What type of teachers do we intend to train? An analysis of teacher profiles in MERCOSUR curricula

Over the last decades, teachers have often been identified as ‘key’ players for the improvement of education systems. The successive waves of reform taking place in Latin America since the 1990s have aimed at initial and continuous teacher training. The main changes intended to improve the quality and lengthen the duration of initial teacher training; additionally, the variety of teacher training courses was widened and diversified. This work focuses on the teacher training curricula currently in force for the MERCOSUR member states (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay). Special attention will be paid to the definitions of the profile that is intended for future teachers, as it is believed that this dimension makes it possible to reveal the different types of expected performance, which will allow us to move towards the dimension of the educational practices. The results obtained from the comparative analysis indicate that the abilities/competences put forth by the four countries are relevant and complementary with each other. Studies of this kind are a step forward in the definition of common policies for MERCOSUR countries aimed at strengthening and articulating teacher training and, specifically, at recognizing teacher qualifications and favouring mobility among countries.     

从“当事人意思”探究瑞士商事仲裁协议效力扩张之理论与实践

在现代国际及国内商事交易中,主体、客体以及法律关系的复杂性使得法院和仲裁机构都将面临着更多的实际问题,特别是关于仲裁协议效力扩张的问题。瑞士对于此问题已经有了丰富的理论和实践。希望通过对一些相关问题的思考,为我国未来的实践提供借鉴。     

Raising the stakes: the challenges for teacher assessment

These are changing times in Australia for teachers and their students, with the introduction of a national curriculum and standards driven reform. While countries in Europe such as England, and in Asia such as Singapore, are changing policy to use assessment in the support of and improvement of learning it appears that we in Australia are moving towards creating policy that will raise the assessment stakes for the putative purposes of transparency, accountability and fairness. What can be learnt from countries that have had years of high stakes testing? How can Australia avoid the mistakes of past curriculum and assessment reform efforts? And how can Australian teachers build their capacity to maximise their use of the learning power of assessment? These are the questions that are addressed in this article, with reference to innovative research from global networks that have maintained the assessment focus on learning rather than accountability practices.     

Using ROI to demonstrate performance value in the public sector

The demand for accountability through measurement continues to increase. Although much progress has been made, it remains an issue that challenges even the most sophisticated and progressive performance improvement function. This article provides an overview of best practices in the return‐on‐investment process and describes how applying these measurement practices can have a positive impact on organizational performance and the credibility of performance improvement professionals in the public sector.     

Measuring the Results of Performance Improvement Interventions

In this study, a web‐based questionnaire was used to measure attitudes of members of a professional performance improvement organization relative to adoption and implementation of Level 4 or results‐oriented evaluation. Participants were 274 members of the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI). It was expected that frequency of Level 4 evaluation use could be explained by innovation diffusion or change variables. Findings suggest that the adoption of effective performance improvement measurement systems and processes at the organizational level is relatively low compared to other types of evaluation. This level of adoption is impacted by a complex array of factors. Stakeholder participation in the adaptation of evaluation systems to increase their compatibility with current practices, and experimentation with this type of evaluation on a limited or trial basis may increase the rate of adoption. Management support of the development and adaptation of a results‐oriented evaluation system is seen as providing the opportunity for the change process to move forward. Implications for diffusion of this type of evaluation within organizations will be discussed within the context of a HPT Change framework.     

美国“父母即教师”项目(PAT)的发展及效果评估

20世纪以来,美国社会的急剧变化使家庭系统面临巨大的压力并引发一系列社会问题,致使美国开始开展增加家庭教育的知识与技能、预防和减少家庭危机的系列研究与实践。以美国密苏里州为代表的"父母即教师"项目(ParentsAsTeachersProgram,PAT),关注孩子在校园的表现与家长参与的互动关系,通过丰富的项目研究实践来提高家长的教育水平,有力地促进了家长有效参与到孩子的发展中去。美国各州普遍实践的"父母即教师"项目的评估表明,参加该项目的父母在育儿技巧、参与的程度与质量方面有显著提升;孩子在认知与入学适应能力等方面也有明显提高。该项目尤其是对贫穷家庭的孩子和非白人家庭的孩子影响更大。     

Assessment for learning research in East Asian countries

Educational agencies in East Asia have heeded the advice of research findings and therefore acknowledge the value of assessment for learning (AfL) practices through various policy initiatives. At definitional level, the evolving conceptions and theories of AfL have consistently streamed in from overwhelmingly European and Anglophone-based research. We present a review of mainly peer-reviewed journal articles on selected AfL research in East Asian countries. The findings show that the current implicit and atheoretical approach towards defining and implementing AfL suggests opportunities for further deliberation and theorisation about what constitutes AfL in East Asian countries. It is conceivable that teachers who understand the principles and frequently prepare students for summative assessment in the East Asian classroom are concurrently practising a particular process and practice of AfL. We conclude that the practices of AfL can therefore not just be variable; they will also be very situated and contested.     

Evaluating the provision of school performance information for school choice

We develop and implement a framework for determining the optimal performance metrics to help parents choose a school. This approach combines the three major critiques of the usefulness of performance tables into a natural metric. We implement this for 500,000 students in England for a range of performance measures. Using performance tables is strongly better than choosing at random: a child who attends the highest ex ante performing school within their choice set will ex post do better than the average outcome in their choice set twice as often as they will do worse.     

完善我国汽车消费税制度的政策建议

随着国民生活水平的提高,"私家车"正在由"奢侈品"变为"生活必需品",同时也伴随出现了"限购"、"限行"、"拥堵"等社会问题。通过税收政策合理引导汽车消费必然引发汽车消费税的改革问题。本文在借鉴了经济发达国家的相关税收制度的基础之上,对我国现行税制进行分析,发现其存在的缺失并提出完善的建议。     

Plastic people in pinstripe suits: an exploration of the views of Irish parents on the publication of school league tables

While the publication of school league tables is prohibited by law in Ireland, the publication of data categorising university placements achieved per school has become common practice. A central argument advanced in this endeavour includes the provision of information for parents. The views of parents on this issue have, until now, not been explored in Ireland. The current paper outlines the findings of a national survey of 1915 parents on the publication of school league tables. The findings of this research highlight a widespread rejection of the practice. Concerns surrounding the narrowing of educational experience, the intensification of performance pressures and the rise of elitism in schools were noted. Calls for greater teacher accountability were also noted and deemed to transcend the publication of school league tables.     

Performance Improvement in the Literature

The performance improvement field continues to change human performance in the workplace via experience and research. These changes have led professionals and researchers to focus on their environment, which influences our practices and lifestyles. In addition, performance improvement (PI) is affected through the impact the profession makes through performance improvement practice (Kaufman, 2006, 2011). Many fields such as health care, manufacturing, and engineering have benefited from advances in new technology and process improvements so it is not clear how much PI has contributed, and it is not clear how much performance improvement has expanded. Therefore, this study helps to clarify how much the performance improvement field has developed and expanded.     

全球本科医学教育认证概览

全球范围内本科医学教育的架构及质量差异很大,认证过程有助于医学院校改进教学、提高质量.本文对世界各国医学教育认证体系进行了全面概述,重点阐述了其区域差异性.了解当前全球医学教育认证现状,对于深入开展认证过程与教育结果之间的相关性研究极为重要.     

Professional practices with under‐ones in French and Japanese day care centres

This paper presents the main results of a comparative study carried out by a French‐Japanese research team. Its focus is the daily life of under‐ones in day care centres in two cultural contexts—France and Japan. Based on three kinds of data—official texts, videotaped observations and caregivers' discourses—the study highlights the links between traditional and professional norms and values which shape practices in the two countries. It thus contributes both to the current debate on new paradigms in early education and to the improvement of professional practices.     

How the Organizational Learning Process Mediates the Impact of Strategic Human Resource Management Practices on Performance in Korean Organizations

The primary purpose of this research is to examine the structural relationships among several workplace‐related constructs, including strategic human resource management (HRM) practices, organizational learning processes, and performance improvement in the Korean business context. More specifically, the research examined the mediating effect of the organizational learning processes at three levels—individual, group, and organizational—to explain the relationship between strategic HRM practices and performance improvement. A total of 640 cases were used for data analysis, with general multivariate analyses and structural equation modeling. The results suggest that the learning processes at the three levels have a significant direct impact on organizational performance and that they also serve as a mediating interaction construct to maximize the effect of strategic HRM practices. The article provides conclusions, discusses the limitations of the research, and makes further recommendations.     

Assumptions underlying performance‐based budgeting

Abstract

Interest in ‘performance budgeting’ is growing despite a lack of research on its effectiveness. U.S. states have largely used ‘incremental’ and ‘formula’ budgeting processes to fund higher education. However, more than half of them are experimenting with some form of ‘performance budgeting’. There have been similar attempts to reform budget practices in the U.S. in the past, but most of these processes have been largely abandoned. Governmental ‘performance budgeting’ for higher education assumes policy objectives are stable, complex decisions on budget trade‐offs can be made at governmental levels on the basis of data, institutions operate as bureaucracies, resources can be linked to outcomes, outcomes are identifiable and can be agreed upon, accountability can be achieved through budget policies, and current practices create incentives to enrol unqualified students. These assumptions are not realistic. Consequently, ‘performance budgeting’ will not meet proponents expectations and will suffer the fate of past budget fads.     

Catching up with Harvard: results from regression analysis of world universities league tables

This paper uses regression analysis to test if the universities performing less well according to Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s world universities league tables are able to catch up with the top performers, and to identify national and institutional factors that could affect this catching up process. We have constructed a dataset of 461 universities across 41 countries. We found consistent evidence of a moderate degree of catching up, especially amongst non-US universities. Larger universities as well as universities located in English speaking countries not only perform better on average, but also catch up more over 2003–2009. Universities located in lower income countries are also catching up more. The performance of private universities, as compared to that of public universities, varies substantially between the US and the other countries.     

Bringing the World to the Classroom through Videoconferencing and Project-based Learning

The focus of this paper is a case study of a Texas-based school that implemented global projects to connect their students with many states and countries as a platform for integrating collaboration and communication skills, technology tools, and cultural diversity into an existing curriculum. The school introduced videoconferencing at every grade level K-8 in a school-wide initiative to bring the world to the classroom through the engagement of global learning projects with distant partners. A rubric is presented that provides a framework for improvement of interaction and engagement in videoconferencing experiences to develop best practices. For the purposes of this paper, the value of global projects in K-4 will be discussed.     

Performance improvement: The means to process improvement

Successful problem solving and improvement require more than the discovery of a workable solution. At some point, the results need to become part of daily routines and locked in place so that these new practices do not revert to old, less productive habits. Using performance improvement steps to secure the change can ensure that process owners will not revisit the same set of issues in the future.     

Seeing education through the prism of PISA

International comparisons are never easy and they are not perfect. But PISA shows what is possible in education and it helps countries to see themselves in the mirror of student performance and educational possibilities in other countries. This article summarises key policy insights from PISA. It highlights how excellence and improving equity need not be conflicting policy objectives, but that they tend to be jointly achieved only when deliberate policies are in place that match resources with needs and when stratification and grade repetition are contained. The article also shows how a number of countries have been able to raise learning outcomes and moderate the impact of social background in the last decade and highlights some of the policies and practices that characterise these countries.     

甘肃省肃南裕固族自治县基础教育一体化均衡发展的经验研究

基础教育实现均衡发展是教育发展到一定阶段的必然要求。本文主要分析和阐述了作为人口较少民族之一的裕固族聚居区——甘肃省肃南裕固族自治县自实现"两基"以来,在保障教育投入、推行十五年免费教育、建设标准化寄宿制学校、提升教师队伍素质、实施素质教育等方面所获的成效,并依据基础教育均衡发展"四阶段"理论界定了发展水平,在指出存在问题的基础上提出了对策,力求为更深入的研究提供帮助。