Globalisation and science education: the case of Sustainability by the Bay

It is impossible to consider contemporary science education in isolation from globalisation as the dominant logic, rethinking and reconfiguring social and cultural life in which it is located. Carter (J Res Sci Teach 42, 561–580, 2005) calls for a close reading of policy documents, curriculum projects, research studies and a range of other science education texts using key concepts from globalisation theory to elucidate the ways in which globalisation shapes and is expressed within science education. In this paper, we consider an example from our own practice of a school-based curriculum project, Sustainable Living by the Bay, as one such instance. The first section reviews neoliberalism and neoconservativism necessary to understand how globalisation penetrates education, while the second outlines aspects of the curriculum project itself. As there were many different facets to the development and implementation of a project like Sustainable Living by the Bay, there is space only to elaborate two examples of the globalisation discourse. The first example concerns the government policy initiative that funded the project while the second example focuses on learner- centred pedagogies as globalisation’s pedagogies of choice.     

Issues of relevance in Kenyan mathematics and science curricula

Are ‘Mathematics’ and ‘Science’ such universal notions that one curriculum can serve equally well in all societies, subject only to exemplification from local circumstances? Or do different human cultures construct and use ‘Mathematics’ and ‘Science’ so differently that each culture needs to construct its own curriculum to teach its own children? At issue is whether curricula developed in industrialised states can be readily transferred or adapted to developing countries.Taking as its starting point the fates of the Scools Mathematics and the Schools Science Projects in Kenya, — both adaptations of British models, — this paper reviews the research addressed to these questions. Its conclusion is that definitive answers are not yet possible. Nevertheless, what evidence there is seems to question the possibilities of transferability or even of simple adaptation.     

Reach to Teach ICT: Issues and Compromises

This paper outlines some implications for pupils’ learning and for teachers of information and communication technology (ICT) in primary or elementary education of using complete ‘reach and teach’ resource and lesson plan solutions to support a national scheme of work. The example resources referenced in the paper are ‘The LCP ICT Resource Files for Schools’, designed to enable teachers to deliver the ICT National Curriculum requirements for England and are structured to closely follow the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) scheme of work. The authors of the LCP ICT Resource Files became aware that there was a widespread takeup of their materials and that, therefore, the resources had potentially a substantial impact upon practice in many schools.Models of curriculum provision are presented and characteristics of good practice are adduced which the author recommends to those who write, review or evaluate complete teaching solutions for ICT.     

‘Distance education’ and ‘e-learning’: Not the same thing

This article examines the distinct differences between ‘distance education’ and ‘e-learning’ in higher education settings. Since the emergence of the new information and communication technologies (ICT), many have related to them as the new generation of distance education, and some have referred to their implementation in academia as challenging the very existence of campus-based universities. Many policy makers, scholars and practitioners in higher education use these two terms interchangeably as synonyms. But the fact is that distance education in most higher education systems is not delivered through the new electronic media, and vice versa – e-learning in most universities and colleges all over the world is not used for distance education purposes. ‘Distance education’ and ‘e-learning’ do overlap in some cases, but are by no means identical. The lack of distinction between ‘e-learning’ and ‘distance education’ accounts for much of the misunderstanding of the ICT roles in higher education, and for the wide gap between the rhetoric in the literature describing the future sweeping effects of the ICT on educational environments and their actual implementation. The article examines the erroneous assumptions on which many exaggerated predictions as to the future impact of the ICT were based upon, and it concludes with highlighting the future trends of ‘distance education’ and ‘e-learning’ in academia.     

Research on education in the developing countries

Developing countries are in a major educational crisis. Educational opportunity has expanded but quality has been sacrificed. In some instances the quality of education has become so low that one might do well to question whether the costs of expansion do not outweigh the benefits. Research on education has not prepared the developing countries to meet the crisis at hand. The article mentions three examples—in pedagogy, in curriculum and in ‘deschooling’ theory—where educational research has not been helpful. On the other hand, the article points to several areas where there has been useful work, and where new work might make a substantial contribution in the years ahead.     

Schooling for the future in United States of America: Educational policy at the crossroads

A purposive sample of 10 senior educational policy leaders was interviewed for this Phase 2 of the study from across the US. Interview participants argued the need for: (1) more clearly defining the purpose and value of public education to the communities served; (2) the development of new stakeholder partnerships to accomplish this end; (3) visionary leadership to bring different and sometimes polarized groups together around the need for a quality system of public education; and (4) attracting the very best college graduates to a career of teaching as a professional. If these were accomplished, then the prospects for the favored ‘re-schooling’ scenarios becoming ‘best practice’ would improve greatly.     

Teaching in transition: Examining school-based gender inequities in central/southeastern Europe and the former Soviet Union

In the last decade, gender equity has become one of the most prominent issues in education reform efforts worldwide. Yet, questions of gender equity have received very little attention in the education reform efforts in the post-socialist countries during the transition period. Focusing on the political, economic, and social changes of the 1990s, this article examines school-based gender equity as it is treated in textbooks, curriculum, teacher attitudes, school environment, leadership and tracking. The article presents gender-sensitive strategies for reform and explores how existing ‘gender-neutral’ education practices detrimentally affect gender equity in schools, providing country-specific examples. The article concludes with recommendations for teaching in transition, given the education sphere's strong potential to redress gender inequities.     

A selective analysis of empirical findings in networked learning research in higher education: Questing for coherence

In this paper, we have attempted two ambitious tasks. We have undertaken a wide-ranging survey of the Network learning (NL) literature, and tried to identify the emerging themes of this work. We have selected three of these themes, and in each case tried to identify the main theoretical perspectives in use, the main directions of the studies, and the key ideas being addressed and researched. We have also tried to indicate where the main research effort might be directed in order to help to ‘fill in the gaps’ and achieve some coherence for the theme. Our second major task has arisen from our assertion that the field of Networked Learning research is theoretically fragmented. We have argued that this situation arises because Networked Learning research is a new field, and is drawing upon a wide range of theoretical perspectives. However, unless we can achieve some synthesis of these perspectives we may find it difficult to establish a coherent research programme in the field. We argue that one way of developing some coherence is to make theory and praxis interact explicitly, in other words, to ‘converse’ with each other in our research. By this we mean, to use theory to interrogate praxis, and use praxis to modify and develop theory, thus moving towards perspectives that are changing theory, modifying and improving it. As part of this argument, we have briefly surveyed the current level of Theory–Praxis Conversation, either explicit, or implicit, in the thematic research we have described. It is clear that some outstanding work is being done to make theory work, and to modify it in the light of research into praxis. However, it is also the case that much current Networked Learning research does not interrogate the theory that it uses to contextualise it. We see Theory–Praxis Conversation as a way of thinking explicitly about how we might make the work of interrogating theory in our research more explicit and systematic. In this way, our ‘Quest for Coherence’ may, we hope, help Networked Learning research to climb up to the higher ground, and give us a wider ranging view of learning in networked environments.     

Technology as ‘Applied Science’

The current consideration of technology as ‘applied science’, this is to say, as something that comes ‘after’ science, justifies the lack of attention paid to technology in science education. In our paper we question this simplistic view of the science-technology relationship, historically rooted in the unequal appreciation of intellectual and manual work, and we try to show how the absence of the technological dimension in science education contributes to a naïve and distorted view of science which deeply affects the necessary scientific and technological literacy of all citizens.     

Globalization and educational restructuring: University merging and changing governance in China

This article sets out in the context of globalization to identify, examine and discuss issues related to structural adjustment and educational restructuring in China, with particular reference to university merging and changes in higher education governance models. While it is basically an historical and documentary analysis of policy change in Chinese higher education, this article focuses on restructuring strategies that the Chinese government has adopted to make its university systems more competitive and efficient in the global market context. University merging in China should not be simply understood as a pure higher education reform but rather a fundamental change in higher education governance model from an ‘interventionist state model’ to an ‘accelerationist state model’. Rather than globalization bringing about the decline of the nation state, this article shows transformations taking place in Chinese universities may not necessarily diminish the capacity of the state but instead make the Chinese government a more activist state in certain aspects.     

School systems and social equity in western and communist countries: A historical-comparative appraisal

In outlining the problem of this article the author discusses the conceptual relationship between ‘equality’ and ‘equity’ with regard to educational opportunity and to their controversial interpretation in Western and Soviet sources. After a historical retrospective the analysis is focused on the clarification of ‘equality of educational opportunity’, its implementation in school systems and its differentiating definition by James S. Coleman. The recent development characterised by a turn from exaggerated optimism to disillusion is explained by actual events and trends as well as by reference to sociological and genetic works, published in Western and Communist countries.The outline of some essential obstacles to the realisation of equality of educational opportunity paves the way for concluding remarks in which possible ways of overcoming these obstacles (confined to the Western scene) are proposed. They are rooted in the thesis that ‘equality’ and ‘equity’ are less easy to define as objectives than reduction in unjustifiable deficiencies. Stress is laid on the thesis that the concept of equality of educational opportunity through education is in danger of being reduced to a programme of minimal knowledge and the tyranny of meritocratic examination systems, not of humane and individual personalities, potential good citizens. Admitting, therefore, that ‘equity’ deserves to be given priority over ‘equality’ the author concludes by emphasising that efforts to foster equity must not supersede the inclusion of reduction in inequality in educational programmes.     

The British response of higher education to changing educational perspectives

The primary purpose of this paper is to examine the objectives of higher education provision in Britain. The perspective of ‘educationists’ are compared with those of ‘economists’. In particular, the paper argues that the Department of Education and Science (DES) has moved substantially in the direction of the economists' approach to educational resource allocation. The paper also argues that the partticular characteristics of higher education (HE), where it is state-provided and free at the point of consumption, imbue it with the properties of a Niskanen-type bureau. This paper suggests that the current DES policy with its considerable implications for HE resource allocation can be rationalised in terms of the human capital approach and the problems of managing a bureau.“A professor was supposed to be a venerable kind of person, with snow-white whiskers reaching to his stomach. He was expected to moon around the campus oblivious of the world around him. If you nodded to him he failed to see you. Of money he knew nothing; of business far less. He was, as his trustees were proud to say of him, ‘a child’.On the other hand, he contained within him a reservoir of learning of such depth as to be practically bottomless. None of this learning was supposed to be of any material or commercial benefit to anybody. Its use was in saving the soul and enlarging the mind” (Leacock, 1922).     

Socio-Cultural Analysis of Two Cases of Distance Learning in Secondary Education

Virtual Schooling for primary and secondary students is becoming increasingly common across the United States. Although distance education has typically been used to address the needs of adult U.S. learners, its use with schoolchildren has been limited. The rapid development and diffusion of ICT has prompted advances in the use of distance education to serve these students educational needs—particularly those in remote rural settings. In this paper we analyse and contrast two case-studies that were gathered to inform researchers and practitioners of online schooling—a case in which two rural schools ‘coordinated’ the use of two-way interactive video to provide live synchronous learning, and a school ‘replacement’ model that provided an interactive online course for dispersed students with periodic live interactive synchronous learning sessions. Analysis drew on Cobb and his colleagues’ (2003) techniques to delineate communities of practice and Wenger’s (1998) work on boundary encounters, brokers, and boundary objects.     

The impact of globalisation on qualitative research in comparative and international education

This is a revised version of the 2003 British Association for International and Comparative Education (BAICE) Presidential Address delivered at the 7th Oxford International Conference on Education and Development. The processes of globalisation have been viewed by some as a major threat to the qualitative research tradition in education. Two main aspects of the impact of globalisation on qualitative research are addressed here. Firstly, it is argued that given the vital role of culture in mediating global policies at different levels, qualitative research still has a very important role to play. Secondly, it is argued that the knowledge and information revolution associated with globalisation has created an increasingly positivist climate that represents both a challenge for, and a challenge to, comparative education as it is currently conceived—particularly in the UK. This is illustrated by the growing international interest in systematic review methodology and its associated privileging of quantitative research strategies, such as randomised controlled trials, in evidence‐based policy.     

Selectivity in Learning: A Theme in the Application of Whitehead’s Theory of Prehensions to Education

This paper, which is particularly centered on the student’s learning process, is the first half of a detailed study of selectivity in Whitehead’s philosophy of education. Here, by setting forth the analogy between the creative process exhibited in Whitehead’s Theory of Prehensions and the learning process through an interpretation of the term, ‘prehending subject’ as ’learner,’ I argue that selectivity, via ‘negative prehensions,’ is the efficient motive power at work in the process of learning. Various concrete classroom examples of selectivity are alluded to, which lend support to this thesis. With clues from the Aims of Education, by reading the theory of prehensions with some conceptual modifications made for the purposes of education, I present the perspective that, as one side of a logical contrast, Whitehead’s theory of prehensions can be said to be conducive to a critical pedagogy.     

Globalisation,Post-modernity and the State: Comparative education facing the third millennium

In this article, the implications for globalisation and Post-modernity are assessed in terms of the self-understanding and practice of comparative education, particularly in relation to contemporary theories of the state, and civil society. It is argued that, while globalisation and post-modernity are usually seen as discrete phenomena, each raises complex questions of difference and hybridity, power and collective action, which can no longer be seen in relation to the nation-state alone. Different meanings of globalisation are canvassed, based in part on Sklair's taxonomy, while examples of the impact of globalisation, especially on higher education, are given. The implications of post-modern thought are also analysed, particularly for research and understanding in comparative education. Referring to Putnam's work on civil society, it is argued that both globalisation and post-modernity are linked to changes in the nature of late capitalism, and crises in the modern state. It is finally argued that neither offers much in practice to the much needed renewal of democracy, including in education; indeed that both arguably contribute to a trend towards individualism, and a retreat from democratic engagement and visions of the social good.     

Secular and Koranic literacies in South Asia: From colonisation to contemporary practice

This paper explores the distinction between ‘secular’ and ‘Koranic’ schooling and literacy in South Asia. It begins by tracing an archaeology of the distinction between secular ‘literacy’ and religious ‘illiteracy’. It locates the emergence of the distinction in the colonial census of the 19th century, in the development of ‘English’ education, and the responses within madrasa schools. The second part locates these debates and their on-going importance within a contemporary ethnographic setting. It examines the relevance of the distinction in relation to women's literacy practices. The paper argues that both secular and religious literacy practices are significant for women's status and well-being, and illustrates the centrality of religious reading and learning in Bangladesh. The paper challenges the conventional distinction between religious and secular schooling and literacy, noting their complementary and overlapping nature.     

Discovering democracy: an analysis of curriculum policy for citizenship education

Citizenship education has become the focus of renewed interest internationally as governments are struggling with issues of national identity in an era of globalisation where there is much ‘talk’ of threats to the legitimacy of nation states. Within this context, the Australian Commonwealth Government took another step in an accelerating trend of becoming involved in curriculum policy with the introduction of its citizenship education curriculum package, Discovering Democracy, in the late 1990s. Legally, education in Australia is a State government responsibility. However, over the last half century, the Commonwealth Government has increasingly set education agendas, justified in terms of'the national interest’ and has achieved them using financial levers which result from the vertical fiscal imbalance between the Commonwealth and the States.

This article examines citizenship curriculum policy processes and practices associated with the enactment of the Commonwealth's Discovering Democracy curriculum package in the State of Western Australia (WA). The study employed a framework of a policy trajectory extending from the Commonwealth Government (macro level) through State (WA) policy enactment (meso level) to individual classrooms (micro level). Documents and interviews with key players, including the Commonwealth Minister for Education, were the main data sources.

Analysis of the policy process revealed the emergence of power struggles as a result of the provision of a national curriculum on citizenship education by the Commonwealth Government, and these struggles occurred at national, State and local levels. These power struggles resulted in extensive transformation of Commonwealth and State level policy intent as the policy enactment proceeded at the classroom level. The study demonstrates the need for better alignment of conceptualisations and discourses in the processes of curriculum development if a greater congruence is to be achieved between expectations and realities in curriculum renewal. Meta‐level issues to emerge from the data, in particular the nature of policy consultative processes and the construction of teacher professional identity, have broader implications for education policy processes in other domains and in other countries.     

Globalisation and the Politics of Accountability: Issues and dilemmas for gender equity in education

This article considers issues of accountability for gender reform in education given changing state formations accompanying globalisation processes and pressures. It is argued that globalisation processes work in contradictory ways. Hence, while market liberal ideologies and practices underpinning economic globalisation threaten to undermine gains which have been achieved in gender equity in education, there may be possibilities for a feminist engagement with processes of political globalisation to assist the project of gender reform. Examples will be drawn from the Australian experience but, if globalisation theorists are correct, should have broader applicability.