RETHINKING THE FINANCING OF POST‐COMPULSORY EDUCATION

Throughout the world, the financing of education is in a state of crisis, a condition made even more acute by the simultaneous appearance of a doctrinal crisis with regard to the ends and the utility of education. For European higher education, the situation calls for the diversification of funding mechanisms. The public authorities which up until now have born most of the burden of higher education financing must transfer a goodly portion of the burden to users, i.e., students and parents, and to the private sector. Various methods for financial diversification are explored as well as different formulae for user‐financing.     

Unfulfilled promise: radical discourses in South African educational historiography, 1970–2007

This paper examines the discourses and modes of representation embodied in educational historiography from the 1970s to the present and their implications for intellectual identity construction in SA. The paper shows how the theoretical foundations of the liberal and Afrikaner nationalist discourses, which vacillated between race and ethnicity, shifted to social class and gender in radical and neo‐Marxist discursive formations of the 1980s. It highlights how the decline of radical scholarship has resulted in a synthesis of constructivist and postmodernist discourses that privilege nation‐building, identity and cultural diversity after apartheid within a predominantly neo‐liberal paradigm. It argues that the transition to post‐apartheid education came to be thought about within a horizon of possibilities different from the rigid paradigmatic tradition of the short‐lived neo‐Marxist school of the 1970s and 1980s.     

Statistics in the speed cameras debate

This article illustrates how statistical arguments can be used to influence public policy . . . for better or for worse.     

Editorials

This article discusses historical and contemporary influences on changes in special education assessment, with emphasis on three persistent themes: accurate classification, fairness to minority students, and special education outcomes. Dunn's contributions to each of the themes are discussed, along with other influences such as legislation and litigation. Current dynamics leading to significant changes in special education assessment are discussed, particularly in the disability category of specific learning disabilities.     

General Communication

THE MEDIA MONOPOLY by Ben H. Bagdikian (Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press, 1983—$8.95, paper).

COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES &; SOCIETY: CONCEPTIONS OF CAUSALITY &; THE POLITICS OF TECHNOLOGICAL INTERVENTION by Jennifer Daryl Slack (Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex Publishing, 1984—price not given).

THE MIRROR MAKERS: A HISTORY OF AMERICAN ADVERTISING AND ITS CREATORS by Stephen Fox (New York: William Morrow, 1984—$17.95).

INSTEAD OF REGULATION: ALTERNATIVES TO FEDERAL REGULATORY AGENCIES edited by. Robert W. Poole, Jr. (Lexington, Massachusetts: Lexington Books, 1982—$28.50).

MASS MEDIA ISSUES: ANALYSIS AND DEBATE edited by George Rodman (Chicago, Minois: SRA Inc., 1984— price not given, paper).     

Postgraduate Certificate in Guidance and Pupil Support: The Impact of the Course on Practice

This paper reports an investigation into the impact of a postgraduate certificate in guidance and pupil support on the practice of its recent graduands. The Certificate is one delivered within the Postgraduate Award Scheme of Northern College. The writers' investigation showed that the course had a major impact on graduands' professional practice, particularly in their effective use of enhanced interpersonal skills and counselling approach. Given the current climate, work which demonstrates the value of training in relation to the affective area is particularly valuable. A full report of the study is available from Northern College.     

Pourquoi entrer a l'Universite? L'Exemple d'une universite de lettres et sciences humaines

The large number of secondary school graduates entering higher education is transforming the nature of universities, particularly in literature and the humanities, by changing the relative numbers of students enrolled in different academic years. At the same time this influx is accompanied by a significant failure rate in the first academic year, calling into question the efficacy of the university system. A national issue with local repercussions, the struggle against failure in the first year is leading to much heart-searching among the universities, whose staff are trying hard to understand why certain students abandon their studies. The enquiry described in this article reveals the co-existence of two student populations: those who enter university as an active choice and those who do so by default. In the case of the first group, entry to university represents an investment for the future which must be carefully managed. In the second case it is a matter of going into higher education as a faute de mieux solution in an economic context in which work is scarce.     

Theme D: interaction between engineering education and industrial development

Within a conference devoted to the interaction between engineering education and society, it was only natural to give a place to the contribution of engineering education to industrial development. This rich and undoubtedly delicate topic has been dealt with from three viewpoints:

— the contribution of educational establishments to the actualization of engineers' technological knowledge.

— the participation of industry in the precise definition of curricula.

— the contribution of engineering education to the industrial growth of developing countries.     

Politiques d'éducation et de formation: Université et professionnalisation. 2001/02. Bruxelles: De Boeck Université. 130 pp. ISBN 2-8041-3732-5, ISSN 1377-3488.

International Review of Education -