Since the late 1980s, school curriculum revisions in Japan have sought to promote capabilities and dispositions that transcend subject boundaries and are often labelled 'competencies' in international curricular discourse. This study examines policy documents over the period, showing how Japanese policymakers have sought to navigate pressures…

Competence-based approaches (CBAs) in education have become an internationally important educational policy concept in recent decades. However, a substantial body of research has suggested that in order to understand and explain the evolution of CBAs, there is a need to analyse curriculum-making as a complex and multi-layered practice. To…

Kosovo introduced two major curriculum reforms over the past 20 years -- in 2001 and 2011 -- each aiming to bring education closer to international trends. Simultaneously, Kosovo underwent major political, social, and cultural changes after the war in 1999, and the declaration of independence in 2008. This article relies on document analysis and…

Issues of transitional justice are central to countries moving away from identity-based conflict. Research tends to focus on the most well-known forms of transitional justice, like truth commissions. Far less attention has been given to education as a form of transitional justice, and even less to teacher professional development, even though…

This article introduces the notion of "justice-sensitive education"--derived from the ideals and practices of transitional justice (TJ) in countries emerging from conflict. It describes three mechanisms for this: structural reforms (relating to inequity and division); curriculum change (the treatment of history, human rights and…

This paper is a response to David Limond's exposition, "[An] historical culture ... rapidly, universally, and thoroughly restored"? British influence on Irish education since 1922, which appeared in "Comparative Education", Vol. 46, No. 4, November 2010, pp. 449-462. Limond's overall thesis is that "a post-colonial…

This paper examines the outstanding performance of Shanghai, China on PISA 2009 and its effects on other national systems and within the global education policy field. The OECD's PISA is helping to create this field by constituting the globe as a commensurate space of school system performance. The effects of Shanghai's success are considered in…

The purpose of the study is to analyse and discuss the influences of globalisation and localisation on music education in Hong Kong and Taiwan. It argues that the reform of music education concerns changes to the contents of the curriculum that envisage the cultural and political developments that arise from processes of globalisation and…

The mandatory curriculum mooted by the Israeli Ministry of Education for implementation is designed to include the most important body of knowledge to be taught and acquired by every student in the educational system. In addition to the knowledge present in the mandatory curriculum it also includes the learning skills and social values necessary…

Article examines the application of educational reform in West Germany and the expansion of new consciousness in their educational structure. (Author/RK)

Examines recent attempts to restructure French secondary schooling in order to provide equal opportunity and more relevant curriculum. Discusses some impediments to these reforms, particularly the opposition of teachers and their unions. (SJL)

From a British perspective, the author describes and comments on Norway's recent curricular and educational reforms: the development of the grunnskole for students ages 7-16, with emphasis on the lower secondary (ungdomsskole) 14-16 phase, and reforms in the upper secondary (videregaende skole) for ages 17-19. (Author/SJL)

The author documents a trend in Western Europe toward increasing control of programs for the 16-19 age group by "para-educational agencies," such as Ministeries of Employment and Labor Market Boards, rather than by traditional education Ministeries and Departments. He looks at administrative structures and their curricular impact. (SJL)

Common issues in a review of seven books related to changes in higher education were: expansions, growth, and diversity in 1960s and 1970s; convergence between technological and general academic institutions in the 1970s; institutional autonomy and the role of the state in the 1980s; and governmental pressure to conform to a commercial model of…

Reviews recent educational changes and issues in six republics of the former Soviet Union, including controversies over language of instruction, revision of curriculum and textbooks to eliminate Marxism and emphasize national history and culture, reappearance of religious schools and instruction, and criticisms of teacher education and teaching…