Childcare policies introduced in England in the last 10 years have created economic tensions within the sector. Having set the scene, this article presents an exploration of the different ways in which childcare providers approach operating their childcare businesses. Drawing on a case study of one Local Authority in England, the article presents…

This qualitative research study, in the format of an historical narrative, chronicles the issues, process of consensus, and the impact of the National History Standards Project (NHSP) on local policies and curricula in history education. The "culture wars" for the "National Standards for History" of 1994-1996 and quest for a…

Demand for university education has increased due to the recent innovations of universal, free and compulsory education at the basic and senior secondary education level. Education has been expanding very rapidly at all levels in Nigeria. However, there are serious problems related to quality, equity, unavailable human and material resources and…

The U.S. Department of Education is conducting several activities to address privacy and security issues related to education data. Earlier this year a contractor for the Department convened a group of privacy and security experts and produced a report with recommendations to the Department on ways they can address emerging challenges in…

The annual meeting of the ENQA (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education) IQA (internal quality assurance) Group gathered some 60 participants in the premises of the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO) in The Hague in June 2009. This seminar was a successful follow-up to the first ENQA IQA…

This article examines the relationship between knowledge and policy in French-speaking Belgium. It starts by describing Belgium as a consociational democracy, i.e. a society that is largely organised around integrated pillars of society (Catholic, secular), each of which provides a wide range of services (educational, training, health, health…

This article extends understanding of the connections between education, social capital, and development through a mixed-methods case study of the Sistema de Aprendizaje Tutorial, or SAT, an innovative secondary-level education system. The quantitative dimension of the research used survey measures of social responsibility to compare 93 SAT…

This paper views seeking the optimal balance between state strengths and the scope of state functions for "good governance" as the formation of a homogenization-heterogenization matrix of policy initiatives in different social settings. Homogenization refers to a global tendency for institutional changes and governance framework to…

As Internet technology encroached on the public school classroom about a decade ago, Kim Ross, superintendent of the Houston School District in Houston, Minnesota, saw an opportunity. At first, he and his administrative team simply wanted to offer students in the district of 1,300 access to more classes via the web than what a district that size…

Asserts that academic feminists who argue on behalf of a women-centered policy analysis have raised several vital points, but that the forms of persuasion on which they rely are not productive of the policy changes they seek. Suggests that to ensure that policy analysis is conducted as if gender mattered, women-centered analysts need to avoid the…

Replies to Haithe Anderson's critique of their conceptualization of feminist critical analysis. Reaffirms and elaborates on what makes conventional policy analysis incapable of undoing the power asymmetries that characterize relations between male and female academics. (EV)

Argues for a context-sensitive understanding of plagiarism by analyzing a set of written institutional policies and suggesting ways that they might be revised. Offers examples of classroom practices to help teach a concept of plagiarism as situated in context. Concludes that plagiarism is an area where students need access to their teacher's…

Explores the changes that England's Family Law Bill is undergoing. Discusses whether the 12-month period of child protection is adequate when parents are divorcing. Suggests that children should be provided with information about the divorce process, and that parents should have regard to children's views when making decisions. Claims that…

Public management scholars often claim that agency competition provides an effective institutional check on monopoly authority, and hence, leads to improvement of administrative performance in public sector agencies. This logic was central for creating the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in 1975 to challenge the policy information provided by…

Precautionary principles have been proposed as a fundamental element of sound risk management. Their advocates see them as guiding action in the face of uncertainty, encouraging the adoption of measures that reduce serious risks to health, safety, and the environment. Their opponents may reject the very idea of precautionary principles, find…