Examining the Challenges Early Childhood Teacher Candidates Face in Figuring Their Roles as Early Educators

Federal, state, and local policy makers' high-stakes standards-based accountability reforms are transforming the early childhood teacher education process. These reforms affect how early education teacher candidates figure their role as teachers. By employing Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, and Cain's conception of figured worlds to analyze the findings of a qualitative case study, this article examines how three early childhood teacher candidates' figured conceptions of themselves as early educators evolve in high-stakes classrooms and teacher education environments. It also investigates how these candidates see themselves addressing these reforms in their own classrooms. Such a study not only further details the impact reforms have on preservice teachers' conceptions of teaching, but it also provides a chance for early childhood teacher educators to consider strategies they might employ to assist their candidates in developing a figured conception of teaching that addresses these reforms in an developmentally appropriate manner.     

论新时期高等教育管理的效益化

我国高等教育通过“共建、调整、合作、合并”等多种形式的体制改革，正在向大众化阶段迈进。当前，认识高等教育管理的艘益化，从高等教育发展的本质、发展的规模化及我国人才强国战略的角度．探讨其必要性，并从高等教育改革经验、管理队伍、大学生就业等关节点上进行艘益化改革，是发展大众化时期高等教育的重要任务。     

Assessment in Egypt

This profile traces shifts over time in government assessment aims in Egypt and explores their implementation, drawing on historical data. It outlines initially the policies of past Egyptian leaders that led the assessment system to take its recent form and shows how some political intentions for assessment have kept re-emerging. The current aims of President Mubarak are then shown to focus on improvement of quantity and quality in education, especially primary education. The condition of the whole education system is described, which puts in context the way the assessment system operates. A picture of the shortcomings of both education generally and assessment specifically also helps explain President Mubarak's aims. His aims provide a rationale for recent reforms that sought to improve the learning of the individual, as well as improve the system that assessed it and the country that managed it. The data for this profile were mainly collected in 1996.     

The politics of educational transfer and policymaking in Egypt

For the past two centuries, western modern education has informed education policies and practices in Egypt. However, few researchers have analyzed the historical or current politics of educational transfer in this country. This article investigates the ways in which foreign transfer has influenced Egyptian education, both historically and currently. It concludes that current Egyptian education is a product of inappropriately adapted foreign transfers coupled with domestic interest in spreading education with little attention to its quality. Egypt has recently received considerable support from the international community and has been influenced by global educational discourses. Yet, its educational reforms have met little, if any, success as they have been introduced into a system with characteristics that are historically ingrained and resistant to change, and into a contested context of competing interest groups and a climate of mistrust. The result is a disoriented education system full of problems.     

Do comprehensive school teachers perceive themselves as active professional agents in school reforms?

This article focuses on exploring comprehensive school teachers’ professional agency in the context of the most recent school reforms in Finland (i.e., developing undivided basic education). In this article, the emphasis is on analyzing the premises on which teachers view themselves and their work in terms of developing their own school, catalyzed by the national school reform. Teachers’ perceptions and the relation between their perceptions of the development work and their educational backgrounds were empirically examined by means of essays entitled “Remembering the Future.” Results suggested that both teachers’ perceptions of undivided basic education and their perceptions of themselves in the development process varied considerably. Further investigation showed that teachers’ perceptions of the reform and of themselves within the reforms were interrelated. More specifically, perceiving oneself as an active subject in the development work seemed to promote a holistic and functional perception of the object of the development. On the basis of the results, it seems that as highly educated professionals, teachers were very capable of identifying and analyzing what should be changed in schools and/or the school districts. However, a challenge for the teachers’ active professional agency in educational reforms seems to be the lack of shared and informed assumptions of how change can be brought about.     

Reforms of Educational Efficiency and Quality in Developing Countries: an overview

It is possible to distinguish different ‘themes’ of educational reform in developing countries. These can be categorised as planning/management and efficiency reforms, quality reforms, and curricular reforms; the first two only are discussed here. The first of these ‘themes’ has been typically dominated by the economist's agenda, the second by the educationalist's. Planning/management and efficiency reforms have been set within a context of overriding concern with educational expansion, with the consequence that insufficient attention has been paid to the quality of the educational systems being developed. Moreover, under prevailing conditions of austerity, the recent efficiency‐oriented solutions proffered by greater competition have served to exacerbate the disparities in the provision of quality education. Educational reform focused on quality has, perhaps, been the most intractable of the themes under discussion. What makes for a high quality educational system is a moving target. The pendulum swing has been away from state interventionism, but the state's role as regulator and equaliser of disparities may be on the return. The extent of the swing back will be dependent on the success of participatory strategies to involve the more marginalised stakeholders in all the different aspects of educational reform reviewed in this paper.     

校本管理的理念和策略

校本管理是以学校为本位的管理思想、管理策略和模式,主张给学校更多更大的办学自主权,学校则要遵循教育规律办学,从学校特色出发,确定办学理念,设计发展蓝图。它的产生既适应了当今世界教育素质化的趋势和学校层面改革深化的需要,也是现代学校管理变革的自身要求。实施校本管理,要求校长增强决策意识,走质量内涵发展道路,追求学校管理精致化。     

关于我国职业教育课程改革的思考

价值取向模糊、内容不明确、课程开发方法不科学、缺乏合理的运行机制等已经成为深化职教课程改革的瓶颈.应从理论上明晰职业教育的价值取向,准确定位职教课程改革目标,把技术知识、工作过程知识作为职业教育课程的主体,并以职业工作任务为核心,按照职业能力发展规律建构职业教育课程内容,同时建立合理的课程改革运行机制,确保课程改革的质量.     

DESCP factors: the ‘invisible’ impediments to reforms in education

ABSTRACT

Policymakers often overestimate the power of agentic players in the system and their own as the causes for the successes and failures of reforms. These are but a small part of the powers in play. The article sheds light on contextual factors that are underestimated when planning and implementing reforms in education. The study utilises a case study method to explore three failed reforms in public education to identify the influence of DESCP (i.e. demographic, economic, social, cultural and political) factors on reform success. The study provides an in-depth understanding of why factors in the action environment are as important as agentic players when aspiring to improve national education. The analysis highlights the impact of DESCP factors on basic capacities toward successful implementation of educational reforms. The DESCP factors are discussed, their relevance to reform success is explicated, and their impact is exemplified with policy cases.     

"以县为主"教育管理体制与教育均衡发展——对全国地县教育局长的专题调查分析

农村义务教育实行“以县为主”管理体制,旨在强化各级政府特别是县级人民政府的责任,切实减轻农民负担,有效推进农村教育事业的健康、持续发展。但是,由于新体制遭遇了税费改革,忽略了地区间的差异,加剧了经济欠发达地区教育投入不足的矛盾。因此,确保城乡义务教育阶段的机会平等,必须进一步改进和完善农村义务教育管理体制和投入体制,为教育均衡发展创造有效的政策和制度保障。从制度上强化政府对义务教育的管理和投入责任,关键要考虑城乡之间、地区之间经济发展水平和财政能力的巨大差异,公平分配国家的公共教育资源。     

Someone else's game: constructing the English teaching professional in New Zealand

In the last 15 years, New Zealand has experienced a range of educational “reforms” driven by a neo-liberal agenda which has insisted that the education system serve the goal of enhancing the nation's economic performance and its competitive edge through the inculcation in learners of the skills requisite to the pursuit of this goal. Fuelled by a perception that the education system needed quality management and greater accountability to its clientele, a series of administrative reforms were put in place in the late 1980s and were followed by a series of radical, state-dictated curriculum and assessment reforms. The subsequent reshaping of curriculum and assessment has had a profound impact on the nature of teachers’ work and their identity as professionals. Using research undertaken in New Zealand in the later 1990s, this article examines ways in which 1990s reforms in New Zealand have worked to reconstruct the professional knowledge (including pedagogical knowledge) of secondary English teachers. It further examines the implications of these changes in teachers’ work for professional identity and discusses some of the implications of these “reforms” for pre-service teacher education.     

加拿大阿萨巴斯卡大学教学改革的新进展

阿萨巴斯卡大学是加拿大最著名的开放与远程教育大学,近年来开展了一系列卓有成效的改革:从传统远程教育模式向在线课程与服务模式转变;推进移动图书馆建设;开发和利用开放教育资源;对多种学习管理系统进行评估与整合;减少与信息交流技术相关的温室气体排放,向低碳型远程教育大学转化,这些改革推动了该校开放与远程教育的高水平发展。     

Global recession and higher education in eastern Asia: China,Mongolia and Vietnam

This paper presents a perspective on the capacity of colleges and universities during past and present economic shocks. The main argument is that the environment of the global recession—an Asia far more economically integrated than during past economic shocks, with more unified aspirations to be globally competitive and socially responsible—no longer delay reforms in higher education. In fact, the global recession has become an opportune time for higher education in Asia, specifically developing countries in eastern (East and Southeast) Asia, to continue reforming governance and administration, access and equity, internal and external efficiency, and regional collaboration. Economic shocks have accelerated reforms in higher education, especially those for promoting innovation in their economies, though more is needed in improving governance and access for underserved populations. This paper examines the cases of China, Mongolia, and Vietnam as examples of how the global recession and regional integration are growing forces in shaping their higher education reform and development. The paper also identifies a series of measures for increasing the resilience of higher education systems in serving poor and vulnerable populations during economic recessions. Responses to the global economic recession by nations in eastern Asia are likely to improve the global shift in economy and human capital.     

高等学校地理学教学课程体系改革思路

地理学教育是我国 高等教育中的一个重要组成部分，经过长期的建设和发展，已形成一定的教育模式和课程体系，但这种传统的教育模式和陈旧的课程体系与目前我国社会和经济的变革以及国家创新体系的建设极不相适应，阻碍着创新型地理人才的培养。因此，对地理教学的改革迫在眉睫，地理学教学改革的核心是课程体系的改革。地理学教学体系的改革需要面向现代大学的教育观念，根据时代的发展、学科的特点和发展趋势、教学中的实际问题以及社会的要求和人才市场的变化，在对地理学教学课程体系改革进行深入研究的基础上，建立适合社会经济学和学科发展的课程体系。     

Levels of reflection in action research. An overview and an assessment tool

This is a preliminary study that examines prospective teachers’ reflective thinking as it is exhibited in their action research during the teaching practice experience. Different systems of analyzing reflective thinking are reviewed and criticized for their suitability for analyzing written journals rather than other forms of expressing and developing reflection. An inventory for analyzing student teachers’ reflective thinking during action research is constructed and validated (IRTAR). It is then used for analyzing action research reports of hundred prospective teachers. The results of the analysis are discussed within the context of teacher education programs in Egypt.     

改革开放30年:研究生教育发展中的关系大调整

首先是在宏观层面对研究生教育管理主体的关系进行调整,继而在微观层面就研究生培养过程中主体关系进行协调;先是对研究生教育发展中的诸多关系进行制度确认,继而对涉及主体利益的关系进行重新构建。这是改革开放30年间研究生教育发展的一种运行轨迹,其中我国研究生教育管理机构在调整关系的过程中将"自己"作为改革的对象,不断革自己的"命,"对保证研究生教育改革的顺利进行起了重要的作用。当前研究生教育的发展已进入相关主体利益调整的关键时期,有关研究生教育主体树立正确的关系观对于促进研究生教育又好又快的发展至关重要。     

新时期对高校思想政治工作进学生公寓问题的思考

高教后勤社会化和学分制管理模式的改革,给高校思想政治教育工作带来了新的挑战和机遇.积极探索思想政治教育与管理工作进社会化下的学生公寓,建立一套高效完善的工作机制和运行体系,发挥学生宿舍在学风建设工作中的主阵地作用.     

What works to improve the quality of student learning in developing countries?

We conducted a systematic review to identify policy interventions that improve education quality and student learning in developing countries. Relying on a theory of change typology, we highlight three main drivers of change of education quality: (1) supply-side capability interventions that operate through the provision of physical and human resources, and learning materials; (2) policies that through incentives seek to influence behaviour and intertemporal preferences of teachers, households, and students; (3) bottom-up and top-down participatory and community management interventions, which operate through decentralisation reforms, knowledge diffusion, and increased community participation in the management of education systems. Overall, our findings suggest that interventions are more effective at improving student performance and learning when social norms and intertemporal choices are factored in the design of education policies, and when two or more drivers of change are combined. Thus, supply-side interventions alone are less effective than when complemented by community participation or incentives that shift preferences and behaviours.     

Understanding reforms,school reactions to major changes: the case of Israel

ABSTRACT

Two major education system reforms were introduced by Israel’s government in collaboration with the teachers’ unions. These reforms redefine principals’ and teachers’ roles, increasing teachers’ work hours, and the scope of their work. School principals absent from the reform negotiations, are expected to apply the reform, although their work conditions were harmed. This research examines how principals cope with those reforms, and why they sometimes apply them in ways that seem to contradict their interests? Semi-structured interviews with 30 school principals, and 10 schoolteachers, indicated that the reforms have encumbered school principals’ complex tasks. They have little time or ability to thoroughly apply the reforms, responding to multiple stakeholders, political pressures, the exam regime, human resource management, etc. They often ignore policy directives, delegating authority to others, refrain from using certain resources provided by the reforms and allow internal forces to lead, while remaining uninvolved. Conclusions are presented.     

对高校学生主体地位的认识

从教育理念和教育发展现实要求上阐述高校学生是学校的主人和正式成员,确立学生的主体地位是高校内部管理体制改革和教学改革的核心问题,揭示以"学生为中心"是现代教育的本质特征和未来教育的发展趋势。