The mythology of schooling: the historiography of American and European education in comparative perspective

This essay explores the historiography of American and European education, considering how educational historians communicate powerful messages about the purposes and promises of schooling through their writing. I divide the historiography of American education into four interpretive traditions: traditionalism, radical revisionism, progressive revisionism, and plural revisionism. Each phase of the historiography, I argue, has supported particular myths about the relationship between public schooling and society. European historians have shared many of the interpretive assumptions contained within traditionalist, radical revisionist, and progressive revisionist scholarship, conveying similar myths to their US counterparts. Contemporary histories of European education, however, are distinct from recent histories of the US. In comparing the divergent trajectories of these two historiographies, I conclude by suggesting the strengths and weaknesses of contemporary scholarship in both fields, an assessment derived from a review of the underlying myths conveyed by each history. Recent US scholarship remains committed to narrative and draws attention to the educational experiences of marginalised groups. Scholarship on European education, in contrast, has explicitly embraced theoretical interpretive frameworks while also giving less attention to schooling on the margins. At the same time, many European histories of education have maintained a critical view of schooling, while some recent scholarship within the US has de-emphasised this connection, echoing older interpretive traditions and tacitly reinforcing faith in the ameliorative potential of public education.     

学历教育与职业资格认定相结合的人才培养模式的实践与探索

在工科专业大学生中加强职业技能的培养,是社会发展的需要。文章阐述了当前工科高等教育存在的问题,提出了加强大学生工程实践能力培养的途径,探索了学历教育和职业资格认定相结合的人才培养模式。     

The tangled roots of real estate markets,the state,and public education

In this article, I use a case study of education in nineteenth-century Oregon to place the twentieth-century phenomenon of ‘shopping for schools’ within a broader historical context. In doing so, I make three points. First, documenting previously unacknowledged links between the spread of public education and efforts to market land, I suggest that education, real estate markets, and the state have deeper and more tangled roots than scholars have imagined. Second, I contend that wrestling with these tangled roots suggests the need for scholars to reexamine the role of private markets in shaping the organisation of educational opportunity across places and time. Third, I argue that histories like Oregon’s demonstrate that ‘state’ and ‘market’ are neither stable nor mutually exclusive categories.     

Use of the concept of Bildung in the international science education literature,its potential,and implications for teaching and learning

Bildung is a complex educational concept that emerged in Germany in the mid eighteenth century. Especially in Germany and Scandinavia conceptions of Bildung became the general philosophical framework to guide both formal and informal education. Bildung concerns the whole range of education from setting educational objectives in general towards its particular operation in different school subjects, among them science education. In more recent years, the concept of Bildung has slowly begun to be used in the international science and environmental education literature. This paper presents a systematic analysis of the international literature concerning the use of the concept of Bildung, with a view on its meaning in and for science education. At least five versions based on or closely connected to the tradition of Bildung can be identified: (a) Von Humboldt’s classical Bildung, (b) Anglo-American liberal education, (c) Scandinavian folk-Bildung, (d) democratic education, and (e) critical-hermeneutic Bildung. These different understandings of Bildung are discussed in relation to their historical roots, educational theory, critique, and their relation to philosophies of science education, such as different visions of scientific literacy. Based on critical-hermeneutic Bildung, the paper theoretically develops views of critical-reflexive Bildung as an educational metatheory. It is connected to ideas of transformative learning, sustainability education and a Vision III of scientific literacy. Finally, some implications of critical-reflexive Bildung for teaching and learning are discussed.     

Politics: interest,participation and education. Comparing the Republic of Ireland with Germany

In order to generate higher levels of interest in politics and participation in political processes, political or citizenship, education in schools must be at the heart of the curriculum and be characterised by active, learner-centred approaches. This paper hypothesises that, when compared with Germany, a more limited form of political education in Irish post-primary schools may be impacting negatively on the extent to which it is achieving such aims. In order to begin to explore this hypothesis, the results for seven items relating to interest in politics and participation in political processes from the most recent (2010) round of the European Social Survey are compared for the Irish and German populations. In addition, the nature and status of political education in the German and the Irish school systems are compared. Conclusions are drawn and the implications for future research in this field and for political education in both countries considered.     

美、英、澳三国基础教育教师绩效工资制度实施对办学质量的影响分析及启示

本文对美、英、澳三国教师绩效工资改革的背景,教师绩效工资制度对办学质量的双重影响进行了分析和探讨。认为教师绩效工资制度实施对办学质量产生了一些积极影响:促进教师队伍建设、提升学生学业成就、提高学校管理水平、使学校获得了更多的外部支持。但同时也带来了一些消极影响:绩效工资对教师激励的有限性、应试教育之风重新盛行、学校变得行政化和官僚化。本文指出,当前我国在义务教育学校教师绩效工资改革中应对目标群体进行科学、合理、公正的绩效评价,建立有效的监督机制,并采取多种激励方式相结合。     

城乡教育一体化研究述评

目前在中国,城乡教育一体化是一个热点研究领域。通过梳理文献,归纳出主要涉及城乡教育一体化的内涵、研究视角、问题表现、障碍、实现路径等内容;同时,发现国内对城乡教育一体化专门评价和指标体系的研究还很不够,借此,希望引起国内学者的进一步关注。     

中国加入WTO对高校德育的影响及对策

中国加入WTO使我国高等教育面临新的情况 ,尤其给高校德育带来了前所未有的挑战。全面、科学地分析中国加入WTO对高校德育的影响 ,及时制定正确的对策 ,调整学校德育的目标、内容和方法 ,帮助学生在主体参与中建立牢固的、符合我国社会期望的价值观念体系。     

困境与出路:城镇化进程中城乡基础教育均衡发展问题研究

城乡基础教育均衡发展问题是我国城镇化进程中必须面对的一个重要问题。文章从城乡基础教育均衡发展所遭遇的硬件障碍、软件制约因素及投入体制、投入政策问题等方面入手,对城镇化进程中我国城乡基础教育均衡发展所面临的困境进行了分析,提出均衡发展城乡基础教育的出路:建设标准化学校与合理调整学校布局及规模相结合,外引人才与内部援助乡村教师及提高专业素养相结合,创新教育投入政策与改革投资体制相结合。     

Fixing contradictions of education commercialisation: Pearson plc and the construction of its efficacy brand

ABSTRACT

This paper explores some of the fundamental contradictions related to the commercialisation of education and how Pearson plc – ‘the world’s leading multinational education company’ – is trying to overcome these challenges through discourse and semiotics. Pearson’s Efficacy Framework is a semiotic-calculative device created to measure the impact of educational products and services sold by the company. This paper examines the ways in which the efficacy programme and tools developed by Pearson represent a type of ‘social fix’ intended to resolve contradictions linked to education commercialisation by demonstrating the ‘measurable impact’ and ‘outcomes’ resulting from its educational products and services and communicating that to customers, shareholders, policymakers, state managers and partners. Efficacy will be analysed as it relates to a hegemonic ‘knowledge brand’ in the making in education that is being actively promoted and appropriated by Pearson. Pearson, therefore, aims to construct a corporate brand and reputation around efficacy based on legible measures of performance, which this paper argues is in response to risks and contradictions associated with the commercialisation of education.     

Strong on retention,weak on outcomes: the impact of vocational education and training in schools

The re-shaping of the Australian senior secondary landscape in recent years and the emergence of a new space for vocational knowledge within Australian senior secondary certificates of education have been underpinned by a national focus on raising retention rates and achieving Year 12 or equivalent attainment rates in the context of a diversifying senior secondary cohort, and on delivering effective training to meet the skills needs of the growing economy. Absent from this policy agenda is a focus on the efficacy of the expanding vocational education and training (VET) in Schools. At the core of this discussion are the impacts of ongoing tensions between the instrumentalist labour market role of VET in Schools programmes and the expectation that an equitable senior secondary landscape should respond to the education and training needs of all students. Despite rapid growth, low achievers and socioeconomically disadvantaged learners remain the dominant participants in VET in Schools programmes, and pathways for these students into post-school education and training or full-time employment remain weak. This paper draws on the views of students, teachers, and policy-makers to examine the ways in which vocational programmes are delivered within the different curricular contexts of VET in Schools across Australian senior secondary education systems.     

New media,evolving multimodal literacy practices and the potential impact of increased use of the visual mode in the urban environment on young children's learning

This article looks at the way in which the changing visual environment affects education at two levels: in communication patterns and research methodologies. The research considers differences in the variance and quantity of types of visual media and their relationship to the written mode in the urban landscapes of Tokyo and London, using Google Street View to make comparisons. It reflects on the parallels this might have in the ways in which children encounter text in the environment. The data were analysed using Visual Content Analysis and colour coding. It found the Tokyo sample to have a higher density and diversity of visual media types at a wider range of heights. Visual and written communication also appear to be confined to more separately definable spaces with more equal weighting in the use of written and visual modes. Particularly, within the context of early childhood education it is hoped these findings will increase knowledge concerning young children's exposure to the visual mode, initiate wider discourse around this less researched mode's role within new multimodal communication practices and that the methodology furthers understanding of the potential of new media in image‐based research.     

‘And all our classes turned into a flower garden again’ – science education in Soviet schools in the 1920s and 1930s: the case of biology from Darwinism to Lysenkoism

The purpose of this article is to outline the evolution of biology education in Soviet schools in the 1920s and 1930s. After some introductory consideration of the ideological changes taking place in the field of genetics that impacted on the teaching of science and led to botany being favoured over biology in schools, the first part outlines the development of the natural sciences curriculum in the context of the Soviet reform of the school, which, after the October Revolution, abolished traditional teaching methods in favour of the active methods of American schools. The second part reconstructs the evolution of the teaching of biology through analysis of the biological station for young naturalists, ‘K. A. Timiriazev’, a centre created in 1919 by the famous biologist Boris V. Vsesviatskii (1887–1969). The third part illustrates the characteristics of botany education in schools of the 1930s, with a focus on the dissemination of the new scientific anti-genetic conception (known as Lysenkoism) and teaching practices in city and rural schools after the publication of Vsesviatskii’s textbook. The fourth demonstrates a progressive assimilation of the anti-genetic doctrine of Lysenkoism by teachers, with particular attention to the question of the natural sciences school curriculum and teacher training in the field of botany.     

Coloniality of knowledge,hybridisation, and indigenous survival: exploring transnational higher education development in Africa from the 1920s to the 1960s

This historical multi-case study uses the concepts of coloniality of knowledge, critical hybridity, and indigeneity in examining higher education development in Africa through the efforts of Nnamdi Azikiwe of Nigeria and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, two educational reformers and former international students in the USA. We develop a framework for examining how transnational interactions between the Global North and the Global South shape higher education development. Implications are presented for the importance of flexible theoretical understandings of transnational higher education interactions as well as higher education practices in international student and scholar exchange and other transnational higher education engagement.     

Issues surrounding English,the internationalisation of higher education and national cultural identity in Asia: a focus on Japan

The English language is significant to the internationalisation of higher education worldwide. Countries in Asia are proactive in appropriating English for their national interests, while paying attention to associated national cultural identity issues. This article examines the ways in which the role of English is interpreted and justified in different countries in Asia, with a particular focus on Japan, as these nations attempt to internationalise their higher education within the broader processes of regionalisation and globalisation and their own nationalist discourse. Through critical analyses and discussions of Japan's two major government initiatives, the Action Plan 2003 to ‘Cultivate Japanese with English Abilities’ and the ‘Global 30’ Project 2008, the article investigates how cultural national identities are shaped, are altered and are put ‘at risk’ in policies and practices for the internationalisation of higher education and the overemphasis on English. It argues for the importance of understanding the intersections of English language policy, the internationalisation of higher education and national cultural identity and also considers how the over-promotion of English in the case of Japan has been energetically driven by the nation building agenda that tends to undermine local languages and what this might mean for internationalisation.     

Classroom teacher effectiveness research and inquiry,and its relevance to the development of public education policy: an Australian context

This paper has as its focus an analysis of the question and problem of classroom teacher effectiveness research and inquiry. It presents an examination of what counts as valid and worthwhile research in classroom teacher effectiveness studies for the development of education policy within an Australian context, the State of Victoria. The Government’s Blueprint, the major education policy document of the Victorian State Labour Government, outlines its educational approach. Important and core features of government direction for education policy include a focus on social and economic disadvantage. A priority for the Victorian State Labour Government is tangible and measurable improvement in the performance of the public education system. A particular concern is the problem of academic underperformance within public schools, particularly those designated as low-performing and situated in socially and economically disadvantaged communities. Building the capacity of the State’s teacher workforce forms a key component of the Blueprint, and State Government direction in public education. The paper utilises a qualitative theoretical framework. Eight education policy actor/participants were interviewed and their responses analysed using a critical discourse approach. The main findings indicate that education policy actors advocate a strong belief in particular forms of evidence-based research for the development of education policy in the area of classroom teacher effectiveness.     

素质教育及其与全面发展教育的关系--对张兆林先生"关于素质教育的几种常见的片面认识"的认识

素质教育的提出,很重要的一个原因是为了纠正应试教育的错误,它有着深刻的社会背景;它不仅涉及大、中、小学生,也涉及全体国民;素质教育并不是一个模糊的概念,它有特定的含义;素质教育是全面发展教育思想的现代诠释,两者本质是相同的。     

新世纪以来美国、日本、英国重视学前教育的原因、对策及其对我国的启示

瑞典学者爱伦·凯(1847-1926)在1899年预言:"20世纪是儿童的世纪。"100年后的今天,历史证实了这一预言。"20世纪是儿童的世纪"这一观念推动了整个儿童教育事业的发展,并促使学前教育在20世纪末成为一个全球性的重要课题。当时代进入了21世纪,随着知识经济的发展,社会对人才的需求越来越大,对人才的质量要求越来越高,这必将使学前教育受到前所未有的重视。21世纪发展和重视学前教育的原因是什么?在现代史上21世纪开始后,美国成为了世界上唯一的超级大国,其快速的发展必然离不开教育和科技的支持。而日本一直以来都是十分重视教育的大国,尤其是学前教育在教育中的比重最大,他的重视必然有其重要的原因和现实意义。同样作为老牌资本主义国家的英国,一直在世界竞争中占据主导地位,不可动摇,他们大力投入资金和政策重视教育,都有其重要的原因所在。在已经跨入新世纪的今天,作为超级大国的中国,开始越来越清楚的了解学前教育在基础教育中的重要地位,更应该吸收和借鉴外国的先进思想,从外国成功的案例中收获启示,对发展我国的学前教育事业起到重大的指导作用。     

Developing a collaborative pilot programme to promote innovation in higher education focusing on the reward and recognition of teaching

This paper provides a commentary on a significant collaborative international project to set up an effective system for promoting innovation in the Australian higher education sector. This project was the pilot Transforming Practice Programme (TPP), which was run in Australia in 2014. A sophisticated knowledge translation methodology, the TPP was influenced by the UK’s Higher Education Academy’s (HEA’s) thematic change programmes and focused on enhancing the reward and recognition of quality teaching in Australian higher education. The paper explains the intentions of the TPP and how it was run in conjunction with the HEA in both Australia and the UK. Thirteen Australian universities took part in the pilot, and nine UK universities took part in the UK version of the programme. Having detailed the content and process of the pilot TPP, this article also presents details of feedback received via surveys and interviews with participants, and closes with some evidence-informed conclusions on what worked in the pilot and why. Alongside these conclusions, recommendations are outlined regarding what people in other higher education sectors might learn from the pilot TPP.     

高校大学生社会主义荣辱观教育的路径选择

社会主义荣辱观在大学生中的培养与树立，高校责无旁贷。高校应突破传统的思想道德教育模式，采取多种形式，通过多种途径行之有效地对大学生进行社会主义荣辱观教育：要以课堂教学为阵地，提升课堂教学效果，教育大学生树立社会主义荣辱观；以校园文化为载体，培育高雅校园文化，引领大学生树立社会主义荣辱观；以教师师德为导向，加强教师师德建设，带动大学生树立社会主义荣辱观；以社会实践为依托，鼓励学生参与社会实践，促使大学生践行社会主义荣辱观。