Educational research, policy and practice in an era of globalisation

Globalisation includes not only the changes brought about by the opening up of markets and communication technology, but also those set in motion by shifts in policy relating to the responsibilities of government and the role of research and innovation in development. This paper examines the impact of globalisation on education research, policy and practice, and the ways in which reforms and priorities in the education systems of the Asia-Pacific region are being shaped by the interaction between the global and the local. It is argued that educational reforms should not be left to global forces or powerful global organizations to decide for us, but should stem from deliberate and considered choices based on the best-available research. Closing the gaps between research, policy and practice demands that we rethink our research priorities and practices, as well as the ways in which we develop and implement policy. The paper examines some of the rethinking underway, and how organizations like APERA, UNESCO and Eidos promote the sharing of knowledge and experience and collaboration between educational researchers, policy makers and practioners in the Asia-Pacific region.     

Educational policy trajectories in an era of globalization: Singapore and Cambodia

This paper critically discusses the educational policy trajectories of Singapore and Cambodia in an era of globalization. Drawing upon David Johnson’s five metaphors to describe the historical and political forces that shape educational policy trajectories, the paper argues that Cambodia’s current educational policy trajectory is characterized by the “politics of compelling” while Singapore’s situation is more akin to the “politics of selling”. In Singapore, the politics of selling intersects with the politics of gelling, in which various interest groups are encouraged to work together to strengthen the new economy of knowledge. The paper raises a common challenge for Singapore and Cambodia: to shift from a traditional teacher-centred and textbook-based approach to a more student-centred and ICT-based approach in a globalized world. The last section of this paper explores the possibility of addressing this challenge through gelling, by setting a new agenda for education, one that combines foreign and indigenous sources of knowledge from various interest groups.     

Educational Planning in Vanuatu-an alternative analysis

Educational planning has always been fraught with problems, not least in the countries of the so-called developing world. In the South Pacific area, formal Western-style educational planning is still the basis for the search for educational direction. This paper points out the difficulties that affect the rational planning process and proposes a different way of viewing educational planning. This is put into the South Pacific context, then examined further in a case study of a unique situation, that of the split language system of Vanuatu.     

Learning basic addition facts from choosing between alternative answers

The acquisition of addition facts was investigated in a practice study. Participants were 103 Grade 1 children who practiced simple addition problems with three different methods: (a) writing down the answer, (b) choosing between two alternative answers, and (c) filling in the second missing addend. On a test with simple addition problems, children who practiced with the Choice method showed positive transfer: choosing between two answers was about as effective for learning addition facts as the conventional method of writing down the answer. There was no transfer effect for children who practiced with the Missing-Addend method. The results are in accordance with network theories on arithmetic fact learning and specifically the Identical Elements (IE) model of arithmetic fact representation.     

Educational renewal in an alternative teacher education program: Evolution of a school-university partnership

Can the discontinuities inherent in school university partnerships become generative sources of educational change? The purpose of this study was to analyze how participants viewed an evolving collaboration and the ways in which discontinuities between school and university agendas were negotiated. Findings over the 3-year period from interview, questionnaire, and journal data indicate patterns of changing roles and relationships between and among university faculty, cooperating teachers, and student interns. The findings indicate that as participants negotiated a common agenda for teaching and curricular improvement, a spiralling process of educational renewal in schools and university emerged.     

Educational research in Europe

Summary This article is divided into three parts. It begins with an overview of the historical background of educational research as a scientific discipline which emerged in Europe towards the end of the nineteenth century and gives two definitions: the first characterizes educational research as to its content, the second as to its functions. The second part deals, one by one, with the national and international structures of educational research and development. The article ends with a series of views on the prospects for educational research, deliberately looking beyond the European framework. Original language: French Armin Gretler Graduated in sociology at the University of Geneva and took post-graduate courses at the Bologna Centre of the Johns Hopkins University, the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies and at Pittsburgh State University. Vocational education researcher at the International Labour Office (ILO) from 1963 to 1968. Independent researcher from 1968 to 1971. Director of the Swiss Co-ordination Centre for Research in Education (CSRE) in Aarau since 1971. Member of Parliament for the Canton of Aargau from 1979 to 1993, member of that canton's Education Council from 1977 to 1989. Founding member of the Société suisse de recherche en éducation and of the European educational Research Association (EERA). He has published several books and many articles on educational research.     

Educational poetics: an aesthetic approach to action research

In this article, Gitlin and Peck argue that much of the development of action research has been based on a reconstructed view of science (i.e., a science that is more contextual, less law‐like, less causal, but still accurately represents reality and is teacher centered as opposed to researcher centered). In contrast to this reconstructed view of science, the authors suggest it is time to look at the limits and possibilities of basing action research on an aesthetic view of knowledge production. Gitlin and Peck do so by providing an outline of educational poetics that uses imagination and creativity to unearth and challenge limiting conceptions of commonsense as the action research participants enter into a freedom quest, to utilize imagination and creativity, our inherent human potential, to think beyond the categories and codes that tie us to the status quo.     

Evaluating research performance of research institutes within Malaysian universities: an alternative assessment framework

Tertiary Education and Management - Evaluation of research performance has significantly increased in importance, particularly in many emerging higher education systems. In Malaysia, the Malaysian...