Girls' education has been widely promoted as the answer to a wide range of problems. This article maps four key ideas that have framed this formulation. These are firstly, a techno-rationalist approach linked to narrowly defined interventions, termed here 'what works'. Secondly, a more normative engagement is outlined, termed 'what matters' which…

In the last three decades, a networked global system has emerged in the natural-science-based disciplines, sustained by collegial epistemic relations in universities. Nationally ordered and funded science has expanded alongside the global science system. The common global pool of papers, defined by bibliometric collections, nevertheless excludes…

Seeks to understand effects of recent reductions of federal support for education by recalling both the original grounds for providing federal aid and the modes by which such funds are distributed and used. Suggests features of federal support and draws attention to possible consequences of its reduction. (BRR)

Examines political aspects of international aid to education in Latin America, focusing on drastic ideological changes in the widespread shift from the liberal to the neoliberal state. Analyzes dilemmas and tensions of external aid, touching on the World Bank's roles and elements of its lending processes, particularly research policies. Addresses…

This paper falls into three parts: a description of the current French educational system and the groups influencing it; presentation of the more pressing educational problems of the 1980s; and a draft of developmental modifications likely to occur if liberals or, alternatively, socialists win political power in the early 1980s. (Author/SJL)

Ideas from postpositivist thinking have been particularly challenging for comparative education scholarship and its metanarratives. Analysis of articles in major comparative education journals in the 1990s examines the integration of ideas from 10 poststructuralist thinkers and explores in detail the appropriation of Foucault's ideas and…

This paper examines the literature on the role of the rural elementary school in community change and discusses certain socio-economic factors which may help determine a community's acceptance or rejection of the school. It concludes with a discussion on the relationship of the community to the community school. (Author/SJL)

For just over three years parents, nonteaching staff, and children over 16 have been formally involved in the administration of schools in Italy. This article analyzes and evaluates such participation. (Author/KC)

In the 1980s, English and Welsh schools face two major problems: declining enrollment and financial stringency. These may be exacerbated by the countries' uniquely decentralized educational power structure in which conflicts may be generated by political differences between local and national levels and by national accountability and testing…

Draws on Weber to argue that clear and persistent differences between French and English primary education arise from deeply embedded cultural traditions through which fundamental value orientations are mediated and that these contrasting value orientations represent secularized educational versions of French Catholicism and English Protestantism.…

Describes alternatives to bureaucratic centralism in the administration of national education systems. Discusses forms of decentralization based on political rationales (liberalism, federalism, populist localism, participatory democracy) and those concerned with quality or efficiency (pedagogic professionalism, management by objectives,…

Using examples from California, the author analyzes the increasing trend for states to assume a guiding or dominant role over local school districts in important aspects of American education. He considers the main reasons for this trend to be public concern over academic standards and the increasing cost of education. (Editor/SJL)

Examines connections between democratization of schooling and three dimensions of social structure: political system and governance, wealth/poverty, and gender relations. Discusses nine processes and strategies for democratization in education: definition of democracy, legislation and policy, decentralization of education, teacher education,…

Deals with Chinese educational planning as a basic component in the public system for the governance and development of the formal education system, in accordance with the national development plan. "Politics determines what educational planning should achieve, but the administrative system determines what it can achieve." (MH)