The rise of educational action research amongst schools in Singapore can be attributed to the government's belief that educational research and reform can improve school performance and help Singapore keep pace with the impact of globalization. However, against a backdrop of neo-liberal educational reform where efficiency, accountability and…

This article builds on the author's earlier work, published in Vol. 28 No. 1 of this journal, that critiqued the Orientalist legacy in Anglo-American discussions of Japanese education. One of the manifestations of this legacy is the prevailing view among the Anglo-American observers of Japanese education that Japanese education is the…

This article outlines the implementation of a service-learning approach in an entrepreneurship programme using an "economic gardening" strategy. Economic Gardening through Service-Learning (EGS-L) is an approach to economic development that helps local businesses and students grow through a facilitated learning process. Learning is made possible…

While higher education is regarded a high priority for economic development in many countries, public budgets often fall short to support desired levels of expansion in higher education. This leads to cost-sharing: students and their families are required to contribute more to the costs of higher education. This paper explores worldwide trends to…

Against a backdrop of some two decades of sustained economic growth in Ghana, this paper argues that there are a series of sustainability challenges related to technical and vocational skills development (TVSD) that need to be addressed. This paper analyses several sustainability dimensions of TVSD related to: promoting the sustainability of…

A population of migrant workers have appearing during the process of China's urbanization, and is an important part of the society that cannot be ignored. In the process of integration into cities, the equal development between the rights and obligations of migrant workers is gaining attention. Especially, the issue of schooling of their children…

This paper was a result of an analysis from various data sources with a purpose to develop a better understanding of the level of socio-economic well being of young people in South Africa. Such understanding is aimed at enabling government to plan and implement well-structured and integrated development programmes that are relevant to the…

This article profiles "Library Journal's" (LJ) chosen 2008 Librarian of the Year. Librarians and officials in education and government all recount the leadership and creativity brought to library service in New Jersey by State Librarian Norma Blake. She has sparked proactive, collaborative initiatives that have taken libraries of all…

Development rhetoric sometimes appears to take little account of the contingencies of relationships, activities and events, as if human interaction and understanding is being written out of the process. At the same time, practices such as volunteering, which foreground the human subjects involved in development, are often ignored by development…

The government increased the funding for regional development agencies to 2.3 billion British Pounds in 2007/8, yet hard evidence on the effectiveness of the spending is difficult to find. Techniques for valuing benefits in difficult areas have existed for many years. They range from the hedonic methods and contingent valuation studies of…

During this keynote presentation, I will describe the effects of globalisation and consider these, in turn, in the context of implications for career development services and practitioners. It will also include a look ahead to the changing needs of workers and the workplace in the 21st century as a result of "going global". The…

This article examines the relative progress and major setbacks in the education of Afghan women from the end of the Taliban regime until the present, focusing on government and NGO reconstruction efforts. It is argued that these projects promote the agendas of the state and of NGOs over the needs of women and girls. The adversities arising from…

In the context of decades of successful economic reforms in Ghana, this study investigates whether ethnicity influences economic well-being (perceived and actual) among Ghanaians at the micro-level. Drawing on Afro-barometer 2008 data, the authors employs logistic and multiple regression techniques to explore the relative effect of ethnicity on…

This report is the ACT annual report on the progress of U.S. high school graduates relative to college readiness. This year's report shows that 59% of students in the 2015 U.S. graduating class took the ACT® test, up from 57% last year and 49% in 2011. The increased number of test takers over the past several years enhances the breadth and depth…

Analysis of African migrations can help to understand prehistoric, historical, ancient modern and contemporaneous migrations. Movements of populations were and continue to be so intense that, for some analysts, they constitute one of the dominant trends of the history and destiny of the very old continent. African and non-African states, whether…