Adult education and the politics of knowledge: the relevance of Malta's Dun Gorg Preca

This paper sets out to explore the contribution that Dun Gorg Preca made to the development of adult education in the Maltese islands. Preca's achievements are situated historically in order to highlight more effectively his relevance to the development of the field. Qualities underlined in this account are Preca's commitment to the democratization of knowledge, his stance vis‐à‐vis the learner, opting to reach out to communities and to work at the grass roots rather than the formal institutional level, and his conviction that difficult knowledge, often used as a positional good by status groups, can, given the right pedagogical approach, be communicated to all learners, whatever their social and educational background.     

高等教育强国建设与我国高等教育改革的政策走向

新中国成立以来,特别是改革开放以来,我国高等教育事业取得了巨大的历史性成就,成为名副其实的高等教育大国,为高等教育强国建设奠定了坚实的基础,但是与世界高等教育强国相比仍然有较大的差距。《国家中长期教育改革和发展规划纲要(2010-2020年)》明确提出了建设"高等教育强国"的战略目标,实现从高等教育大国向高等教育强国的转变,将是未来很长一个时期内我国高等教育改革与发展政策的基本走向。     

Malta's National Curriculum: A critical analysis

Malta has recently introduced a National Minimum Curriculum (NMC) for primary, secondary and post-secondary levels. The authors of this article argue that the NMC, like similar national curricula in Britain, the United States and other countries, is underpinned by a conservative ideology. They criticize the NMC for, among other things, discriminating against women, giving insufficient value to non-European cultures, and promoting a hierarchical form of education that is geared to a capitalist concept of work. They argue that the curriculum, in its present form, cannot serve to promote a genuinely democratic education.

---

Zusammenfassung Malta hat vor kurzem ein National Minimum Curriculum (NMC — Nationales Minimum Curriculum) für Schulen der Primar-, Sekundar-und Post-sekundarbildung eingeführt. Die Autoren dieses Artikels argumentieren dahingehend, daß dem NMC, wie ähnlichen nationalen Curricula in Großbritannien, den Vereinigten Staaten und anderen Ländern, eine konservative Ideologie zugrunde liegt. Sie kritisieren das NMC u.a. für eine Diskriminierung der Frauen, eine ungenügende Integration nicht-europäischer Kulturen und die Förderung einer hierarchischen Bildungsform, die in ein kapitalistisches Arbeitskonzept mündet. Sie argumentieren, daß das Curriculum in seiner gegenwärtigen Form der Förderung einer wahrhhaft demokratischen Erziehung nicht dienlich sein kann.

---

Résumé Le gouvernement de Malte a récemment instauré un programme minimum national (NMC) pour les cycles primaire, secondaire et universitaire. Les auteurs de l'article objectent que ce programme, comparable à ceux de Grande-Bretagne, des Etats-Unis et d'autres pays, se fonde sur une idéologie conservatrice. Ils dénoncent entre autres la discrimination des femmes, la mise en avant de la culture européenne, et la défense d'une hiérarchie pédagogique orientée vers une conception capitaliste du travail. Ils affirment que ce programme dans sa forme actuelle ne peut constituer le fondement d'une éducation véritablement démocratique.

---

Sumario Malta acaba de introducir un Curriculum Mínimo Nacional (NMC) para niveles primarios, secundarios y post-secondarios. Los autores de este artículo sostienen que el NMC, al igual que otros currículos similares de Gran Bretaña, los Estados Unidos y otros países está apuntalado por una ideología conservadora. Entre otras cosas, ellos critican el NMC por discriminar a la mujer, valorar insuficientemente las culturas no europeas y promover una forma de educación jerárquica orientada hacia un concepto de trabajo capitalista. Además, opinan que el currículo en su forma actual no podrá servir para promover una educación genuinamente democrática.

     

The uses of affect in education: Chilean government policies

This article draws attention to the uses of affect to produce specific subjectivities and moralities in educational policies. It highlights the connections between specific ideas of the educated subject, the family role presented in governmental educational policies in Chile, and the ways these ideas are linked to the subjectivities and communities which the market requires to function. My argument is that with different intensities, affect regulation has become a strategic component of a government that articulates the relation between ‘right ways to behave at home’ and ‘school success’. As a result, affect makes conservative cultural dispositions look natural. I use discourse analysis to show how these policies use affect to control and monitor behaviors and personal relations, as well circulating cultural logics and ideological structures. I analyze one particular document to show how affect does not work through meanings per se; rather, it circulates productive ideas of families, students' behaviors, and social and cultural frames to organize a ‘good life’.     

The Great Divide: policies and practices in multicultural education

Educational researchers interested in race‐related matters tend to be united in their conviction that the non‐institutionalisation of multicultural education derives entirely from the ('unwitting') racist attitudes of teachers. Whilst not ignoring teacher attitudes as an explanatory concept in ‘this context I argue in this article that the disparity between LEA multicultural education policies, on the one hand, and school practices on the other should be relocated in a broader analytical framework. The argument proposed hinges on a conception of multicultural education as a ‘progressive’ educational innovation and suggests that many of the processes which conventionally link policies to practices have been routinely overlooked in the current literature on ‘race’. Although this is a provisional article I hope, at the very least, that I have provided evidence to prompt a conjectural case for the argument that the negative racial attitudes of teachers are not the only factors which have the potential to block the diffusion and legitimation of multicultural education principles in UK schools.     

Mediatizing higher education policies: discourses about quality education in the media

This article presents a critical–political discourse analysis of the media debate over quality assurance in higher education, which occurred in Chile after the 2011 student movement. Students criticized the privatization of higher education and the multiple flaws of this sector, which included corruption scandals during the process of quality assurance certification. After the end of the movement, the government announced a new quality assurance system, triggering public discussion over this issue in the media. The most influential newspapers and educational authorities participated actively in this debate. Through editorials and columns, these education agents constructed quality assurance discursively as a domain for experts, who have to design and administer quality standards for all educational institutions and actions. These procedures regulate and discipline educational practices, but professors and students are excluded from this debate. Thus, this quality assurance discussion reproduces the traditional neoliberal power relations in education and does not problematize the role of education in society.     

The idealism of education policies and the realities in schools: the implementation of inclusive education in South Africa

Inclusive education as a global movement emerged over the past 30 years to ensure quality mainstream education for all learners. Since 1994 the newly democratic South Africa also had expectations as well as the political will to change education by adjusting legislation and policies. However, the vision of a truly inclusive education system in South Africa has been difficult to achieve and results regarding the implementation of inclusive education remain questionable. There has been a growing realisation that the advent of democracy was not in itself a sufficient condition for the elimination of historical and structural inequalities in education with as recurring theme the dissonance between the government's socio-political imperative for change and economic realities. This article focuses on the development of policy and guidelines on inclusive education in dynamic interaction with the complexity of realities in South African schools with a special focus on the policy recommendations regarding the development of full-service schools. The constant comparative analysis of the two phased case study of a full-service school in a rural town revealed interesting results illustrating the complexities regarding the implementation of inclusive education and the challenges and opportunities in bridging the gap between the idealism of policies and the realities in schools.     

Teacher education policies in the United States: The accountability shift since 1980

This conceptual paper examines a tug-of-war between state and national authorities in the United States for control of teacher recruitment, preparation, licensing, and professional development policy-making. A discussion of policy problems and instruments grounds analysis of each governing body's policy-activity since 1980. The analysis reveals how policy instrument changes have sidelined teacher education professionals and shifted programme accountability from the state to national level. Conclusions and recommendations challenge teacher education researchers to alter the current accountability trajectory by becoming active participants in the United States policy-making arena.     

新型农民培养的公共政策供给研究

目前新型农民培养政策可以归纳为：与提高农民素质有关的法律法规类、规划纲要类和培训工程类三种类型。从供给的数量、质量、结构和环境看还不能满足新型农民培养对公共政策的现实需求,应尽快制订新型农民培养的法律法规,构建新型农民培养的支持保障体系,创新新型农民培养的运行机制,优化新型农民培养的公共政策环境。     

Developing policies for inclusive education: a study of the role of local education authorities

In many parts of the world there is evidence of initiatives aimed at finding ways of creating forms of mainstream schooling that can respond to pupils with disabilities and others seen as having special educational needs (UNESCO 1995). There is also a growing research literature that throws light on how schools and classrooms can be developed in relation to this idea (e.g. Rouse and Florian 1996, Sebba and Sachdev 1997, Thomas et al. 1998, Ainscow 1999, Clark et al. 1999). However, few studies have considered the contributions and roles of local administrative arrangements to such developments, even though there is evidence that these can be highly influential in relation to policy implementation in general (Spillane 1998). Drawing on the evidence of a recent study carried out in England, this paper starts to fill this gap. Specifically, it addresses the question: in what ways do local administrative arrangements bear on attempts to develop more inclusive ways of working in schools? In considering the evidence and arguments presented it is important to recognize that the peculiarities of each national context mean that district level arrangements for the management of education in one country cannot be assumed to be similar to that in other countries. Consequently, transporting conclusions from one situation to another is impossible. Nevertheless, a detailed engagement with the experiences of particular countries can provide a useful basis for reflection on what happens elsewhere. Before considering this specific agenda, however, we summarize certain relevant international trends.     

The neo-liberal education policies of epimeleia heautou: caring for the self in school markets

The paper argues that neo-liberal education policy has capitalized on a historical concern to care for the self, or the Greek epimeleia heautou. We discuss epimeleia heautou in relation to education policies that emphasize greater choice in curriculum offerings, and in relation to school choice policies more generally. Thus, a premise of our argument is that school choice policies accommodate a much greater range of selves to be cared for. The analysis examines the neo-liberal subject, homo ?conomicus, in relation to education policy that produces choices of the self and choices for its care. We conclude by discussing conceptions of the self in relation to two aporias of neo-liberal educational equality produced through ethnic-specific schools.     

The contribution of PISA to the convergence of education policies in Europe

The international comparative studies on students’ outcomes have initiated analyses that have had a growing influence on national and sub‐national education policies in industrialised and developing countries. It is particularly the case of the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) which started in 2000 and has organised surveys every 3 years, so that the 2015 survey was the 6^th. Its influence has been particularly important for several reasons: 1) it assesses the basic competences in reading literacy, maths and science of 15 year‐olds students, i.e. around the end of compulsory education in many countries; 2) the assessment is based on a reliable methodology and the tests are completed by qualitative surveys and studies; 3) and the results lead to recommendations and are amplified by the media in most countries. However, it is not easy to evaluate the real impact of PISA because of the existence of other international studies such as IEA's TIMSS and, particularly in Europe, the influence of the recommendations and benchmarks of the EU that has been growing steadily in the last 25 years. Our analysis of the impact of PISA and EU policy focuses on the evolution of the education policy in France, but also studies its evolution in a few other European countries. Finally, we underline the limits of the influence of PISA and international standards in education towards a convergence of education systems because of the importance of their specific historic and cultural contexts.     

The role of mass media in education policies: a Chinese case study

The role of mass media in education policy processes is increasingly complex, but research on its contribution is far from adequate. This study uses the higher education quality assurance policies issued in China at the beginning of this century to explore the roles played by mass media in the creation and implementation of education policies. Mass media’s current influence on Chinese education policies mainly includes promoting policy agenda setting, enhancing policy legitimacy and monitoring the process of policy implementation. However, its role in constructing a platform for public discussion and improving policy design needs to be strengthened.     

Tailored equities in the education market: flexible policies and practices

The term equity is ubiquitous in Australian education policy and evolves amidst ongoing debates about what it means to be fair in education. Over the past three decades, meanings and practices associated with equity have reflected broader shifts in advanced liberal governance, with equity being reframed as a ‘market-enhancing’ mechanism and melted into economic productivity agendas. In this paper, I argue that an emerging, yet, under-examined policy tension is the view that secondary schools are capable of being equitable, whilst simultaneously acting as adaptive service providers, tailoring education to different students and local markets. A dilemma here is whether or not schools should ‘tailor equity’ or whether tailoring equity is indeed antithetical to equity in so far as it implies unequal provision. To explore this tension, I draw upon fieldwork from ethnographic research in two socially and economically disparate government secondary schools in suburban Melbourne, Australia. In doing so, I explore how equity is enacted and governed by educators, how forms of equity at each school relate to versions of equity in policy and the extent to which each school tailors equity to its local community.     

Higher education policies in Brazil: 1970–90

Under the authoritarian regime, policies on higher education were mostly produced by the Excutive. First of all, an Educational Reform made up for the rapid expansion of a huge private sector where small teaching institutions prevail and which now absorbs over 60% of Brazilian students. The public sector, in turn, was substantially improved: the number of full time faculty increased and teachers in the federal universities were encouraged to apply for a M.A. or a Ph.D. and to get involved with research activities. Meanwhile, a dual funding system (teaching and research) emerged which was responsible both for the creation of graduate programmes all over the country and for the expansion of a research infrastructure. The civilian government (1985 on) brought policy making out of the bureaucracy and into the Congress. The new Constitution granted the university a degree of autonomy it had never enjoyed before which, however, is still to be regulated by further legislation. Policy initiatives driving at institutional differentiation and at performance assessment have systematically failed to become effective due to resistances within the university itself. Meanwhile financial stringency at a time of recession necessarily leads to reductions in funding, notably for research.     

日本国际教育援助的理念和政策

国际教育援助是日本对外援助中的一个重要领域。就援助理念来讲,日本认为教育是一项人权,援助教育可以削减发展中国家的贫困和实现人类安全,接收教育援助的同时,发展中国家更应依靠自助。日本对国际教育的具体政策主要是:将基础教育主要作为一项基本人权来看待;对于高等教育,则主要通过援助帮助发展中国家培养经济社会发展的人力资源,且援助的重点从专业技术转向管理。最后,日本国际教育援助的区域重心已向非洲转移。