This response argues that, although evaluation of student learning is required for accountability, high stakes testing is not required and may even be counterproductive. It also questions whether the goals of the "No Child Left Behind Act" are reasonable and contends that, if they are not, there may be no justification for imposing…

This article reviews the reactions to higher-level National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) in the United Kingdom in the context of certification levels by level and subject. The most successful higher NVQs are linked to professional qualifying routes, have generic application across a range of sectors or fill gaps where qualifications were not…

There is ample evidence that points out that the majority of social work students have little interest in social policy analysis. In this study, the impact a classroom-based policy construction exercise had on the interest level in policy of a differentiated sample (N = 43) of MSW students, in which participants were enrolled in either a…

Purpose: This paper sets out in the wider context of globalization to examine how and what specific reform strategies the Government of the Hong Kong special administrative region (HKSAR) has adopted in reforming its higher education system to enhance the competitiveness of its higher education in the increasingly globalizing economic context.…

Scholars and professionals committed to fostering sustainable development have urged a re-examination of the curriculum and restructuring of research in engineering-focused institutions of higher learning. This article will address the following themes and questions: How can multi- and trans-disciplinary teaching and research coexist in a…

Many proponents of school choice use the claim of the market's capability to enhance efficiency and improve performance to call for its expansion. But no markets are perfectly competitive, and the local market for public goods is filled with institutional arrangements that make it differ from the neoclassical ideal. In this paper, we look at a…

This paper is a response to the paper prepared by Masters that is titled "The case for an Australian Certificate of Education". It argues that a national debate is needed urgently on the many issues that have arisen in Australian education. These issues include not only the curriculum provided for students at the final stages of…

Autism has gained the attention of policy makers and public administrators in recent years. The surge in prevalence, in tandem with a growing social preference for community inclusion of individuals with disabilities, strains a variety of policy infrastructures. Autism and related disorders, which were first described in 1943, were originally…

This paper discusses the managerialist approach to developing and implementing systems for flexible delivery of educational systems in the Australian university sector. Rapid advances in communication technologies have enabled the education sector to provide greater flexibility and diversity in the traditional areas of mixed delivery and distance…

This article extends concerns of our National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NAECTE) membership beyond the borders of the United States to the continent of Africa. Specifically, it explores the current status of early childhood teacher education in one of the poorest nations of the world--Ethiopia. It includes an analysis of…

This article reports on the introduction of performance-related pay (PRP) in schools in Wales. Specifically, it evaluates the attitudes of teachers to PRP by means of a large-scale questionnaire survey. The results suggest a strong antipathy to PRP for school teachers on the basis that it would be divisive and difficult to implement. In…

The National College for School Leadership was set up in November 2000. In its short life it has become seen, in Tony Bush's words as "a major influence, arguably the major influence, on school leadership, management and administration in England and beyond" (Bush 2004: 243). Expanding on Gronn (2003) who argues that bodies like the NCSL…

Parent involvement literature rarely considers students' perspectives. Based on individual interviews with 14 diverse Grade 10-12 students from a rural secondary school in northern Alberta, Canada, this qualitative case study documents students' perspectives on the appropriate role for parents in school improvement targeting academic achievement.…

This article focuses on the government's higher education policy trajectory during the post apartheid period. The central argument of the article is that government policy ought to be examined in the light of a struggle over aligning the higher education policy discourse with the government's chosen macro development path. Policy activity has to…

Danger and pleasure are terms commonly employed to describe women's sexual experiences, including those of young women. This paper explores how young women's sexual danger and pleasure are represented and characterized in official discourses, specifically those of school-based sexuality education. Drawing on Michelle Fine's four major discourses…