Non-government distance education funding: the need for equity in Australian schooling

This reflection outlines the problems associated with the Australian Government’s recurrent funding policy for non-government distance education. It demonstrates the policy’s inconsistencies with stated government educational policy and with commonly held expectations of fairness in a democratic society. A comparison of the current funding of non-government distance education to various long-standing educational delivery modes demonstrates that non-government distance education is yet to be appropriately funded by the Commonwealth. The discussion concludes by indicating that this emerging pedagogy is distinct from traditional schooling, that its students ought to be given the same educational opportunities as other Australian school students, and that the current policy ought to be redressed expeditiously.     

Educational accountability tests,social and legal inclusion approaches to discrimination for students with disability: a national case study from Australia

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability promotes equal and full participation by children in education. Equity of educational access for all students, including students with disability, free from discrimination, is the first-stated national goal of Australian education. Australian federal disability discrimination law, the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, follows the Convention, with the federal Disability Standards for Education 2005 enacting specific requirements for education. This article discusses equity of processes for inclusion of students with disability in Australian educational accountability testing, including international tests in which many countries participate. The conclusion drawn is that equitable inclusion of students with disability in current Australian educational accountability testing is not occurring from a social perspective and is not in principle compliant with law. However, given the reluctance of courts to intervene in education matters and the uncertainty of an outcome in any court consideration, the discussion shows that equitable inclusion in accountability systems is available through policy change rather than expensive, and possibly unsuccessful, legal challenges.     

Who are the custodians of Pacific ‘post-2015’ education futures? Policy discourses,education for all and the millennium development goals

This article discusses influences of Education for All (EFA) and the education Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on education policies in the Pacific sub-region in the context of ongoing ‘post-2015 development agenda’ deliberations, focusing on Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu. It is based on doctoral work undertaken as a component of an Australian Research Council Linkage grant, partially supported by the former Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), and continuing postdoctoral research.Pacific postcolonial nations’ engagement with EFA and the MDGs was compared through a critical discourse analysis of multi-scalar education policy formation processes. The research identified paradoxical influences of global approaches, and multi-level processes. While such frameworks at once facilitated educational debate and legitimized broader education policy participation, they also supported a status quo in mainstream donor and state dominance of educational development agendas. There is some evidence of wider national participation in the emerging ‘post-2015′ policy processes, but the extent of its influence on multi-level policy deliberations globally and regionally is yet to be seen. Many of the education issues currently being raised in both nations, and regionally, have endured since colonial occupation and independence. This article focuses on educational relevance and gender issues in education, and positions them in relation to the concept of ownership within post-colonial political dynamics and multilevel discursive contexts for participation, which I interpret as being of continued importance to understanding these enduring education concerns.     

Preparing for parents: how Australian teacher education is addressing the question of parent-school engagement

Parent-school engagement is widely embraced as a policy and educational ideal, yet to date there are few studies of how teacher education prepares students for this important aspect of their professional lives. In this paper, we consider findings from a recent Australian study that explored how the issue of parent-school relations is currently addressed in Australian initial teacher education programmes. The study is situated within the broader policy context of teaching standards. Our findings challenge suggestions that parent-school engagement is largely absent from pre-service programmes, and although the study recognizes gaps and discontinuities, it also identifies four key domains in which initial teacher education currently prepares students for parent engagement. We argue that students are being prepared for parent-school engagement in a variety of ways, but that there is insufficient continuity to ensure that all beginning teachers have a thorough understanding of how to work effectively with parents.     

实施科教兴国战略必须坚持依法治教

实施科教兴国战略 ,是一个宏观的系统工程 ,其中一个重要的问题 ,就是必须坚持依法治教 ,而依法治教必须紧紧围绕科教兴国战略的实施来进行 ,必须为科教兴国服务 ,这是关乎科教兴国能否成功、带有根本性的大问题。依法治教是依法治国的必然要求和重要组成部分 ,是由教育自身地位所决定的 ,也是对比西方国家发展教育事业的成功经验、从新中国教育发展的历史中得出的必然结论。教育的长期、稳定发展 ,必须坚持依法治教 ,这是发展教育的根本大计。要加大依法治教的力度 ,使教育改革与发展全面纳入法治化的轨道     

论我国高校与学生教育纠纷解决机制的完善

随着教育改革的深入发展和学校办学自主权的扩大,高校与其他教育法律关系的主体如学生、教师等的纠纷也不断增多。而众多的教育法律纠纷因为教育关系主体间的法律关系的模糊不清而没有得到有效解决,各主体的合法权益未得到切实保护。本文试图在对学校性质的定位以及以学校为中心的各类关系研究的基础上,明确高校与学生之间纠纷的救济途径,以期建立一个各种救济途径配置得当的学生权利救济体制。     

Living in an era of comparisons: comparative research on policy,curriculum and teaching

ABSTRACT

The articles in this special issue include different perspectives on comparative policy studies with an aim to understand transnational education policies in relation to the logic of national educational systems and to grasp the ongoing reframing of teacher identity and teaching as a result of the policy activities of ‘new’ and coordinated international actors. This special issue aims to contribute to a continued qualified investigation in curriculum issues at the various levels within the public education system, as well as in the international policy movements, affecting public education differently in different nations. A ‘comparative curriculum research’ inspired by theories and methods from comparative education might be helpful in this endeavour.     

ePortfolio use by university students in Australia: a review of the Australian ePortfolio Project

In October 2008, the Australian Learning and Teaching Council released the final report for the commissioned project ‘ePortfolio use by university students in Australia: Informing excellence in policy and practice’. The Australian ePortfolio Project represented the first attempt to examine the breadth and depth of ePortfolio practice in the Australian higher education sector. The research activities included: surveys of stakeholder groups in learning and teaching, academic management and human resource management, with respondents representing all Australian universities; a series of focus groups and semi‐structured interviews that sought to explore key issues in greater depth; and surveys designed to capture students’ pre‐course expectations and their post‐course experiences of ePortfolio learning. Further qualitative data was collected through interviews with ‘mature users’ of ePortfolios. Project findings revealed that, while there was a high level of interest in the use of ePortfolios in terms of the potential to help students become reflective learners who were conscious of their personal and professional strengths and weaknesses, the state of play in Australian universities was very fragmented. The project investigation identified four individual, yet interrelated, contexts where strategies may be employed to support and foster effective ePortfolio practice in higher education: government policy; technical standards; academic policy; and learning and teaching. Four scenarios for the future were also presented with the goal of stimulating discussion about opportunities for stakeholder engagement. It is argued that the effective use of ePortfolios requires open dialogue and collaboration between the different stakeholders across this range of contexts.     

The current educational research and policy hiatus: Where is the expertise to meet the challenge?

Persistent calls for closer relations between research and policy from the educational research community in Australia and elsewhere, reflect growing concerns about a perceived lack of impact which educational research has on educational policy formulation and implementation. Rarely, however, is there any systematic attempt on the part of those expressing such concerns to explicate source reasons for the obvious hiatus existing between research and policy. Though not possibly accepted by the prevailing wisdom, several reasons particularly germane to the Australian context are proposed and discussed. The central theme underlying the paper is that there is an acute shortage of researchers (both staff and postgraduate students) in Australian tertiary schools and faculties of education with the training, skills and experience to meet either the current or emerging educational policy agendas of State and Federal governments. The paper argues that this state of affairs, seriously militates against the academic research community’s present and future capacity to make relevant contributions towards government policy requirements for research, unless radical steps are taken to redress these shortages.     

The Swedish schoolhouse: a case study in transnational influences in education at the 1870s world fairs

At the world exhibitions of the 1870s Sweden displayed a schoolhouse, with examples of teaching material and student work. How did Sweden ship an entire schoolhouse to these exhibitions? What impact did the schoolhouse have on visitors to the exhibition? The purpose of this article is to shed light on the transnational influences operating between Sweden and other countries at the world fairs of the 1870s, regarding both policy and practice formation. In this paper, we will explore the exhibited school, the Swedish schoolhouse, as a major political and educational intervention in the growing market of educational goods, into the group of advanced industrial nations, and into the space of leading education nations. The schoolhouse was internally focused while at the same time demonstrating advanced education thinking, closely linked to Sweden’s national future as a leading economy. Exhibitions were not just events or spectacles. They had effects.     

INTERNATIONAL CO‐OPERATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION: THE GLOBALIZATION OF UNIVERSITIES

This article begins by posing some fundamental questions about global co‐operation and why co‐operation among nations is necessary. Co‐operation in higher education can foster global understanding and bridge cultural gaps. What is therefore called for is the globalization of universities. For positive international co‐operation in education to occur, the following initiatives are required: global perspectives in the curriculum, foreign students as learning resources, the globalization of universities and colleges, and the disengagement of educational policy from foreign policy.     

Economic Adjustment,Education and Human Resource Development in Africa: The Case of Nigeria

On the basis of the Nigerian experience, this article argues that the structural adjustment programs of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, when misapplied, can have a devastating effect on the educational systems that are essential to human resource development. The paper considers how the objectives of structural adjustment might have been accomplished without harming education, and recommends an outcomes-based educational policy for Nigeria which could serve equally well in other developing nations. The key message of the paper is that the ongoing austerity programs have been secured at excessively high human cost, and that it is time for a policy redirection that reaffirms education as the essential tool of all development.     

Economic Adjustment, Education and Human Resource Development in Africa: The Case of Nigeria

On the basis of the Nigerian experience, this article argues that the structural adjustment programs of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, when misapplied, can have a devastating effect on the educational systems that are essential to human resource development. The paper considers how the objectives of structural adjustment might have been accomplished without harming education, and recommends an outcomes-based educational policy for Nigeria which could serve equally well in other developing nations. The key message of the paper is that the ongoing austerity programs have been secured at excessively high human cost, and that it is time for a policy redirection that reaffirms education as the essential tool of all development.     

Sustainability policy and sustainability in higher education curricula: the educational developer perspective

Various studies have investigated the views of higher education staff and students about sustainability, yet educational developer perspectives are under-represented in the research. This project gathered educational developer perspectives about sustainability in the curriculum. It sought to capture their views about a national sustainability policy; about the relationship between educational development and sustainability curriculum change; and whether sustainability should form part of their own roles. It was informed by the ‘theory of the second-best’ and involved nine interviews. Educational developers raised concerns about the policy, whilst opinions about their own involvement varied. It is argued that policy should provide clearer statements about curriculum, and educational developers should be involved in its development.     

Effective Cost-Sharing Models in Higher Education: Insights from Low-Income Students in Australian Universities

This study examines the global trend in shifting university costs from national governments to individual students and families, with a specific focus on the existing cost-sharing model in Australian higher education. The research examines the manner in which the availability of income-contingent loans (through the Higher Education Contribution Scheme, or HECS) enters into individual cost assessments and evaluative frameworks during the university exploration and search process of low-income Australian youth, and the resulting lessons that might be applied to other national contexts. Semi-structured interviews with 16 participants addressed a broad range of issues related to the development of educational aspirations, and how beliefs and attitudes about cost influenced participants’ understanding and decision-making regarding tertiary enrollment and post-graduate plans. A number of discreet and related themes emerged from analysis of the interviews, including motivations for attending university; pre-university cost considerations; self-assessments of skills, abilities, and personal traits and characteristics; general financial orientation; pre-university experiences and influences; and the role of others including family, peers, teachers and other school staff. The author concludes that the Australian system is worthy of consideration by other nations as a possible mechanism for enhancing access to higher education for individuals who might otherwise not possess the opportunity to participate.     

Strong on retention,weak on outcomes: the impact of vocational education and training in schools

The re-shaping of the Australian senior secondary landscape in recent years and the emergence of a new space for vocational knowledge within Australian senior secondary certificates of education have been underpinned by a national focus on raising retention rates and achieving Year 12 or equivalent attainment rates in the context of a diversifying senior secondary cohort, and on delivering effective training to meet the skills needs of the growing economy. Absent from this policy agenda is a focus on the efficacy of the expanding vocational education and training (VET) in Schools. At the core of this discussion are the impacts of ongoing tensions between the instrumentalist labour market role of VET in Schools programmes and the expectation that an equitable senior secondary landscape should respond to the education and training needs of all students. Despite rapid growth, low achievers and socioeconomically disadvantaged learners remain the dominant participants in VET in Schools programmes, and pathways for these students into post-school education and training or full-time employment remain weak. This paper draws on the views of students, teachers, and policy-makers to examine the ways in which vocational programmes are delivered within the different curricular contexts of VET in Schools across Australian senior secondary education systems.     

中国教师教育政策的价值取向分析

教师教育政策是教育政策的重要组成部分,探究教师教育政策价值取向,对教师教育政策的调整和未来走向具有关键性、根本性的意义。我国教师教育政策的价值取向表现为:坚持优先发展教师教育的战略地位,是教师教育政策的基石;坚持以独立设置的各级各类师范院校为主体、其他高等院校参与的多渠道、多层次、多规格、多形式的教师教育体系,是教师教育政策的体制基础;坚持教师教育的免费性,是教师教育政策的核心;坚持国家对教师教育的有限干预与规范,是教师教育政策的关键;坚持师范生权利与义务的统一,是教师教育政策的法律保障。     

Education for citizenship in South Australian public schools: a pilot study of senior leader and teacher perceptions

Preparing students for informed and active citizenship is a core goal of education and schooling in Australia. The ways schools educate and prepare young Australians for citizenship involves a range of processes and initiatives central to the work of schools, including school ethos, mission, extracurricular activities and community-based participation. With regard to the formal curriculum, the recent introduction and implementation of the first ever Federal Australian Curriculum includes provision for a new subject – Civics and Citizenship. Research evidence from other nations suggests that schools understand, approach and enact education for citizenship in a multitude of ways, yet how Australian schools construct this aspect of their work is currently under-researched. In this context, and drawing on data from interviews with school leaders and teachers of Years 6–8 (11–14 year olds) students in a small sample of South Australian primary and secondary schools, we explore perceptions and current approaches to education for citizenship. Our findings suggest (1) that while school leaders and teachers value education for citizenship, they do so for different reasons; (2) that schools place values as central to education for citizenship; and (3) that community involvement is typically understood as occurring within rather than beyond the school.     

Teacher qualification matters: The association between cumulative teacher qualification and students’ educational attainment

Despite the significant role that teachers play in students’ education, there is little consensus on whether teacher qualification indicators actually correspond to improved academic success by students. To better understand the role that teacher qualification plays, this study examines the relationship between teachers’ qualifications and students’ educational attainment. Since students are exposed to different teachers with various qualifications every year, we use a cumulative perspective to examine the role of teacher qualification indices. The results show that students who have been taught by multiple highly qualified teachers were more likely to earn higher level educational degrees. Considering teacher qualification will continue to play an integral role, the findings from this study have significant implications for education policy across nations.     

市教育教学研究院教师.创新高职学生尚法理念培育途径探讨

目前,高职院校法制教育没有充分发挥培育学生尚法理念主渠道作用,而尚法理念教育和提升学生素质、建设民主法制国家、构建和谐社会密切相关.因此,创新法制教育,培育学生尚法理念势在必行.其有效途径是:创新教育理念,将培育尚法理念作为法制教育的核心目标;创新教学内容和教学形式,优化法律基础课内容,并与道德教育相结合,采用情境教学、互动式教学等有利于形成法信仰的教学方法.