Accountability and accomplished teaching: Researching the chartered teacher programme in Scotland

The Scottish chartered teacher programme (2003–2011) is an important example of a national policy designed to support the development of ‘accomplished teaching’. This paper provides an account of the emergence of the programme before discussing how the impact of such a scheme might be assessed and thus rendered accountable. The difficulties of developing valid and reliable methodologies for ensuring accountability are explored, including an account of a pilot research project and an indication of what the international literature may reveal about such aspirations. The paper concludes with a summary of four major challenges facing researchers who wish to offer insights that are of use to policy-makers and practitioners.     

农校毕业生从事农产品经纪人职业的SWOT分析

农业院校毕业生创业作农产品经纪人,有益于提高农产品经纪人队伍整体素质,拓宽农业院校毕业生就业渠道。运用SWOT分析法考量这一行为,既有国家政策扶持、创业者本身具有较高素质等优势,也存在创业教育滞后、社会环境制约以及创业者意识、阅历、资金不足等劣势。为积极引导这一行为,有必要加强职业指导与创业教育,进一步出台并落实优惠政策,制定有效的激励机制。     

A leadership development programme for agricultural entrepreneurs in Sweden

Purpose: This article describes the five-phase process of a leadership development programme conducted with agricultural entrepreneurs who own and manage dairy farms in Sweden. The programme primarily focused on leadership of employees and on self-leadership. The article’s purpose is to present a template for leadership development programmes that can be used in the agricultural sector and in other industry sectors as well. Design/Methodology: The empirical data come from interviews with agricultural entrepreneurs, agricultural advisors and authors of a book on leadership in its various forms. Observations were also conducted of the instruction in the leadership development programme. Findings: First, agricultural entrepreneurs (and possibly entrepreneurs in other sectors) benefit from leadership development programmes in which the concept and practice of self-leadership are emphasized. Second, such programmes are more valuable to participants if other actors (e.g. academics and advisors) are participants. Third, coaches are useful as support for the programmes’ participants. Practical Implications: An implication of this study is the finding that working with the knowledge transfer and dissemination to advisors and entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector can enhance leadership competences in the industry. Role transformation (e.g. advisor to coach) can also enhance the transfer of such leadership competences. Theoretical implications: An implication for theory is to include a self-leadership module in leadership theories about learning leadership in development programmes. Originality/Value: Knowledge transfer and dissemination through leadership development programmes for agricultural advisors and entrepreneurs can have a beneficial effect on industry leadership and management. In addition to the traditional leadership skills that many leadership development programmes teach, such programmes also need to emphasize self-leadership.     

Expanding the Frame: Building Transnational Alliances for Racial and Educational Justice

U.S. educational policymakers and equity advocates often frame the negative ramifications of racial inequality in schools in terms of worries about the nation's future global economic competitiveness. This article draws on frame theory (Snow & Benford, 1988) and education organizing theory (Warren & Mapp, 2011) to argue that educational policymakers and advocates must expand this national competitiveness frame to advance racial and educational justice. By outlining the emergence and reification of the national competitiveness frame in contemporary U.S. education policy, this article demonstrates how the national competitiveness frame can successfully build domestic alliances and create urgency for education reform. However, it can also risk co-opting racial justice goals. Further, this U.S.-centric frame ignores the global experience of racialization and educational injustice shared by marginalized groups around the world. The article closes by suggesting that educational equity advocates build on these transnational connections and use a collaborative frame to build collective power among historically marginalized groups worldwide to advance racial and educational justice in both the United States and abroad.     

以国家安全为取向的美国外语教育政策

本文梳理并考察了美国半个世纪以来有关外语教育政策的重大事件和决策,从中透视出美国外语教育政策以国家安全为取向的本质特征,是对当时所处形势的战略性回应.这些外语教育政策理念对制定我国未来外语教育政策具有一定的参考价值.     

试析中国国家安全战略的选择

中国制定国家安全战略、国防政策和军事战略的前提，离不开对现阶段国家安全形势和背景的具体的、历史的考证。美国的单边主义和对华遏制、日本的背离和“台独”势力分裂国家的图谋是目前中国国家安全尤其需要重视的因素。因此中国的国家安全战略应是：保证必要的、足够的军事威慑，保持最大范围和最大可能的合作。     

气候变化视角下我国粮食安全问题分析

粮食安全是一国国家安全的重要内容,我国始终把保障国家粮食安全摆在重要的战略位置。我国粮食安全所处的国内外背景较为复杂,使得粮食安全问题越来越突出。全球气候变化受到人类活动的影响很大,目前全球气候变化的主要体现就是更大程度的、不寻常的全球变暖,这将对中国的经济持续发展带来严重的负面影响。依据这些年的发展实践,气候变化尤其是极端灾害性气候的增多对农业生产的影响以负面为主。必须适应气候变化,主动应对气候变化,切实保护耕地,转变粮食生产模式,适时改变粮食政策,确保国家粮食安全。     

中国当代农民企业家产生过程及环境审视

农民企业家的产生分为当代农村经济社会的分化、农村经济精英的产生、农民创业者成为企业家的职业化和社会化过程以及农民企业家的文化认同等阶段.农民企业家的产生是我国改革开放政策的结果;是我国城乡二元体制的产物;竞争促进农民企业家成长;乡镇企业的发展孕育出我国第一批农民企业家.     

Sport in Higher Education: An assessment of the implementation of the national sports development policy in Nigerian universities

In 1989 the Nigerian Government issued a major sports policy document, ostensibly representing an unprecedented initiative to maximise the effectiveness of national sports agencies. This policy anticipates a key role for the higher education sector in sports programme reform. The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent to which the Nigerian university sector has adjusted its sports ethos in line with the national sports policy objectives and to review the implications of the current trends for involvement of higher education in sports policy making arenas in Nigeria.     

完善我国农业补贴的若干思考

农业是经济发展、社会安定、国家自立的基础。特别是对于中国这样一个农业人口占绝大多数的农业大国来说,农业发展至关重要。我国在WTO《农业协定》的框架内,对农业补贴政策进行了调整,但仍存在着诸多需要解决的问题。如何在WTO《农业协定》范围内规范和加强我国政府的农业补贴政策具有很强的现实意义。     

论全面转轨时期我国农村土地制度的变革

我国目前处于农业社会向工业社会转轨期,家庭承包经营制作为一种临时性制度安排,已不能解决农村居民的就业和社会保障问题,土地的作用也就应从就业和社会保障的基础转为保障国家粮食安全,因而当前的土地制度、农业政策与社会保障应与这一转变相适应。我国目前的土地制度应在家庭承包经营制而形成的小范围均田制基础上逐步实行土地私有制下的规模化经营。     

Networks as Policy Instruments for Innovation

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to compare the effectiveness of facilitated networks to other policy instruments for agricultural innovation.

Design/ methodology/ approach: In an exploratory study of the Dutch agricultural policy context, we conducted semi-structured interviews with ten experts on networks and innovation. Policy alternatives to networks included research funding, innovation experiments, knowledge vouchers for entrepreneurs, practice networks, competitions for awards/ prizes, innovation subsidies for individual entrepreneurs, legal exceptions, legislation and fiscalisation.

Findings: In early phases of the innovation process, facilitated networks were seen as more effective and cost-efficient than the other instruments. This was especially the case for system transformation. However, other instruments can have comparable performance for innovation when they result in sufficient network formation, for instance when they require that target groups build coalitions and other forms of networks. Networks were also seen as effective for system optimisation, but not more cost-efficient than other effective instruments.

Practical implications: Past policy experiences with networks enable moving beyond the generic term of ‘(facilitated) network’ to develop more advanced instruments for specific types and phases of innovation. Furthermore, the results suggest that facilitated networks may be a cost-effective alternative to the national extension services of old.

Originality/value: Many studies have shown the importance of networks for agricultural innovation. Furthermore, networks offer governments new opportunities to stimulate agricultural innovation. However, less is known about the effectiveness of networks as a policy instrument.     

Training for lifestyle entrepreneurs

Many developed countries have issues with the movement of populations away from rural areas. There has been an active move towards ‘value adding’ in rural areas, and in particular, the development of tourism activities, to counter this trend. The purpose of this paper is to document the curriculum development process that was engaged in, in the design, delivery and outcomes of a programme designed to encourage and equip rural entrepreneurs to extend into the tourism and hospitality industries. These entrepreneurs operate in Hedmark Region of Norway and the training took place in Brisbane, Australia. The development and delivery of the training programme took place in Norway and Australia. The methodology is qualitative and it is hoped the research will lead to a longitudinal study of the impact of lifestyle entrepreneurs on local economic development in rural areas. The action research process that was engaged in means that the entrepreneurs are active participants in the research, and the quality of their feedback and willingness to discuss their changed behaviour are critical to both evaluating the impact of the programme and the potential for further study on the economic impact of their activities. The development process and the nature of the curriculum used for these entrepreneurs may well provide insights into effective training for lifestyle entrepreneurs in other contexts. The participants were asked to evaluate the programme immediately on its conclusion and six months after the programme when they were interviewed in their place of operation.     

Abdication of the Education State or Just Shifting Responsibilities? The appearance of a new system of reason in constructing educational governance and social exclusion/inclusion in Finland

The connections between the new governance in education and new procedures of social exclusion and inclusion in Finland are examined. The main focus is on the emergence of a specific discursive formation constituted by an intersection of the myths of competition, corporate managerialism, an educational clientele and social democracy with images of rational choice makers and invisible clients (pupils) and individual-centred learning professionals (teachers) in a mass institution. The research material is extensive, including national statistical data, education policy texts, interviews with educational actors at the national, municipal and school levels and a survey of pupils. The conclusion of the paper outlines a new system of reason as a historical shift of responsibilities in the national education system.     

粮食综合生产能力与国家粮食安全

提高粮食综合生产能力,是确保国家粮食安全的重要战略性举措。随着城市化和工业化的快速推进,耕地、水资源、农业基础设施、种粮比较收益等方面的弊端相继凸显,不仅影响了粮食综合生产能力的进一步提升,甚至还可能危及到未来国家粮食的安全。为了实现国家粮食的长治久安,必须破除现存的瓶颈,构建粮食综合生产能力稳步提升的长效机制。     

Cast the net a little wider: Australian aid in the South Pacific

This article examines the development of Australia's bilateral aid programme to higher education in the South Pacific, specifically at the University of the South Pacific (USP). The premise is primarily historical, focusing on the important decades of USP's expansion and Australian aid policy development in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. This article briefly examines current challenges for donor and recipient. Both historical and current perspectives are fundamental to understanding key issues about aid in the South Pacific. Australian aid priorities have ranged from the explicitly political and security focused, to priorities of education and welfare. This article is timely given Australia's continued influence in the South Pacific.     

Improving numeracy outcomes for children through community action research

Virtue, according to Aristotle, is doing the right things at the right time with the right people for the right end and in the right way. This concept is central to the work of the Early Learning Initiative, an Irish community-based educational initiative. This paper describes how a community of parents, early childhood care and education practitioners and a third-level institution used action research to develop a three-year numeracy programme for children aged zero to six years. The Early Numeracy Project was one of 11 national projects that aimed to influence early years practice, provision and policy in Ireland. Remaining true to our local values and virtuous practice while implementing a national project was challenging, particularly when robust evidence of the impact of the programme on the children and parents in our community was required at national level. Approximately 860 children (zero to six years old) and their families took part in the Early Numeracy Programme each year, with national and local evaluations indicating that the outcomes for children in the programme had improved. The programme is an example of how a local community can use action research and virtuous practices to implement a national programme and improve outcomes for children.     

取消肯定性行动政策制定过程研究——以美国加州大学为案例

本文使用金登的多源流政策过程理论,从公共问题的确定及议程的形成、备选方案的提出、政策企业家的作用几个方面,分析了加州大学取消肯定性行动的政策制定过程.作为一项公共政策,肯定性行动的存在很大程度上依赖于政治气候和舆论,当政治氛围发生变化,公共问题进入政策议程,备选方案得以确定,政策企业家抓住政策窗开启的机会,最终促成了新政策的出台.     

论农村保险市场的开发

在新的历史时期,重视开发农村商业保险市场,对建立健全农村社会保障体系、推进社会主义新农村建设有着十分重要的意义。发展农村保险是我国的难点,农村保险要靠国家的政策扶持;要靠商业保险与国家政策性保险相衔接;要靠农户互相合作。开发培育农村商业保险市场,首先,要继续做好向农民普及保险知识的工作;其次,要坚持发展农村股份合作制保险和其他所有制保险形式并存;第三,要开发适销对路的保险产品,逐步培育壮大农村保险市场;第四,要强化监管,促进农村保险事业健康发展。