Certain global leadership forces -- competitiveness, tolerance, and creativity -- are so pervasive they can be illustrated on the part of any country. However, nations also have unique dynamics to consider within our interconnected world. This is the overarching issue being expressed in this essay wherein the author deconstructs Canada's official…

Nancy N. Heilbronner, the associate dean for academic affairs at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, New York, lectures internationally on topics related to gifted and science education. In this article she writes that we have not fully come to terms with two influential factors that will likely impact future STEM outcomes across the planet: (1) changes…

Michael Young's article "Overcoming the crisis in curriculum theory: a knowledge-based approach" ("JCS, 45", 2) is discussed from the starting point that the claimed crisis is constructed from a decisive solution, that is the solution determines what is a crisis. But curriculum research and curriculum theory are in need of…

In this article, the author reflects on the use of research to inform teaching in Statement Five of the Australian Association for the Teaching of English (AATE) "Statements of Belief". Statement 5 says, "We use research and evidence to inform teaching practice and improve the learning of students." All educational research is…

Over the past decade, debates on the quality of early childhood services in Germany have focussed on four interrelated issues: access, programme quality, staff training, and evaluation procedures. Each of these four strands is presented and discussed in terms of the controversies and chances accompanying professional and public discourse.…

This paper examines the ways in which the results of the OECD Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) have influenced educational discourse in Germany. It argues that the results caused shockwaves in the educational landscape and led to a re-evaluation of other international comparisons which had presented an unfavourable picture of…

This paper reviews Iceland's performance in skills accumulation against the backdrop of a rapidly changing economic environment and discusses directions for further improvements. Since the late 1990s, the government has considerably raised expenditure on education, which is now among the highest in the OECD relative to GDP. Nonetheless, Iceland…