M. Jiang and C.-K. Cheung
International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, vol. 15, 2009, p. 175-192
In China, education ironically aggravates child poverty despite its supposed role in providing them with a brighter future. Primary and secondary education in China is compulsory, but imposes financial burdens on poorer families in the shape of tuition fees, costs of buying books, and fees for choosing a school and a class.
R. Niesche and R. Jorgensen
Journal of Educational Administration, vol.48, 2010, p. 102-117
The underperformance of indigenous pupils throughout Australia remains one of the most pressing issues facing education in that country. Many states have tried to improve the situation through school reform and curriculum change. This paper examines the implementation of the new Bound for Success (B4S) curriculum document in the Torres Strait and Cape York regions of Queensland, focusing on the challenges posed for school leaders.
H. Forsyth and others
Higher Education Research & Development, vol. 29, 2010, p.15-28
This case study reports on the experience of distance educators at an Australian campus-focused university. Organisational structure and culture are identified as critical success factors for quality in distance education with technology perhaps a surprisingly minor consideration. It is suggested that while the eLearning era has opened the door to a distance education cottage industry, eLearning strategy has failed to comprehensively prepare the way for the issues unique to distance education. The paper recommends that campus-focused universities must protect their reputation by systematically assuring the quality of their distance offerings.
S. Scull and M. Cuthill
Higher Education Research & Development, vol. 29, 2010, p. 59-74
This paper reports on an action research initiative that has developed a model of engaged outreach as an alternative approach to traditional university outreach. The project was designed using a reflective, collaborative process with local Pacific Island immigrant communities living in an area of high social deprivation in southeast Queensland, Australia. While the authors acknowledge that the success of engaged outreach will depend on its implementation as a long-term strategy, preliminary results from this pilot project suggest that it demonstrates real potential to address this important but seemingly entrenched issue in Australian higher education.
N. Frolich, E.K. Schmidt and M.J. Rosa
International Journal of Educational Management, vol.24, 2010, p. 7-21
This paper explores how different funding systems influence the behaviour of higher education institutions in Denmark, Norway and Portugal. It identifies and analyses the main features of the three different systems (input-based funding, output-based funding, and output-based funding rewarding both research and teaching), their strengths and weaknesses, and their impact on academia.
R. Lewin (editor)
London: Routledge, 2009
This handbook offers an overview of a growing area of educational innovation and practice, namely the role of colleges and universities in educating students who can cross global borders, navigate global power structures, and work collaboratively on global problems. The contributors to this book offer theoretical insights and practical advice on how to translate theory into successful programmes which prepare higher education students for global citizenship.
E.K. Gyimah, D. Sugden and S. Pearson
International Journal of Inclusive Education, vol. 13, 2009, p. 787-804
In this study, the responses of 500 trained and untrained mainstream primary school teachers selected from three of the ten regions of Ghana were analysed to investigate their attitudes to including children with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities in mainstream schools. The results showed that teachers in Ghana were positive towards the inclusion of children with SEN and disabilities with a few reservations. On the basis of the findings, conclusions were drawn that the inclusion agenda should be subject to national and local interpretation, aimed at ensuring that policies and regulations on SEN are designed to meet local situations and standards.
S.L. Lynch and A.N. Irvine
International Journal of Inclusive Education, vol. 13, 2009, p. 845-859
This paper describes how best practice for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as an educational model fits within what is described as authentic inclusion. Further, it is suggested that the ASD community align with the greater inclusive education reform movement. With the use of this unified model of education, the authors argue, all children will receive the educational support they require.
A.C. Armstrong, D. Armstrong and I. Spandagou
London: SAGE, 2010
This book examines issues of theory, research, policy and practice from both the countries of the South and the North to under pin a discussion of recent developments in the field of inclusive education. The authors focus on developments in current thinking regarding the meaning of inclusion and how this relates to policies and practices within the context of education systems across the world by featuring case studies from Europe, the Caribbean and Australasia. Topics covered include: increasing pressure on educators to develop a global policy agenda for inclusive education; the individual needs of children; the notion of inclusivity; and the importance of local contexts in determining policy.
C. Nyland, H. Forbes-Mewett, and S. Marginson
Higher Education Research & Development, vol. 29, 2010, p. 89-101
In 2009, international student safety became an issue of immediate concern to Australian education exporters following a series of demonstrations by Indian students and interventions by concerned foreign governments. The paper contextualises this development by utilising a stigma management framework to review the unfolding debate on international students and safety in the USA, UK, New Zealand and Australia. The authors argue that in all four cases it took an exogenous shock to convince education exporters to acknowledge student safety as an issue that needs to be openly debated. They also suggest that Australian officials were slow to make this acknowledgement because they mistakenly believed the industry was shielded by its link to the immigration programme.
Research in Post-Compulsory Education, vol. 14, 2009, p. 429-440
The paper is based on a series of Australian research projects, undertaken over seven years by the author and colleagues, using quantitative and qualitative methodologies and examines the way in which young people are increasingly adopting dual identities - worker and learner - during the long transition from full-time student to full-time worker. The author argues that indeed part-time jobs undertaken while in full-time education provide opportunities for learning about work and may lead to full-time careers in the same industry area. The case studies collected illustrate the arrangements, which are often complex and under-planned, that may be redefining how young people think about education and jobs and how they view their movement into the full-time workforce.
S. Rawolle, J. Wilkinson and I. Hardy (guest editors)
Critical Studies in Education, vol. 51, 2010, p. 1-111
This special edition is concerned with the different ways in which educational practice, and in particular policy, leadership and teacher professional development practice, can be conceptualised and researched. The papers all draw upon Pierre Bourdieu's theoretical and methodological resources as a way of understanding the complexity of educational practice and examine how his concepts of practice can be applied within educational scholarship.
International Journal of Inclusive Education, vol. 13, 2009, p. 817-827
During the past 10 years in Australia teacher aides have been employed in mainstream schools as support personnel in special education intervention programmes, and their numbers are increasing. At the same time workplace reform in relation to inclusive education is impacting on their employment and deployment in schools to support students with disabilities and learning difficulties. In Queensland, teacher aides have been offered formal career paths, with increased pay scales, based on the recognition and continuing attainment of qualifications or credentials. In this paper, the author asks how can the process of professional development for teacher aides be moved forward and argues that the experiences and knowledge that teacher aides already have can inform this process of change.
E.J. Allan, S.V. Iverson and R. Ropers-Huilman (editors)
London: Routledge, 2010
This book showcases different methods that can be applied to a range of topics in higher education policy and policy development and offers an examination of theoretical frameworks and concrete examples of how feminist post-structuralism informs research methods and can serve as a tool for policy makers and analysts. The research featured includes chapters on: purposes of higher education, administrative leadership, diversity policy, student agency, social class, the history of women in post-secondary institutions, and quality and science in the globalised university.
S. Karsten and others
Public Administration, vol.88, 2010, p. 90-112
The publication of reports which reflect the quality of individual schools, such as league tables or report cards, has become a prominent feature of the education system in many countries. This article describes a set of standards for the publication of school performance indicators that has been developed collaboratively by an international group of researchers from Western Europe. These proposed standards attempt to address problems associated with the publication of school performance indicators. To illustrate their use, they are applied to data published in the US, England and the Netherlands.