Authentic school partnerships for enabling inclusive education in Hong Kong

Education reform towards a whole school approach to catering for diversity within Hong Kong government schools has seen the initiation of several strategies to support mainstream schools in this transition. One of these approaches is the use of a resource school model. Special and mainstream schools in Hong Kong are being invited to establish themselves as resource support hubs for partner mainstream schools. This paper investigates how this model is being implemented by considering one of each type of resource school. Three broad themes have emerged that relate to the type of support being offered and sought: the school ethos and culture of the partner schools; and management issues. The effectiveness of a resource model is evaluated for its use in Hong Kong.     

论高职院校专业课教学德育教育渗透的方法与途径——以《税收学》为例

文章以税收学课程为例,结合高职院校的教育教学特点,从四个方面说明了如何在这类院校中实现专科课教学与思想政治教育的有机融合,揭示了渗透教育的相关方法与途径。     

高职院校学分制管理关键问题的思考

根据高职教学组织与管理发展的趋势,各高职院校陆续开始进行学分制教学管理的改革。在研究与分析学分制本身的优势,及学分制实施过程中存在的主要问题的基础之上,浙江建设学院从加强制度建设、优化课程体系、规范选课流程、充实优质资源、借助软件平台等方面人手,对学分制的运行进行了实践与探索。     

论高等教育强国建设进程中的海外办学——以孔子学院为例

孔子学院这一海外办学形式能够扩大我国高等教育的开放程度,并进而对建设高等教育强国起到促进作用。我国应进一步充实孔子学院的办学内涵,从利益关系人的角度出发完善办学中的合作机制,加强并提升孔子学院对我国高等教育扩大开放和建设高等教育强国的贡献。     

20世纪90年代以来英国中等教育改革探析

20世纪90年代以来英国中等教育改革主要以1988年《教育改革法》为纲要,围绕着提高质量、提高效率,兼顾公平的原则,主要在课程、教育多样化、特色学校等方面对中等教育进行改革。本文探讨了英国中等教育改革的背景、理念和具体改革措施,分析了改革中面临的问题,以及进入21世纪后对一些政策作出的调整。     

理想·现实·策略——名校推动农村初级中学发展

义务教育均衡发展是统筹城乡发展的重要领域,也是教育公平的重要体现。当前,我国义务教育发展严重失衡,区域差距、校际差距、群体差距还普遍存在于义务教育阶段。名校推动农村初级中学发展,作为促进义务教育均衡发展的一种措施,近年来逐渐引起人们的关注。本文力图从名校推动农村初级中学发展的现状分析入手,探讨名校推动农村初级中学发展的有效策略,以期实现我国义务教育均衡发展的理想。     

民族地区现代远程教育发展的长效机制研究

现代远程教育是一种新型的教育形式,是提高民族地区教育水平和促进民族地区教育发展的有效途径。到2007年底,民族地区中小学基本实现了现代远程教育,实现了优质教育资源共享的目标。当前要从战略的高度来认识构建民族地区现代远程教育发展长效机制的意义,借此进一步推进民族地区农村社会信息化和现代化的向前发展。     

The ‘collateral impact’ of pupil behaviour and geographically concentrated socio‐economic disadvantage

Schools in areas of concentrated disadvantage tend to have below‐average attainment, but there is no consensus on why. Mental and behavioural disorders in children are correlated with socio‐economic disadvantage. This paper puts forward the hypothesis that the first phenomenon can at least partly be accounted for by the second phenomenon through the concept of ‘collateral impact’ – collateral impact refers to the effect of externalising or internalising behaviour by a pupil on other pupils' learning and attainment. The argument developing the hypothesis is presented. An analysis of where evidence to support the hypothesis is most likely to be found identifies primary schools in areas of concentrated disadvantage, although testing of the proposed hypothesis would best be conducted by independent researchers to pre‐empt questions of confirmability. Potential implications for policy and practice are discussed, particularly managing difficult group behaviour in primary schools.     

The reforming trajectory of the Italian educational system. Site‐based management and decentralisation as a challenge for democratic discourse

This article aims to present some tensions embedded in the Italian educational reform, arising both from the enactment of neo‐liberal policies and the possibilities of democratic development opened up by the introduction of schools’ site‐based management and decentralisation. The article uses discourses as heuristic devices and presents two case studies regarding the enactment of policies of educational governance promoted in 2003 by a local authority (the Italian Provincia) and inspired by the democratic discourse. These policies were intended to promote the participation and collaboration of schools and heads in educational planning. It illustrates how the neo‐liberal discourse re‐shaped the Italian educational system and challenged welfarism. At the same time, we also attempt to illustrate the action of cultural path dependencies and the space emerging for a democratic discourse, which could be interpreted both as an alternative to its neo‐liberal counterpart and as an attempt to re‐discover democratic participation and promote more equity‐oriented practices in the educational field. Two different understandings of educational governance and headship seem to emerge. The study underlines how the intertwining of national and local policies inspired by contradicting discourses could result in the spread of competitive practices and consequently in a further differentiation of the educational provision and stratification between schools, or have an egalitarian outcome, where processes of collaboration, collective empowerment and reflexivity are enacted. Our work demonstrates how democratic and collaborative spaces opened up by site‐based management and policies of educational governance implemented at a local level are always at risk, due both to the rise of competitive pressures and the resilience of welfarist discourses and practice.     

The primary school’s invasion of the privacy of the child: unmasking the potential of some current practices

Privacy has been defined as “the protective buffer within which people can avoid another party’s taking something from them, keeping watch over them, or entering into their lives in a way that is both unwelcome and undesirable”. It is a premise of this paper that such a position needs to be taken very seriously in contemporary society, and particularly in the case of schools, as school personnel have the capacity to engage in practices which show great disregard for individual and family privacy. This is illustrated in the case of primary school education in the Republic of Ireland. Particular attention is paid to assessment, pedagogical and curricular practices that derive from patterns of systematic and mandatory disclosure that are confessional, performative and public.