On the basis of ethnographic and historical material this article makes a comparative analysis of the relationship between public events, ceremonies and academic rituals, institutional identity, and processes of transition and power at two universities, one in Mexico and the other in South Africa. The public events examined here play a major role…

During the last two decades of the twentieth century, for-profit higher education in the United States grew at an extraordinary pace. By the close of the century, for-profit institutions accounted for a substantial proportion of degree-seeking students in the United States--an enrollment share that, until relatively recently, expanded at…

School districts have two general courses of action to maintain fiscal solvency and raise student achievement in the face of drastic funding cuts. They can reduce spending on teachers, a strategy opposed by many teachers' unions because it threatens teacher job security. They can also cut expenditures in other areas such as instructional…

This article addresses the politics and policy-making of alternative forms of basic education in the context of EFA, with an emphasis on non-formal education (NFE) for school-age children. It explores how policy-makers interpret the relevance of such alternatives, the steps that are taken to implement the reforms and factors that play a role in…

In recent years, debates over school reform have increasingly focused on the role of teacher unions in the changing landscape of American K-12 education. On one hand, critics argue that these unions, using their powerful grip on education politics and policy to great effect, bear primary responsibility for blocking states' efforts to put into…

As the title of this book suggests, how one understands, perceives and experiences democracy may have a significant effect on how he/she actually engages in, and with, democracy. Within the educational context, this is a key concern, and forms the basis of the research presented in this volume within a critical, comparative analysis. The Global…

A key feature of recent curriculum reform in post-industrialised liberal economies has been the ascendancy of outcomes-based education policies. A 1995 review conducted in Western Australia (WA) recommended an outcomes-based approach, and in response, the Curriculum Framework (CF) was released in 1998. The same year, the WA State government…

The creation of three new institutions in Australia is examined for evidence supporting or refuting theories that new institutions tend to be dominated by academic or administrative interest groups. (MSE)

Argues that organizational control ideologies serving elites are prevalent in schools as well as in corporations. Schools, as meeting places for those in and those out of power, develop complex cultures, which those in power see as "irrational." Illustrates how school cultures incur difficulties because elites define them as…

This paper investigates the role of the budget as an instrument for realizing strategic change and as an influencing factor on the behavior of university faculty within the decentralized educational environment of the Netherlands. It distinguishes between a base component (lump sum allocation) and a special-purpose component (earmarked allocation)…

A research project that developed methods for describing, organizing, analyzing, and predicting state education policy activity had as its major focus the way that values affect that policy. Data were drawn from six states: Wisconsin, Illinois, California, Arizona, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. They were chosen to represent ranges of political…

Comparative case studies assessed how the micropolitics of educational reform in two elementary schools affected one southeastern district's effort to professionalize teaching. The results indicate that teachers can use micropolitics to resist reform that, in these cases, legitimated centralization and control, and to heighten their control of…

A 3-year research project was conducted to compare the conflict management behavior of school superintendents and city managers, both of whom are professionally trained experts held accountable to lay legislatures. Chapter 1, "Professionalism and Responsiveness," addresses the inherent tension, in a democracy, between elected officials'…

This how-to kit for conducting a survey on the positions women hold in local occupational and decision-making structures is divided into six sections. Section I provides an explanation of the survey and its goals. Section II includes several survey questions and practical tips for finding the answers for each of eleven categories: Law, education,…

The research investigated the relationship of a person's sex to his or her public policy preferences, with particular regard to women's issues. Women's issues are reflected in public policy which directly affects women's lives. Examples are day care facilities, sex bias of educational materials, and abortion facilities. The study was conducted to…