To understand what is going on in American education, it might help to turn to a relatively neutral source, the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, and its released report, The 2004 Political Landscape: Evenly Divided and Increasingly Polarized. "Over the past four years, the American electorate has been dealt a series of body…

This paper argues that the re-traditionalisation of 'wishing for dragon children' creates difficulties for China's current education reforms and informs the disquiet expressed by Chinese-Australians about Australian education. We develop this argument around three key propositions. First, we explore Confucianism and the civil service examination…

This article seeks to argue that the nature of the new South African state is bound up with the processes of the political negotiations and the compromises that led to the coming into being of the new democracy in 1994. Incontrovertible as it is that a new state was born, always evident, it is argued, was the parentage of this state, that of a…

As a Teaching Artist (TA) for the past 12 years, the author has visited hundreds of schools in western Pennsylvania. She has had an opportunity to work with many talented and dedicated classroom teachers, arts teachers and administrators who all share an enthusiasm for making the arts central to quality education. The teachers and administrators…

This paper is an introductory survey of the evolution of multiculturalism in Britain and Germany over the past two centuries. The historical approach argues that the main determinants of difference between these nation states lie in their long-term traditional attitudes towards immigrants and ethnic minorities. It focuses upon the patterns of…

Clement M. Doke's 1929-1930 research on Zimbabwean languages has played a key role in shaping the tribalised and politicised linguistic terrain that characterises modern Zimbabwe. Doke, professor of linguistics at the University of Witwaters-rand, was commissioned in 1929 by the government of Southern Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe) to research…

Manpower, a global employment services company with operations in over 67 countries, engages every day with the economic and business trends that are reshaping enterprises worldwide. As a partner in workforce development projects, Manpower has also seen the impact of these trends on the design of effective training and employment initiatives for…

In this paper, the author points out that there has been a significant development of the adult education service in Ireland in recent years. However, if the service is to become part of the mainstream of Irish education, the issue of structures at all levels within the system has to be addressed. Quite frankly the present system is very…

This article seeks to explore the emotional characteristics of teaching through an ethnographic study. An elementary school teacher participated in a 3-year research project investigating the role of emotions in her teaching, her relationships with the students, and the political context of the school. The data sources were field observations,…

This paper deals with the author's recent work on political, sociolinguistic and educational aspects of bilingual and immersion education in Australia. Among the cases considered are: the development of a professional position statement on bilingual and immersion education, to be disseminated to policy makers; advising on an Auslan (Australian…

"Illiteracy" is still a powerful concept in adult literacy education. St. Clair and Sandlin examine the use of the term and the policies and programs it currently justifies. The authors argue that the concept of illiteracy should be avoided due to its inherent deficit focus.

Arguing that the politicisation of decentralisation appreciably reduces educational quality and efficient resource allocation and negatively affects matters of equity in and delivery of education, the present study provides a critique of decentralisation and privatisation in education in Africa with special reference to Nigeria. On the basis of…

Education is a provincial responsibility in Canada, but there is a sharing of expenditure and strong support of public education, health and other welfare programs between the provinces and the federal government. Although the federal policy of multiculturalism has been aimed at making Canada a "just" society, the implementation of this…

Using the 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey Public Charter School Questionnaire (U.S. Department of Education, 2000), this article provides an in-depth description of charter schools in the United States and presents multivariate analyses of the enrollment of low-income and minority students in the population of charter schools, taking into…

There are wide ranging beliefs held by professionals working in the field of gifted education, but they can agree on one goal: schools should provide the best education possible for all students, including gifted students (Coleman & Cross, 2001). Determining what is best and what is possible, however, has not been a simple task. The launch of…