Can an educational intervention,specifically Theatre in Education,influence students’ perceptions of and attitudes to cultural and religious diversity? A socio‐educational research

Contemporary thinking seems to be particularly interested in the investigation of the role of culture in socio‐political life. This article presents aspects of a research project, undertaken in Greece, looking into whether a cultural product can foster intercultural communication and influence young people’s perceptions of and attitudes to cultural and religious diversity. Such cultural products are the Theatre in Education (TiE) programmes, which focus on the use of the art of theatre as a means of educational intervention. For the purposes of our research a specially designed TiE programme was used as a means of intervention and as a research tool. Our research examines secondary education students’ perceptions of and attitudes to cultural and religious diversity prior to and following the intervention in Thessaloniki and in Thrace, Greece. This cultural intervention, which incorporates art and religion, offers new insights into the possibility of the use of TiE for the religious education of young people.     

Comparative education,the ‘New Paradigm’ and policy borrowing: constructing knowledge for educational reform

Education reform in England is increasingly portrayed as a quest to create ‘world class’ schools through the transfer of features of ‘high performing’ school systems. The demand for evidence to support policy borrowing has been serviced by an influential intermediary network, which uses international data banks to compare education systems, and to identify and promote evidence of ‘what works’. The approach to comparisons has been portrayed as a ‘New Paradigm’ by its advocates, and whilst the network has been extensively critiqued, this has largely focused on its deviation from the norms of academic comparative education. This article explores how the ‘New Paradigm’ operates, identifying its inherent features and the strategies used to overcome the methodological issues associated with policy borrowing. This is pursued through an analysis of the rationale; assumptions; underlying ideology; methodology; omissions and silences; dealing with critics; and language and presentation of four of its influential publications.     

Making educational policy under influence of external assistance and national politics — a comparative analysis of the education sector policy documents of Ethiopia,Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia

The article analyses the context and content of current national education sector policy documents from four African countries (Ethiopia, 1994; Mozambique, 1995; Namibia, 1993; Zambia, 1996). These documents are examined in relation to the educational policy agenda presented in World Bank publications and in the documents of the Jomtien Education for All conference. In all four cases a considerable degree of agreement is found between the national documents and the donor agenda, particularly in the countries undergoing structural adjustment programmes. The analysis also suggests that this influence is moderated by multi-party politics, and by remnants of previous socialist ideology.     

Does improving school level attendance lead to improved school level achievement? An empirical study of indigenous educational policy in Australia

Current federal government policy initiatives in Aboriginal education and social welfare reform are based on assumptions about the relationship between increased attendance and increased student performance on standardized tests. There are empirical assumptions underlying these policy interventions and their accompanying public debates. Our aim here is to empirically explore the relationships between patterns of student attendance and patterns of student achievement in schools with significant cohorts of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students at the school level. Based on an analysis of the publicly available data reported on the ‘MySchool’ website, we find that reforms and policies around attendance have not and are unlikely to generate patterns of improved achievement. Questions about the rationale and rhetoric of government policy focused at the school level as opposed to the need to focus on pedagogy and curriculum are discussed.     

Text or testament? A comparison of educational and literary critical approaches to research

This paper argues that a wholehearted acknowledgement of the fictionality of the research process creates scope for the development of different and challenging perspectives on experience. It is a reflective account of undertaking research which combined a qualitative analysis of women's learning experiences with textual analyses of the popular romantic fictions they studied on their course. The many parallels between literary critical research and educational research are acknowledged, but major differences between the two approaches are also identified. It concludes that the existence of these differences may restrict the construction of unusual and eccentric, but challenging and insightful analyses of fieldwork data.     

How can evaluation contribute to educational policy? the uses of information in Australia

Conclusion There are volumes of data and much other information potentially available for school systems and schools for evaluating performance and modifying policy and practice. There is always a risk of injudicious data gathering that creates more information than can sensibly be used. We often known more than we understand. Careful selection of the data to be used and appropriate analysis and interpretation can turn information into understanding and perhaps, finally, wisdom. Original language: English Barry McGaw (Australia) Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. Since 1986, Director of the Australian Council for Educational Research. Originally trained as a secondary science teacher. After completing a post-graduate B.Ed. Honours degree, he joined the Research and Curriculum Branch of the Queensland Department of Education. Following a period of further study in the United States, he became Head of that Branch. In 1976, he was appointed Professor of Education at the Murdoch University in Western Australia. Research interests are in measurement, learning and research policy. He has been engaged in a number of projects for UNESCO and the OECD Presentation at the joint UNESCO: International Bureau of Education and Brazilian Ministry of Education and Sport,International Seminar on Educational Evaluation, Rio de Janiero, Brazil, 30 November–3 December 1997.     

A nuanced critical realist approach to educational policy and practice development: Redefining the nature of practitioners’ agency

In an age of nationalisation of international educational (leadership) policy, or vice versa, the politics and conflicts behind such policies often take centre stage to the detriment of (research-based) professional expertise. In response, this article develops a nuanced critical realism to propose a practice-based development and implementation of educational (leadership) policy reforms. Based on empirical reports of head teachers’ subversive practice, the article concludes by highlighting that professional expertise is a central component, dubbed ‘formless capability’ (potency), that all stakeholders use to turn policy intentions into policy actions (Actuality). Actuality consists of the three traditional domains of critical realism – the real, the actual and the empirical – whose importance is derived from whether it is a means to (incomplete action) or an end in itself (complete action). It is argued here that empirical experiences of leading schools are the stage of actuality that is directly linked to the complete action of students’ learning and, therefore, stands the most chance of being faithfully and successfully embedded and implemented. Policy mechanisms, therefore, need to reflect such research-based knowledge.     

A comparative analysis of national media responses to the OECD Survey of Adult Skills: policy making from the global to the local?

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Programme of International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is put forward as a landmark development in the lifelong monitoring and international comparison of education. The first round of PIAAC’s Survey of Adult Skills compared performance in literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments across 24 countries. However, the translation of any OECD agenda into national policies is mediated by many actors, including the media. This paper examines and compares how the national media of Japan, England and France reported on the PIAAC results of their countries and the extent to which these reports mirror key messages from the OECD’s Country Notes. It begins to trace how the OECD PIAAC agendas materialise into national policies. Although their role in this initial period was limited, we argue the roles of the media together with other policy actors must be monitored as they interact to shape possibilities for sustainable adult education policies.     

A Childhood Free of Knowledge? Reflections on German educational policy for the early years

This article, written by a researcher on international comparisons of childhood, contends that educational expectations towards preschool education in Germany have been low for over two decades. Particularly in the 1980s, during a period of stable economic growth, policy for the early years of childhood was primarily discussed in terms of child care, in order to allow more mothers to enter the labour market. Recently, however, the educational potential of the early years is being revisited in a lively debate. Since 1996 a German law guarantees every child beyond age 3 the right to attend a kindergarten and entitles parents to choose a kindergarten suited to their needs and to their expectations concerning educational quality. What, however, is meant by ‘educational quality'? The author and a group of childhood researchers and educational journalists investigated beliefs and suggestions for ‘best practice’ in early education (the ‘World knowledge of seven year olds’, 1996‐1999, project based at the Deutsches Jugendinstitut and funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Science.) In 150 in‐depth interviews people of all ages, from diverse strata of society and with varied professional experience, outlined their views on what they believe a 7‐year‐old boy or girl should have encountered, learnt to master or to question during their preschool years. The study results in a more tangible notion of what is meant by ‘key qualifications’ and ‘basic skills’ in the early years and how to promote them in a holistic way.     

Mediatizing educational policy: the journalistic field,science policy,and cross‐field effects

This paper is concerned to demonstrate the usefulness of the theory of Bourdieu, including the concepts of field, logics of practice and habitus, to understanding relationships between media and policy, what Fairclough has called the ‘mediatization’ of policy. Specifically, the paper draws upon Bourdieu’s accessible account of the journalistic field as outlined in On television and journalism. The usefulness of this work is illustrated through a case study of a recent Australian science policy, The chance to change. As this policy went through various iterations and media representations, its naming and structure became more aphoristic. This is the mediatization of contemporary policy, which often results in policy as sound bite. The case study also shows the cross‐field effects of this policy in education, illustrating how today educational policy can be spawned from developments in other public policy fields.     

Beginning teachers’ conceptions of competency: implications to educational policy and teacher education in Malaysia

When any innovations or measurement procedures are introduced into the education system to improve or judge the quality of its teaching force, beginning teachers often have to adapt to these new concepts of what constitute a high quality teaching. This article contends that these new concepts neither necessarily match beginning teachers’ own conceptions about their own competency nor has it given beginning teachers a chance to be heard. This study provides an opportunity for beginning teachers’ ‘voices’ to be heard through phenomenography which is an interpretive research approach to discover what beginning teachers in Malaysia conceive and understand as competence in relation to what they do every day as teachers. The main finding of this study is the key role played by beginning teachers’ conceptions of competency which has provided strong implications for educational policies and teacher education. The findings suggest that teachers need to be represented in any quality improvement measures. Careful attention should also be paid to the school systems and to teacher training programmes to support and encourage teachers in their professional growth as competent teachers.     

Adolescent CIT Use: Paradigm shifts for educational and cultural practices?

This paper argues that the rapid take-up of communications and information technologies (CITs) by adolescents effectively lifts them out of the institutional control of school and family. Their use of interactive and wearable technologies is characterised by increasing levels of personalisation, mobility and global reach. This aspect of adolescents' use of CITs signals a qualitative change in the nature of popular culture and educational practices, and necessitates a paradigm shift in how we understand the learning contexts of contemporary adolescents.     

Relationships among Singaporean secondary teachers’ conceptions of assessment and school and policy contextual factors

This study examines teachers’ conceptions of assessment and related contextual factors at the classroom, school and national levels. A representative survey of Singaporean secondary school teachers resulted in a final sample consisting of 229 teachers from 9 secondary schools. Findings on that, teachers endorse views of assessment for school accountability, student accountability and student improvement, but little endorsement of assessment as irrelevance. Teachers report feeling capable and qualified to use assessments, but concerned about how much they are trusted as assessors at school and national levels. Follow-up latent class analysis identified groups of teachers based on their responses to the irrelevance of assessment; teachers who found assessment irrelevant were present across all schools and subjects, but showed lower sense of preparation for assessment, school-level support and importance of academic success in society.