The New Independent Higher Education Institutions in China: Dilemmas and Challenges

One impact of globalisation has been the expansion of higher education to meet changing current socio‐economic and political requirements. This expansion places considerable stress on the public purse and many states have turned to alternative solutions. In China, a new phenomenon has emerged: independent higher education institutions that complement public and private institutions in helping to cater for the expanded numbers of students. These independent institutions are formed through partnerships between existing institutions and the business sector. After analysing the political, socio‐economic and cultural contexts that shape the policy of developing independent institutions, this paper explores the dilemmas and challenges that have arisen at the implementation level and critiques some of the solutions that have been found.     

EUROPEAN DISSERTATION SUMMARIES

Co‐operative learning means shared leadership where there is not just one leader in a group but where each member of the group is a leader. A leader demonstrates academic as well as collaborative skills in helping the group achieve a goal. Some academic skills are verbal interactions such as initiating ideas, responding by summarizing or suggesting procedures. Collaborative skills that build and maintain a good working relationship within the group include verbal interactions of praising group members and inviting others to get involved. The purpose of this study was to examine the verbal interactions and non‐verbal behaviours within unstructured learning groups. The verbal interactions were classified as positive if they aided the group to accomplish its goal and negative if they inhibited the group accomplishing its goal. Twenty‐eight students from seven intermediate‐grade level classrooms, grouped heterogeneously for sex and race and homogeneously for their ability in science, were selected for observation as they were doing a science activity. In general students’ verbal interactions were positive (i.e., there were more than four times more positive interactions than negative interactions). Further, in reviewing the positive interactions, students presented ideas more than four times as much as any of the other types of interactions. Females encouraged other members to participate in the activity significantly more than the males did. There was a trend in the number of times the equipment (clay) was handled; the males handled it more than the females as a function of race. Qualitative analyses revealed consistent patterns of interactions within groups of black and white males and females.     

Institutionalisation of assessment capacity in developing nations: the case of Malawi

Building assessment capacity of educators has historically been unregulated practice in post-independence Malawi. However, recent attempts by government to integrate curriculum and assessment reforms and the introduction of continuous assessment in the system have represented a significant policy shift. These and several other initiatives have necessitated the empowerment, in terms of assessment knowledge and skills, of educators at different levels of the system to support implementation of the reforms. This paper discusses the strategies that Malawi has followed so far to institutionalise the development of assessment capacity and highlights the challenges that it has faced in its efforts to improve the capacity of its staff in assessment. Key lessons for other African and developing nations from the Malawian experience have also been noted.     

The sociology of Pierre Bourdieu and researching education policy

Bourdieu did not write anything explicitly about education policy. Despite this neglect, we agree with van Zanten that his theoretical concepts and methodological approaches can contribute to researching and understanding education policy in the context of globalisation and the economising of it. In applying Bourdieu’s theory and methodology to research in education policy, we focus on developing his work to understand what we call ‘cross‐field effects’ and for exploring the emergence of a ‘global education policy field’. These concepts are derived from some of our recent research concerning globalisation and mediatisation of education policy. The paper considers three separate issues. The first deals with Bourdieu’s primary ‘thinking tools’, namely practice, habitus, capitals and fields and their application to policy studies. The second and third sections consider two additions to Bourdieu’s thinking tools, as a way to reconceptualise the functioning of policy if considered as a social field. More specifically, the second section develops an argument around cross‐field effects, as a way to group together, research and describe policy effects. The third section develops an argument about an emergent global education policy field, and considers ways that such a field affects national education policy fields.     

Building a technology foundation for future teachers

It is fitting that the teachers of tomorrow are provided with the correct modeling of technology in their first education class. To separate technology from education is both impossible and foolish. The sooner college students are exposed to the latest forms of technology, the more equipped they will be to integrate these tools into their teaching strategies for the benefit of future learners.     

The contribution of a 'Quiet Place' to early intervention strategies for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties in mainstream schools

Bob Spalding, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Education, University of Liverpool, outlines the nature of a holistically oriented therapeutic intervention ('Quiet Place') developed in some mainstream primary schools on Merseyside. It offers a focus for a variety of therapeutic interventions, as well as an environment conducive to a sense of well-being and relaxation. An evaluation of the first cohort of children to complete the programme is analysed in comparison with a control group, and the key factors in the success of the provision are identified.