Sharing best practices in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago: patterns of policy implementation and resistance

This article outlines policies from multilateral organisations that advocate sharing best practices between developing nations. The article discusses the degree to which these best practices are implemented by small states as indicated by teachers, academics and policymakers in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. For the purpose of this article, a best practice refers to pedagogy, curriculum or programme that contributes to student achievement. Currently, a number of influential multilateral organisations advocate that developing nations should share their best practices in education with each other. Despite encouragement by multilaterals however, best practices are not shared. At best, foreign ideas are used to legitimise local policies. While these policies are intended to help countries reach their Education for All (EFA) goals, they do not account for the differences between islands and their vulnerability towards larger countries. Attempts to innovate the curriculum by implementing foreign ideas failed due to the forces of tradition. It can thus be concluded that resistance – non‐compliance or opposition – to sharing educational best practices, as well as to the implementation of new curricula, stems from echoes of colonialism and globalisation. Although this study focuses on two islands, there are implications for other developing countries and small states as they fall under the same policy auspices of UNESCO and the Commonwealth Secretariat.     

Scientific literacy in developed and developing countries

The concept of scientific literacy is now widely used to represent goal statements for science education. These tend to be remarkably similar in developing and developed countries. It is argued that, although this is desirable idealistically, a more realistic approach is required in determining priorities, given the differing cultural and economic contexts of science education. Exposure to science and technology varies in developed and developing countries, yet students in both contexts have difficulty defining science. However, the problem of equating science with progress, but not understanding why, is most acute in developing countries, for it leads to blind faith.

Many students in developing countries receive a limited exposure to science, those in developed countries are bombarded, The question for both is what is most important for them to know. The recognition of science as process is offered as a solution.     

Motivating teachers in the developing world: Insights from research with English language teachers in Oman

According to some commentators, targets set by the international community for bringing education to all children in developing countries are threatened by a teacher motivation crisis. For this crisis to be addressed, challenges to the motivation of teachers in such contexts need to be understood from perspectives both theoretical and comparative. Thus an analysis is required of the changes that have taken place particularly in countries whose education systems have developed rapidly in recent decades. Case studies of motivated teacher behaviour in such national contexts might be of relevance to educational reformers. Drawing upon the tenets of self-determination theory (SDT), this article begins by discussing the nature of the reported teacher motivation crisis in the developing world more generally. It then focuses on the Sultanate of Oman, highlighting recent historical developments there. Having thus set the scene, the author considers the extent to which negative environmental influences on teacher motivation in Oman have been addressed and then looks for evidence of intrinsic motivation in case studies of Omani English teachers. Returning to the developing world more generally, conclusions focus on how teachers’ psychological needs for competence, autonomy and relatedness can be met through educational policies that reduce negative influences on teacher motivation and provide both inspiring professional development opportunities and work environments characterised by respect.     

国际社会构建学习型城市 推进终身学习策略综述

"学习型城市"这一概念由发达国家提出,最早主要由经济合作与发展组织和欧盟推动,但现在它已经在向发展中国家不断延伸。随着发展中国家城市化进程的加快,政府部门需要发挥重要作用来制订详细的计划和目标,通过教育机构、教学手段和政治举措促进全民学习。建设学习型城市面临着挑战与风险,不能仅仅停留在概念和理论层面上,而是要有改革的实际行动,政府要有明确的、可持续的政治意愿和承诺,为学习者创造出大量的学习机会。联合国教科文组织应当加强与成员国的通力合作,通过学习型城市网络的建设,营造出更多更好的学习型城市。     

论教育语境中的正义

本文旨在探讨教育语境中的正义具有什么内涵,以及是否存在一种被证实的关于正义的教育概念。本文并不主张建立一种积极的教育正义概念,而是主张避免把教育当做服务于教育之外的正义规范的工具。因此,本文重点分析了教育中的不正义,并将其在教育系统的不同层面上进行了归类,从而形成了一种有关教育语境中的不正义的教育现象学,这也就是教育现实得以改善的起点。文章最后指出了克服这些不正义的途径。     

澳大利亚高等融合教育实践及其对我国的启示

随着融合教育理念的深入,中国和澳大利亚高等教育中的融合教育思想和实践也得到一定的发展。但不同文化和政策背景为两国高等融合教育的发展提供了不同的土壤,进而造成了差异。从高等融合教育的准入与安置、专业和课程设置以及资源支持三个方面入手,分析澳大利亚高等融合教育的实践发展路径和策略后发现,中澳两国的高等融合教育实践存在一定差异。为推进我国融合教育发展,应从转变残疾观念、构建本土化政策保障体系、建立残障大学生服务中心、调整课程设置、加强职前和职后师资培养以及搭建高校支持体系六个方面予以改进。     

Disability and education: The longest road to inclusion

Children with disabilities are one of the many groups of children still not enrolled in primary education in developing countries. However, their educational exclusion and right to education are now receiving more policy attention. This paper reviews some of the key issues and challenges in relation to disability, education and development: definitions and data, policies, service delivery and finance, and capacity development. Drawing on a review of education sector planning and provision in 28 developing countries and other literature, the paper makes comparative reference to policy and practice in a number of developed and developing country contexts.     

Global frameworks,local contingencies: policy translations and education development in India

Policies and programmes pursuing the universalisation of elementary education (UEE) in developing nations have been influenced by a set of complex forces in international, state, and local arenas. This paper explores how a large‐scale standardised assessment programme shaped by international and market‐oriented discourses has been differently re‐worked in the south Indian state of Karnataka. We draw on observation and interview data with educators and administrators to shed some light on their roles in reconstituting the meaning and practice of this programme. The intended frameworks of ‘borrowed’ education policies are not always reproduced or sustained in local contexts. Our paper shows how policies, rather than ‘borrowed’ from one context to another, undergo a process of ‘translation’ involving the contextualisation and inevitable transformation of policies.     

Post-Modernizing Education on the Periphery and in the Core

The political economics of educational change are central to understanding reform in developing countries because of the role that education plays in relationship to economic and social policies. Given the uncertain association between the expansion of education and economic development, this paper explores the role which modernization policies of the State play in promoting contemporary conflicts between private and public interests in education. By first introducing Best's concept of the "New Competition" this paper examines the economic consequences for education in the larger context of the global market. Through case examples of Mexico and the US state of Oregon the effects of modernization policies are examined to understand how modernization policies are inappropriate to meet the social, political, and economic needs of both the periphery and core countries. The paper concludes by addressing the potential consequences for the public good of modernization efforts that promote the privatization of education on the basis of human capital theory rather than on that of a more comprehensive and humanistic approach to the development of social capital.     

The potential of transnational language policy to promote social inclusion of immigrants: An analysis and evaluation of the European Union’s INCLUDE project

Language issues and social inclusion consistently remain two major concerns for member countries of the European Union (EU). Despite an increasing awareness of the importance of language learning in migrants’ social inclusion, and the promotion of language policies at European and national levels, there is still a lack of common actions at the European level. Challenged by questions as to whether language learning should be prioritised as a human right or as human capital building, how host/mainstream language learning can be reinforced while respecting language diversity, and other problems, member countries still need to find solutions. Confronting these dilemmas, this study analyses the relationship and interactions between language learning and immigrants’ social inclusion in different contexts. It explores the potential of enhancing the effectiveness of language policies via a dialogue between policies and practices in different national contexts and research studies in the field of language and social inclusion. The research data are derived from two databases created by a European policy for active social inclusion project called INCLUDE. This project ran from 2013 to 2016 under the EU’s lifelong learning programme, with funding support from the European Commission. Through an analysis of these two project databases, the paper reviews recent national language policies and their effect on the social inclusion of migrants. In the second part of her article, the author interprets the process of language learning and social inclusion using poststructuralist theories of language and identity.     

Exploring the global/local boundary in education in developing countries: the case of the Caribbean

This article focuses on education in developing countries in the context of globalization and with specific reference to the Caribbean. It examines the concept of globalization and related concepts and positions developing countries within this context. It explores the possibility of the creation of a third space where the local and the global can co-mingle and new understandings can emerge. The article argues that although the global/local interface constitutes a zone of tension, it can, in the realm of education, become an area of creative opportunity. It outlines some parameters that can guide the way in which the third space can be shaped when Caribbean and other developing countries are faced with the challenge of accommodating external ideas into local education.     

Lifelong learning policies and young adults: Considerations from two Italian case studies

ABSTRACT

The article focuses on social vulnerability and how Lifelong Learning (LLL) policies tackle it. Two Italian case studies on local LLL measures within Italian Youth Guarantee (YG) scheme are discussed: Civic Service in Genoa and NEETwork Project in Milan. The aim is to investigate how such measures shape the life courses of young adults in vulnerable conditions. Examining whether their support of the school–work transitions meets the youths’ needs, accounting for the different contexts and the individual resources and shortcomings. Similarities and differences between the two case studies are discussed, focusing on policies’ governance and concept of vulnerability applied to young adults. A conceptualisation of the vulnerability as a process developing over the young adults’ life course trajectories is presented. Conceiving it in a multidimensional way, discussing the interplay between the individual resources, and contextual factors in emerging ‘vulnerable conditions’ of young adults. Then, the article proposes possible interpretations of the ways in which young adults relate to and cope with LLL policies, according to the Merton’s strain theory, outlining different strategies of adaptation in uncertain biographies. The risk to increase social exclusion and inequalities is discussed as an unintended effect of LLL policies.     

Managing conduct: a comparative policy analysis of safe schools policies in Toronto,Canada and Buffalo,USA

Public school districts in Buffalo, USA and Toronto, Canada reviewed their safe schools policies in 2008. Revised Codes of Conduct are compared to earlier versions and each other, and a conceptual policy web is used to understand how local, state/provincial, national, and international influences affect local safe school policies. The comparison demonstrates that while influenced by international beliefs about unsafe schools and youth violence, affected by local social, economic, and historical contexts, and constrained by state/provincial and federal policies, local school districts are nevertheless able to exercise some agency. The study also highlights the importance of Ontario's Human Rights Commission as a policy actor, and suggests zero tolerance for non‐serious incidents may be practised in Buffalo schools. This finding and the continued practice of excluding students from schools in both districts as a discipline approach casts doubt on the sincerity of governments' commitments to evidence‐based policy in education at all levels. Contributions of the conceptual policy web for policy analysis are discussed.     

经济全球化中非对称性竞争与复杂性动态优势

各国经济发展水平的不同导致在共同规则下各国之间经济竞争出现非对称性。这种非对称性主要表现在市场化广度和深度、企业家精神与洞察力、技术水平与技术开发能力、市场监控能力、资本存量与资本形成能力、市场信号反应能力、市场规律的把握能力等。非对称性竞争会导致发展中国家的经济很容易过早地进入低水平稳定态并在低水平稳定态中徘徊 ,进而导致发展中国家与发达国家之间在人均产出与劳动生产率方面差距的扩大。在非对称竞争格局中 ,中国为了能够有效地追赶发达国家 ,必须开发出“复杂性动态优势”。     

The global–local interface in multicultural education policies in Japan

This paper examines interactions between the global and the local in the context of Japanese mainstream schooling, by focusing on the development of local government policies to manage diversity in schools. This paper reveals how local governments developed education policies in interaction with grassroots professional groups, activists and schools, and by selectively incorporating national policies. These local policies are multicultural education policies but differ in two significant ways. The first is their predominant concern with human rights education, leaving celebration of cultural diversity as a marginal consideration, and the other is the official use of the term ‘foreigners’ in the title of these policies; both of which reflect the pre‐existing local context. The paper demonstrates that new immigrants do not unilaterally impact on supposedly ethnically homogeneous Japanese classrooms, but that the pre‐existing local contexts (national, local and institutional) have mediated global forces in effecting changes.     

Educating all for positive peace: Education for positive peace or oppression?

The absence of indirect or structural violence is termed positive peace. In this paper the author attempts to apply the concept of positive peace to the concept of education for all, the way this concept was defined at the World Conference on Education for All (WCEFA) in Jomtien, Thailand, in March, 1990. The discussion focuses on three points raised at the Jomtien conference by countries from the South: the effects of the structural adjustment policies (SAP) on the education sector; the effects on higher education of a concentration of resources on basic education and the effects of EFA on the possibilities of strengthening indigenous culture. The discussion shows, through new research results and concrete examples, that the effects of SAPs like the reintroduction of school-fees in a poor country like Tanzania lead to greater inequalities and greater structural violence against the poor, especially the girls from the poorer homes. It further shows that there is a process going on in African countries of undermining local curriculum development and the local textbook industry thereby threatening the indigenous culture. An example from Zimbabwe of sustainable education which does not rely on external sources is given.     

From Policy to Practice: Roma Education in Albania and Sweden

This paper aims to make a contribution to recentering practice- and practitioner-oriented issues in Roma education studies. Gaps can be observed today between conditions of educational work in practice and the ways education is understood in mainstream academic discussions, compounded by the fact that educational workers in the field have limited access to academic environments. Also, as a subject dealing with minorities, education for Roma and Roma communities tends to occupy a marginal position in academic departments of Education. Inversely, in Roma studies, focus often lies on culture or history, and education is mainly considered through the lens of identity. This means that many important experiences in Roma educational work remain silent, and significant aspects of practices are not sufficiently shared across contexts. In this paper, experiences from education projects in Albania and Sweden are presented and considered against the background of Roma education policies in these countries generally. An analysis is made of the ways these projects directly or indirectly connect to local academic structures. Finally, suggestions are made of potential strategies for developing practice- and practitioner-driven research in this area, to make relevant experiences more accessible across linguistic and national borders.     

How parental and school responses to choice policies reconfigure a rural education market in Victoria,Australia

Market principles now dominate the education and social policies of many Anglophone countries, including Australia, but articulate differentially within specific contexts. Existing historical legacies, local economic and social conditions, and geographical settings interact with federal and state funding and transport policies to shape the nature of regional education markets and the choices families make in a rural school market in Australia. Through two school case studies, this article explores the effects of policy shifts on parental choice and student movement within a regional Victorian community. Informed by policy sociology, the article views the policy as a dynamic, often ad hoc process with contradictory effects. It indicates how an ensemble of federal and state funding and conveyancing policies enable some schools to develop marketing practices that reconstruct the local education market to their advantage through the introduction of transport and flexi-boarding policies. It demonstrates that education markets are not confined to urban settings and that while choice is not a new phenomenon in this rural area, federal and state funding and transport policies have reconfigured local markets and intensified the market work undertaken by schools and parents with, in this instance, unequal effects on the provision of schooling in a rural region.     

Developing Diversity Through Specialisation in Secondary Education: Comparing approaches in New Zealand and England

The paper compares approaches to curriculum specialisation in secondary education in New Zealand and England. In both countries there have been movements towards increased specialisation, though these have been quite different in form and scope. In both countries specialisation cannot be divorced from broader education policies designed to increase devolution and choice and the paper discusses these contexts before analysing the different approaches to specialisation and attempting an explanation. The authors draw on findings from research undertaken in New Zealand schools. The paper identifies three dimensions that have played a part in influencing curriculum specialisation in both countries. These are opportunity, source of impetus and support. It is argued that while local initiative is possible in New Zealand, central planning and guidance is inadequate. In England while central planning is strong and support is available, it is far from clear that real specialisation is encouraged by existing curriculum and assessment frameworks. In these circumstances in both countries it seems likely that vertical, rather than horizontal, diversity will continue to hold sway.