Globalization of the economy: The implications for education and skill formation

In conclusion The globalization of the economy offers enormous possibilities, but in return demands significant modifications in production behaviour and training policies. Individual countries will have to make hard choices to achieve, in a rapidly changing world economy, both international competitiveness and national welfare. Original language: English Wadi D. Haddad (United States of America) Deputy Secretary, World Bank. Special Adviser to the Director-General of UNESCO on development issues, representative to the financial institutions in Washington and to the academic and development community in the United States. Ph.D. in physics and education from the University of Wisconsin. After a career as a university professor and director of research in Lebanon, Mr Haddad first entered the World Bank in 1976. He was subsequently chief adviser to the President of Lebanon (1982–84), and worked at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington (1984). He rejoined the World Bank in 1987 and, in 1989, was appointed Executive Secretary of the World Conference on Education for All (Jomtien). He is the author of many books and articles on public policy, human resource development and science.     

European youth policy in multicultural societies

Summary Even though the EC-Treaty gives the impression of being unaware of multicultural societies, its regulations can still be interpreted in such a way as to facilitate and even literally call for a European policy giving due consideration to the phase of adolescence in multicultural societies. Original language: English Ingo Richter (Germany) Graduated from universities in Hamburg and Paris. First employed at the Max Planck Institute for Educational Research, then as professor of political and administrative law at the Free University of Berlin, and as professor of public law at Hamburg University. Teaching assignments in France, the United Kingdom and the United States. Editor of the journalRecht der Jugend und des Bildungswesens [Rights of youth and education] since 1977. Became director of the German Youth Institute in Munich in 1993. Since 1966, honorary professor at University of Tübingen. His most recent publications co-authored with Gunnar Folke-Schuppert are:Casebook Verwaltungsrecht [Administrative law casebook] (1995);Casebook Verfassungsrecht [Constitutional law casebook] (1996).     

Significance,Effect Sizes,Stepwise Methods,and Other Issues: Strong Arguments Move the Field

The author asserts that editors should publicly declare their expectations and expose the rationales for editorial policies to public scrutiny. He argues that editorial policies ought to require effect size reporting, as those at 17 journals now do. He also argues (a) that score reliabilities should be reported; (b) that stepwise methods should not be used; (c) that structure coefficients should be interpreted; and (d) that if used wisely, confidence intervals differ from hypothesis tests in important ways. The use of noncentral t and F distributions to create confidence intervals about effect sizes also is appealing.     

National Evaluation of Bologna Implementation in Finland: Procedures and outcomes

Finland has performed, as one of the first Bologna countries, a national evaluation of the outcomes of the implementation of the Bologna process. The evaluation was organized by the Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Council and performed by an independent expert group during 2010. In general, the reform was conceived as a significant development project which was carried out in a well-organized manner in a relatively short period of time. A closer look at the details show, however, that many of the objectives of the reform were not achieved. This article describes the background and procedures of the evaluation and discusses the main results and conclusions for Finnish higher education policy. The reception, success and implications of the evaluation will also be discussed.

     

Assessing school effectiveness: Evidence from the Irish context

Abstract

This paper considers the theories of language educaation and infant pedagogy of Professor Timothy Corcoran, Professor of Education in University College, Dublin. He played a pivotal role in the debates on education at the 1920s. These opinions were to become decisive in the formation of the New Free State's education programmes and policies. He held that infant classes ought to be the prime agents in the revival of the Irish Language. As a result the National Programme of Primary Instruction (1922) required that all the work in the infant classes should be conducted through Irish. He castigated the enlightened principles of Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Froebel and Montessori arguing that Irish education should not give up its sane traditions for doctrines derived from ‘poisoned sources’. His antagonism towards the thinking of the progressive educational theorists meant that the infants of Ireland had to wait until 1948 for a revised programme that would be more in line with the thinking of the day.     

How can evaluation contribute to educational policy? the uses of information in Australia

Conclusion There are volumes of data and much other information potentially available for school systems and schools for evaluating performance and modifying policy and practice. There is always a risk of injudicious data gathering that creates more information than can sensibly be used. We often known more than we understand. Careful selection of the data to be used and appropriate analysis and interpretation can turn information into understanding and perhaps, finally, wisdom. Original language: English Barry McGaw (Australia) Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. Since 1986, Director of the Australian Council for Educational Research. Originally trained as a secondary science teacher. After completing a post-graduate B.Ed. Honours degree, he joined the Research and Curriculum Branch of the Queensland Department of Education. Following a period of further study in the United States, he became Head of that Branch. In 1976, he was appointed Professor of Education at the Murdoch University in Western Australia. Research interests are in measurement, learning and research policy. He has been engaged in a number of projects for UNESCO and the OECD Presentation at the joint UNESCO: International Bureau of Education and Brazilian Ministry of Education and Sport,International Seminar on Educational Evaluation, Rio de Janiero, Brazil, 30 November–3 December 1997.     

NEET,unemployed, inactive or unknown – why does it matter?

Background: The UK, like most countries across Europe and other advanced economies, has experienced an alarming rise in the levels of young people (aged between 16 and 24 years) who are detached from both the labour market and the education and training system. In the UK, there are nearly a million 16–24-year-olds who are recorded as being not in education, employment or training (NEET). For governments throughout Europe, the need to address high levels of youth unemployment and social disengagement has become an urgent priority. As a result, policy-makers are faced with the challenge of developing effective interventions to prevent these levels being sustained over the longer term, with potential scarring effects on successive generations, and concomitant economic and social impacts.

Purpose: This paper will inform the development of policy and practice targeted at NEET prevention and reintegration of those young people who have become NEET, with suggestions for areas to be addressed and methods and mechanisms which might be incorporated into programme implementation. The paper highlights gaps in our knowledge and understanding of the size, characteristics and geographical distribution of young people in the NEET group in England, and questions the continued relevance of the term ‘NEET’ to capture youth disengagement.

Sources of evidence: After drawing on Europe-wide data to present a picture of the scale of youth unemployment throughout the continent, official UK data are used to drill down to specific issues which are the focus of the piece, in particular, the regional disparities in the size of the group whose destination is ‘unknown’. This is discussed in the context of a range of literature relating to the emergence of the term ‘NEET’ and the characteristics of the NEET group. A review of current policy intervention in England to tackle the NEET ‘problem’ is also presented.

Main argument: This paper will suggest that the implementation of effective policy interventions to address the ‘NEET’ issue is highly problematic, due to three overriding concerns. These are: (a) a lack of clarity in the definition of this group in England; (b) inadequacies in determining with any precision how many under-18s there are in this group, or where they are located, leading to large numbers whose post-education destination is ‘unknown’; and (c) misguided stereotyping of NEET young people’s behaviour, attitudes and aspirations. These problems have partly been exacerbated by budget cuts and changes to guidance and support services, as well as inadequacies in mapping and tracking systems.

Conclusions: The paper concludes with recommendations that policy development must, in the first instance, be underpinned by robust and reliable data about the size and composition of the group, derived from impartial, independent mapping and tracking services. Furthermore, policies designed to reduce the NEET population should include measures which tackle NEET prevention, re-engagement strategies for the hardest to reach groups and active labour market policies for the young unemployed.     

Training older workers and learners: Maximizing the performance of an aging workforce by James L. Moseley and Joan Conway Dessinger

JAMES L. MOSELEY is associate professor of instructional technology at Wayne State University College of Education. He teaches program evaluation and human performance technology courses and advises graduate students at the doctoral level. He has won numerous awards for teaching and mentoring and frequently consults with business and industry. JOAN CONWAY DESSINGER is a senior consultant and founder of the Lake Group, a consulting firm that specializes in analyzing, designing, developing, and evaluating workplace learning and performance interventions. Moseley and Dessinger have coauthored five books, and, with colleague Darlene Van Tiem, received the 2001 and 2003 ISPI Award for Excellence in Instructional Communication. In 2007, Moseley and Dessinger won ISPI's Outstanding Human Performance Communication Award for coauthoring Confirmative Evaluation. Training Older Workers and Learners: Maximizing the Performance of an Aging Workforce (ISBN 978‐0‐7879‐8117‐4) is published by Pfeiffer (price: $50.00). This publisher may be reached online at http://www.pfeiffer.com.     

Geography teaching in the twenty-first century

Conclusion At a time when transnational communities are being created which extend beyond the confines of regions and natio-States, geographers are questioning the very foundations of their discipline and their function in society. Not only do they no longer avoid acknowledging their role in the transmission of spatial, regional and national identity, but they no longer act solely within the framework of the nation-State. The juxtaposition of local and world considerations prompts them to embark upon new inquiries tending towards the teaching of a conceptual and topical geography which can mobilize pupils and teachers alike according to broad social, temporal and spatial principles. Human beings, frail creatures of the earth, have only one real tool adapted to the vastness of the spaces with which we have to grapple: the mind (Ratzel, 1988). Born in 1944. Professor of geography at the University of Geneva, having taught in Canada and France. He holds a doctorate from the Sorbonne and has studied geography and regional sciences in France and the United States of America. He has been chief examiner at the International Baccalaureat Office. He is now President of the Western Regional Science Association and the Swiss Association of University Lecturers. His recent publications, as author or editor, include:Encyclopédie de géographie [Encyclopedia of geography] (2nd ed., 1995),Introduction à la géographie humaine [Introduction to human geography] (5th ed., 1995) andLes concepts de la géographie [Geographical concepts] (3rd ed., 1995). He is editor-in-chief of the series entitled ‘Géographie’ at the Anthropos publishing house, Paris.     

Assessment of a conceptually based instructor evaluation form

An instrument to be used by students in evaluating faculty was developed with the major focus being five conceptualized interpretations of scales (factors) culled from other research on faculty evaluation. The five conceptualized factors were: Evaluation, Presentation, Preparation, Personality, and Intellect. Thirty-five professors from the Division of Curriculum and Instruction teaching 65 classes (1,122 students) at graduate and undergraduate levels participated in May; and 75 professors teaching 2,804 students participated in a December study. Each of the five factors were found to be: independent; stable across student groups; of high internal consistency and reliability; of a high degree of concurrent validity (faculty evaluating themselves); discriminatory among faculty; and applicable under sundry instructional conditions. The instrument can provide information to instructors for the improvement of teaching, as well as providing information for students concerning individual instructors. As part of a larger evaluation system, the instrument can provide information for career decisions.     

Towards global wisdom in the ERA of digitalization and communication

Conclusions Educational reform needs the synergetic efforts of UNESCO, the EU, national and local governments, policy makers, educators, business communities, public interest groups, parents, citizens, and non-governmental organizations, such as IFIP and the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievements (IEA). It is a matter of crucial importance that countries in transition participate in the EU’s educational and training initiatives and programmes, such as PHARE (including TEMPUS), COPERNICUS, SOCRATES and LEONARDO, as well as in all UNESCO initiatives and projects. Original language: English Blagovest Sendov (Bulgaria) Former speaker of the Bulgarian Parliament and vice-speaker of the present Parliament. Graduate in mathematics from Sofia University, and specialist in numerical analysis from Moscow University and computer science from Imperial College, London. He has held the posts of Dean of the Mathematical Faculty and Rector of Sofia University, and president of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the International Federation for Information Processing, the International Association of Universities, and vice-president of the International Council of Scientific Unions. From 1979 to 1990 leader of the Bulgarian research group on new curricula integrating school subjects with computers and information technology. This is a slightly edited version of a paper presented at UNESCO’s second International Congress on Education and Informatics: Educational Policies and New Technologies, Moscow, 1–5 July 1996.     

Information and advocacy: Forgotten components in the strategies for achieving inclusive education in South Africa?

Abstract

Commitment to a single, inclusive education system has been the aspiration of reform in education in a democratic South Africa as articulated in White Paper 6: Special needs education: Building an inclusive education and training system (Department of Education 2001). This article reports findings from a qualitative study which took place in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), which ascertained participants’ evaluation of the extent to which the policy ideals of inclusive education, as articulated in White Paper 6 were being achieved. Findings revealed that there was evidence of inclusive education beginning to be implemented in KZN in that barriers to learning for many students were being addressed and removed. The specific provision in policy documents directed towards children with disabilities was behind schedule, however, and there was little evidence of full inclusion of students with disabilities in regular education. One component that was furthest behind in the milestones was the implementation of the information and advocacy programme. Implications and further consequences of this are discussed.     

The development and current status of special education in Nicaragua

Ph.D. A researcher and Director of Studies at Stockholm University's Institute of International Education. He has conducted national studies of special needs education in Nicaragua and the United Republic of Tanzania, as well as written a number of articles and books on such topics as special needs education, educational evaluation and the restructuring of schooling in Sweden. His most recent publication isSpecial needs education in Nicaragua: a study of the prevalence of students with disabilities in primary schools and the factors affecting their successful participation (1994).     

From looking at our schools (LAOS) to whole school evaluation -management, leadership and learning (WSE-MLL): the evolution of inspection in irish schools over the past decade

This paper attempts to provide an overview of the key assumptions underpinning the Whole School Evaluation (WSE) inspection policy developed in Ireland since 2003. Beginning with a documentary analysis the paper argues that the capacity to generate useful self evaluative data in schools was seen as being at the heart of the model of school evaluation proposed by the Department of Education and Science. It further suggests that while the rhetoric of self evaluative capacity building has been key to the emerging system the lack of a meaningful structural response within schools means that this has remained aspirational. The latter part of the paper seeks to test this contention, examining the research base in the area of school evaluation and inspection in Ireland and conducting a number of targeted focus groups with school leaders. For the most part the initial contention is confirmed although there is a sense that there may be significant new pressures emerging in the near future that could cause the whole system to be revisited and perhaps be radically overhauled. An initial indicator of these potential changes can be seen in the emergence of a refined WSE Management, Leadership and Learning inspection policy which has yet to be widely implemented.     

Current challenges to quality in higher education

This paper considers some implications for teaching in higher education of quality assurance demands made in circumstances of financial restraint. The paper suggests that responses must be anchored in improvement in student learning. This has implications for university teaching, for the evaluation of its effectiveness and for leadership in universities. The paper commences with a discussion of an understanding of the nature of the relationship between teaching and learning in higher education resulting from an Australian investigation of student perceptions of university teaching. The understanding arising from this study suggests that, given that the environment is an educational one, both evaluation of teaching and educational leadership should be in harmony with effective approaches to learning and teaching.Paul Ramsden is Professor of Higher Education and Director of the Griffith Institute for Higher Education at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. He has taught in polytechnics, universities, and schools in the United Kingdom and Australia. His research field is the influence of teaching and assessment on the quality of student learning. Dr. Ramsden has been professionally involved in faculty development for over 15 years and published the textLearning to Teach in Higher Education, Routledge, New York (1992). He holds degrees from the University of London and the UK Council for Academic Awards, and a Ph.D. from the University of Lancaster.     

Lederberg and the ‘Cellularity’ of bacteria

Joshua Lederberg will surely be remembered for his stellar contributions to microbial genetics and his sage intervention in public affairs concerning exobiology, infectious diseases, epidemiology, and bioterrorism. Not so well know is his emphatic mission to spell out that bacteria are cells and not something else. This brief sketch examines some of his contributions to bacterial cytology. Moselio Schaechter (Elio to friends) spent his career studying growth physiology and cell structure of enteric bacteria. Born in Italy, he spent his youth in Ecuador before going to the United States where he chaired the Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology at Tufts University in Boston for twenty three years. After retirement he is at San Diego, where he has devoted himself to sharing the excitement of the microbial world, mainly via a blog called “Small Things Considered”. He has authored several influential textbooks and reference works. He succeeded Joshua Lederberg as Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia of Microbiology. He also authored a book, In the Company of Mushrooms, which deals with his avocation, wild mushrooms.     

Teacher policy: a framework for comparative analysis

This article outlines a framework for analysis of teacher focused policy studies within an international and comparative perspective. Using the notion of the professional life cycle of teachers, the article examines examples of key empirical studies that illustrate the impact of policy on addressing such issues as teacher recruitment, education, selection, retention and development. The article concludes that the framework is useful in identifying the strengths and weaknesses in the conceptualization and design of teacher focused policy and studies, and gives recommendations for the design of rigorous studies to inform future policy in this area.

WHAT DOES PHILOSOPHY HAVE TO OFFER EDUCATION,AND WHO SHOULD BE OFFERING IT?

In this review essay Stanton Wortham explores how philosophy of education should both turn inward, engaging with concepts and arguments developed in academic philosophy, and outward, encouraging educational publics to apply philosophical approaches to educational policy and practice. He develops his account with reference to two recent ambitious projects: The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Education, edited by Harvey Siegel, and the two‐volume yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education (NSSE), titled Why Do We Educate? edited by Gary Fenstermacher (series editor), David Coulter and John Wiens (volume 1), and Mark Smylie (volume 2). These two projects initially appear to be opposed, with the Handbook emphasizing elite philosophy and the Yearbook emphasizing public engagement. Wortham argues that each project is in fact more complex, and that they are in some respects complementary. He concludes by making a case against a simple hierarchy of basic and applied knowledge and calling for a more heterogeneous philosophy of education.