent 'under-achievement' of boys. The issue is briefly placed in context, both nationally and locally through a consideration of the improvement trajectory in each school. Approaches are classified into one of (i) organisational (ii) individual (iii) pedagogical and (iv) socio-cultural, and the potential of each approach for raising the achievement levels of boys and girls is evaluated. A concluding discussion considers the extent to which these approaches might contribute to authentic school improvement.     

The problem of education‐based discrimination

While the research, theory and policy literature on race, class and gender discrimination in education is extensive, the problem of education‐based discrimination itself has been widely overlooked. Indeed, the dominant ideologies of meritocracy and human capital (into which we are inculcated throughout our lives by schools, media and the state) proclaim that higher levels of education are and should be linked with greater reward. In a world where education is regularly invoked to legitimate inequality, it can appear nonsensical even to raise concern about education‐based discrimination as a matter of social injustice. We need, however, to challenge those who have taught us not to see what has essentially become an elephant in our living room. Otherwise, we will find ourselves unable ever to use our public systems of education for universal emancipation and empowerment.     

Factors affecting the adoption of an e‐assessment system

A case study was conducted in 2006–07 to explore how one US campus implemented a centralised e‐assessment system. The study specifically measured the extent of adoption by faculty members, identified their reasons for adoption and evaluated the impact on teaching and learning. The purposes of the system, entitled researching learning (REAL, a pseudonym), were to measure student learning, meet accountability requirements and assist the university in becoming a learning organisation. An electronic database included programme assessment plans, results and sample instruments. The system also included a peer review process to improve plans by an assessment committee of faculty and administrators.     

Emphatically,not to judge?

McCabe's recent attempt to define programme evaluators (in BJTE 6:3) sidesteps the central issue of how quality might be assessed. In this paper, the view is taken that evaluators should primarily be responsible for opening up debate about what makes a programme good, that is, about criteria, expectations, standards, and attainability. Several possible reasons for the current lack of focus on these aspects are suggested. It follows that the traditional training grounds for evaluators, namely sociology and psychology, may be inadequate.     

The long‐term effectiveness of anti‐bullying work in primary schools

The DFE Sheffield Anti‐Bullying Project showed that schools can reduce the problem of bullying through the use of whole‐school anti‐bullying policies, curriculum exercises, environmental improvements and individual work with bullies and victims. However, the length of time necessary to plan these interventions meant that, in many cases, the work was not completed when the project evaluations ended. This study investigates the continuing progress made in primary schools in the year after the end of the project. Eleven heads took part in interviews; all schools had made some progress with policy development, and all used some curriculum resources. Most had continued with environmental improvements, but few had used the methods for dealing with bullies and victims. Four schools then administered the Olweus bullying questionnaire to all pupils between ages seven and eleven, 657 children taking part. Two schools had a consistent decline in reported bullying, one experienced a consistent rise and the other an initial fall and subsequent rise. Important factors influencing success appeared to be the extent of the consultation exercise and the date of implementation of the anti‐bullying policy. All four schools had reduced bullying among boys, but three experienced a rise in bullying among girls. Anti‐bullying work may have been influenced by a male stereotype of bullying behaviour: efforts are necessary to raise awareness and promote honesty among girls. No school had raised the proportion of victims who had told staff about being bullied.     

The ‘End’ of Kant‐in‐Himself: Nietzschean difference

Kant's over‐reliance on universal reason and his subjection of free will to the moral law can be seen as normalising a particular and restrictive view of autonomous human existence—a view implicit in liberal accounts of education. Drawing on Nietzsche's critique of Kantian thought, this paper argues that the transcendental and unattainable realm of Kantian reason is insufficient as a sole basis for moral thought and action or as the basis of respect for others as ‘ends‐in‐themselves’. For Nietzsche, the possibility for each individual goes well beyond compliance with any imposed system of values, his metaphorical ‘death of God’ leaving room for creativity and difference.     

The appeal of rough‐and‐tumble play in televised professional football

In a factorial design varying (1) the degree of roughness/violence of a play (low, intermediate, and high), (2) several particular plays within this classification, and (3) sex of viewer, the enjoyment of televised plays of professional football was investigated. The plays were taken from a large pool of plays drawn from numerous games and involving numerous teams. In a pretest, a strong differentiation in the selection plays' degree of roughness/violence was secured. At the same time, the plays were matched on several other, potentially contaminating stimulus dimensions. The enjoyment of plays was found to increase with the degree of their apparent roughness/violence. However, this relationship was significant for male viewers only. It was not reliable for females. There were no appreciable sex differences in the enjoyment of plays featuring low and intermediate levels of roughness. Highly violent plays, in contrast, were significantly more enjoyed by males than by females. The findings suggest that, at least for male viewers, a high degree of aggressiveness is a critical ingredient of the enjoyment of watching sports contests.