Steering Dynamics in Complex Education Systems. An Agenda for Empirical Research

Many policy systems and education systems have grown more complex in the last three decades. Power has moved away from central governments in different directions: upwards towards international organisations, sideways towards private institutions and non‐governmental organisations and downwards towards local governments and public enterprises such as schools. Where once we had central government, we now have governance, which can be defined as the processes of establishing priorities, formulating and implementing policies, and being accountable in complex networks with many different actors. Steering in such complex education systems emerges from the activities, tasks and responsibilities of state and non‐state actors, operating at different levels and from different positions and often has un‐deliberate, un‐intentional and un‐foreseen consequences. There are many conceptual models that encapsulate this complexity, but this article suggests that there is a real need for empirical research. Without empirical research it remains unknown whether and how steering in complex networks works out in practice, what are its effects and for whom. Moreover, it is only through empirical research that we can find out whether central government has become less dominant, or rather whether its appearance has changed and it has become less visible, but not necessarily less influential. Foucault's governmentality perspective is a useful notion on which to build such a framework for empirical research which allows for a careful study of the interactions that signify steering. Inspired by Foucault, this article develops a trilogy of assumed conditions for steering to take effect in modern societies. Following this reasoning, ‘something' first needs to be made thinkable, calculable and practicable by different actors for steering to occur. This trilogy is a promising starting point for empirical research into very specific phenomena which can help us to understand how steering in complex education systems works.     

Complex Dynamics Caused by Torus Bifurcation in Power Systems

Torus bifurcation is a relatively complicated bifurcation caused by a pair of complex conjugate Floquet multipliers coming out of unit circle on the Poincare section. A three-bus system is employed to reveal the relationship between torus bifurcation and some complex dynamics. Based on theoretical analysis and simulation studies, it is found that torus bifurcation is a typical route to chaos in power system. Some complex dynamics usually occur after a torus bifurcation, such as self-organization, deep bifurcations, exquisite structure, coexistence of chaos and divergence. It is also found that chaos has close relationship with various instability scenarios of power systems. Studies of this paper are helpful to understand the mechanism of torus bifurcation in power system and relationship of chaos and power system instabilities.     

Complex Education Systems: from steering change to governance

The theories and approaches of steering/monitoring a process of change within education systems have evolved over the last 20 years or so as a result of many factors such as globalisation and decentralisation, a faster pace of change, increasing expectations and demands from various stakeholders (parents, employers, teacher unions, etc.) and the growing influence of OECD and of the EU in the field of education because of some more or less explicit standards and policy recommendations. All these evolutions contributed to increase the complexity of the education systems and of the instruments and procedures required to establish some coherence between the initiatives of a large number of more autonomous stakeholders. Our main objective here is to describe how the previous notions and concepts used in analysing the conditions for steering education systems have been gradually integrated within a larger paradigm: the ‘governance of multi‐level complex education systems’.     

Democratising Education in a Decentralised System: South African policy and practice

This paper examines the democratisation of education in South Africa within the context of the policy of educational decentralisation with regards to key policy texts, namely, the South African Schools Act (SASA) and the National Norms and Standards for School Funding (NNSSF). It begins by exploring the concept of decentralisation with specific reference to the notions of democratisation and participation. This leads to an examination of these concepts within the South African context. The final section examines the policy impact of participation and democratisation in relation to the powers and functions of School Governing Bodies (SGBs) by considering four illustrative examples, namely, religion, language, admissions and teacher employment. The paper concludes by considering the policy gap between policy rhetoric and practice in relation to attempts to entrench democracy and participation, and enhance participation at the school level.     

From Hard to Soft Governance in Multi‐level Education Systems

Decision‐making in educations systems has become more complex: while decentralisation has moved the locus of power to lower governance levels, the central level still is held responsible for the quality of outcomes. As a consequence, new steering strategies have emerged that tend to apply softer modes of governance as opposed to harder ones in the past. This article aims at shedding empirical and conceptual light on these new developments. It compares two national examples for soft modes of governance with a supra‐national one (the EU's Open Method of Co‐ordination OMC) and argues that OMC might be both a useful analytical lens to categorise new steering mechanisms and a possibly promising policy strategy at the national level.     

国家治理视野下的高等教育治理变迁——高等教育治理的变与不变

中国高等教育治理变迁70年,大致经历了中国高等教育制度的探索与建立(1949~1977年)、中国高等教育办学体制和管理体制改革(1978~2011年)以及以治理体系和治理能力现代化改革为旨归(2012至今)三个阶段。从70年的治理变迁中不难发现,我国高等教育改革发展呈现出鲜明的中国特征,主要体现为:始终坚持和完善党的领导、政府政策始终发挥主导作用、高等学校内部治理的基本制度框架始终是党委领导下的校长负责制等。这些相关治理制度在高等教育实践中不断形成、确立、完善和定型,并逐渐成为中国高等教育治理的根本制度。同时,在这70年中,中国高等教育治理在高等学校的法律地位、学术权力在高等教育治理中的作用以及全球化背景下中国高等教育治理方式等三个方面都发生了转变。未来,在国家治理视域下,中国高等教育治理应着重考虑如何将制度优势转化为治理效能。     

芬兰分权教育体制下的协同式教育改革

芬兰的分权教育体制使得决策力量保留在城市、学校以及课堂中。然而,在国家和地方层面的协同战略、项目以及课程设计中有这样一种传统。战略、项目以及课程的规划设计通常从识别课堂、学校以及地方所面临的挑战和需求开始。这些战略是教师工会、教育部、大学和教育提供者(通常是地方政府)以及其他几个利益相关者之间合作的产物。在对总体目标达成共识之后,利益相关者将在地方层面对具体战略和课程进行讨论,并在实施过程中进行修订。有三个当下芬兰的规划和课程在本文中被介绍和讨论,这三个规划和课程由"基础教育论坛"和"芬兰教师教育论坛"所设计。除此之外,文章还介绍并分析了数字工具与环境在教育中的应用话题。     

Education Governance in Transition: An introduction

The purpose of this article is to present concepts and research problems dealing with education governance and social inclusion and exclusion. Education restructuring, as a recent international movement, is regarded as a combination of transitions in governing and new managerialism. Social inclusion and exclusion is conceived of as a duplet concept, mutually defining each other. The relation between new governance - deregulation, decentralisation, privatisation and steering by goals and results - and social inclusion/exclusion is conceptualised as an equity problematic and a knowledge problematic. It is argued that there is a need to understand the system of reason in order to capture the implications of education governing in transition.     

Complex Systems in Education: Scientific and Educational Importance and Implications for the Learning Sciences

The multidisciplinary study of complex systems in the physical and social sciences over the past quarter of a century has led to the articulation of important new conceptual perspectives and methodologies that are of value both to researchers in these fields as well as to professionals, policymakers, and citizens who must deal with challenging social and global problems in the 21st century. The main goals of this article are to (a) argue for the importance of learning these ideas at the precollege and college levels; (b) discuss the significant challenges inherent in learning complex systems knowledge from the standpoint of learning sciences theory and research; (c) discuss the "learnability issue" of complex systems conceptual perspectives and review a body of literature that has been exploring how learning sciences pedagogical approaches can lead to student learning of important dimensions of complex systems knowledge; (d) argue that the cognitive and sociocultural factors related to learning complex systems knowledge are relevant and challenging areas for learning sciences research; and (e) consider ways that concepts and methodologies from the study of complex systems raise important issues of theoretical and methodological centrality in the field of the learning sciences itself.     

协同治理:完善社区教育治理的新方法

协同治理是一种新型的公共管理方法,在西方的经济、社会等公共管理领域显示出其优势。协同治理强调在管理公共事务中公共机构与利益相关者之间通过共同参与、达成共识、集体决策和执行以满足公众的需要、促进公平和提高效率;它强调共同愿景和权力协同,强调制度设计和过程改造;其核心是处理好政府和社会之间的关系。文章在厘清社区教育存在问题的基础上,介绍和分析了协同治理的内涵和特点,将协同治理引入社区教育,提出了社区教育协同治理的基本逻辑和实现路径,为推进社区教育改革发展提供参考。     

规律:复杂的动态网络系统

文章对规律的复杂动态网络系统作了系统的研究。首先论述了提出规律的复杂动态网络系统的客观根据和认识根据，然后着重阐明了规律的复杂动态网络系统的丰富内容，接着探讨了辩证思维方法是把握规律的复杂动态网络系统的关键。     

榜样教化:古代社会治理中的思想政治教育

以儒家意义上的榜样教化概念为切入点,才可以深入理解古代社会治理中的思想政治教育.在儒家多向度的阐释中,教化的本旨即榜样教化,其主要表现形态是身教示范.究其实质,榜样教化是一个关乎社会治理思想与实践的复杂性概念.作为"直接示范"的榜样教化具有层级式的权威示范之特质,其丰富的内在意蕴与社会治理的目标内涵达成了高度契合,由此成为儒家社会治理思想的内中之义.作为"间接示范"的儒家榜样形象则从经典走向了生活,在以社会教化活动为重要标志的古代社会治理实践中得以再现与演绎,由此在社会化转向过程中推动了社会教化目标的顺利实现.在现代转化的视阈下,上述资源为现代思想政治教育的理论建构与实践开展提供了有益的借鉴.     

中国教育治理之愿景

中国作为教育大国正在崛起,而真正的教育大国需要制度创新来奠定。我们应当探求新的教育改革模式,要解决各级教育的突出问题。在基础教育上,应当强化学校分区、就近入学的原则,将竞争式的高考转变为水平考试。职业教育的学历文凭和职业资格证书并重制度,应当是学校教育和继续教育两个系统上的并重。高等教育应当突出校长责任,重视学者的学术自觉,构建师生共同治理大学的局面。     

从学者治理、学校治理到学术治理 ——高等教育普及化时代的研究型大学治理

从精英阶段、大众化阶段到普及化阶段,研究型大学的治理发生了较大变化,主要特征是从学者治理发展为学校治理再发展到学术治理。治理变迁与研究型大学的内外部动力机制变化密切相关：单一外部机制和静态内部机制造就学者治理,多重外部机制和稳态内部机制要求学校治理,多重外部机制和动态内部机制催生学术治理。当前研究型大学的治理普遍面临内部自由探索与外部问责张力加强、全球规范机制与本国实践矛盾加深这两大时代挑战,中国研究型大学要回应好普及化时代的挑战,先要涵育理性、自主的现代品质。     

多元共治:现代职业教育治理创新研究

以"分权"与"自治"为核心特质的由政府、职业院校、市场和社会广泛参与的"多元共治"模式的构建将促使职业教育更具有效率和活力,既是我国职业教育治理实践探索中形成的经验总结,也是未来发展的新要求和新方向。一是在治理结构和利益格局之间寻求平衡,架构适度多元的治理主体;二是在组织集权与主体分权之间寻求平衡,建立适度分权的治理系统;三是在协同合作与合理制衡之间寻求平衡,形成与模式选择相适配的治理机制;四是在市场行为与政策设计之间寻求平衡,完善适应目标的制度保障。     

基于复杂网络动力学的远程教育网站生命力特征

《国家中长期教育改革和发展规划纲要（2010-2020年）》将教育信息化发展纳入国家信息化发展整体战略,强调信息技术对教育发展具有革命性影响。国内许多高校及广播电视大学都希望将各自的远程教育网站打造成提供优质教育资源的＂资源中心＂。但是当前我国远程教育网站存在使用不便、更新慢、不稳定、利用率与易访问率低等情况,用户满意度不高。复杂网络动力学研究动力学模型在不同网络上的性质及其与网络的静态统计性质之间的联系。以复杂网络动力学视角考察远程教育网站的生命力特征,是衡量网站是否具有源动力、是否具有维持网站正常运作活动能力及生存发展能力的一种方法。从网站架构、管理及内容三个角度分析国内外远程教育网站的生命力特征发现：目前远程教育网站存在泊松分布和幂律分布两种架构;泊松分布的远程教育网站网页链接比较随意、均匀,具有较差的抗攻击能力,适合随机免疫的防病毒机制;幂律分布的远程教育网站网页联系紧密合理,对随机攻击具有较强的鲁棒性,但对蓄意攻击和病毒的防护力较差,适合熟识者免疫的防病毒机制。以社团架构的形式梳理和安排网站内容与链接,有助于提升网站自身的生命力。     

The Study of Bureaucracy in Urban Education: Bill Boyd on the Organizational Dynamics of Large-City School Systems

Educating American Africans boys has been a mixture of political rhetoric, educational pedagogy, and historical neglect. Although American African educators have produced several models for effectively educating Black boys, most of them are dismissed as too “radical” by White researchers who have little understanding or experience in observing these models in action. A brief review of educational approaches involving American African boys concludes that “epistemological racism” inhibits understanding how cultural differences influence learning among American African boys. The warrior method is one such model and is presented as just one alternative to traditional methods of educating Black boys.     

Students in Higher Education Governance: The Portuguese case

This article aims at analysing and discussing student participation in Portuguese higher education institutions and, specifically, in university governance. In a first moment, it describes this participation under both the previous (1988–2007) and the new legal frameworks (since 2007). A discussion of the changes introduced by this last framework and the extent to which it has contributed to the erosion of student participation in governance is undertaken. Next, the article deals with the ways students are involved in quality assessment at both its systemic and institutional levels. The case of a specific Portuguese university is used as an example of how this involvement takes place. The article concludes with a discussion on the main features of Portuguese student participation in governance, focusing on its effectiveness and suggesting measures for improvement.