Academic Understandings of and Responses to Bologna: a three-country perspective

This article aims to describe how academics in England, Denmark and Portugal understand the Bologna Process, their attitudes towards the initiative, and how understandings and attitudes determine action. It shows how contextually and culturally determined academic understandings, expectations, preferences, priorities and constraints are key influences in the process of educational change envisaged by the Bologna Process. Second, inspired by the implementation staircase metaphor which illustrates different actors' perceptions conditioned by their location on the path of the policy, the article presents three different examples of interplay between national authorities responsible for policy-making in the wake of the Bologna Process and the institutional field responsible for policy implementation. It reveals variations from country to country with regard to bottom-up and top-down initiatives, both at the level of actors' expectations and of actual measures to implement Bologna policy. This article comes in response to the frailty of an empirical base for the understanding of Bologna from an institutional and academic perspective. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at http://youtu.be/9YVouJ35XuE     

“博洛尼亚进程”的背景、历程及发展趋势

"博洛尼亚进程"是在欧洲政治经济的一体化、世界高等教育国际化和欧洲跨文化学习和研究的背景中产生的,也是20世纪60年代以来最重要、涉及面最广的高等教育改革,是欧洲高等教育一体化的进程。其前期准备、初步探索、正式启动三个阶段以及布拉格会议、柏林会议、卑尔根会议以及"伦敦公报"等历程显示,"博洛尼亚进程"的发展趋势是进一步完善三级学位制度、加强高等教育质量保障、促进学历学位相互承认,力争在2010年建立欧洲高等教育区,实现欧洲高等教育的国际化。     

欧洲高等教育一体化改革:博洛尼亚进程的结构与过程分析

为应对全球竞争的挑战,顺应欧洲一体化的大趋势,29个欧洲国家于20世纪末启动了旨在整合欧洲高等教育体系的博洛尼亚进程。博洛尼亚进程以可比较、兼容、透明原则构建高等教育系统框架,以达成多样性与一致性的统一;注重整体设计,系统推进;在政策的制定上注重利益相关者的参与,为其顺利推进赢得了广泛的社会支持。博洛尼亚进程的设计、组织与管理,对我国实施系统的高等教育改革具有重要的启示和借鉴意义。     

博洛尼亚进程后欧洲工程教育专业认证的发展研究——以欧洲工程教育认证网络为例

博洛尼亚进程对欧洲高等工程教育专业认证产生了重要的影响,本文以欧洲工程教育认证网络(ENAEE)及欧洲工程教育专业认证(EUR-ACE?)体系的出现和发展为切入点,分析了其历史、背景、组织结构、认证标准,及其与欧洲各国工程教育专业认证之间的关系,并将EUR-ACE?认证体系与华盛顿协议进行了比较,发现EUR-ACE?体系在欧洲层面建立起了一种分散式的第一阶段和第二阶段统一的认证体系。EUR-ACE?体系既强调灵活性和兼容性,又努力保证各国的多样性。     

Visualizing community: understanding narrative inquiry as action research

This article explores the experiences of students who used interactive learning material on handheld computers in a gallery to support their understanding and appreciation of artwork. The article considers the wider implications of using technology to change relationships between teacher, learners and subject matter, and attempts to offer positive and pragmatic recommendations about the implementation of new technology into established educational contexts. Research was undertaken as part of the ICT Test Bed Project, set up by the DfES (UK Department for Education and Science) and funded by Becta (British Education Communications Technology Agency). Initial findings from this project are likely to be of interest to those exploring how mobile technology can be used to support the Government’s wider agenda for educational reform and offer a practitioner’s critical perspective on the possibilities and challenges offered by their use.     

推进欧洲高等教育一体化的博洛尼亚进程

迄今为止，博洛尼亚进程划分为四个阶段，其标志分别为1998年欧洲四国签订索邦宣言、1999年29国签订博洛尼亚宣言以及此后召开的布拉格会议和柏林会议。越来越多的欧洲国家加入该进程，共同致力于实现到2010年建立欧洲高等教育区的目标，从而大大推进了欧洲高等教育一体化的进程。     

Human rights education and the research process: action research as a tool for reflection and change

Human rights education (HRE) aims to achieve a change of mindsets and social attitudes that entails the construction of a culture of respect towards those values it teaches. Although HRE is a recent field of study, its consolidation in Latin America is a fact. During the latest decades several authors have carried out research related to HRE that has made it easier to understand the process of inclusion of HRE in public policies as well as reflection about research processes as a whole. They favour a discussion about the most frequently used strategies and tools, how the latter contribute to strengthen the production of knowledge in HRE, and to what extent there is an actual interrelation between theory and practice. This research article intends to show the state of these questions in HRE, building on the research and studies carried out in Latin America during the last 10 years. At the same time, the article aims to discuss the importance of action research for HRE, understanding its potential as a tool for reflection and change. In general terms, this research article concludes that the studies on HRE rely more on field research and experience report than on action research methodology. The article is concluded noting an important and current challenge for HRE: a more frequent use of participatory action research in human rights-related work, so the knowing-understanding and applying fields can be constructed.     

Looking through the lens of a teacher's life: The power of prototypical stories in understanding teachers' instructional decisions in mathematics

The focus of this narrative inquiry was to examine how teachers describe influences on their instructional decisions in mathematics. Using a lens provided by pivotal or prototypical stories teachers told about their past experiences, connections were suggested between these past experiences and their instructional decisions. These connections helped to illustrate how instructional decisions may be shaped by priorities and beliefs established earlier in life, as well as by current contexts. Further research on the use and characteristics of prototypical stories is suggested.     

An anatomy of authority: the Bologna and ASEM education secretariats as policy actors and region builders

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the sources of authority behind the Bologna and ASEM secretariats’ technocratic appearance and administrative routines, and argues that they are transnational policy actors in their own right. By drawing on principal-agent theory and the concept of ‘authority’, it offers an alternative framework for understanding the various forms of authority. The case studies generate three important insights. First, it shows how the secretariats derive their authority from the tasks delegated by states, the moral values and social purpose they uphold, and the expertise they possess. Second, it compares how the different governance structures of the Bologna and ASEM education processes impact on the secretariats’ authority. Third, it highlights how the secretariats exercise their respective authorities and exert their discernible influence at different stages of higher education policy-making and region-building processes.     

Pre-service teachers' dispositions towards diversity: Arguing for a developmental hierarchy of change

This article explores Australian pre-service teachers' beliefs about and attitudes towards diversity. Building on Garmon's [Garmon, M. A. (2004). Changing preservice teachers' attitudes/beliefs about diversity: what are the critical factors? Journal of Teacher Education, 55(3), 201–213] argument that there are three dispositional factors that influence students' likelihood of developing multicultural awareness and sensitivity in teacher education programmes, the authors explore the relationship between such dispositions as exhibited in students' autoethnographic work. In so doing, the authors posit that these dispositions may be hierarchically developed: beginning from ‘self-awareness/self-reflectiveness’; moving towards ‘openness’; and finally a ‘commitment to social justice’. After exploring the nature of this hierarchical development through the in-depth investigation of six representative student accounts, the paper concludes by discussing the implications for teacher education, including the necessity to adjust our expectations of changing the dispositions of pre-service teachers in discrete, short courses.     

Professional identity creation: Examining the development of beginning preservice teachers' understanding of their work as teachers

The importance of reflection in supporting the continued professional learning of preservice practitioners is well recognised. This study examines one aspect of the outcomes of preservice teachers' reflection: the development of their own self-image as a teacher. In making the transition from student to teacher, preservice teachers create their own professional identity. Their ability to articulate this identity is examined through a new construct, a “teachers' voice”. A teachers' voice, develops when preservice teachers interpret and reinterpret their experiences through the processes of reflection. A teachers' voice is articulated as part of the persons' self-image. The construct, a teachers' voice, was investigated by examining changes in preservice teachers' contributions in an online discussion forum. Two complementary approaches of content analysis were applied. Both methods revealed changes in preservice teachers' levels of engagement and showed that in the first semester of preservice teacher education, the majority of preservice teachers moved towards a more professional stance in their contributions.     

From the contribution to the action approach: White teachers' experiences influencing the development of multicultural science curricula

In this exploratory case study, we sought to understand teacher's integration of multicultural curricula in science curriculum units, and how personal experiences influenced the level of integration in light of Bank's typology of ethnic content integration into school curricula. Five research participants volunteered and were selected so as to be representative of the demographic of pre‐service and in‐service teachers in the southern United States. The aim was to explore teachers' personal experiences with cultural others that either facilitated or impeded their adoption of multicultural curricula strategies in science curricula units. Case narratives present and discuss interview data and assigned curricula projects. Findings suggest that participants who had transformative cultural experiences and who identified as the marginalized cultural other, transformed science curricula at higher levels of Bank's typology for curricula' multicultural approaches. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 1271–1295, 2012     

Towards a network governance of European lifelong learning: a structural analysis of Commission expert groups

ABSTRACT

The influence of the European Commission (EC) expert groups on policy coordination within the European Union has received a growing interest among researchers, who have assessed their role in policy-making processes, their participation patterns, their transparency, and their knowledge-generating process. This article interrogates the structural configuration of the networks, and the relationships between the actors, formed through the Commission expert groups on adult learning, and under the Education and Training 2020 work programme, respectively, by means of a Social Network Analysis. So attention is paid on the mutual-constitutivness of a social network and its members, or the potential power within a network, and of a network, to influence member states’ domestic adaptation of communitarian policies. Our analysis points at noticeable differences between the connectivity of each of the Commission expert groups, and the groups emerging from the two forms of network governance these produce in the adult learning, and education and training domains. A key result, however, is that two actors (i.e. Flemish Department for Education and Training, Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland) stand out as fully embedded in both forms of network governance, and represent highly connected ‘informal’ brokers across policy domains.     

Fifteen years of action research as professional development: seeking more collaborative,useful and democratic systems for teachers

This paper presents the experience of a group of teachers who have developed action research (AR) dynamics for 15 years aimed at their professional development and teaching practice improvement. The focus is first on the importance of AR, collaborative dynamics and theory and practice relationships for in‐service teacher training. It also shows the different spiral and cycle stages carried out, as well as the group’s characteristics, its evolution during these 15 years and the annual operation structure currently in use. The results show the five large AR thematic spirals developed and the materials generated and disseminated. There is also an analysis of the main benefits and problems so far encountered. Finally, a series of reflections and conclusions on the implications of keeping such a workgroup for so long is detailed.     

Reflecting and learning together: action research as a vital element of developing understanding and practice

This article details how an action research/reflective practitioner approach added value to the efforts of participants who were engaged in developing their practice and working together within a New Labour area-based policy initiative. The process of reflecting and learning together in the project supported practitioners in thinking, learning about, designing, engaging in and changing elements of their practice according to the evidence they had gathered. A key element of the article is how the notion of reflection ‘in’ action and ‘on’ action (Schön) supported people from different backgrounds and settings in understanding and developing their practice through improving self-knowledge and confidence and, in turn, their knowledge of other perspectives. The article raises issues in relation to the use of action research at the interface between micro- and macro-development, individual and group work, and worker and manager perspectives. It concludes by suggesting some of the issues that those engaged in further development of innovative, interagency and interdisciplinary projects might need to address if an action research/reflective practice model of working together for change is to be made more widely available, relevant and useful.     

Promoting science and technology in primary education: a review of integrated curricula

Integrated curricula seem promising for the increase of attention on science and technology in primary education. A clear picture of the advantages and disadvantages of integration efforts could help curriculum innovation. This review has focused on integrated curricula in primary education from 1994 to 2011. The integrated curricula were categorised according to a taxonomy of integration types synthesised from the literature. The characteristics that we deemed important were related to learning outcomes and success/fail factors. A focus group was formed to facilitate the process of analysis and to test tentative conclusions. We concluded that the levels in our taxonomy were linked to (a) student knowledge and skills, the enthusiasm generated among students and teachers, and the teacher commitment that was generated; and (b) the teacher commitment needed, the duration of the innovation effort, the volume and comprehensiveness of required teacher professional development, the necessary teacher support and the effort needed to overcome tensions with standard curricula. Almost all projects were effective in increasing the time spent on science at school. Our model resolves Czerniac’s definition problem of integrating curricula in a productive manner, and it forms a practical basis for decision-making by making clear what is needed and what output can be expected when plans are being formulated to implement integrated education.     

The role of treatment acceptability,effectiveness, and understanding in treatment fidelity: Predicting implementation variation in a middle school science program

Evaluating a school-based program is a particular challenge when teachers implementing the program. Variations in implementation can be difficult to measure and predict. We developed measures to explore variation in treatment implementation and serve as predictors of variation in a school-based science education program. Based on previous work, we focused on assessing treatment acceptability, effectiveness, and understanding among teachers as critical determinants of variations in program implementation using self-reported and objective measures of implementation. All three constructs were associated with implementation of the program. Our measures of these constructs show promise for use in formative and summative evaluations. Our stratification of program elements with implementation predictors can provide a template for future exploration of treatment fidelity.     

Global impacts of the Bologna Process: international perspectives,local particularities

The paper examines the transfer of the Bologna Process (BP) outside Europe, focusing on its ‘external dimension’ and dynamics in global settings. It argues that the BP impacts on the internationalisation activities of universities, especially with regard to cross-border transparency of qualifications, transnational improvement of quality assurance and interregional mobility of students or scholars. However, the outcomes following the international transfer of the BP-model are unclear. As the BP-model makes its way to regional, national and local contexts, it meets existing policy discourses and practices, whose priorities may in fact differ from its postulates. The paper asserts that the non-linear conceptualisation of this model outside Europe is significantly affected by the socio-economic, political, historical and cultural context of each region. National visions, economic demands, political will, social objectives, administrative regulations, cultural traditions, ideological norms and philosophical ideals transform the BP-model as it is incorporated into each system of higher education.     

Partnership and recognition in action research: understanding the practices and practice architectures for participation and change

Abstract

This article is the first and introductory article of this special issue. The article gives a societist account of the principles of partnership and recognition as they are encountered and experienced in practices in action research. A societist account of practices requires a social theory for understanding practices. Therefore, the article utilises the resources of a contemporary form of practice theory, the theory of practice architectures and ecologies of practices, to lay down the foundation for conceptualising partnerships and recognition. Specifically, it introduces the theory as a foundation for the other articles in this special issue which, as a collective, examine the cultural-discursive, material-economic and social-political arrangements that enable and constrain particular kinds of partnerships and recognition that exist or evolve in site-based education development. Additionally, the article presents theoretical considerations concerning the principles of partnership and recognition that emerge as enmeshments of one another which mutually form, reform and transform practices in action research.