School curriculum,globalisation and the constitution of policy problems and solutions

To varying degrees, education policy reforms around the world are driven by educational discourses relating to globalisation. At the same time, national and local histories, cultures and politics mediate the effects of globalisation discourses. This paper employs methods of analysis that draw on the concepts of ‘vernacular globalization’ and ‘policy archaeology’ in order to examine the ways in which the effects of globalisation on National Curriculum policy reform are mediated by conditions and priorities that are specific to national contexts. The enquiry focuses on three curriculum policy problems that are associated with the English school curriculum and have recently been identified as requiring reform: inappropriate curriculum knowledge, the skills deficit and the one-size-fits-all curriculum. The paper concludes by summarising the results of the analysis, identifying some curriculum issues arising from it and offering reflections on the methodological approach it has employed.     

‘These religions are no good – they’re nothing but idol worship’: mis/representation of religion in Religious Education at school in Malawi and Ghana

This article draws data from two complementary studies in sub-Saharan Africa to highlight the problem of religious misrepresentation in (multi-faith) Religious Education (RE) at school in Malawi and Ghana. Employing Michael Apples’ conception of selective tradition, the article is critical of the confrontational disputation inherent in the RE in the two countries. The misrepresentation is analysed under themes related to classroom discourse and the nature of religion. It argues that RE could actually be counter-productive and thus end up misrepresenting religions instead of promoting them. Unless there is a radical shift in the areas identified, the subject will continue to present a distorted picture of religion and thus fail in its civic responsibility as a curriculum area that is perhaps best placed to inculcate pro-social values towards citizenship in a world of religious diversity.     

欧美教育政策研究与学科发展及其与中国的比较分析

对于教育政策的研究,欧美国家与中国在研究主题上具有明显的相似性,但研究关注点上略有差异,这与所在国家和地区教育改革与发展的阶段和背景有关。同时,研究的视角和范式上也存在较大的差异,西方的教育政策研究更加微观,重视经验性的实证研究,而中国的研究更宏观,重视思辨性的规范研究,特别缺乏经验研究基础上的理论建构。相应的,在学科建设和人才培养上也有很大的不同,西方更重视学科建设的跨学科性和人才培养的应用性。     

Comparative glocal perspectives on European teacher education

This article reports the findings of a PhD study, which offers comparative perspectives on teacher education in a period of reforms, inquiring into stakeholders’ perceptions in English, French, Italian and Spanish contexts as case studies. The interaction of needs and constraints in European initial teacher education within higher education reforms, and the mediation between contrasting influences and diverse education cultures, are viewed as global phenomena: teacher education practices in different countries can be described as ‘translations’ of European policies, with innovative potential in glocal developments. This article explores some issues of the European dimension of teacher education, reporting the qualitative findings of the study, underpinned by a theoretical framework encompassing globalisation and social ecological studies. In the four case study contexts, the focus is on secondary teacher education; when a subject perspective is required, it concerns the area of modern languages, considering their transversal role in European education policies. Findings from the national case studies come from a limited empirical sample, but can be of interest in showing emerging tensions and trends.     

Systems,ideologies and history: a three-dimensional absence in the study of assessment reform processes

This paper makes the case for the need to study assessment reform processes from a broader and more complex perspective that takes the historical, ideological and systemic aspects of assessment policies into account. It draws on a larger study to demonstrate how the understanding of Assessment for Learning (AfL) reforms is enriched by such a perspective, taking the Chilean case as an illustrative example. The study draws on polysystems theory as an overarching theoretical tool and on critical discourse analysis and intertextuality as a means to reconstruct the polysystem of assessment reforms. These tools are used to analyse two types of sources: documents from different periods of Chilean history of education where reforms relevant to assessment were carried out, and interviews with policy authorities involved in the AfL reform as well as with teachers from different backgrounds and contexts.     

Theory-based Change and Change-based Theory: Going Deeper, Going Broader

This article examines the questions of sustaining and extending theory-based educational change reforms, which are designed by laboratories outside of schools and whose motivating theoretical base assumes change in elemental aspects of classroom practice. This article defines sustainability of theory-based reform as more than maintaining current implementation, rather as deepening reforms in ways that allow for flexible response to changes in student, curricular, and school contexts. It draws upon five years of research in schools and classrooms engaged in one of three theory-based reforms to discuss five essential factors affecting sustainability: resources, reformers' learning, knowledge of the first principles of the reform and the support of a community of practice, the principal, and the district. This article then turns to ``scaling up.' Rather than merely replicating structures, extending theory-based reform to new sites requires building compatibility between the normative base of the reform with that in the classrooms, schools and districts in which they are growing as well as the capacity of the classroom, school, and district to see it through. This article suggests three main factors that reform founders must focus upon to scale up their reforms – attention to site selection, a proactive stance toward district contexts, and planned transfer of authority. The article concludes that issues of invention, implementation, sustainability, and scale occur simultaneously when going deeper and broader with theory-based change.     

Reforming special education in Scotland: tensions between discourses of professionalism and rights

In 2001, the (then) Scottish Executive embarked on a process of reform of the SEN framework in Scotland. This paper analyses negotiations between different social actors, principally local authority staff and parents, in the formation of the legislation and its subsequent enactment. Data are drawn from an analysis of responses to consultations, official statistics and parent and local authority staff perceptions of the reforms as revealed in questionnaire surveys. It is argued that policy frameworks based on professionalism and bureaucracy have tended to dominate in Scotland, with a rights framework emerging much more recently. The legislation attempts to strike a balance between the different actors, although, in implementing the legislation, local authorities have sought to neutralise aspects which they felt tipped the balance of power too far in favour of parents. Parents have responded by campaigning as citizen‐consumers, and appear to be having a growing influence on Government.     

Problems,survival and transformation: religious education in Scotland – a historical review, 1962–1992

This paper is an examination of the history of Scottish religious education (RE). Focusing on 1962–1992, it distinguishes the temporal processes that unfolded during this period to identify the circumstances that led to a serious case of neglect of the subject, especially in the non-denominational sector. Next, it highlights the less emphasised but important issue of how RE ‘survived’ in public education, going on to explicate the antecedents of a paradigm shift in the subject. Finally, curriculum reforms undertaken in the subject from the 1980s onwards are described, showing how these reforms helped to transform Scottish RE into an ‘academic’ subject well aligned with the curricular principles of ‘5–14’, the country’s first (1992) ‘educational’ RE programme.     

Teacher knowledge and initial teacher education in the English learning and skills sector

Recent reforms of initial teacher education (ITE) in the learning and skills sector (LSS) in England are standards based and emphasise subject specialism. The reforms are underpinned by objectivist epistemological assumptions which are incompatible with socio‐cultural theories of professional knowledge, and ignore the diverse teaching roles and contexts in the sector and wider systemic issues. A qualitative scoping study found that LSS in‐service trainee teachers drew on three types of knowledge resources, or clusters of ‘rules’ for practice, in their teaching: these were related to their subject/vocational area, generic teaching and learning processes and specific learners and groups. Trainees generated knowledge resources through participation in their workplace, ITE course and other social contexts, and from embedded and encoded workplace knowledge. Trainees’ beliefs, values and prior experiences were both a knowledge resource and influenced their engagement with knowledge generation activities. It is argued that using a knowledge resources perspective, which recognises how trainees generate knowledge and seeks to bridge gaps in their access to knowledge resources, would be more effective in supporting trainees’ development than the current reforms.     

‘The more things change…?’: the Thatcher years and educational reform in Scotland

The period of the Thatcher Government continues to have special significance for politics and governance in Scotland. In the 11 years of the Thatcher Government, landmark legislation and reforms affected key areas of the Scottish society and economy. Education featured prominently in the Thatcherite agenda in Scotland. In Scotland, the education system’s association with national identity had particular implications for educational policy making and implementation in Scotland under the Thatcher Government. The distinctiveness of the Scottish education system presented particular problems for a government intent on challenging the social democratic consensus. Opposition to the Thatcher Government, especially its perceived attack on the social democratic underpinnings of the welfare state which included the state schooling system, re‐ignited the home rule campaign in Scotland in the late 1980s. The article examines both key legislation, namely the Education (Scotland) Act 1981, the School Board (Scotland) Act 1988 and the Self‐Governing Schools etc. (Scotland) Act 1989, and also key non‐legislative reforms to curriculum and assessment under the Thatcher Government in the area of public (state) schooling. The article argues that these reforms continue to influence the educational policy debates in Scotland today.     

Performance-based accountability in Qatar: a state in progress

It has become a normative practice to include Performance-Based Accountability (PBA) policies in educational reforms to foster school changes that enhance student learning and success. There is considerable variation in PBA models that have an important impact on how they operate in schools. It is, therefore, important to characterize PBA models in different contexts. This article describes and categorizes the Qatari PBA model using a five-dimensional framework previously employed in Canada and the UK. The State of Qatar is a small rich developing country in the Arabian Gulf that introduced a wholesale educational reform in 2004. Although the characteristics of the Qatari PBA model are shared with those of Western systems, the Qatari PBA model does not fit into the previously described categories. Policy inconsistencies surfaced within the Qatar PBA model in terms of structure, consequential intent, and expectations of professional involvement. The tensions are rooted in a PBA model that assumes a high level of professional accountability interacting with the reality of system-wide capacity issues. The implementation of a coherent PBA model in policy and practice will require developing past this early phase of educational reform.     

Enlightenment and minority cultures: Central and East European higher education reform ten years later

The article discusses general trends of the higher education reform in the Central and East Europe and the countries of the former Soviet Union over the last decade. Author notices that reflections on the reforms have not reached deeper levels than first diagnostic articles of the early 1990s have. It is explained as a result of the literal lack of the reforms as planned and purposeful changes. While many agencies are interested in continuation of the reform discourse, the actual activities are not coordinated. Discussing the issues of changing relationships between higher education and the State, financing, staffing, quality assurance, content of studies and institutional mission, author finds similarities between current political statements and those made earlier this century under different circumstances. Author concludes that the gap between the official reform discourse and realities of higher education threaten the very existence of public higher education in the region.     

Meaning-making in religious education: a critical discourse analysis of RE departments’ web pages

This paper explores what some have described as a ‘crisis in meaning’ in religious education (RE). One region, Northern Ireland, is chosen as a focus for exploring the question of meaning-making as it provides an example of ‘agreed ambiguity’ – where a common syllabus for RE is believed to be ascribed different meanings by different schools. The web pages of RE departments were used as a data source, and a critical discourse analysis method was employed to investigate how a sample of departments construct meaning in RE. The findings identify three dominant discourses in relation to RE in the sample: Christian Community, Cultural Hegemony and Personal Quest. It is noted that when giving meaning to RE, schools show commonality and difference across three key areas: ‘stake and interest’; ‘pupil agency’; and ‘dealing with difference’. In conclusion, it is noted that, where freedom is given to schools to construct meaning in RE, it is possible to sustain a common curriculum across schools with very different views of the subject, however, this flexibility has implications for issues of power, identity, autonomy and difference which may require mitigation. It is suggested critical education may be a valuable partner in this work.     

Being professional: accountability and authority in teachers’ responses to science curriculum reform

The science curriculum is a focus of repeated reform in many countries. However, the enactment of such reforms within schools rarely reflects the intended outcomes of curriculum designers. This review considers what we know about the experiences and reflections of teachers in the enactment of externally driven school science curriculum reform. ‘Externally driven’ signals a focus on studies of teachers who did not make a proactive choice to adopt a particular curriculum reform initiative. This is a very common experience for teachers in many school systems, and one likely to highlight issues of professionalism and authority that are central to the work of teachers. The review analyses 34 relevant studies. These include studies of teachers’ experiences of national curriculum reform, and also studies focusing on more regional or local curriculum reform activities. The studies examine individual teachers’ beliefs, practices and reflections associated with curriculum reform, the response of teacher communities to reform (e.g. within school departments), and teachers’ (and other stakeholders’) experiences across school systems. A wide range of factors influencing teachers’ responses are identified. These are characterised in terms of personal, internal and external contexts of teachers’ work. The review also highlights issues of authority, professionalism and the process of meaning-making in response to external curriculum reform. The discussion section identifies important areas for future research and gives recommendations for the design of curriculum policies that recognise and support the professionalism of science teachers.     

In pursuit of social democracy: Shena Simon and the reform of secondary education in England, 1938–1948

Shena Simon (1883–1972), a leading English socialist and educationist, actively called for the reform of secondary education in the 1930s and 1940s in order to bring the ideal of ‘equality of opportunity’ into the English educational system. This paper explores the continuity and changes in Simon’s proposed reforms in relation to her ideals of social democracy from the appearance of the Spens Report (1938) to the publication of her book, Three Schools or One? (1948). In addition, Simon’s transnational visits to the Soviet Union, the USA and Scotland, as well as the impact of her international and comparative perspectives on different educational systems on her policy agenda, are also examined. It concludes that as many policy issues shown in the current paper continue to be debated, Simon’s democratic ideals and discourses are still relevant in the present and suggest implications for the future of secondary education in England.     

俄罗斯国家统一考试改革历程及对中国高考改革的启示

本文对俄罗斯国家统一考试改革的历程进行回顾,分析改革的原因,探讨改革的支持与反对意见,并在对俄罗斯国家统一考试评述的基础上,对中俄两国的高校招生制度进行了对比,以期对我国的高考改革有所借鉴。     

The University,the State,and Civil Society

This article discusses the contributions of modern universities to civil society in the light of recent university reforms in western European countries. It seeks to position modern higher education reforms based on New Public Management ideas into three different contexts: the normative ideals surrounding university activity, the organizational ideals related to university governance, and finally, the actual recent reform processes and their implications for civil society. A central idea in the following analysis is that the university makes its primary contribution to civil society in its capacity as a cultural institution. The article concludes with a discussion of the conditions under which such a contribution may be sustained.     

The impact of a unified curriculum and qualifications system: the Higher Still reform of post‐16 education in Scotland

There is a cross‐national trend towards unified curriculum and qualifications frameworks in upper secondary education, but such reforms face epistemological, political and institutional barriers and ‘unification’ remains a contested issue in many countries, including England. This article examines the experience of the Scottish Higher Still reform, one of the most systematic examples of this trend. It presents data from an Economic and Social Research Council‐funded study which included case studies of schools and colleges, surveys of all secondary schools and colleges in Scotland, analyses of Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) data and interviews with key informants. Higher Still's climbing frame model of provision provided better learning opportunities for different types and levels of students, but its impact on attainment and parity of esteem were more limited. The article concludes that institutional barriers formed the biggest obstacles in the implementation phase, reflected in the contrasting ‘institutional logics’ of schools and colleges.     

Community‐based literacy learning

Because reading and writing are social as well as personal activities, many recent curricular reforms that promote literacy development have focused on the relationship between the learner and the community. These reforms have been based on situated cognition theory, which holds that learning is intermeshed with the social and physical contexts of activity and that learning occurs through active participation in a community of practice. Yet there is no distinct orientation to the concept of community across the various educational programs. In fact, at least three different orientations to community appear in the literature on literacy reform: experiential community, classroom community, and anticipatory community. Both experiential and anticipatory community orientations situate literacy in non‐school settings that involve learners in ‘real‐life’ communities. The classroom community orientation attempts to reproduce the roles of mentor and apprentice found in non‐school communities; however, its claim to legitimacy of activity is based more on the learner’s manner of participation than in the activity itself.     

Beyond Changing Culture in Small High Schools: Reform Models and Changing Instruction With Project-Based Learning

This study describes the status of small school reforms in U.S. high schools and contemplates their future. It asks how cultural and instructional reforms differ across school reform types. Analyses focus on indicators of teacher and student culture as well as instructional reforms including project-based learning (PBL) and other inquiry-related practices. Findings are based on data from a national survey completed by 395 high school teachers who were responsible for and had used PBL in core academic subjects. Study participants taught in large, comprehensive high schools; in schools that had converted to small learning communities; and in newly created small school start-ups. Some of these small schools and conversions were based on a reform model, and others were not. Teachers in reform model schools reported the greatest number of cultural and instructional reforms, followed by teachers in other small schools. Reform models were particularly strong on instructional reforms and student culture. In general, start-up teachers reported more success implementing reforms than teachers in conversion schools, and teacher culture was reformed much more often than student culture and instruction. These findings help shed light on how widely practices and conditions have spread throughout the broader small schools movement, and which of these (including extensive PBL use) only seem to flourish in schools that subscribe to a holistic reform model.