To explore how teachers' beliefs and behaviour change throughout implementation processes, N = 47 teachers participated in a 6-month professional development (PD) programme, and then implemented a differentiated reading innovation over one school year (totalling 15 months). Teachers' beliefs (acceptability, feasibility, self-efficacy) and…

This paper aims to survey the current landscape of education policy evaluation across OECD countries and economies by examining recent trends and contextual factors that can promote more robust education policy evaluation, as well as identifying key challenges. It takes a view of policy evaluation as an activity that takes place throughout the…

Student evaluation of teaching (SET) has not yet been studied historically and comparatively. Based on our interviews with professors and administrators at 18 universities in three countries, we discuss how SET diffused in all the studied universities and how SET was translated and edited differently according to different sets of statements. SET…

In this article, we analyse the implementation and change of a specific school reform in Germany using the example of external school evaluation in Lower Saxony: the school inspection. We investigate how and why a newly implemented reform is itself subject to reform shortly afterwards. We begin with a historical background of German school reforms…

In many of Germany's states the procedures for school inspections were amended following completion of a first evaluation cycle. This chapter examines the way changes carried out in the course of reform were configured with respect to content and process. It is based on the assumption that school inspections represent an institution whose…

This paper deals with borrowing the German dual vocational training model in Kazakhstan. The aim of the paper is to identify the key issues and challenges of the transfer process. The analysis is based on the model proposed by Phillips and Ochs (2003, 2004) which outlines four stages of policy borrowing: (1) impulses, (2) decision, (3)…

The ongoing trend towards educational globalisation has brought about various dynamics of education policy "rescaling," resulting in a growing number of governmental arrangements, which are operating across traditional scales, levels or sectors of policy. This contribution takes up the conceptual frameworks of topological spatialisation…

Modularisation of vocational training courses is a major issue across many European countries. Germany has been slow to implement modularisation in its VET system: the prevailing view of modular concepts in the country is one of great scepticism, but there is very little empirical data to inform the debate. This exploratory study focuses on the…

This paper outlines the theoretical foundation of a skill enhancement programme in early childhood settings which follows the ideas of the Anti-Bias approach. A focal point of the concept is to acknowledge the connection between societal, structural and individual biases. It challenges those biases and assists educators in improving their…

This study employs a uniquely multi-factorial, large-scale design to investigate baseline differences and the effects of a singular outdoor educational program on environmental attitudes, knowledge and behavior among primary and secondary school students educated in four different countries. Statistical modelling approaches employed country of…

In 2006, a (new) German standard for test reviewing was passed (Testkuratorium, 2006). There was already a European standard in place (European Federation of Psychologists' Associations, 2008). This article presents the German standard for test reviewing and explains how the German test review system was derived from demands in the German standard…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to comparatively analyse activities to integrate sustainability in teaching, research and operational practice in different higher education institutions, which differ both in the degree of how far implementation goes and in regards to the most active stakeholders. Against that background, the paper explores,…

Sustainability became a regulatory idea of national and international policies worldwide with the advent of the Agenda 21. One part of these policies includes promoting sustainability through educational reform. With the United Nations World Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), spanning the years 2005 to 2014, all school…

The article analyses how steering and organisation of German and Norwegian universities have developed after both countries with Humboldtian university traditions introduced New Public Management-inspired governance reforms during the first decade of the 21st century. The article outlines different organisation ideals and values involved in…

This article focuses on the interaction between the European dimension driven by the creation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and the development of national reforms to fulfil that objective. On the basis of data gathered in eight countries involved in EuroHESC project TRUE (Transforming European Universities), the curricular and the…