This inventory of adult basic education and basic skills programmes takes the form of 35 system descriptions, covering 32 countries (all EU Member States as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Turkey). Its main goal is to support mutual understanding and dialogue between countries. The document has been drafted on the basis of a standalone…

Not surprisingly, in an increasingly neo-liberal context of international competition for educational prestige, conversations about teaching and teacher preparation have taken hold across the globe. Further complicating these matters is that ideas about teaching, learning, and learning to teach cannot be understood or analyzed in a vacuum; that…

The issue of teacher effectiveness has risen rapidly to the top of the education policy agenda, and the federal government and states are considering bold steps to improve teacher and leader effectiveness. One place to look for ideas is the experiences of high-performing education systems around the world. Finland, Ontario, and Singapore all have…

While great progress has been made by the international community to promote inclusive education for all children, regardless of race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, gender or disability, many countries still continue to marginalize and exclude students in educational systems across the globe. High-stakes assessments in market-driven economies…

Despite many renewed possibilities for U.S. schools, fixing them remains a multifaceted problem. Clearly focusing on improving education for all American children requires a comprehensive understanding of global issues that will impact their future, along with cutting-edge interdisciplinary research from neuroscience, psychology, pediatrics, and…

Research shows that professional learning can have a powerful effect on teacher skills and knowledge, and on how well students learn. To be effective, however, professional learning for teachers needs to be conducted in the ways that it is in many high achieving countries--continuously, collaboratively, and with a focus on teaching specific…

Culture impedes educational transactions between developed countries, and is often an area of tension when developing countries try to borrow models, or have models imposed upon them. This article uses the German Dual System as a case for examining issues surrounding the adaptation of borrowed models. Since attempts at borrowing models can fail…

Discusses the origins and nature of the phenomenological approach to the study of religion. Examines the way in which this approach has become accepted as a suitable methodology for religious education. Argues that certain features of this approach are untenable in the light of recent work in the philosophy of language and mind. (CAJ)

This article outlines rehabilitation personnel education and training in seven countries representing a geo-culturally contiguous region of sub-Saharan Africa: Botswana, Cameroon, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It identifies and explicates practices to inform similar or parallel rehabilitation practices in the United States…

This paper traces the three stages of development of gifted programming in Taiwan, services that are now available in gifted education, and continuing challenges in gifted education. Critical events that shaped gifted education during 1973-79, 1980-81, and 1982-89 are described, including gifted programming for elementary students, junior high…

Soviet children enter elementary school at age 6 or 7. After 4 years of elementary school with the same teacher, they enter secondary school, and after 4 years there, Soviet children earn what might be called a partial secondary certificate. They may then leave school at age 14 or 15. If a student chooses to attend a vocational school or…

A study, in three parts, focuses on the disabled adolescent in terms of difficulties experienced during the last years of basic schooling and at the time of transition into the adult world. Part I examines trends and major issues affecting policy in OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) Member countries. Sections address the…

This document reports on the Radio Mathematics Project (RMP) over a five-year period. In 1973, the United States Agency for International Development (AID) asked the Institute for Mathematical Studies in the Social Sciences (IMSSS) at Stanford University to develop an instructional program with radio as the medium of delivery. IMSSS was to devise…

This article examines East Asian societies' response to students who are gifted academically or talented in the arts, music, or sports, focusing on educational practices in China, Taiwan, and Japan. The study concludes that establishment of gifted education programs is not determined by economic development level or school quality but by the…

This paper describes experiences in teaching ethnic and linguistic minority children with learning difficulties and counseling their families, from 1976 to 1992 in Pakistan and England. The paper begins with a vignette describing an ethnic minority child with learning difficulties. A global approach to the issues is then presented, examining the…