This article focuses on analysing the effect of educational differentiation policies of OECD educational systems on socioeconomically disadvantaged students, based on data from PISA 2009. The analysis is conducted on the basis of a definition of two subgroups of disadvantaged students: those that achieve high scores, and those obtaining scores…

This paper seeks to provide a cogent outline of the current policies that six separate countries have on Individual Education Plans (IEPs), identifying the key features in each system. The chosen countries are Australia (Queen Island), Canada (British Columbia), New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Saudi Arabia. The…

The history of special education in the United States and Thailand has followed a similar path in many ways. Both countries made compulsory education mandatory to move in a positive direction in providing special education services to children with disabilities including the provision of services for children with ASD or Autism. In Thailand,…

This article reviews present services in gifted education in western Europe (e.g., Britain, Germany, the Netherlands) and eastern Europe. Noted are individual accommodations such as individual acceleration and privately funded national competitions. Stressed is the importance of international communication in gifted education and specific…

The author, a research officer at the National Foundation for Educational Research investigating provisions for children with special needs in regular schools, discusses contrasts in special education practice between England and the United States. (SBH)

The first of two articles on individualized education programs (IEPs) reviews the literature. It traces the origins of IEPs and compares and contrasts their use in different educational systems. Issues in IEPs in the United Kingdom, other European countries, the United States, and Australia are analyzed and general implications for policy and…

The author reviews changes in America, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere in the educational opportunities and treatment of exceptional children. (PHR)

Despite late modernity and risk society discourses about the decreasing influence of structural factors on educational and occupational attainment, it has also been argued that socio-economic background and gender continue to influence individuals' school-work transitions. Comparing youth apprentices and academic high school students in Canada and…

This article reviews the rise of Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) in Great Britain, exposes problems presented by the behavioral objectives model and its associated IEPs, introduces the process model as an alternative, and outlines the shift from a product approach to a holistic, process approach in curriculum planning. (Author/JDD)

Problems of mainstreaming and racial integration in American schools are analyzed by a Japanese observer. The individualized educational program ideology is seen often to prevail over the principle of mainstreaming. A "separate but equal" approach contradicts the spirit of the Federal Handicapped Education Act. Synthesis of togetherness,…