The reconstruction of Palestinian education: between history,policy politics andpolicy making

This paper reflects on the key actors in education policy making in Zimbabwe. It looks at the contextual complexities that characterized policy-making in this country to make sense of the contestations that the state had to confront and accommodate. The policy network approach is employed as an analytical framework to clarify how, in particular non-state actors, have had an impact (or not) on educational governance through influences on policy. Policy documents, research reports and the reactions of non-state actors to these aspects are examined to explore the impact of the latter on policy making. The significant roles of the various policy networks are also given attention to establish how they have affected the reconfiguration of the state. The argument developed is that in spite of the ostensibly strong state, education policy formulation has been a product of compromise between policy networks and the predilections of those in office. As a political and contested enterprise it had to accommodate both local and international concerns.     

Social pedagogy in schools: student teacher attitudes in England and Norway

This study explored the views of student teachers in England and Norway regarding the extent to which they felt the school should take the lead role (in comparison to the roles played by parents and other professional agencies) in addressing the needs of pupils identified by the school as experiencing a problem. A questionnaire comprising 30 problem areas was developed and distributed to student teachers at two universities in England and at two universities in Norway. A total of 542 student teachers participated in the study. The findings indicated that the ratings by student teachers in both countries of these problem areas fell broadly into four main groupings (in terms of the strength of feeling that the school should take the lead role): these concerned poor basic core attainment, disaffection, anti-social behaviour, and unhealthy lifestyles, respectively, except for one very important caveat: concerns regarding bullying received a high rating and were located in the first grouping. These findings are interpreted in the context of whether schools might be ready to adopt a social pedagogical approach to offering targeted support to pupils experiencing such problems and the implications this may have for inclusive education and initial teacher education.     

South African teachers' views of collaboration within an inclusive education system

The development of sustainable collaborative partnerships between different role players within an inclusive education system seems to be a continuous challenge in South Africa. The focus of this research study was to understand how teachers view collaboration within an inclusive education system. Open-ended questionnaires were completed by 85 participating teachers and focus group interviews were employed with 24 educators. The findings indicate that educators still believe that they are not adequately trained and skilled to play an equal role in a collaborative partnership and prefer to rather refer learners experiencing barriers to learning to other support structures and professionals for support.     

Einf��hrung von Leistungspr?mien an ?sterreichischen Universit?ten �C eine rechtliche Analyse

Die Universit?ten stehen untereinander zunehmend in einem Wettbewerb. Nicht zuletzt aus diesem Grund sind Bestrebungen festzustellen, die eigenen Mitarbeiter zur Erbringung besonderer Leistungen zu animieren. Einen m?glichen Ansatzpunkt stellt in diesem Zusammenhang die Schaffung monet?rer Anreize durch leistungsbezogene Pr?mien dar. Auf Grund der heterogenen Mitarbeiterstruktur und der damit verbundenen Vielzahl an anzuwendenden dienstrechtlichen Vorschriften, stellt sich jedoch die Frage nach der Rechtsgrundlage für die Einführung derartiger Leistungspr?mien. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht daher die M?glichkeiten und Grenzen der Implementierung von leistungsbezogenen Entgelten an den ?sterreichischen Universit?ten.     

An integrated assessment of the effects of Title I on school behavior,resources, and student achievement

We examine the effects of Title I on school behavior, resources, and academic performance using a rich set of school finance and student-level achievement data from one large urban school district using a regression discontinuity design. We find that Title I eligibility raises Federal revenues of schools by about $460 per student. This is partially offset by decreases in revenues from state categorical aid grants, so that the net increase to schools is about $360 per student. We find no impact on overall school-level test scores, but also no impact among the subgroups of students most likely to be affected by Title I. A novel finding is that schools appear to respond to the incentives embedded in the Title I allocation process by manipulating the fraction of their students signed up for free lunch to secure more Federal funds.