我国现行职业教育政策目标和手段的背离及矫正

职业教育政策包括政策目标和政策手段两个方面，与职业教育政策目标相适应的政策手段将对职业教育乃至国民经济的发展产生积极的影响，反之，则会产生消极的影响。本论述了我国现行职业教育政策目标和手段相背离的现状、后果及矫正措施。     

Low-profile policy: the case of study support in education policy ensembles in England

This paper presents the case of a relatively low-profile policy initiative that has been successively reframed as part of larger policy ensembles within UK schools over a six-year period, and translated during this time at national and school levels. The policy examined is that of study support or out-of-hours learning. The trajectory of this policy is traced as it is first launched within an educational policy ensemble around the raising achievement agenda and then re-framed as part of the then New Labour government’s major educational and social policy agenda of Every Child Matters. Drawing on interview data from head teachers and teachers, the ways in which study support policy was translated in two contrasting schools over this period is explored, highlighting different tensions with national policy and local agendas. The ‘fate’ of study support as an initiative is questioned following a change of government in the UK and in the context of global education policy developments. This analysis of the re-framing of a low-profile policy adds to our understanding of the cycles of policy ensembles and their translation by different agents in different sites over time.     

Evaluating local labour market policy: the case of TECs

Abstract

The 1988 Government White Paper ’Employment for the 1990s’ proposed the establishment of Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) throughout England and Wales, to promote and support small businesses and self‐employment, and to plan and deliver training in their local areas. Placing the responsibility for the formulation and delivery of training almost entirely in the hands of local private sector employers, the TEC initiative has proved to be a highly controversial and contested area of policy. Accordingly, it has attracted a sizeable multi‐disciplinary academic literature which variously portray it as either innovative and revolutionary, or a retrograde high‐risk strategy. This paper commences by placing TECs in the long‐term historical context of previous national and local training measures in England and Wales, which is surely essential to any assessment of the extent to which they mark a novel and relevant modem response to contemporary training and labour force requirements, or a mere re‐working of obsolete government policies and responses to high unemployment levels. This is followed by a brief discussion of the emergence, and state encouragement, of an ‘enterprise culture’ in the 1980s. Against this background, the final section of the paper outlines the establishment of TECs, providing examples of their operation, and reviews the body of literature regarding their potential and actual strengths and weaknesses. It is argued that the historical contextualisation of TECs is fundamental to any evaluation of the extent to which they are an appropriate revolution in training and enterprise, or simply a newly packaged continuation of earlier, discredited, training policies and initiatives.     

Issues in the definition and diagnosis of learning disabilities: a perspective on Guckenberger v. Boston University

This article reviews issues related to the definition of learning disabilities in the context of the Guckenberger v. Boston University case. Four major questions are addressed: (a) Who is learning disabled? (b) How should learning disabilities be assessed? (c) Who is qualified to make a decision about whether or not an individual has a learning disability? and (d) What accommodations should be provided by a postsecondary institution and how should they be selected? Although these are complicated and difficult questions, it is possible to develop a simple, reasonable classification system for learning disabilities, and to conduct assessments based on a coherent and relevant set of achievement tests in which individuals who score below a cutoff are considered learning disabled. Scores on IQ tests are irrelevant and not useful and may even be discriminatory. The issues of decision making regarding learning disabilities and appropriate accommodations remain significant dilemmas for the field; resolution of these issues seems virtually impossible without agreement on appropriate procedures for the definition, identification, and assessment of learning disabilities.     

Education research and policy making in higher education: the case of Dearing

In establishing a National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education in the United Kingdom (the Dearing Committee), the Government expected short-term problems and long-term developments to be examined in less than half the average time taken by previous inquiries. Conscious of the intellectual authority of its predecessor, the Robbins Committee, the Dearing inquiry commissioned a large number of research and analytical studies to inform its deliberations. The ways that research and other forms of evidence were collected and considered by the inquiry are discussed in relation to four themes: the context and conditions for the inquiry; the nature of the work commissioned; the treatment of public evidence and the use of research to inform key recommendations; and what the episode disclosed about the relationship between education research and policy-making in higher education. In the course of this commentary, it is suggested that the uneven engagement with research and academic literatures in the Dearing inquiry was not simply a function of its terms and conditions of existence, but reflected more general features of the contemporary research base and policy environment in higher education.     

New guiding principles in educational policy: the case of Germany

Pluralism, decentralization, deregulation, school autonomy, greater diversity and parent empowerment in education are among the new guiding principles in educational policy in numerous industrial countries. Whereas this paradigm shift reflects the advance of the market ideology into the education sector in other (particularly English‐speaking) countries, the driving force behind this movement in Germany is rather the political system's loss of legitimation and the conflict‐ridden state of educational policy. The first part of the article takes a retrospective view which links up to the analyses of Weiler. It shows that the former strategies for securing legitimation and regulating conflicts ‐ involving science in the educational reform process, legalization and judicialization ‐ have only been effective temporarily. Using the new Education Act of Hesse as example, the hypothesis is developed that the strategy of increasing parent empowerment and partially transferring regulatory powers and decision‐making competence to individual schools will also not bring about the expected effects since this will not solve the structural problems of the German school system. In the second part of the article this thesis is elaborated within the framework of a differentiated analysis of the consequences of the structural problems as manifested in individual school types on local educational markets.     

National policy and the development of inclusive school practices: a case study

National education policy in England under New Labour Governments has encompassed both a ‘standards agenda’ and an ‘inclusion agenda’, with schools required to respond to both simultaneously. Some previous studies have seen these agendas as contradictory and have seen schools' efforts to develop inclusive practices as being undermined by these contradictions. This paper questions this account with reference to a primary school participating in a collaborative action research project which aimed to develop inclusive practices in schools. It shows how the school, far from finding these agendas contradictory, drew on both in making sense of its situation. It argues that the development of inclusive practices may draw on national policy as a productive resource, and suggests that inclusion scholars and advocates may need to refocus their work if they are to offer such schools alternatives to the formulations of national policy.     

Jane Butler Kahle: passion,determination, and vision

In this article, I describe how Jane Butler Kahle’s intellectual curiosity, commitment to equity and her ability to use various research approaches, to establish research and networking groups comprised of scholars from diverse backgrounds, theoretical perspectives and geographic locations, to disseminate research outcomes and findings through scholarly publications, service on policy committees and mentoring of other scholars framed a career in science education that has impacted students, teachers, and researchers. Jane synergistically and tirelessly combined her research, teaching, and service to identify, challenge and reduce inequities in science education in the US and throughout the world because for her it was important that all students have access to quality science education.     

Reimagining student employability: a case study of policy and practice transformation

ABSTRACT

Within Australian higher education, there has been an evolving of employability policy, realised in curriculum, at an intersection of the constructs of employment, work-readiness, life-long learning, and career development. The enactment of employability policy has driven an evolution in the practices of higher education in both curriculum and student support. This paper presents a case study of an Australian university which has reimagined the delivery of career and student support services through a framework that envisions preparing students for future worlds of work. The emergent policy framework has transformed organisational structures, human resources, and connections between student support practices and curriculum design. This transformation has generated new intersections of practice and is challenging institutional constructs of expertise. This case study provides transferrable learnings for broader considerations of higher education policy and practice as employability becomes the core driver of student success, and explores layered discourses of policymaking across an institution.     

Student Drop-out: A case study in new managerialist policy

Since the incorporation of the further education (FE) sector student drop-out has become an issue for policy makers, and colleges with higher than average rates of non-completion have been penalised. This process, which is consistent with the 'new managerialist' approach described by Randle and Brady (1997) in an earlier volume of this Journal, results in a loss of funding and 'naming and shaming' via inspection reports and performance tables. It is suggested that this policy response to student drop-out represents a mechanistic reaction to the 'standards' agenda and could impede other policy priorities such as widening participation. The paper examines the growing body of research evidence which challenges the view that drop-out is caused by colleges which 'don't care'. Studies of the influence of factors external to colleges, such as financial hardship, feeder schools and the impact of 'habitus' on a student's disposition, illustrate the problem of trying to reduce the complex issue of drop-out to a single, generalisable cause. The paper concludes that the development of a more sophisticated analytical model is necessary if student retention is to be improved.     

The implementation of language policy: The case of Ecuador

Ecuador is implementing a programme of indigenous bilingual intercultural education. Work began systematically in 1978 through a research centre of the Catholic University, and throughout the 1980s the government has become increasingly committed to the principle of indigenous education. In 1980 agreement was reached on a common alphabet for all indigenous languages. In the same year the government accepted that vernacular languages might be used for education, and the Macac educational model was devised by the Catholic University's research centre. By 1984 there were 300 bilingual primary schools, but the government then suspended its experiment. This was restored four years later, with the addition of secondary education and teacher training colleges. What is stressed by NGOs active in promoting indigenous education is not only its use of vernacular languages, but the need for intercultural exchange, recognizing in a modified curriculum the cultural values of the indigenous population and their socioeconomic reality. This change has not been understood by all government agencies, although a new Directorate for Bilingual Intercultural Education was established in 1988 to provide education for people of all ages in indigenous communities. The traditional Spanish-language formal education system has exercised a restricting influence on innovation, and the response of the dominant Spanish-speaking majority has generally been indifference.

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Zusammenfassung Ecuador führt ein einheimisches, zweisprachiges, interkulturelles Erziehungsprogramm durch. Die Untersuchung wurde systematisch 1978 vom Forschungszentrum der katholischen Universität begonnen, und während der 80er Jahre befaßte sich die Regierung in steigendem Maße mit dem Prinzip der einheimischen Erziehung. 1980 wurde ein Abkommen über ein gemeinsames Alphabet für alle einheimischen Sprachen getroffen. Im gleichen Jahr akzeptierte die Regierung, daß Muttersprachen im Rahmen der Erziehung angewendet werden könnten, und das Forschungszentrum der katholischen Universität erarbeitete das Erziehungsmodell Macac. Bis 1983 gab es 300 zweisprachige Grundschulen, aber die Regierung setzte das Experiment dann aus. Vier Jahre später wurde es mit der Hinzufügung von Sekundarstufe und Lehrerausbildungsstätten wieder aufgenommen. Die in der Förderung einheimischer Erziehung tätigen NGO's betonen nicht nur den Gebrauch der Muttersprachen sondern auch die Notwendigkeit eines interkulturellen Austausches, der in einem modifizierten Curriculum die kulturellen Werte der einheimischen Bevölkerung und ihre sozialwirtschaftliche Realität berücksichtigt. Dieser Wechsel wurde nicht von allen Regierungsstellen verstanden, obwohl 1988 ein neuer Vorstand für zweisprachige interkulturelle Erziehung (Directorate for Bilingual Intercultural Education) zur Sicherstellung von Ausbildungsmöglichkeiten für Menschen jeden Alters in den Gemeinden gegründet wurde. Das traditionelle spanische formale Erziehungssystem hat einen hinderlichen Einfluß auf Innovationen ausgeübt, und die Antwort der dominierenden spanischsprachigen Mehrheit bestand im allgemeinen aus Gleichgültigkeit.

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Résumé Un programme interculturel d'enseignement bilingue indigène est mis en oeuvre en Equateur. Ce travail a été amorcé de façon systématique en 1978 par le centre de recherche de l'Université catholique, et le gouvernment a de plus en plus soutenu le principe de l'enseignement indigène au cours des années 80. En 1980, on s'est mis d'accord sur un alphabet commun à toutes les langues indigènes. Le gouvernement acceptait la même année que les langues vernaculaires soient employées dans l'enseignement, et le modèle d'enseignement Macac a été mis au point par le centre de recherche de l'Université catholique. On comptait 300 écoles primaires bilingues en 1984, mais le gouvernement a suspendu cette expérience. Celle-ci fut rétablie quatre ans plus tard, avec en plus un enseignement secondaire et des écoles de formation des maîtres. Ce que les ONG soulignent dans la promotion de l'enseignement indigène, ce n'est pas seulement l'emploi des langues vernaculaires, mais la nécessité d'un échange interculturel, d'un nouveau curriculum qui intègre les valeurs culturelles de la population indigène ainsi que sa réalité socio-économique. Ce changement n'a pas été appréhendé par tous les organismes de l'Etat, bien qu'une nouvelle Direction de l'Enseignement Interculturel Bilingue ait été mise en place en 1988 pour offrir une éducation aux populations de tout âge dans les communautés indigènes. Le système traditionnel d'éducation formelle en langue espagnole a exercé une influence de contrainte sur l'innovation, et la réaction de la majorité hispanophone dominante se caractérise généralement par l'indifférence.

     

Educational policy and the courts: The case of Washington,D. C.

Since 1954, the courts have assumed a great deal of leadership in setting educational policy. In each instance, citizen dissatisfaction with the educational process has led to court suits, often resulting in massive or disruptive changes. However, the blame cannot and should not be leveled on the courts. The problems and solutions have clearly rested with boards of education, local and state legislative bodies, and executives. Their failure to respond affirmatively to various issues is clearly the problem.The District of Columbia presents a marvelous example of governmental inaction and what can result. This paper provides a brief judicial history of education in the District and what the implications have been. The reader must keep in mind that although the District is a city, its government, especially the Board of Education, functions as though on a state level. Thus, court decrees concerning education in Washington, D. C. may give other states the incentive to improve the education of all students, regardless of ethnic or economic background.[/p]Julius Hobson, Jr. is a Member of the District of Columbia Board of Education Washington, D. C.     

Changing policy contexts and teachers´ work-life narratives: the case of Estonian vocational teachers

ABSTRACT

In recent decades, the work of teachers worldwide has undergone deep change. We have seen that teachers have encountered recent challenges differently and adapted to educational changes to a different extent depending on their personal disposition, but also school leadership and workplace support. This study focuses on the example of Estonian vocational teachers that serves as an interesting case for analysing how the interplay of the transitional context and neo-liberal policy trends adopted since Estonia regained its independence in 1991, after 50 years under Soviet rule, have affected the individual trajectories of teachers’ lives. This paper aims to understand how the interplay of the institutional context and individual (work) lives shapes Estonian vocational teachers’ understandings of their work and professionality. We suggest that certain periods of practice are visible in teachers’ narratives and those periods might be considered as enabling different degrees of agency. However, our interviews also revealed that different reform periods have been perceived and responded to differently. In the context of 25 years of the educational reform process, the policies and requirements introduced have been refracted at different levels (Goodson & Rudd, 2017), including that of the vocational field, the schools and individual teachers. Our results confirm that teachers individual, social, cultural and material resources such as competence, career stage, relations and networks, school leadership and prevailing culture at schools have their role in enabling or hindering the agency of teachers.     

Privatisation by the Back Door: the case of the higher education policy in Israel

The purpose of this study is to seek to understand the process of privatisation and deregulation of Israel's higher education system which had been until the late 20th century predominantly public. Since 1994, public and governmental agencies became major clients of private universities. Thus the public sector played a major role in the expansion of international universities and in the operation of their academic programmes and became their major financial source. This partnership between the public and the private sector could be explained by the following: the increased demand for higher education by native born Israelis and the large flux of immigrants from the former USSR and Ethiopia on the one side, and the socialist ideology which deeply rooted in the Israeli society, to enable for everyone who wishes to attain higher education to find a place in the undergraduate system (particularly the population of the developmental towns and minority groups) on the other, pushed the Israeli government to expand its boundaries. Israel's public universities have been subjected to relax admissions requirement, which they refused to do. Another reason is the increasing demand from the public service in general and particularly from the education service that having a BA degree would increase the teacher salary and it does not matter whether the degree comes from an Israeli university(with its higher standards) or from a branch of an international university(with its lower standards). That explains the expansion and diversification that occurred in the higher education system in Israel. The 1998 Branches Act stipulating that any overseas institution intending to open an off shore branch must obtain a licence from the Council of Higher Education. The new regime demonstrates the paradox in higher education policy, on one side privatisation by the backdoor, on the other, regulation and control by the Israeli government.