This book offers a new perspective on the professional world of higher education. Using social practice theory, it presents a practice sensibility rooted in concepts which illuminate teaching and learning contexts. The book takes the reader through the social processes occurring within higher education institutions which shape contexts and…

How has schooling functioned in the construction of meritocratic national systems historically? To what extent will these historical patterns and normative commitments continue in the new era of a global meritocracy? And ultimately, how can educators effectively balance the inherent tension between individual merit and standardized quality? Kariya…

The adoption of the principle of Education for All has catalyzed major efforts in special education throughout the world, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has developed educational policies to meet the special education needs of students since the late 1960s. Despite these efforts, there is no current policy in the KSA that provides specific…

In this HEPI paper, two authors with considerable expertise in evaluating higher education systems around the world assess higher education institutions that are not funded directly by taxpayers--known in the UK as alternative providers. Since the start of the century, alternative providers have been growing rapidly. This raises a number of…

When policy is made in a particular area, not only does one have to decide what to do but why he/she is doing it. Any plan for action is like a house of cards. At the bottom, there are assumptions. They hold up the next layer, which is the definition of the problem. At the top is the response, what is to be done. If any of the lower cards is not…

The future role of teachers in Europe will contribute to raising the awareness of a new expectation of what it means to be a "European Teacher". If there is unity in diversity through national identities, the question remains: what makes a teacher "European"? Answering this unusual question, one encounters several aspects that…

This paper examines issues of politics of leadership and implementation of Educational policies and programmes of tertiary institutions in Cross River State with a view to determine the problems are situated and suggest the way forward. It examines the concept of politics of education, concept of leadership, meaning of planning and generation of…

Caught between extraordinary public expectations and relatively modest constitutional authority, U.S. presidents historically have fashioned all sorts of mechanisms--executive orders, proclamations, memoranda--by which to move their objectives forward. William Howell asserts that under President Barack Obama's administration, presidential…

Despite a political climate demanding evidence-informed decision making in education both within individual countries and at the international level, empirically grounded European research in this field is scarce. This paper reports on a European Commission-funded study that sought to identify and analyze different initiatives across Europe aimed…

Around 30 percent of families across New York State now speak a language other than English at home, resulting in 240,000 English language learners (ELLs) in the state's primary and secondary schools who speak nearly 200 different languages. This report looks at New York State's redesign of policies and practices to better support the education of…

In this article, James J. Gallagher proposes that understanding the political issues and the debate surrounding the education of gifted students is based on the recognition that education policy (including rules, regulations, financial allocations, etc.) reflects social policy. Hence, society prioritizes needs so that the most important of these…

As one of 12 members of the drafting committee of Agenda 21's Chapter 36, "Education, Public Awareness and Training", Charles Hopkins reflects on the process of working on the now-famous document. Although it was noncontroversial at the time, Chapter 36 spawned education for sustainable development when it was given to UNESCO to administer within…

In the 1960s, evaluation thrived in the sunshine of political support for our work. We also experienced the dark side of the force of politics: efforts to introduce partisan biases favorable to special interests. In response to politics as contamination, at least two families of stances developed: populist and public interest. The populist stances…

This paper presents a critical analysis of the representation of physical education (PE) in the 1992 Senate inquiry into "Physical and Sport Education" in Australia. Analysis focuses specifically upon how and why a new professional discourse, fundamental motor skills (FMS), gained a privileged position in the inquiry, the inquiry report…

This study is based on lecturers' and students' perception on educational policy implementation factors and quality education in Nigerian universities. Educational policies have always been formulated purposely to guide the present and future thinking, actions and decisions of managers. The potency of policy is not in formulation but in its proper…