The German dual apprenticeship system has traditionally been viewed as an effective system for generating a highly skilled workforce in the trades, crafts and service sectors. In addition, countries and systems looking to improve their own approaches to vocational education and training (VET) have considered as exemplary the main features of the…

Globalization and market liberalization served to displace the perception of education as a socialized concept of basic needs and human rights in favour of one that views it as just another commodity in the marketplace. Increasingly, educational structures were dismantled and replaced by new policies and procedures aimed at restructuring…

Contending that culture is one of the most potentially divisive signifiers of human activity, this paper probes some of the complexities that attend the (un)popular culture of illicit drug-using with which many young people in contemporary Britain are identified. Irvine Welsh's multi-media drugs narrative "Trainspotting" is drawn on to…

This article traces the legal challenges and contestations embedded in five recent cases of higher education mergers in South Africa. I am aware that there are a number of forms of mergers. For the purposes of this article I use the term as one that is descriptive of a policy decision. Where necessary I make a brief distinction between a merger…

For the last 15 years, schools in the UK have been experiencing an unprecedented number of government imposed reforms in the quest to raise standards and increase accountability. Such reforms have relied for their implementation on the compliance and co-operation of principals and have generated a number of tensions and dilemmas Multiperspective…

Sex education is not treated as an important subject in the school curriculum of Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Education Department issued in 1986 and 1997, respectively, two guidelines on sex education for schools' reference. The 1997 Guidelines cover a broader conceptual framework relating to different aspects of human sexuality and also include…

This paper addresses the scarcity of research on depictions and layout in sex education materials. It is argued that pictures and layout can inform an analysis of social stratification based on visual access. This process of social organization is located using four theoretical models. However these models do not lend themselves to a close reading…

In 2005, there was a transition in China, in which public policy toward education underwent a systemwide change. In this article, the author explores the educational development in China and examines reforms concerning educational issues that were of intense concern to society. In recent years, Chinese education at all levels has undergone massive…

In this paper we examine the contention that many schools and school boards use funding generated from testing and coding of students with special needs as a means of augmenting general operating revenues. As a result, students with special needs do not receive the full benefit of the monies received for individualized programs. The article draws…

Higher education in Bangladesh must become more responsive to the needs of a major constituency: its students. How this might be accomplished is examined in this study using a nine-factor model to explain the satisfaction of alumni with their education. These factors include teacher quality, method and content, peer quality, facilities and…

Questions about the relationship between religion and politics are discussed with particular focus on the consequences for religious education. Norway is taken as an example of a country where increasing cultural diversity challenges traditional politics of religion. In the present climate of conflicting views on the role of religion in politics,…

Utilising a globalisation framework this study contributes to discussions concerning inequality, education, and development by re-examining the effects of educational and economic variables on income inequality. This research shows that the effects of education on income inequality are affected by the level of economic freedom in a country, and…

This discussion presents a critical and thorough review of spirituality in Religion Education in the South African context. In the democratic South African education system issues such as personal well-being, spirituality and multi-religion education are confronting teachers and learners who have to cope with a new approach to religion in…

The development of a system of regulation in early childhood care and education (ECCE) in Ireland was a slow process. Some decades passed between initial calls for regulation and the actual implementation of standards in 1997, reflecting the delay and inaction that has characterised ECCE policy implementation in general in Ireland. The present…

While the term "academic immunity" is not one usually used, in practice academics in higher education institutions (HEIs) have been immune from legal challenges to their key professional activities. The historical position in the UK has seen both university visitors and the courts consistently refusing to interfere with decisions…