Education,Equality and Social Cohesion: A distributional approach

Promoting social cohesion through education has re-emerged as an important policy objective in many countries during the past decade. But there is little clarity in policy discussions about what social cohesion means and how education may affect it. In this article we distinguish between social capital and societal cohesion and argue that education acts in differential ways on each. Using comparative, cross-country analysis, we develop a 'distributional model' which shows the relationship between equality of educational outcomes and various measures of social cohesion. In the final part of the article we discuss theories explaining the cross-country trends and variations in educational inequality and social inheritance in education, and argue that education system characteristics, such as degrees of 'comprehensiveness' in secondary schooling, may be an important factor in both. We conclude by arguing that policies to increase social cohesion through education must pay more attention to the reduction of educational equality than they currently do.     

Balancing Cultural Diversity and Social Cohesion in Education: The Potential of Shared Education in Divided Contexts

This article considers how the education systems of divided societies have been shaped in response to the experience of ethnic and religious conflict. The analysis identifies two competing priorities in such contexts – the development of social cohesion and the protection of cultural, ethnic and religious identities – and explores how these may be reconciled through a model of ‘shared education’. Drawing on research evidence and recent experience of shared education in Northern Ireland, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Cyprus, we reflect on the advantages and challenges of this model in areas experiencing conflict and division.     

Private Tutoring and Social Cohesion

Mastering the public school curriculum is so important to a child's occupational future that in many regions of the world “shadow” education outside of the public system has now become the norm. In one way, this is excellent news because private investment in human capital is a strong contributor to economic and social development. However, private demand is driving a separate and powerful private industry. According to the constitutional standards in many countries, education is supposed to be “free.” This suggests that, in some instances, shadow education might be unconstitutional. The United Nations Declaration on Human Rights also says that education should be free. This suggests that in some circumstances, shadow education may be contrary to the principles of human rights. The question addressed in this article is whether shadow education is wrong. This article summarizes the arguments in favor and against shadow education and ends with a series of recommendations to better manage what has become a worldwide dilemma.     

A Passport to Social Cohesion and Economic Prosperity: Report of Education in Latvia 2000

Education may be Latvia's most important public enterprise. As in all democracies, the public must understand and agree on the policies that guide it. More discussion of education issues is needed in Latvia prior to making changes in education policy, not after them. The aim of this article is to help stimulate some of that discussion. It draws heavily on prior analyses circulated by the Ministry of Education and Science, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Bank, and the United Nations Development Programme, as well as on policy research sponsored by us.

The Soros Foundation - Latvia (SFL) hopes to distribute reports annually on more specialized educational problems. However, no report can cover all issues of importance. This article tries to cover selected issues in primary, secondary, higher, vocational, and adult education, as well as on teachers and education research. Serious difficulties exist in every area, and they must be addressed quickly.

At the end of this article, 10 recommendations are offered. Each is important, but the public could add many more. If that were to occur, we would feel that this report was a success.     

Education and Training: Beyond the Great Debate

Abstract

Strategies in schools for developing students’ action‐planning skills are explored. The student skills required for effective action planning are defined, and means of developing them are identified. Attention is also paid to the nature of the teacher skills required to foster the development of the student skills, and the means of developing these teacher skills. Potential links with teacher appraisal schemes and with institutional development planning are noted.     

文学教育与民族凝聚力

文学教育应该是在平等的基础上,在双向互动中来完成的,但目前的文学传播与教育却是单向流动的,由占主流地位的汉民族文学向各少数民族流动,由强势文化向弱势文化流动。最有效的解决方式就是在高校开设少数民族文学史课程,少数民族要一如继往地熟读汉民族经典,汉民族也应该全面系统地深入了解少数民族文学,汲取双方文学作品中所承载和蕴涵的生存智慧和精神力量,从民族身份的认同升华到民族文化和核心价值观的认同。     

The Ethics of Social Cohesion

With trust as its antecedent, social capital comprises the potential capacities of a people to prosper. Building on the presence of social capital, social cohesion involves the internalization of social ethics and constitutes the level of realized propensity among citizens to engage in virtuous behavior for the common good. This theory elaboration asserts that social cohesion is defined largely by the autonomy of the individual to do good across group dynamics and organizational boundaries. The degree to which they act in a way that is beneficent to society as a whole is the degree to which we could say they have been "cohered" to that society.     

教育问题

顺利生产Sabrina一个人照顾孩子经常忙的手忙脚乱,为了替好友分忧,Lily、James和Elena等一行朋友前去帮忙。结果,丝毫没有经验的一帮人不仅让宝宝大器,还因为给宝宝取名字而闹出不少笑话。     

Recentering and Realigning the SAT Score Distributions: How and Why

The process employed to produce the conversions that take scores from the original SAT scales to recentered scales, in which reference group scores are centered near the midpoint of the score-reporting range, is laid out. For the purposes of this article, SAT Verbal and SAT Mathematical scores were placed on recentered scales, which have reporting ranges of 920 to 980, means of 950, and standard deviations of 11. (The 920-to-980 scale is used in this article to highlight the distinction between it and the old 200-to-800 scale. In actuality, recentered scores were reported on a 200-to-800 scale.) Recentering was accomplished via a linear transformation of normally distributed scores that were obtained from a continuized, smoothed frequency distribution of original SAT scores that were originally on augmented two-digit scales (i.e., discrete scores rounded to either 0 or 5 in the third decimal place). These discrete scores were obtained for all students in the 1990 Reference Group using 35 different editions of the SAT spanning October 1988 to June 1990. The performance of this 1990 Reference Group on the original and recentered scales is described. The effects of recentering on scores of individuals and the 1990 Reference Group are also examined. Finally, recentering did not occur solely on the basis of its technical merit. Issues associated with converting recentering from a possibility into a reality are discussed.     

The Corporate Stake in Social Cohesion

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a function that transcends, but includes, making profits, creating jobs, and producing goods and services. The effectiveness with which corporations perform this function determines their contribution (or lack of contribution) to social cohesion. This article therefore presents a discussion of some of the social cohesion issues involving corporations, particularly concerns over how corporations make profits, create jobs, hire, promote, fire, treat shareholders, run their boards, and give back to the communities in which they function. Most of these functions depend on the quality of corporate governance, which in turn has implications for social cohesion. The article begins with a discussion of the concept of CSR. Then it presents an identification and discussion of some corporate behaviors that promote CSR in the following areas: governance; employment practices; and involvement in communities, environmental protection, and ethical investment. In conclusion, successful business strategy that contributes to social cohesion in society is that which fosters integrity in internal governance while promoting positive engagement in communities in which corporations operate.     

本科生教育与研究生教育衔接方式的国际比较

本科生教育与研究生教育衔接方式的多样化是实现研究生教育目标多样化的必要条件。本文在借鉴美日两国本科生教育与研究生教育衔接方式的基础上,认为我国必须构建本科生教育与研究生教育多样化的衔接方式。改革学位授予制度、打破研究生教育的封闭性、构建多样化的高校研究生教育基层组织形式是重要的突破口。     

The Social Cohesion Role of the Public Sector

Social cohesion, the "glue" that keeps a society together, is influenced by the various sectors or "pillars" of that society-educational institutions, social and religious institutions, business institutions, and government. In this article, the effect of the three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial) on social cohesion is explored. In addition, this article also explores the dyadic relationship between government and the other pillars of society. Finally, the role of national symbols, mottoes, pledges, and language on social cohesion is addressed. Examples from both "cohesive" and "balkanized" societies are explored.     

试论创业教育与专业教育的有效衔接

目前,我国大学生的创业意识、创业勇气、创业技能还比较薄弱,创业教育的系统性和有效性明显不足。本文总结了创业教育与专业教育中所存在的课程、课堂、实践三方面脱节现象,对两者融合进行了思考,提出要通过构建"专业+创业"教育课程体系、创建"仿真+全真"创业实践平台、创建"校内+校外"创业实践基地等途径,同时通过完善系统管理、师资管理、评价考核保障机制来提升两者的衔接。     

Lifelong Learning,Equality and Social Cohesion1

This article compares the evidence from the 2009 PISA survey on the distribution of skills amongst 15-year-olds in different regions and country groups and explores how education systems in these regions contribute to different levels of inequality. In the second part, it presents evidence from surveys on adult skills and attitudes on how skills inequality affects social attitudes and social cohesion.     

Egypt's National Education Debate

This study examines the vigorous dialectic presently occurring between intellectuals, religious leaders and politicians trying to define the appropriate role of Islam in education in Egypt. The study highlights the ideological disjunction between a small but powerful élite who are the 'gatekeepers' of education policy and a polity that is calling for a greater infusion of Islamic instruction in the national education system. This study illustrates the challenges of Egypt's policy-makers in sustaining an education system with goals that are interpreted by many to be inconsistent, contradictory or counter to the collective socio-religious prerogatives of the society at large.     

哲学与技艺:论《普罗塔戈拉》的教育之争

《普罗塔戈拉》记叙了年轻的苏格拉底初始登上公共教育舞台,通过挑战普罗塔戈拉从而宣称一种新的教育方案的故事。澄清普罗塔戈拉与苏格拉底的教育之争,可以进一步探究苏格拉底教育理念的背景与发端。普罗塔戈拉对德性教育进行世俗化的改造,他用"技艺知识"取代了内在的德性,用修辞术和法律取代了统治的智慧和正义。苏格拉底试图重建人们对内在德性的追求,他的教育建立在"整全知识"和"美德即知识"的假设上,他一方面为公民塑造了有利于"节制"的"知识神话",另一方面鼓励智慧者"勇敢"地热爱智慧、追求智慧。由此,苏格拉底的哲学教育是通过"整全知识"统合"节制"与"勇敢"的教育,他提醒人是追求美好的动物,但人必须节制而勇敢地忍受着追求美好过程中注定的艰难与失败。