After nearly half a century of authoritarianism characterized by Chinese nationalism and Mandarin promotion, democratization in 1990s Taiwan was accompanied by a Taiwanization movement featuring calls for the revitalization of local languages and the promotion of linguistic equality. To that end, the government began planning for local language…

Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) has been recognised globally as key to helping young people assert their sexual and reproductive rights. In India too, there is growing awareness of the importance of providing CSE not only to reduce sexually transmitted infections, unintended pregnancies and abortions but also to teach important life…

Sustainable development is continuous process of change requiring painful choices resting on political will. This paper examines the developments needed to engage with sustainable development in the field of political science through the following: the reform in political science programmes to cope with the need for sustainable development in…

Purpose: This article outlines the development of extension as a discipline in Australia, its organization, and the ideological changes that have occurred from the second half of the nineteenth century through to the present. Design/Methodology/Approach: It considers the evolution of extension across the different states of Australia from a…

This paper argues for seeing in-depth news coverage of political, social, and economic issues as "public policy pedagogy." To develop my argument, I draw on Nancy Fraser's democratic theory, which attends to social differences and does not assume that unity is a starting point or an end goal of public dialogue. Alongside the formation of…

The period from the late 1970s to the late 1980s were transition years for most public(government) school systems in Australia. A reaction was developing against the neo-progressive and radical (neo-Marxist) innovations of the late 1960s and 1970s such as school-based curricula, activity methods, and "open education". By the early 1980s…

This article examines China's senior high "Thought and Politics" ("sixiang zhengzhi") texts, analyzing how these seek to legitimize the regime's developmental strategy. It is argued that their overriding emphasis on the strengthening of the state is premised upon the imperative of securing China's position within global order…

Becoming "Asia literate" is a pivotal part of the federal government's "Education Revolution". The federal government asserts that "equipping young Australians with the knowledge and skills to communicate and work with our regional neighbours...such skills must be a core element of an Australian school curriculum"…

The rhetoric of the new vocationalism is about creating a new type of person: an enterprising, flexible, portfolio-oriented, lifelong learner. The rhetoric of contemporary Australian government policy is that schools should be more vocational. This article focuses on schooling and a case study of a site where two vocational "dual…

For American public schools, the interplay between religion and public policy has been rather volatile, thanks to both state and federal constitutions mandating an ever shifting degree of separation between church and state, yet permitting free religious expression. Some of the most intense political disputes in the past 40 years have involved…

The last 2 decades of curriculum policy in Australia are reviewed in this paper, with a focus on reforms concerned with females and schooling. Two general areas are examined: (1) the theoretical relationship between state power and feminist concerns about schooling; and (2) the progressive direction for schooling. The first section compares two…

Provides outlines, at both theoretical and applied levels, of appropriate curricular responses to high school student protest. (Author)

Uses a case study of curriculum innovation in Zimbabwe to assess existing explanations of why colonial curriculum content persists in many postcolonial states despite radical policy efforts. Argues for the primacy of conflict, history, and politics as determinants of school curriculum in Third World transition states. Contains 47 references. (SV)

A discussion of Dutch higher education looks at whether a 1985 proposal for fundamental changes in the relationship between government and higher education institutions has been implemented with regard to curriculum design. It is concluded that, despite policy intentions for increased institutional autonomy, the government retains relatively tight…

This paper examines developments in language policy planning in New Zealand over the last 20 years. The paper begins with a description of the New Zealand educational context, the country's changing demographics, and the uptake for learning languages as an elective in schools. The historical and sociopolitical contexts for language planning are…