Abstract: This article considers some of the methodological challenges involved in investigating, within the traditions of comparative research in education, the complex issue of educational 'policy borrowing'. It discusses notions of 'borrowing' and 'influence' and refers to a model previously proposed by the authors for the analysis of what are seen as four stages in the policy borrowing process which can be tested empirically. These are identified as cross-national attraction, decision, implementation, and internalization/indigenization. The problems involved in researching each stage of this process are considered, in particular in relation to the authors' previous work on the attractiveness to British observers of educational policy in Germany over a long historical period.

Abstract: The Sociology of education S. J. Ball 1. The forms of capital P.Bourdieu 2. 'Finding or losing yourself'?: Working-class relationships to education D. Reay 3. Education, globalisation and economic development P. Brown & H. Lauder 4. Globalisation, the Learning Society and Comparative Education P. Jarvis 5. The social construction of youthful masculinities O'Donnell & Sharpe 6. The discursive production of male/female dualism in school settings B.Davies 7. Performatives and fabrications in the education economy S. J. Ball 8. The capitalist state and public policy formation: Framework for a political sociology of educational policy making C. Torres 9. Cultural politics and the text M. W. Apple 10. Social class and pedagogic practice B. Bernstein 11. The reconstruction of primary teachers' identities P. Woods & B. Jeffrey 12. Teachers doing their economic work J. Smyth & G. Shacklock 13. Schools, families and academically able students: cantrasting modes of involvement in secondary education S. Power, G. Whitty, T. Edwards & V. Wigfall 14. Towards a sociology of learning in primary schools A. Pollard

Abstract: A database of 406 articles published in 2000 in 17 specialist higher education journals, based outside North America, is analysed in terms of whether a theoretical perspective is adopted. In the majority of cases, any theoretical perspective is only implicit, and broader engagement with theory is absent. Where theory is explicit, the authors appear more likely to be based in a social science department or academic development unit, rather than an education department or higher education research centre. The implications of this analysis for the development of higher education research as an interdisciplinary field of study are explored.

Abstract: A problem with the construction of an inclusive definition of international education is that the word ‘international’ has a variety of connotations. It is proposed that the term ‘international education’ is ambiguous because it appears to refer to contrasting usages in educational studies. International education is frequently discussed in the context of the related field of comparative education, but a different sense of the term has also developed in the context of the theory and practice of education in international schools and other institutions. This paper compares and contrasts the different usages of the term ‘international education’. It also discusses internationalism and globalization as contexts for international education, as practised in international schools and other institutions, particularly with reference to the history and programmes of the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO).

Abstract: This paper provides a survey of work on the link between education and economic growth.It shows that data from the early 20th century are coherent with conclusions about education and economic growth derived from the much more recent past. It also presents an analysis of the role of education in facilitating the use of best-practice technology. It is to be published in the International Handbook on the Economics of Education edited by G and J. Johnes and published by Edward Elgar.

Abstract: This paper investigates the educational development in the Middle East and North Africa, drawing on data from different international and national institutions. The paper begins with a review of similarities between countries within the region, and continues by investigating the situation of basic education, literacy rates and quality of education. In the third section, issues of inequality between public and private education are discussed. The paper concludes by outlining future educational challenges in the region.

Abstract: Sites of internationalised education are the result of, and in turn contribute to, the cultural processes of globalisation. These sites have created new education contact zones that may pose moral dilemmas for teachers—in particular for the teachers employed in the cultural contact zones of ESL, English for academic purposes, and foundation preparatory programs. This article reviews theories of culture, cultural identity, and cultural processes under conditions of globalisation and analyses teachers' accounts of pedagogic choices in designing and enacting educational programs for international students in the contact zone of the global university. It examines the ways teachers navigate and manage the dilemmas created between their professional ethic of cultural respect and the curricula of linguistic-cultural orientation to Western higher education. It is proposed that teachers' different assumptions about the cultural processes of globalisation contribute to the construction of a range of strategies and moral positions when managing such dilemmas. Moreover, it is suggested that holistic, tightly bounded notions of culture no longer adequately inform pedagogic practice in these globalised and globalising sites.

Abstract: The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has strongly influenced European education policy and the entire global neo-liberally toned discourse that nowadays prevails in the ...

Abstract: Interactivity and interactions are critical in underpinning the learning process in face-to-face, campus based and distance and online education. Interactions serve a diverse range of functions in the educational process which include, for example: promoting active and participative learning on a one to one basis or within a group or learning community through social dialogue; enabling effective facilitation of learning to suit individual learner's needs and learning styles; allowing learner input to the learning process as well as enabling learners to take ownership and control of their learning; enabling the development of higher order knowledge and abilities, for example critical thinking, problem solving, judgement -/decision-making skills, reflection, etc.; providing effective feedback to inform on the teaching and learning process as well as enhance the quality and standards of the learning experience ( Fahy, 2003; Juwah, 2003

Abstract: While there is no recognised sub-discipline of 'the philosophy of higher education', there has been a steady flow of writings having just such an orientation, a flow that has increased in recent years. That flow has mainly taken two courses. On the one hand, those of a conservative persuasion hold to an ideal of higher education largely separate from society and find themselves, thereby, trying to identify any possible intellectual spaces in which universities may enjoy a position of being their own end. On the other hand, those of a post-modern persuasion convince themselves that no large purposes of their own can seriously be entertained by universities and that, therefore, only instrumental ends are available or that universities have simply to content themselves with their own form rather than their substance. Such a limited set of responses to the contemporary situation of universities is unnecessary. The very complexity of that situation, intermeshed as it is with the wider society, opens up new spaces and new universal challenges. It is possible for there to be a philosophical enterprise in relation to the university that also embraces large concerns and large future-oriented possibilities.

Abstract: This article describes effortsfrom the mid-1990s in South Africa to reshapehigher education curricula, and the responsesof universities to a series of policyinitiatives concerned with higher educationcurriculum reform. Pressures of globalisationand the local challenges of reconstruction anddevelopment formed the context in which highereducation curriculum restructuring occurred.Two discourses, acredit-accumulation-and-transfer discourse anda disciplinary discourse, have shaped educationpolicy making in South Africa since themid-1990s, particularly in higher education.Policy initiatives to re-shape higher educationcurricula are discussed, as well as the ways inwhich science and humanities faculties atuniversities have responded to theseinitiatives. A typology of different curriculumforms is presented which suggests that in spiteof the influence of the credit exchangediscourse in policy documents, undergraduatecurricula continue to be presented on a largelydisciplinary basis.

Abstract: “Revenue supplementation” in higher education refers to shifting higher education costs away from relying mainly (sometimes virtually exclusively) on government, or the taxpayer, and toward parents, students, philanthropists, businesses, and other sources. “Cost-sharing” refers more specifically to requiring that parents and students pay all or most of tuition, lodging, and food costs, and other fees, as well as lessening the value of grants or raising the effective interest rate on student loans. This article identifies some of the historic resistance to cost sharing as well as its rationales—the most compelling of which is the sheer need for revenue, coupled with the increasing unlikelihood that African governments can raise enough revenue by taxation to meet currently underfunded social needs and simultaneously provide substantially more to meet the rising costs of higher education. The article identifies some limitations to the “dual-track” tuition policies in East Africa and some reasons for the many failures African countries have experienced with student loan programs. It cautions against the prevailing fascination with income-contingent loans and makes recommendations, drawn both from theory and from the few empirical examples of “things that work.”

Abstract: Higher education systems in Europe are currently undergoing deep reforms. These reforms are triggered by national developments, as well as by the aim to evolve towards comparable systems and ensure the quality of the higher education systems in Europe (Bologna Process). This study was initiated by the education trade unions’ goal to widen the scope of the debate on accreditation and evaluation activities in higher education in Europe from a comparative perspective. In order to provide the factual base for this discussion, we were asked to carry out a comparative study of ‘accreditation in the framework of evaluation activities’ in the European higher education area. Accreditation is the focus of our study, but accreditation is a policy instrument made up of two elements: evaluation and approval. Therefore, we felt it necessary to analyse these two elements in their own right. Hence, the aims of the study are to: 1. Provide an updated picture of the current situation with regard to (1) accreditation schemes, (2) other approval schemes (outside accreditation) and (3) evaluation schemes. 2. Analyse the underlying principles of the accreditation scheme(s) and how they relate to other approval and evaluation schemes (‘system logic’ or ‘system dynamic’). 3. Point out and analyse current reforms of the accreditation scheme(s) (with a view to other approval and evaluation schemes as well as supra-national developments, e.g. the Bologna process and other influences).

Abstract: Medical education research is underfunded. Little research focuses on basic issues of learning and teaching in medicine, and few educational innovations are tested across institutions to insure their generalizability. Despite repeated calls for the development of research organizations that would deal with substantial issues in medical education, funding remains a miniscule portion of the total budget for medical education. The author discusses how medical education research is supported in the present economic environment. The majority of published research is accomplished during the course of the researcher's employment. Many universities support pilot studies that lead to larger grants. Faculty development programs and career or academic awards support some research. Small to moderate amounts of funding are available through a variety of sources including medical specialty associations and private foundations. The author lists a variety of resources and strategies for finding foundations to fund research. Funding for larger research projects, particularly those that require more than a few years to accomplish or that involve multiple institutions, is more difficult to obtain. Federal training grants provide the laboratory for innovation and education research, but include inadequate funds to accomplish in-depth evaluation or research. The lack of emphasis on theory building and failure to prove the usefulness of innovations across schools cannot be overcome with current levels of funding. Medical educators must be advocates for the research support needed to move medical education research from a field with limited influence on practice to one that is able to connect sound insights and ideas with actual practices in education and improved patient health.

Abstract: (2004). Educare and Educere: Is a Balance Possible in the Educational System? The Educational Forum: Vol. 68, No. 2, pp. 161-168.

Abstract: Basee sur une enquete d'envergure mondiale, cette etude delimite les orientations des travaux en education comparee, en tâchant de regrouper les tendances actuelles majeures afin d'isoler des domaines d'application futures de cette discipline.

Abstract: This paper explores recent changes in Peruvian national education policy and the effects these have had on indigenous populations. Situating Peruvian education reforms within a context of international multicultural development, the paper traces the history of reforms as implemented by national and international actors in varying degrees and combinations. Against this historical backdrop, the paper focuses on changes in the 1990s that in theory promote bilingual intercultural education on a nationwide scale for all Peruvian citizens, but in practice are concentrated in rural indigenous areas. In particular, the paper examines some gaps between intercultural education rhetoric and implementation. I conclude with a discussion of the uneven achievements and unintended consequences of bilingual education programmes and provide some suggestions for policy-makers in the region.

Abstract: Since the 1990s, governments of several developing countries have implemented conditional cash transfer programs to promote children’s school attendance. The best known programs are PROGRESA (Programa de Educación, Salud y Alimentación; now called Oportunidades) in Mexico, Bolsa Escola in Brazil, and Food-for-Education (FFE) in Bangladesh. In these types of programs, families receive a benefit that is conditional on their children’s school attendance. Their rationale is that children often leave school because their families are too poor to send them. The goals of incentive programs are to offset direct costs, such as books and fees, and to compensate families for the lost value of their children’s labor. Conditional transfers have generated excitement because they appear successful at increasing children’s school attainment. As development economist Nancy Birdsall commented, “these programs are as close as you can come to a magic bullet in development.” A growing literature documents the impact of these programs on school attendance as well as educational attainment. However, we know far less about the extent to which these programs concomitantly reduce child labor. This question frames the investigation we report here. Bangladesh was one of the first countries to implement school incentive

Abstract: The term ‘quality’ as used in recent education discourse has its origins in the factory floor and production, as a measure of control of the features of merchandise produced. In the form of measureable specifications, it is used by national bureaucracies and international aid and lending agencies as lending itself to scientific management of and monitoring investments in education. Going back to the concept of ‘quality’ as the essential character of a thing, the paper argues that quality has always been integral to the concept of education, deriving from what is considered worthwhile as an aim or experience in education. The paper traces the history of the term beginning with important changes in the concept of education influenced by education thinkers and moving to the role of the concept in the context of universalisation of education, the growing importance of democracy as a political choice, and economic globalisation. The final section of the paper draws out implications for teacher professionalism,...

Abstract: In the article the Education to develop Excellence in Environmental Education Guidelines for Learning (K-12), developed by the NAAEE (North American Association for Environmental Education) is briefly introduced with emphasis on the grade levels, the contents of learning and the core of key principles for the construction of environmental education.

Abstract: This is a revised version of the 2003 British Association for International and Comparative Education (BAICE) Presidential Address delivered at the 7th Oxford International Conference on Education and Development. The processes of globalisation have been viewed by some as a major threat to the qualitative research tradition in education. Two main aspects of the impact of globalisation on qualitative research are addressed here. Firstly, it is argued that given the vital role of culture in mediating global policies at different levels, qualitative research still has a very important role to play. Secondly, it is argued that the knowledge and information revolution associated with globalisation has created an increasingly positivist climate that represents both a challenge for, and a challenge to, comparative education as it is currently conceived—particularly in the UK. This is illustrated by the growing international interest in systematic review methodology and its associated privileging of quantitative ...

Abstract: This article gives a general overview of the evolution and present state of the undergraduate medical education system, programs, evaluation methods and conferred degrees in contemporary China. The publication is based on the information collected from on-site visits to the eight (8) leading medical universities, medical education conferences, visits to Ministries of Health and Education and their staff, and the contribution of Chinese medical education experts. As the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (PRC) approves all tracks and strives for uniformity of educational programs as a cornerstone of quality, this overview reflects the general content of all five- and seven-year medical education programs that have provided the great majority of physicians since the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Abstract: If 877 service is not yet available in your area, call 1-800-872-5327 (1-800-USA-LEARN). Those who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a teletypewriter (TTY), should call 1-800-437-0833.

Abstract: This article outlines the experiences of educators in three teacher education institutes in the USA, Australia and the UK as they experiment with carrying out programmes based on ideas of action research. The emphasis is on experiences with programmes of initial education for secondary school teachers. A descriptive case study aimed to find out what critical issues teacher educators on the three courses experienced as they attempted to work with programmes based on ideas of action research and what we can learn from that. The data were gathered by means of semi‐structured interviews.1 In this study action research is conceived as an interactive method by which teachers and student teachers can develop knowledge. The paper first presents the theoretical framework, followed by the research design and presentation of the findings and finally the conclusion and discussion. The educators in all three institutes reported that students mastered simple, non‐systematic forms of reflection before they were able to ...

Abstract: Consortium for Policy Research in Education Wisconsin Center for Education Research University of Wisconsin-Madison 1025 W. Johnson Street Madison, WI 53719 (608) 263-4260 This paper was prepared for the Consortium for Policy Research in Education, Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison. The research reported in this paper was supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, National Institute on Educational Governance, Finance, Policy-Making and Management, to the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) and the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison (Grant No. OERI-R308A60003). New American Schools and the MacArthur Foundation also provided financial support for district level data collection. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the National Institute on Educational Governance, Finance, Policy-Making and Management, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, the institutional partners of CPRE, New American Schools, MacArthur or the Wisconsin Center for Education Research.