The policy cycle and vernacular globalization: a case study of the creation of Vietnam National University—Hochiminh City

This article examines the policy cycle and vernacular globalization in the context of higher education reform in Vietnam. Through an analysis of the development of the Vietnam National University—Hochiminh City as part of the post‐1986 reconstruction of Vietnamese higher education, the article considers the complex interrelationship between globalized policy discourses, national interests and history in Vietnam, and the specific politics of policy implementation within one institution. Vietnam National University—Hochiminh City was created through an amalgamation of a number of smaller universities, and against the backdrop of social and economic restructuring aimed at promoting industrialization and a market orientation within socialist governance. The article reveals the dynamic tension between these local and global influences on higher education policy and practice, and more specifically, the dilemmas associated with top‐down policy implementation when a new organization consists of older organizations with powerful provenance and reputations. In so doing the article demonstrates the necessity to globalize policy theory.     

Qualitative data analysis in cross‐cultural projects

Large‐scale research projects, conducted in a cross‐European context, are increasingly attractive to educational researchers and policy‐makers. However, this form of comparative research across cultures brings problems concerning the standardization of data collection and analysis, particularly where ethnographic research is concerned, as it prioritizes a full range of qualitative research strategies. This paper outlines the use of a universal model and the approaches recently taken by two research teams and contrasts these with another recent nine‐partner comparative European study that used ethnographic methods. We then describe the analytical procedures used in the project, which encouraged participant observation and individual researcher interpretation in order to generate grounded accounts and outline how they were culturally sensitive and meaningful to research teams who used varied analytical approaches. However, this raised difficult issues for the ‘final’ analysis and the production of a loosely coupled research report. Our pragmatic solution was a process of ‘qualitative synthesis’ whereby individual partner reports were collated by the Project Director and treated as data and a grounded theory approach was applied to generate tentative theory in respect of creative learning. The paper concludes by arguing that data generated by a loosely coupled approach to qualitative comparative research which uses a wide range of data collection methods can be effectively analysed with a qualitative synthesis.     

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.     

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.