Investigating educational change: The Aga Khan University Institute for educational development teacher education for school improvement model

This article continues the analyses of the impact of an innovative teacher education programme aimed at school improvement in a developing country context (A. Khamis, P. Sammons, 2004. The development of a cadre of teacher educators: some lessons from Pakistan. International Journal of Educational Development, 24(3), 255–268). Building on recent publications that have analysed outcomes of the teacher education programme and how the cadre of teacher educators has worked to initiate improvement in schools in Pakistan. The article considers the ‘teacher education for school improvement model’ based on findings from the case studies of nine co-operating school. Lessons are presented to further inform the development of teacher education programmes and the measurement of effectiveness of such programmes in developing country contexts. The article further considers relevant international research on educational change and reform to draw further lessons. These lessons include the need to pay greater attention to the cultural contexts and milieu in Pakistan, and the need to create models of school improvement and teacher education that originate within developing country contexts rather than the adaptation of European/North American models that are based on sources of data in those contexts. The article concludes by arguing for the need to develop better theoretical understandings from the current innovations underway and placing the onus on intervening agencies to better inform educational change strategies promoted in developing country contexts.     

Hypermedia for educational change:

Conclusion Strategic Teaching Frameworks couples the experience of a model classroom with expert commentary in a constructivist design that is unique in teacher development. The system is a dynamic, flexible, nonlinear approach to in-service training and classroom change. It is a multimedia tool that may prove to be an invaluable electronic tutor for the teacher who feels the need to change classroom technique and instructional delivery     

Field experiences in secondary teacher education: Qualitative differences and curriculum change

This paper illustrates the nature of postlesson discussions between experienced and novice secondary science teachers during an early field experience. Analysis and appraisal of differences evident in these discussions suggests that novice secondary teachers experience significant variations in the substance and quality of field-based activities intended to help them develop competence in teaching. The author explores the potential of these variations to influence the development of pedagogical reasoning and the contextual influence of curriculum change in shaping experienced teachers' views of their role as teacher educators.     

Decentralisation of educational planning in India: The case of the district primary education programme

Decentralisation of educational planning continues to be a major concern in India. The District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) is one of the recent efforts in this direction. This paper closely scrutinises various steps initiated under the DPEP to promote decentralisation of educational planning in India. The analysis in this paper shows that the DPEP initiatives have succeeded in overcoming existing constraints on decentralisation by developing planning machinery and competency and by ensuring resource availability at the district level. The DPEP experience also shows that centralised decision making in certain areas in the initial stages may become necessary to promote decentralisation efforts in the long-run. However, to sustain the decentralisation process, it is important to progressively reduce the domains of centralised decision making.     

主观因素与学制变迁:从"实业教育"到"职业教育"改革之管见

近现代中国学制的建立和变迁同当事人的主观因素具有直接的关系。清末的学制主要出自政治家的选择,1922年的新学制则更多地渗透了教育家的理想,二者的区别可以在"实业教育"到"职业教育"的变化当中得到反映。至于学制改革对职业教育发展的影响,不论它是否以学校之外的功利为中心,首要的还应取决于当时的客观环境。     

Enhancing use of learning sciences research in planning for and supporting educational change: Leveraging and building social networks

This paper explores practical ways to engage two areas of educational scholarship—research on science learning and research on social networks—to inform efforts to plan and support implementation of new standards. The standards, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS; NGSS Lead States in Next generation science standards: For states, by states. National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 2013), have been adopted by U.S. states serving more than one-quarter of all students, and they are grounded in decades of research on how students learn science. In this paper we discuss efforts to leverage recent research on social networks to inform standards implementation across a set of professional associations and school districts. These efforts are being undertaken by the Research + Practice Collaboratory which is testing a set of conjectures related to how the knowledge base from both research and practice can mutually inform STEM education improvement.     

Inclusive education policies and the feasibility of educational change: the case of Cyprus

Given the ecumenical pleas and legislative imperatives for more inclusive educational policy and practice, Cyprus has been steadfastly heading towards the realignment of its educational legislation towards a more inclusive discourse. This has been especially true after the implacable criticisms that the UNESCO report cast on the Cyprus educational system in 1997. After that there were, among other things, co‐ordinated efforts to accelerate the voting of the 1999 Special Educational Law that proclaimed the rights of disabled children to be educated along with their peers in mainstream classrooms. It is evident, however, that by no means can the theorisation of educational change be confined to the legislative attempts and their consequences. Rather, the attempts towards educational change should encompass the structural as well as the ideological bases upon which the education system is predicated. The official legislation constitutes a single parameter of the entangled network of interconnections and interdependencies underpinning special education policy and practice. Change is based on an array of factors permeating both agents and structures in the constitution of historical periods.     

Transforming an education system through professional learning: developing educational change at scale in Ontario

There has been increased attention to the importance of teachers and teacher quality in developing and sustaining successful education systems for some time now (Barber and Mourshed in How the world’s best performing school systems come out on top, McKinsey & Company, New York, 2007; Darling-Hammond et al. in Empowered educators: how high-performing systems shape teaching quality around the world, Jossey Bass, San Francisco, 2017). Germaine to the issue of teacher quality, however, is an acknowledgement of the value of supporting educator’s ongoing professional learning (PL). Drawing on findings from a large-scale case study of Ontario, Canada, this paper attempts to shed light on the question of how systems of PL can be developed and scaled? The research was conducted in several phases, including an extensive document analysis, followed by interviews with key respondents across the sector. The paper is framed within the notion of large-scale system change, with a focus on the importance of inter-professional relationships and joint work in establishing shared goals for educational improvement. As we noted in the larger study, a theory of action linked to knowledge of educational change and professional capacity building has informed the mindset, values, and strategies developed and implemented. This paper specifically illustrates Ontario’s whole-system’s focus on professional learning as part of this wider theory of action.     

Extending educational planning discourse: A new strategic planning model

To academic visionaries the new century appears to have an emerging environment characterized by increased complexity, uncertainty, unpredictability which, some have argued, render traditional notions of planning and management irrelevant. The expectations of management and planning scholars carry the implicit assumption that somehow individual capability and organizational capacities will rise to meet the enormous challenges of this new environment. In the light of this situation the purposes of this paper are: (1) to briefly examine the limitations and criticisms of traditional educational planning; (2) to outline the emerging concepts and processes which collectively form a new paradigm for strategic planning; (3) to discuss the new model within the context of changing national policy and planning environments and increased localization; (4) to review the limited results of empirical research related to more participatory planning models; and (5) to offer a critique of the assumptions and practicality of the new model in the process of planning and sustaining educational change in developing countries