Making policy with ‘good ideas’: policy networks and the ‘intellectuals’ of New Labour

The educational reforms being enacted in Singapore can be considered exceptional in that they are being undertaken within a highly effective system. We explore these reforms using Brown and Lauder's ideal-typical analysis of ‘neo-Fordist’ and ‘post-Fordist’ models of national economic development. Singapore's reforms have been extensive, ranging from changes to early childhood education through to tertiary education. We examine the nature of state-market relations in education within the context of Singapore's ‘soft authoritarian’ political culture and assess the chances of success of the reforms.     

Space modulators and the gat people: Ambiguity reduction and mass communications

There are many different ways of looking at mass communications’ basic role. Professor William L. Burke, who teaches broadcasting and film courses at Kansas State University, offers as his thesis that the basic task of communications in general is in reducing ambiguity, and that a labeled space modulator is far better than an unlabeled one in doing this!     

Relationships among the communication skills

This article explores the potential as well as the procedures for microteaching as a valuable and effective aid in training future teachers of speech.