Old Players—New Rules: Higher education institutions’ response to educational demand

Tertiary Education and Management - Performance indicators and performance-based funding are becoming integral components of higher education (HE) policy around the globe. We explore some of the...     

Refugees’ pathways to German Higher Education institutions

Since 2015, Germany has followed a welcoming policy for refugees and has made efforts to integrate them in German society through initiatives such as development programs. However, very few refugee students have actually managed to enter German Higher Education (HE) institutions. Using a qualitative methodology, the researcher interviewed Arab refugee students studying in pre-academic and academic degree programs in Germany, to obtain answers to the following two main questions: 1) What are the main challenges that refugee students have experienced on their path to Germany as a host country? 2) What are the challenges that refugee students faced in HE in Germany and how does the German HE system respond to their needs? The findings suggest that, despite Germany’s desire to open up access to HE for refugees, the implementation of the policies adopted often sets administrative and social challenges to refugee students along their pathways to German HE institutions. These challenges include rigid access policies and procedures, unwelcoming public discourse and feelings of alienation. Nevertheless, students positively valued the new window of opportunity and universally applicable procedures offered in Germany, although they had not quite provided adequate responses to the refugees’ needs. The paper concludes with implications for policy makers wishing to open pathways for refugees to HE in intercultural academic spaces where they can interact and integrate within the academic community in preparation for their full integration into their host society.     

Coping by Copying? Higher education institutions’ student recruitment strategies

Growing national and international competition for students puts pressure on higher education institutions (HEIs) to develop marketing and student recruitment strategies; these are also driven by financial stress caused by performance-based funding mechanisms. In this paper we explore Norwegian HEIs’ student recruitment strategies. What type of student recruitment strategies do HEIs develop? How are the strategies linked to the institutions’ student market position? We combine qualitative research strategies including in-depth interviews and document analysis with quantitative analyses of the student market positions of different types of institutions in Norway.

     

Higher education institutions: as different as chalk and cheese?

Asserting that there is a lack of attention to operationalising and measuring institutional diversity in higher education, this paper attempts to fill the gap. Bearing on the use of the concept of diversity in biology, a model is proposed to conceptualise and measure diversity. The basic principles of three techniques (cluster analysis, ordination techniques, and calculating indices) are set out and examples are given of measurements of the level of diversity of different systems of higher education, such as the Netherlands, Australia, Denmark, Finland and the United Kingdom.     

Parents’ behavior in response to infant crying: Abusive head trauma education

Abusive head trauma (AHT) is still too common, and probably underestimated. It is the leading cause of death from child abuse. Crying is thought to contribute to the act of shaking. Objectives of this study were to (a) assess parents’ knowledge about infant crying, their ability to manage crying, and their knowledge about AHT; and (b) assess the feasibility and the impact of a simple educational intervention about crying and AHT with parents shortly after their child's birth. A short questionnaire was completed orally by the parents of 190 consecutive newborns in a maternity hospital at day 2 of life. Then, during the routine examination of the child, the pediatrician gave parents a short talk about infant crying and AHT, and a pamphlet. Finally, parents were contacted by phone at 6 weeks for the post-intervention questionnaire assessing their knowledge about crying and AHT. Among 202 consecutive births, parents of 190 children were included (266 parents; 70% mothers) over a 1-month period and answered the pre-intervention questionnaire. The intervention was feasible and easy to provide. Twenty-seven percent of mothers and 36% of fathers had never heard of AHT. At 6 weeks, 183 parents (68% of the sample; 80% mothers) answered the post-intervention questionnaire. Parents’ knowledge improved significantly post-intervention. Parents found the intervention acceptable and useful. Health care professionals such as pediatricians or nurses could easily provide this brief talk to all parents during systematic newborn examination.     

Higher education teachers’ professional learning: Process and outcome

In this paper, we first offer an analytic perspective on the papers in this volume, framing our discussion within the context of academic development as a discipline and highlighting common lines that cut across the nine contributions. We then offer insights about the current state of research on the evaluation of academic development and suggest directions that are likely to advance our theoretical and empirical knowledge in this area and anchor us firmly in evidence-based practice. We suggest that clarifying the mechanisms of change when professional learning occurs and measuring the changes in student learning outcomes that are associated with professional learning are important avenues for future research.     

Guidance and education,an analysis of young peoples’ discontinuous school pathways: the guidance-oriented approach of educational institutions

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - This article presents results of an investigation that explored the school pathways of young Argentine unskilled workers without a...     

Comparative education,the ‘New Paradigm’ and policy borrowing: constructing knowledge for educational reform

Education reform in England is increasingly portrayed as a quest to create ‘world class’ schools through the transfer of features of ‘high performing’ school systems. The demand for evidence to support policy borrowing has been serviced by an influential intermediary network, which uses international data banks to compare education systems, and to identify and promote evidence of ‘what works’. The approach to comparisons has been portrayed as a ‘New Paradigm’ by its advocates, and whilst the network has been extensively critiqued, this has largely focused on its deviation from the norms of academic comparative education. This article explores how the ‘New Paradigm’ operates, identifying its inherent features and the strategies used to overcome the methodological issues associated with policy borrowing. This is pursued through an analysis of the rationale; assumptions; underlying ideology; methodology; omissions and silences; dealing with critics; and language and presentation of four of its influential publications.     

Mothers as educational workers: mothers’ emotional work at their children's transfer to second-level education

This paper investigates the phenomenon of mothers’ emotional labour in relation to children's transfer from first- to second-level schooling: a time that has been shown to pose significant challenges for students and their families. It seeks to break the silence that surrounds the recognition and production of emotional labour in general, and specifically in relation to education. Drawing on 25 case studies, this research explores in-depth both the extent and nature of emotional work in mothers’ daily practices. Against that backdrop it identifies the specific emotional work performed at school transfer. It examines mothers’ common experiences in shouldering emotional education work and finds that mothers are key education workers. This research suggests that mothers’ lives are shaped by caring labour including education work: labours that are largely unseen but that are inalienable, and demanding on their time and energies.     

Beginning teachers’ conceptions of competency: implications to educational policy and teacher education in Malaysia

When any innovations or measurement procedures are introduced into the education system to improve or judge the quality of its teaching force, beginning teachers often have to adapt to these new concepts of what constitute a high quality teaching. This article contends that these new concepts neither necessarily match beginning teachers’ own conceptions about their own competency nor has it given beginning teachers a chance to be heard. This study provides an opportunity for beginning teachers’ ‘voices’ to be heard through phenomenography which is an interpretive research approach to discover what beginning teachers in Malaysia conceive and understand as competence in relation to what they do every day as teachers. The main finding of this study is the key role played by beginning teachers’ conceptions of competency which has provided strong implications for educational policies and teacher education. The findings suggest that teachers need to be represented in any quality improvement measures. Careful attention should also be paid to the school systems and to teacher training programmes to support and encourage teachers in their professional growth as competent teachers.     

A multi-level modeling approach to investigating students’ critical thinking at higher education institutions

Twenty-first century and higher-learning skills such as critical thinking are highly desired for new college graduates entering the workplace, especially with rapid changing technology and a more globalized economy. As a result, the importance of critical thinking development at higher education institutions has increased. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of student and institutional variables on the difference in critical thinking scores between first-year and third/fourth-year students at higher education institutions. We examined the extent to which institutional variables moderate the relationship between student variables and the critical thinking score difference. We used a multi-level modeling approach to account for the clustering of students in institutions. Results of this study showed that: (a) institutional variability accounted for 15% of the variance in estimated critical thinking scores, (b) third/fourth-year students had higher critical thinking scores as compared to their first-year peers even when controlling for college admissions score, and (c) in the final model, the main effects of college admission scores, student-faculty ratio, and percent Black/African American were statistically significant; however, retention was the only significant moderator of the relationship between critical thinking scores and class level. Implications and future research are discussed.     

Higher education ‘massification’ and challenges to the professoriate: do academics’ conceptions of quality matter?

Ensuring and assuring the quality of higher education have become dominant policy discourses in many jurisdictions across the globe. Yet, the pressures of massification and its attendant problems mean that academics now have increasingly demanding roles to improve student learning, particularly so in systems ravaged by a paucity of resources. The study reported in this article explores the experiences of and the challenges faced by academics in a large public university in Ethiopia during a period of graduate education expansion. The study found that academics hold onto ‘exceptional’ and ‘transformative’ notions of quality as they made judgements about the quality of education, which they saw as declining since the onset of expansion. As well, academics associated the entire expansion effort with burden, alienation, enhanced workload and loss of autonomy for the professor. The study suggests that policies intended to improve the quality of higher education should, inter alia, attend to the concerns of front-line academics.     

Constitutional problems concerning admission to institutions of higher education—questions relevant to a German-American comparison

The growing relevance of constitutional law for problems of access to higher education became particularly clear through the Numerus-Clausus decisions of the German Federal Constitutional Court (restricted admission due to lack of capacity) and litigation before the US-Supreme Court (preferential treatment for applicants from minority groups). The constitutions of both countries—the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany of May 23, 1949 and the Constitution of the United States of September 17, 1789, as amended—are based upon the same essential decisions regarding the fundamental characteristics and objectives of the State. The Federal Republic and the USA are democratic federations of states, committed to the pursuit of the common good, and defined in their form of government by the principle of the rule of law (secured above all by a catalog of basic human rights) as expressed through the doctrine of separation of powers. This article gives an overview of the university (especially its admission system) in both countries and analyses how the constitutions are applied to key problems of access to higher education. It leads to starting points for promising investigations into comparative (constitutional) law.

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Zusammenfassung Der immer grössere Zusammenhang zwischen den Staatsverfassungen und den Zulassungsproblemen zeigte sich sehr deutlich im numerus clausus — Entscheidung des bundesdeutschen Verfassungsgerichtes (beschränkte Zulassung wegen Mangel an Studienplätzen) — und im Rechtsstreit des Obersten Gerichtshofes der Vereinigten Staaten (Vorzugsbehandlung für Bewerber von Minderheitsgruppen). Die Verfassungen beider Länder — das Grundgesetz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland vom 23. Mai 1949 und die Verfassung der Vereinigten Staaten vom 17. September 1798 in ihrer heute gültigen Abänderung — beruhen hinsichtlich der Grundzüge und Ziele des Staates auf den gleichen Entscheidungen. Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland und die USA sind beide demokratische Föderativstaaten, die den sozialen Wohlstand verwirklichen wollen und deren Regierungsform vom Grundsatz des Rechtsstaates bestimmt ist. Dieser findet seinen Ausdruck in der Doktrin der Machtteilung und ist vor allem durch eine Reihe von Menschengrundrechten gesichert. Dieser Artikel gibt eine Übersicht über die Universitäts- und vor allem die Zulassungssysteme beider Länder und analysiert, wie die Verfassungen angewandt werden, um die Probleme der Zulassung zur Hochschulbildung zu lösen. Er bietet Ausgangspunkte für vielversprechende vergleichende (konstitutionelle) Rechtsstudien.

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Résumé Le rapport croissant des constitutions avec les problèmes d'accès à l'enseignement supérieur devint très évident à travers le numerus-clausus — décision du tribunal constitutionnel de la République Fédérale d'Allemagne (admission restreinte dûe au manque de places d'études) — et le litige de la Cour Suprême des Etats-Unis (traitement préférentiel accordé aux candidats de groupes minoritaires). Les constitutions des deux pays — la loi fondamentale de la République Fédérale d'Allemagne du 23 mai 1949 et la constitution des Etats-Unis du 17 septembre 1789, telle qu'elle a été amendée — reposent sur les mêmes décisions essentielles concernant les caractéristiques et objectifs essentiels de l'Etat. La République Fédérale d'Allemagne et les Etats-Unis sont des fédérations démocratiques d'états, qui se sont engagées pour la réalisation du bien-être social et dont la forme de gouvernement est définie par le principe de l'autorité de la loi, tel qu'il est exprimé par la doctrine de la séparation des pouvoirs et assuré avant tout par une série de droits fondamentaux de l'homme. Cet article donne une vue d'ensemble des sytèmes universitaires (et surtout des systèmes d'admission à ces universités) des deux pays et analyse comment les constitutions sont appliquées pour résoudre les problèmes d'accès à l'enseignement supérieur. Il mène à des points de départ pour des études juridiques comparées prometteuses (du point de vue constitutionnel).

     

‘Schools are no longer merely educational institutions’: the rhetoric of social efficiency in Ontario education, 1931–1935

This article examines educational rhetoric in Ontario, Canada, during the Great Depression. It notes how the government, through the Annual Reports of the Minister of Education, and the College of Education, through its journal, The School, espoused themes of social efficiency regarding educational ideas and policies. The Depression struck schools hardest between 1932 and 1935 in Ontario, providing cause and context for reflection and reform in pedagogy. While social efficiency remained within the educational discourse of the province, the notion was problematised in Ontario as the province began to shake off the worst of the economic Depression.     

Political identity and moral education: A response to Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind

In The Righteous Mind, Jonathan Haidt claims that liberals have a narrower moral outlook than conservatives—they are concerned with fairness and relief of suffering, which Haidt sees as individualistic values, while conservatives care about authority and loyalty too, values concerned with holding society together. I question Haidt’s methodology, which does not permit liberals to express concerns with social bonds that do not fit within an ‘authority’ or ‘loyalty’ framework and discounts people who support liberal positions but do not self-ascribe as liberals. I also argue that of the six ‘moral foundations’, fairness and relief of suffering are more fundamental values than authority and loyalty, which are virtues only if their objects are worthy. Moral education programs must also encourage students to recognize some values as more urgent than others, and permit inquiry into the actual reasons for political behavior other than professed value commitments.     

Higher education and family background: Which really matters to individual’s socioeconomic status development in China

The study finds that the higher education and parents’ occupations both have a significant impact to individual’s social economic development measured by ISEI (International Socioeconomic Index), but higher education’s impact is greater. In addition, from 1980s to 2000s, the impact of higher education has been diminishing as the access to higher education increased significantly. Data also shows that certain sectors, such as government employees, Chinese Communist Party members, city/urban households, had a clear advantage. To our surprise, gender and minority status had no statistical difference in ISEI. Several policies were recommended to break the social stratification in the near future.     

Parents’ response to a Facebook group in secondary education. Preliminary data

ABSTRACT

Social networks are explored as educational tools, but results remain contradictory. The goal was to assess families’ response to a Facebook group created to support class work and expand it to homes. Forty parents (27 mothers, 13 fathers) participated. A pre-experimental one-group post-test-only research design was followed. The group’s activity was analysed using Gytrics, while interviews were conducted with parents. Quantitative results showed that the group had a significant impact: a high percentage joined the group, its reach was 100% (all participated), there were 15,875 visits, 502 publications (103 made by parents), 2823 reactions, Tuesdays and Thursdays were the most active days and 21:00–22:00 the most active hours. Qualitative results showed six themes: change in the perception of the subject, novel experience, interesting/positive, learning community, safe environment and reasons to join. The use of Facebook to support class work had a positive impact on parents, connecting school and family.