This article takes a historical approach to the rise and fall of the public university, relating its fate to specific developments in public policy. Particular attention will be paid to the United Kingdom since it has developed an explicit drive towards the marketization of higher education in the context of an earlier commitment to public higher…

This article briefly overviews the likely future of education as planned after the 2015 Conservative election success. Although education was not a major item in election manifestos or in subsequent discussion, the Department for Education claims that it is rolling out one of the most ambitious education reform movements in the world. How the…

The progressivist education reforms that swept across Canada's Ontario province during the interwar periods of the late 1930s included a focus on character education, social justice, and social reconstruction. This article offers a glimpse at the evolution of school curriculum and values associated with school education, with increasing emphasis…

Behind the thin veil of the Conservative regime's rationale of deficit reduction hides the final demolition of public comprehensive education and Raymond Williams's more expansive long revolution unfolding over a century of creating a democratic state that affords opportunity, voice and justice for all. Restoring the politics of a pre-war or…

From a variation on community service to a discipline-specific strategy to a powerful pedagogy to a vehicle of democracy and the common good, community-based learning has proven itself to be an educational resource whose time has come. In this article, the authors trace the recent history of community-based teaching and learning and its symbiotic…

Language and education planning issues and democratic policy implementation in the post-apartheid era in South Africa encompass a range of language-related issues and dilemmas that have counterparts in many countries, within the emerging global education system. The issues in South Africa were and continue to be shaped by the historical legacy of…

The article discusses the question of student participation in higher education governance at the national and the institutional levels in Norway. Two ideal-type perspectives on governance are developed in order to illuminate the Norwegian case: a democratic perspective and a market perspective. The article provides a brief overview of the…

This article considers how to bridge the achievement gap by showing that reading methodology influenced American educational philosophy, primary-grade curricula, and American schools. It considers the impact of the romantic movement on progressive education and notes that the current academic achievement gap has two roots. The first can be traced,…

This article is an edited version of a speech delivered at the 2009 Mediterranean Association of International Schools (MAIS) Annual Conference in Florence, Italy. In the author's past speeches--in Seville and Rome--he had urged his listeners to use their distinctive power and influence as independent, international educators to advance…

In this paper the author asserts that as post- conflict Kosovo has emerged from the stage of emergency rehabilitation towards long-term development planning to independence, its peaceful and successful development largely depends on the development of a strong education system based on tolerance and human rights values. This paper looks at ways to…

Today, the U.S. Department of Education joins the National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement, the American Commonwealth Partnership, and the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools in a new national call to action to infuse and enhance civic learning and democratic engagement for all students throughout the American…

This paper includes two documents: a working document and a report on the symposium on the democratization of higher education and its role in the promotion of economic and social progress. This symposium was part of UNESCO'S program entitled "Democratization of Education." The purposes of the program's activities were to stimulate and…

The author discusses philanthropy and educational reform from the Great Depression to the present, contrasting the views of that time to "Making It Count" (Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Kelly Amis, 2001.) Although Finn and Amis presented their suggestions as advancing democracy, they thought that educational reform took place best when elite groups…

Analyzes the growth of private education in Poland and its contribution to the ongoing processes of democratization and educational development. Suggests that its development has been haphazard, reflecting the uncertainties of a society in transition. Urges the need for evaluation and dissemination of private-sector initiatives to serve as…

Democratization of education refers to a process that allows decision-making based on alternatives, guided by the conviction that equity, equality, solidarity, freedom and justice are the essential universal values of mankind. This study examines these criteria in the context of reform strategies in the areas of educational planning and practice.…