With the rise of accountability measures in education, many policymakers have also argued the need to record, assess, and certify students' holistic development. However, using China as a case, we caution how a policy-driven reform on the assessment of holistic development might fall into the pitfall of performativity. Borrowing from Ball's (Ball,…

Teachers often provide or set up opportunities for feedback within classroom contexts. How they understand what feedback is and how it should be given is essential to their feedback practices. Since feedback is commonly a communicative exchange between teacher and students or students and their peers, it is essential to understand teacher…

The present article analyses, from the perspective of two student teachers, the difficulties they experienced when enacting their teaching beliefs during their student teaching, which they viewed as a result of the accountability policies in place. From this analysis, we illustrate the student teachers' frustration with policies perceived as…

Teachers have come under increased pressure to improve educational outcomes as Australia has sought to meet the challenges of competing on an international level. This intensified pressure has been accompanied by improved levels of funding, a National Curriculum for all Australian states, and territories, along with assessments to measure these…

Background: Primary teachers' pedagogical practices (TPP) are strongly focused on supporting pupils' psychological needs, creating a safe learning climate, and encouraging pupils' developmental and learning processes. As a core motivation for teachers is the desire to interact constructively with children, pedagogical practices can be understood…

Europe's knowledge economies need high-level skills, the capacity to innovate and to support democratic societies. In this perspective, the main objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the relevance of higher education and how this is promoted in various countries in Europe and beyond. The evidence, conclusions and…

A phenomenographic analysis explored 18 teachers' conceptions of feedback and how they were enacted. Five hierarchically ordered categories of feedback were seen as aligning with three major functions; that is, (1) satisfying stakeholder expectations (Category 1), maintaining student psycho-social well-being (Category 2), and supporting learning…

Europe's knowledge economies need high-level skills, the capacity to innovate and to support democratic societies. In this perspective, the main objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the relevance of higher education and how this is promoted in various countries in Europe and beyond. The evidence, conclusions and…

Drawing on a year-long qualitative study, this article examines how one refugee student from the Vietnamese Central Highlands negotiated social and cultural constructions of patriotism and citizenship in a Junior Reserves Officer Training Corps (JROTC) class at an urban high school. Data are analyzed using Butler's (1990) the theory of…

The Individualised Education Programme (IEP) is a fundamental document that describes all educational responses to the additional support needs of students, setting up the guideline for their learning and developmental experiences. Specifically, the IEP goals represent the personal destination translated into desirable behaviours and skills that…

During the author's travels all over the United States speaking to a wide variety of audiences, and his visits with leadership groups in the Middle East and Far East, he has encountered diverse audiences who share his concern that the majority of students are leaving high school without the skills that matter most--even in those school districts…

The quest for integrity in practice and theory has been part of the evolution of student personnel work all the way back to the turn of the 20th century. This chapter seeks to take stock of the question of integrity in relation to one of the core knowledge bases used by those engaged in student affairs work today--student development. The authors…

A fundamental goal of teachers in public schools in British Columbia (BC) is to ensure all students of every age, through the principle of continuous learning, have an equal opportunity to develop their full capacity for artistic, cultural, emotional, intellectual, and physical growth. BC public school teachers believe that the primary purpose of…

Examines Canadian education in general, and then focuses on the particular concerns of English as a Second Language (ESL). Presents items, events, and observations illuminating the context of ESL instruction and suggests that the first level of accountability of ESL teachers is to their students, to whom they have an obligation to help realize…

Some examples of the conflict between the child-centered educational approach and the development of objectives-based programs are drawn from experiences in Ontario (Canada) concerning student achievement assessment. Educational implications of these two conflicting models are considered, highlighting weaknesses of the child-centered approach.…