MAIN CONCERNS OF SWEDISH HIGHER EDUCATION AND RESEARCH POLICY

The information below is a summary of the main questions with which Swedish higher educational policy is currently concerned.     

CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION,POLICY, AND THE EDUCATIONALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

Abstract In this essay, Naomi Hodgson reconsiders the value of Michel Foucault’s normalization thesis to the study of educationalization in relation to contemporary educational policy and research. Hodgson begins by analyzing educational researchers’ response to the recent introduction of citizenship education in England, focusing specifically on a review of research, policy, and practice in this area commissioned by the British Educational Research Association (BERA). She argues that the BERA review exemplifies the field of education policy sociology in that it is conducted according to the concepts of its parent discipline of sociology but lacks critical theoretical engagement with them. Instead, such work operationalizes sociological concepts in service of educational policy solutions. Hodgson identifies three dominant discourses of citizenship education within the BERA review— the academic discourse of education policy sociology, contemporary political discourse, and the discourse of inclusive education — and draws attention to the relation of citizenship education to policy initiatives, and thus to educationalization. She then discusses Foucault’s concept of normalization in terms of the demand on the contemporary subject to orient the self in a certain relation toward learning informed by the need for competitiveness in the European and global context. Ultimately, Hodgson concludes that the language and rhetoric of education policy sociology implicate such research in the process of educationalization itself.     

政府采购法的政策功能及其定位研究

伴随着我国政府采购市场规模的不断扩大,对外开放的程度进一步深入,如何妥善处理采购活动的基本功能和政策导向功能之间的关系,成为政府采购目前所面临的难题之一.对此,从完善政府采购政策功能的角度出发,对二者之间的关系进行深入分析,特别是提出了在政府采购的不同发展阶段政策功能实现的程度不同,并结合实现政策功能的具体措施,以及进一步落实政策功能存在的问题,提出了具有针对性的建议.     

ENTRY AND EXIT PERFORMANCE INDICATORS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION: SOME POLICY AND RESEARCH ISSUES

The recent re‐emergence of an interest in the relationships between A levels and degree performance can be viewed in the context of the work of the planning bodies for higher education, and the associated drive to secure reliable performance indicators for planning purposes. However, a number of tacit but questionable assumptions can be seen to underlie the traditional model of students’ performance at the points of entry and exit. Once those assumptions are recognised, implications follow for policy and for decision‐makers, whether in institutions (such as admissions tutors) or outside institutions, in central planning and resource allocation bodies. What might appear to be a purely technical debate amongst statisticians turns out to be intimately connected with contrasting conceptions of higher education.     

ETV AND FILM MATERIALS : THEIR INCEPTION AND DESIGN

What are the first impressions of a newcomer to the world of educational film and television? First, he can hardly fail to be struck by the lack of integration of film and television production into the general academic scheme. Secondly, there seems to be a universal lack of awareness of the possibility of dividing educational production into two categories according to purpose ‐‐ those intended to impart knowledge and information and those intended to impart understanding. The author suggests general improvements to be made permitting more economic usage of educational media henceforward.     

ADULTS IN EXPANDED GRANDPARENT ROLES: CONSIDERATIONS FOR PRACTICE,POLICY, AND RESEARCH

The number of middle-aged and older adults assuming primary caregiver roles to their grandchildren has dramatically increased in the past decade due to a myriad of serious family-related problems. Gerontology professionals in human service and mental health positions as well as policy makers and researchers can play important roles in helping these women and men function effectively in their expanded grandparent roles. The primary goal of this article is to provide a representative picture of (1) the circumstances surrounding grandparents' acquisition of the surrogate parent role; (2) the consequences of the caregiving roles for the older generation (positive as well as negative outcomes); and (3) recommendations of types of support (socioemotional and instrumental) that would be most helpful for grandparents raising their grandchildren. Recommendations for future programs, policies, and research on this growing population of family caregivers are also provided.     

MEDIA STUDIES AND VOCATIONALISM

University arts faculties have traditionally been reluctant to admit a vocational component into arts courses. The author's experience in teaching media at the New South Wales Institute of Technology suggests that the fears underlying this reluctance, while not completely irrational, arise from problems between academics and professionals who cannot work well together: they can be overcome if those involved behave with tact and flexibility. The approach to media studies in Australia is described.     

ROLAND BARTHES AND THE HIDDEN CURRICULUM OF ETV

Semiological and structuralist analysis of a schools television programme reveals a hidden curriculum underlying the manifest content. The educational implications of the “hiddenness” are discussed. Basic semiological and structuralist methodology is introduced.     

EUROPEAN COMMUNITY SOURCES OF SUPPORT FOR HIGHER EDUCATION AND RESEARCH IN 1990: A POLICY PAPER

The following is an overview of European Community activities in the domains of higher education, research and development, and the furthering of co‐operation between higher education and Industry. A fourth domain presented, the so‐called Jean Monnet Action, Is a Community effort aimed at introducing the European Communities concept into the courses offered in universities throughout the Community. Examples of specific activities are described under each of the four principal rubrics.

     

EDUCATIONAL POLICY AND ECONOMIC POLICY: THE CASE OF SOUTHERN ITALY

The aim of this article is to describe the role of educational policies in state intervention in southern Italy. Its point of departure is recognition of the fact that education policies, particularly those concerned with higher education, have been given increasing importance in the plans for government intervention for development in this area. However, the increased emphasis on higher education, as well as on policies of technological development and innovation, has not resulted in improvements in the effectiveness of intervention. Rather, what has occurred has been the result of inadequate implementation techniques and of a general approach which has caused an overloading of the role and functions of higher education in a situation of general impoverishment and crisis in the basic educational structures (compulsory and secondary education). At the same time, the changing of the educational background of new and old professions due to the contemporary organization of labour seems to coincide, to some extent, with the emphasis on the upgrading of the general level of education, perceived as being needed for long‐term modernization policies in developing areas (or countries).