Future developments of educational research in the Asia-Pacific Region: Paradigm shifts, reforms, and practice

In facing up to the challenges and impacts of globalization, high technology, economic transformation, international competitions and local developments in the new century, there have been numerous educational reforms and initiatives in many countries in the Asia-Pacific Region (Cheng, 2005a, A new paradigm for re-engineering education : Globalization, localization and individulization. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer). Unfortunately, many of these educational reforms with good intentions and huge resources investment have been found ineffective and unsustainable if not totally failed. One of the major reasons for this is lack of a comprehensive knowledge base for policy development and implementation supported by sophisticated and relevant educational research. From the waves and trends of educational reforms in the Asia-Pacific Region, this article aims to draw implications for future developments of educational research in supporting paradigm shifts, policy formulation, and practice of educational reforms in the Region and other parts of the world in an era of globalization and transformation. This article was adapted from the president address at the International Conference of Asia-Pacific Educational Research Association held on 28–30 November 2006, Hong Kong.     

International education in systemic educational reforms: the Chinese case and lessons learned from an international perspective

International research findings and country experiences prove that, in coping with the tension between the global and the local in education, three major forces contribute to the success of international reform: firstly, the national public authorities in protecting education as a common good through political commitment and policy actions; secondly, the local community, in responding to the diversifying educational needs through active participation and initiatives for innovation; and thirdly, the international community, through technical, professional as well as financial assistance to member countries for desired systemic changes. This paper examines the roles of international education in facilitating systemic reforms, and explores strategies in promoting international education for educational change, citing evidence-based cases to examine the interaction between international education and systemic educational reforms.     

Who shapes education reform policies in Lebanon?

Many Arab countries are currently undergoing significant education reform. However, there is a paucity of research on how reforms are crafted and educational policies constructed. Lebanon has witnessed two education reforms since the Taif Agreement in 1989. This paper examines the role of research centres in influencing the last two education reforms. It selects a case study of an independent, non-governmental educational association and studies the role it played in these two reforms. The study found that contrary to the conventional wisdom, policy makers did call on research institutes when designing their reform. Yet there is a haphazard relationship between policy makers and researcher centres influenced by a number of factors, such as personal relationships, policy brokers, donors, and the availability of reputable research centres. The study also showed reluctance amongst some academics to play a direct role in influencing policymakers decisions.     

Advancing global capacity for engineering education research: relating research to practice,policy and industry

Findings are presented from a series of moderated interactive sessions held at international engineering education conferences between July 2007 and December 2008, where attendees discussed the current state and future trajectory of engineering education research. More specifically, this study examines how session attendees described: (1) the relationship between engineering education research and educational practice, policy considerations and industry; (2) important stakeholders, mechanisms/strategies and challenges for relating research to practice, policy and industry. Thematic analysis and open coding procedures were used to analyse the data collected at each session. In summary, frequent discussion and widespread consensus was observed about the need to relate engineering education research to the practice of engineering teaching. Discussions about relating research to policy and industry remain formative, but appear to be gaining traction. The paper concludes by proposing a cyclic model to better conceptualise how engineering education research can be strategically related to practice, profession and industry across diverse local and global contexts.     

Target-driven reforms: Education for All and the translations of equity and inclusion in India

This paper critically examines the ways in which inclusion and equity are constituted through education development policies in India. Programmes implemented under global and national Education for All (EFA) policies have largely involved the quantification of ‘equity’ whereby schooling processes are measured against broad targets for school outcomes – focused mainly on student attendance, retention and academic achievement. Drawing on perspectives from Actor Network Theory, the paper puts forward the view of development reforms as ‘networks of translation’ in order to trace the shifts and vicissitudes of educational ideals. Reporting on ethnographic data of two reforms in the south Indian state of Karnataka, we show how narrow understandings of equity are produced through target-driven approaches to EFA. In doing so, the paper highlights the performative effects of education development policy and its potentially counterproductive consequences in contexts of poverty and marginalisation.     

Shaping education policy research in an Asia-Pacific context

Globalization increasingly calls for comparing educational policies across countries. In this study, we assemble and analyze academic journal publications of the past decade in order to shape education policy research within an Asia-Pacific context. After examining Asia-Pacific research publication data from the Web of Science, we find a few stylized facts: (1) increasing research collaboration, (2) growing policy evaluation research, (3) swelling empirical research with quantitative methodology and (4) growing attention to higher education. Moreover, education stakeholders show exclusive interest on globalization, private tutoring, and language education policies within and across countries. Finally, we find a significant difference in research impact and diffusion between Asia-Pacific and American education policy studies. Further, we examine what determines research impact and diffusion. Our results indicate that research collaboration, national context, publication year and issue, policy area, and research methodology are significantly associated with publication citations. Based on the findings, we suggest useful implications for future directions on education policy research in an Asia-Pacific context.     

Translating Globalization and Democratization into Local Policy: Educational Reform in Hong Kong and Taiwan

The past two decades have witnessed three important international trends: an increase in the number of democratic states; economic globalization; and educational reforms in light of the challenges of the new millennium. A great deal of research has addressed educational change in relation to either globalization or democratization, but little has been said about the complex interactions among all three processes. In view of recent educational reforms in Hong Kong and Taiwan, the present contribution examines the local nature of education policy in a globalized age. It challenges those globalization theories which minimize the role of the state and exaggerate the power of globalization over local factors. In particular, it explores how the governments of these two Chinese societies have employed democratization to generate and legitimate reform proposals and have used economic globalization to justify educational reforms. The study concludes by discussing the complex interrelations of these processes, including tensions between global and local concerns in educational reform.     

Translating Globalization and Democratization into Local Policy: Educational Reform in Hong Kong and Taiwan

The past two decades have witnessed three important international trends: an increase in the number of democratic states; economic globalization; and educational reforms in light of the challenges of the new millennium. A great deal of research has addressed educational change in relation to either globalization or democratization, but little has been said about the complex interactions among all three processes. In view of recent educational reforms in Hong Kong and Taiwan, the present contribution examines the local nature of education policy in a globalized age. It challenges those globalization theories which minimize the role of the state and exaggerate the power of globalization over local factors. In particular, it explores how the governments of these two Chinese societies have employed democratization to generate and legitimate reform proposals and have used economic globalization to justify educational reforms. The study concludes by discussing the complex interrelations of these processes, including tensions between global and local concerns in educational reform.     

I,Teacher: re‐territorialization of teachers’ multi‐faceted agency in globalized education

Analysis of teachers’ agency as multifarious change, embedded in educational reform in the global era, stands largely unexamined in educational policy. Although the concept of teachers as agents has political implications, beyond this, examining teachers’ agency offers ways of describing and reviewing changes to teachers’ work and relations within evolving education systems. Local systems draw from globally orientated education policies, which continue to influence to the way that local systems redesign education. In the global context, education systems are complex interactions between structure and agency, evidenced as ‘multiplicity undergoing change’. In other words, there is dynamic and dialectic interplay between structure and agency. Teachers’ agency, germane to dynamic interplay, means that teachers are not only engaging in the reproduction of structural change aligning globalization‐driven reforms to their work and practice, but also, in adapting and reacting to new structural conditions, they are transformed through their actions. In this paper, the focus becomes teachers’ agency as a framework for understanding how teachers are redesigned and reassembled to do things differently within restructured education systems. Finally, the discussion considers the possible consequences of teachers work and practice, given teachers’ agency relative to the macro policy of superfigures and the transitional national/global structures.     

Singapore’s educational policy through the prism of student voice: recasting students as co-agents of educational change and ‘disrupting’ the status quo?

This paper examines the implementation of Singapore’s landmark policy, ‘Thinking Schools, learning Nation’ (TSLN), in developing ‘thinking students’ through the prism of student voice. In the context of twenty-first century education and the growing importance of student voice in education, this paper argues that the time might be right to ‘disrupt’ Singapore’s education status quo and incorporate meaningful student voice in education policies. Instead of perceiving students as mere subjects of educational policy enactment, and seeing policy as something that is done to them, it should be reconceptualised as something which is done with them; importantly, students should be recast as key co-agents of educational change, consistent with TSLN’s reconceptualization of learners as ‘thinking students’. Basing its arguments on findings from a qualitative case study of students’ perceptions and schooling experiences of critical thinking in TSLN, this paper considers the case for the inclusion of significant student voice in Singapore’s educational policy reforms. It fills gaps in research on student voices in Singapore’s educational reforms and TSLN’s research from students’ perspective. The paper suggests that the inclusion of student voice in educational reform might be the next landmark step in ‘disrupting’ its educational landscape after the ‘big bang’ of TSLN.     

WHY "WHAT WORKS" WON'T WORK: EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE AND THE DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT IN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

A bstract .  In this essay, Gert Biesta provides a critical analysis of the idea of evidence-based practice and the ways in which it has been promoted and implemented in the field of education, focusing on the tension between scientific and democratic control over educational practice and research. Biesta examines three key assumptions of evidence-based education: first, the extent to which educational practice can be compared to the practice of medicine, the field in which evidence-based practice was first developed; second, the role of knowledge in professional actions, with special attention to what kind of epistemology is appropriate for professional practices that wish to be informed by the outcomes of research; and third, the expectations about the practical role of research implicit in the idea of evidence-based education. Biesta concludes that evidence-based practice provides a framework for understanding the role of research in educational practice that not only restricts the scope of decision making to questions about effectivity and effectiveness, but that also restricts the opportunities for participation in educational decision making. He argues that we must expand our views about the interrelations among research, policy, and practice to keep in view education as a thoroughly moral and political practice that requires continuous democratic contestation and deliberation.     

Examining the influence of international large-scale assessments on national education policies

This paper examines whether, to what extent, and how international large-scale assessments (ILSAs) have influenced education policy-making at the national level. Based on an exploratory review of the research and policy literature on ILSAs and two surveys administered to educational policy experts, researchers, policymakers, and educators, our research found that ILSAs, with their multiple and ambiguous uses, increasingly function as solutions in search for the right problem – that is, they appear to be used as tools to legitimize educational reforms. The survey results pointed to a growing perception among stakeholders that ILSAs are having an effect on national educational policies, with 38% of respondents stating that ILSAs were generally misused in national policy contexts. However, while the ILSA literature indicates that these assessments are having some influence, there is little evidence that any positive or negative causal relationship exists between ILSA participation and the implementation of education reforms. Perhaps the most significant change associated with the use of ILSAs in the literature reviewed is the way in which new conditions for educational comparison have been made possible at the national, regional, and global levels.     

Secondary Education and Research in New Zealand

Through the 1990s the secondary sector was a site of considerable change as the Government sought to ensure that the curriculum and associated assessment practices were designed to meet student needs and the long-term goals of New Zealand society. The new regime aimed to promote student achievement and in particular to attain more equitable educational outcomes for all New Zealand students. These were policy rather than practice driven initiatives that linked somewhat tenuously to research based evidence. This paper begins by giving an overview of the secondary sector in New Zealand and these educational reforms. The overview sets the context for the following section that describes links between educational research, policy and practice during this time. Key issues within the sector are highlighted and some of the ways research has been used to monitor changes and inform policy are identified. It is argued that much of the research over the past decade has been small scale and short term and while this has served the immediate policy agenda it has provided only fragmentary evidence to inform longer term goals such as improving student performance. The paper concludes by discussing some of the current initiatives that might contribute to improving the interface between research and policy/practice in secondary education. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

大众化进程中高等教育机会多样化改革:澳大利亚的政策与启示

在高等教育大众化条件下的若干改革中,高等教育机会多样化是其中的重要改革。澳大利亚通过设置“第13学年”、增强高中与高中后教育的互动、推行宽基础学习、打破传统高等教育形态进行开放高等教育等策略,进行了教育机会多样化的改革。借鉴澳大利亚的做法,设立“教育缓冲区”,增强高等教育过程的灵活性,扩大学生学习选择权,是我国高等教育大众化进程中推进高等教育机会多样化改革理应继续深入探讨的问题。     

Education in England – a testbed for network governance?

Abstract

Since devolution in the late 1990s, education policy in England has diverged further from that in Scotland and also from policy in Wales and Northern Ireland. In this paper we review the roots and trajectory of the English education reforms over the past two decades. Our focus is the schools sector, though we also touch on adjoining reforms to early years and further and higher education. In so doing, we engage with various themes, including marketisation, institutional autonomy and accountability. Changes in governance arrangements for schools have been a defining feature of education reforms since devolution. This has been set against an evolution in national performance indicators that has put government priorities into ever sharper relief. In theorising the changes, we pay particular attention to the suggestion that the English education system now epitomises the concept of ‘network governance’, which has also been applied to education in a global context. We question the extent to which policies have in practice moved beyond the well-established mechanisms of ‘steering at a distance’ and undermined the very notion of an education system in England. We conclude by considering possible futures for education policy and how they may position England in relation to other parts of the UK and the wider world.     

Teacher management and educational reforms: Paradigm shifts

In the past 15 years, numerous reforms and initiatives in many countries in the Asia-Pacific region have aimed to change education and promote new learning to prepare the new generation for the future. Unfortunately, despite good intentions and huge investments of resources, many of these reforms have been found to be ineffective and unsustainable—if they succeed at all. Reflecting on the trends and waves of educational reform in the Asia-Pacific region, this paper introduces an international lesson on the emerging syndrome of educational reform across the region and illustrates its negative impacts on teacher ecology and teacher management. Then, the paper outlines the implications of this lesson and of a study of the world’s best-performing educational systems, using them to develop a holistic approach to managing teachers and planning for their sustainable professional development. Finally, it highlights the paradigm shifts in teacher management, reviewing the three waves of educational reform in the last two decades, and draws further implications for formulating teacher management policies in ongoing and future educational reforms to support students’ new learning and sustainable development.     

The potential benefits of teacher efficacy doubts for educational reform

This paper analyzes the benefits that specific teacher efficacy doubts can have for educational reforms, especially for progressive, meaning-centered reforms. Teachers’ efficacy doubts may support reform in several ways, perhaps most significantly by supporting teacher learning. Similar benefits can be expected for specific teacher doubts regarding collective teacher efficacy. The important role of efficacy doubts in progressive, meaning-centered teaching is highlighted. These conclusions challenge the common assumption that teachers’ doubts about their efficacy are inherently problematic for reforms. Connections are made to research on learning, teacher efficacy, and teacher education. Implications for research, teacher education and educational policy are described.     

Market-Driven Education Reform and the Racial Politics of Advocacy

What is the landscape of the racial politics of public education in the age of Obama? To what factors can we attribute the seeming educational policy consensus from Washington, DC, to the states and from philanthropies and policy entrepreneurs in urban school districts? How should we understand opposition to the policy menu? This article examines commonsense understandings in education reform, which are supported by assertions that market-based schooling options are superior for children of color, and argues that a primary reason for the popularity of such reforms is an underexamined advocacy coalition, formed nominally around school choice, while also encompassing several other entrepreneurial educational reforms. The article describes the structure of this network, arguing that its dominance has precluded an understanding of counter advocacy against school choice and related reforms. It then describes several past and current movements that challenge commonsense understandings of the reforms’ currency, as a way of pushing back against the reforms’ expansion. The article also discusses the activities of grassroots community groups in response to market-based reforms and argues that these efforts can help to expand public deliberation on complex matters of educational policy. The article concludes with recommendations for further examination of these efforts to highlight the concerns, strategies, and solutions to educational inequality being articulated within communities of color and with their allies.     

Resistance Towards the Language of Globalisation – The Case of Sri Lanka

This paper relates the contemporary educational reforms in Sri Lanka to the processes of globalisation. The international monetary organisations such as the IMF and the World Bank and the regional organisations like the Asian Development Bank (ADB) play a dominant role in influencing the debt-receiving countries when it comes to their educational practice. The intensity of the influence of these organisations can vary depending on the existing educational policy of the aid receiving countries. This paper, after a brief introduction on globalisation, examines its effects on the education policy in Sri Lanka with a special emphasis on the current language policy. Equity in education is usually advocated at primary level based on the universal primary education concept so highly upheld by the World Bank. However, the present high human development indicators are undoubtedly due to Sri Lanka's free education policy in native languages. The paper concludes stressing the importance to retain the national education policy as a means of empowerment and liberation of its masses and creating stronger ethnic harmony.     

What is Evidence-based Education?

This paper argues that education should become more evidence-based. The distinction is made between using existing research and establishing high-quality educational research. The need for high-quality systematic reviews and appraisals of educational research is clear. Evidence-based education is not a panacea, but is a set of principles and practices for enhancing educational policy and practice.