Taking the students' perspective, Education Policy Outlook 2018: Putting Student Learning at the Centre analyses the evolution of key education priorities and key education policies in 43 education systems. It compares more recent developments in education policy ecosystems (mainly between 2015 and 2017) with various education policies adopted…

This paper provides evidence on the sources of differences in inequality in educational scores and their evolution over time in four European countries. Using Programme for International Student Assessment data from the 2000 and the 2006 waves, the paper shows that inequality decreased in Germany and Spain (two "decentralised" schooling…

Interdisciplinary processes are being developed for a better present and future in primary and secondary education teaching in France. Over the past few years, the education authorities have increased incentives to open the subjects for one another and created new teaching-learning programs for interdisciplinary purposes. In spite of the obvious…

Whether to adopt national standards and tests has long been a subject of lively debate in the United States. With 47 states now participating in the Common Core State Standards Initiative, and a commitment from Education Secretary Arne Duncan to allocate hundreds of millions in stimulus funds to the development of common tests, the country is…

The French education system has a mixed record. A generally very successful pre-school and primary school level contrasts with underfunded public universities with high dropout rates which exist alongside very successful higher education institutions for elites. Initial education, especially secondary education and the universities, along with…

The organization and weekly class schedule of the newly reformed French educational system is described. (DE)

An explanation of the French educational system and of projects intended to reform it. The main objective of the reform is to encourage universities to develop diversified programs and thus reduce the number of dropouts. Eighty percent of university professors see little value in the reform. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

Explores educational inequalities in France, employing data collected for cohorts born between 1919 and 1973, a period of educational expansion. Findings show a shift in social inequalities, from entry into lower secondary school to entry into "lycee" (upper secondary school leading to the baccalaureate). Policy implications are…

Elementary, secondary, and higher education enrollment data for Scotland between the 1860s and 1939 are examined, and the structure and development of the Scottish system in the light of some of the general theories of comparative social history of education are discussed. (RM)

The article outlines and explicates a number of principles derived from developmental psychology in relation to their applicability in science education. It is shown that these principles are at variance with those derived from the classical schema of the scientific method. (Author/MA)

This paper examines how the perception and anticipation of political costs and benefits affects decisions about whether and how plans for educational reforms are to be pursued. Two case studies of major educational reform attempts are described: France and Japan. The study analyzes the two societies' underlying dilemmas, which manifest themselves…

Two major currents of reflection on education exist in the Francophone world. The first, "didactique"--didactics--relates to teacher planning, working chiefly from considerations about the pupil's cognitive characteristics. The second, "pedagogie"--pedagogy--relates to the features of pedagogical reflection-in-action. The…

Reviews three books that make a contribution to the study of French educational history. Themes include provincial French education (Robert Gildea, 1985), liberal reform (Sandra Horvath-Peterson, 1984), and Renaissance public schools (George Huppert, 1984). (TRS)

This article relies on the concept of educational model to explain why African countries that were colonized by Britain and France experienced significantly different forms of educational expansion after independence. The authors argue that both models represented legitimate variants of world institutional processes that drove the expansion of…

Three centuries ago only religious schools and apprenticeship controlled by the guilds existed to provide training. Regular academic schools originated in religions that needed a well-educated clergy, and these schools offered the model for the universal basic and secondary schools that exist today in nearly all countries. The European guilds gave…