This article presents the framework of a dynamic approach to quality of life (QOL) enhancement based on the conceptualization and measurement of individual-referenced quality of life. Sections of the article summarize the premises of QOL enhancement, provide the rationale for a dynamic approach to QOL enhancement, discuss six components of QOL…

Higher education in Europe has undergone remarkable transformations over the last two decades. Germany is a very interesting case in point here. While the country was labeled as a laggard in the process, over the last decade the pace of higher education reforms in Germany has grown considerably. This paper will focus on the by now visible effects…

Policy decision-making in Malaysia has long used an approach based on intuition, ideology, or conventional wisdom. But as Malaysian society matures within an increasingly complex policy environment, a move toward an evidence-based approach to public policy-making is called for. This paper discusses the experience of the National Higher Education…

New policies should be informed by evidence regarding what has been shown to 'work' elsewhere. However, in many cases, there is limited evidence to inform decision-making. Embedding evaluations into the roll-out of new policy initiatives offers a useful means of examining whether policies achieve their intended outcomes and building the evidence…

This paper discusses the findings of a study on the production and enactment of physical education (PE) curriculum policy reforms in an Australian context. Over a decade, significant senior school reforms in Western Australia (WA) interacted with the introduction of an Australian Curriculum that rendered curriculum development dynamic and complex.…

School leaders around the world navigate a learning environment where most students have (or soon will have) ubiquitous access to an Internet-connected device. As a result, districts have implemented acceptable use policies (AUPs) to address the ways that students are using those technologies. In this study, we analyzed the AUPs of 75 one-to-one…

This paper suggests that, although the Bologna process officially began in the late 1990s, the conditions that made it possible had already been created in the previous decade through the growing practice of international academic cooperation, mainly triggered by EU inter-institutional programmes. As the need for structural reforms in some higher…

Although most states across the United States have enacted anti-bullying legislation, state laws vary greatly in detail and direction, leaving many school districts wondering how to best address the problem of bullying and comply with their state's legislative requirements. In response, a comprehensive, statewide training initiative was conducted…

The number of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB MLE) programmes has increased in recent years, especially in the Asia-Pacific Region. The case study booklet in this MTB MLE Resource Kit describes programmes in Afghanistan, Nepal and Pakistan that are examples of what language communities can do to help their children prepare to enter…

The student voice is currently absent from the employability agenda for higher education in the UK. A government-led neo-liberal model of employability, claiming what employers want when employing graduates, has been uncritically adopted by many universities in the UK to inform higher education strategy and policy. Many undergraduates and…

This study investigated policymaker dependence on evidence in education decision making in Oyo State Ministry of Education. The study was conducted under a descriptive survey design, 44 out of the 290 policymakers of the Ministry and Board of Education across the State were purposively selected for the study. Descriptive statistics of frequency…

This article considers the role played by policy makers, government organisations, and research institutes (sometimes labelled "think tanks") in the analysis, use and reporting of PISA data for the purposes of policy advice and advocacy. It draws on the ideas of Rizvi and Lingard (Globalizing Education Policy, 2010), Bogdandy and…

Assumptions are readily made about the global nature and discourse of education for sustainable development. This study challenges assumptions made about structural power as expressed through Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) policy and politics of education. Focusing on the concept of sustainable development (SD) and ESD, the research…

Rapid reviews of research are a key way in which policy makers use research. This paper examines 74 rapid reviews commissioned by health policy agencies through the Sax Institute's Evidence Check programme. We examine what prompted policy makers to commission rapid reviews, their purpose, how and when they intended to use them, and how this varied…

The Elementary and Secondary Schools Education Act (ESEA) was finally reauthorized as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The reauthorization was long overdue and with its passage comes much hype and some misinformation about what the law permits and does not permit. The purpose of this brief is to outline some of the key accountability…