Addresses the danger of English in higher education in Norway, stating that if the mother tongue is replaced by English in academia, it does not develop at the highest levels. Discusses five phenomena threatening the Norwegian language, including the increasing use of English words and the recruitment of teachers who do not speak Norwegian.…

Argues that unresolved debates about the content and meaning of sustainable development now affect the reform of education systems throughout the Americas, raising questions about the school's place in relation to its cultural and physical environment. Discusses ways in which market-oriented educational reforms and others that ignore the…

Postmodernism has been welcomed in some quarters of educational research and practice and seen as offering scope for challenging accepted structures and practices, highlighting some of the ambivalence and uncertainty and challenging orthodoxy, but to what effect? Research on inclusion increasingly mirrors the "inward turn" (Page, 2000) of…

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…

In hopes of shedding light on how public school leaders can better advocate on the state level for the needs of their schools and their students, The School Administrator turned to policymakers in different settings and with different political leanings. They invited a trio--a Republican state legislator from the Chicago suburbs, a rural…

The September report on the 36th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools did not go into the finer demographic distinctions that most polls explore. In this article, the author takes a closer look at the data to analyze how various subgroups of the population view the parties' and candidates' stances…

This paper examines the implications of "social difference" for schooling in African contexts. It highlights theoretical and philosophical engagements with "difference" that could help explore and search for viable educational options in Africa. The paper engages voices of university students interviewed in a longitudinal…

This article tells the stories of four middle class, white, English women whose participation in educational policy making is little known: Annie Leigh Browne (1851-1936), Margaret MacDonald (1870-1911), Hilda Miall-Smith (born 1861) and Honnor Morten (1861-1913). In doing so, it provides a perspective on the circumstances that enabled or…

We make five over-time comparisons of student knowledge of civics and government: a) knowledge among 4th, 8th, and 11/12th graders between 1975/6 and 1998 using two separate NAEP trend assessments; b) knowledge over the same period by comparing responses to individual items asked in the 1975/6 and 1981/2 assessments to responses on identical…

When Dr. Thelma Jane Bryan was interviewing for the position of chancellor of Fayetteville State University (FSU) several years ago, she looked down with horror, realizing that she was wearing a black jacket with an obviously navy skirt. Despite the fashion faux pas, she was offered the job. Bryan became chancellor of the second oldest institution…

Along with the efforts to increase the competitiveness of universities in Korea, one of the foci of higher education reforms initiated by the Korean government in 1995 was to diversify its higher education system. However, it is commonly believed that its attempts to diversify its universities system have not been successful. By examining the…

This paper addresses issues in relation to recent criticism of teacher education, set in the broader context of political agitation for changes to the purposes, role and outcomes of education within society. The paper raises questions around the purpose of schooling and its role in modern societies and argues for the pedagogical importance of…

It is now 21 years since the 1984 International Council of Adult Education (ICAE) held their breakthrough conference in Shanghai's famous Jin Jiang hotel. By 2005 Shanghai was no longer a city of grey factories, Communist plotting, and dodgy dealings in international concessions. Shanghai has become the "city of tomorrow". The…

In order to design effective interventions for working with graduate and professional students, educators must first assess students' needs and experiences. This chapter highlights the importance of assessment in graduate and professional education and offers insights gained from three studies.

A case study was undertaken of Pelotas, a large town in southern Brazil, where a recent government of the Workers' Party (PT) implemented a range of social policy reforms. The study draws on interviews with key members of the Municipal Secretariat of Education and policy documents, analyzing them in relation to theoretical literature on…