Political pressure to reduce the number of higher education institutions in Wales has been sustained for over a decade by three successive ministers for education, two of whom, Jane Davidson and the current incumbent, Leighton Andrews, have left the Welsh sector in no doubt about the strength of their personal commitment to the policy of…

This response to ""Buscando la Libertad": Latino Youths in Search of Freedom in School" by Jason G. Irizarry demonstrates how youth participatory action research (YPAR) as an instrument of subverting oppressive school policies and structures is a form of critical policy analysis (CPA). As an evolving method, CPA acknowledges the absent voices in…

The paper aims to contribute to the European education policy literature through an analysis of what I refer to as "discretional policies", which are now instrumentally used by the EU but that have so far been largely overlooked by this literature, and to the literature on transparency of qualifications. The paper argues, first, that the…

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) can help lay the foundations for future skills development, well-being and learning. Having timely, reliable and comparable international information is essential to help countries improve their ECEC services and systems. For over 15 years, the OECD has been conducting policy analysis and gathering new…

This article, by Brahm Norwich of the Graduate School of Education, University of Exeter, sets the recent legislative changes in the special education system in England, the Children and Families Act (2014), in the context of wider changes in the school system, such as changes in curriculum-assessment, the governance of schools and inspection…

The current financial context constitutes a challenge to European Higher Education Institutions in the sense that they must look to increasing their budgets with new activities. This context has led governments and European universities to promote not only the traditional private funding sources (such as transfer of knowledge or tuition fees), but…

The purpose of this policy study was to report descriptive research on state-level policy and frameworks for accountability systems of alternative education in the United States. The six states; California, Colorado, Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, and North Carolina; identified in the 2010 Jobs for the Futures policy analysis of alternative education…

In February 2012 the US Department of Education (ED) granted 11 states the first round of waivers from some of the requirements of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in exchange for other commitments. As the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) noted in "Why Data Matter in ESEA Reauthorization: Recommendations to ensure data are used to…

Excessive consumption of alcohol is a worldwide health and social problem that manifested in the local tribal communities. The purpose of this study was to describe the attitudes of those on the Blackfeet Reservation concerning an alcohol control policy for the Reservation. The survey results from a stratified sample of 400 participants revealed…

This paper examines the drivers for knowledge exchange in British research-intensive universities, at a time when research impact is coming to be seen as an increasingly important outcome of research in all disciplines. It provides evidence of an over-emphasis of the economic benefits of knowledge exchange in the policy sphere and of a quite…

This paper reflects upon a career of 40 years involving teaching and research into the causes and solutions for school absenteeism and truancy. It includes insights into both professional and empirical work and notes how the subject has become increasingly "politicised" over the last 25-30 years by governments of both persuasions: Left and Right.…

In most developing countries, as the young population increase in number and consequently, the demands for higher education rise, the governments cannot respond to all demands. Accordingly, they develop private higher education sectors as an alternative solution. In developed countries, some moving factors are influential in creation and the…

Some literature on World Bank education policies after 1999 tries to project a shift away of the Bank from its 1980s neoliberal mandate. This article argues that the shift is only in the form of rhetoric, which facilitates a hidden agenda of creating a worldwide higher education market, leaving the poor with primary education only. At the…

As test-based educational accountability has moved to the forefront of national and state education policy, so has the desire for better measures of school performance. No Child Left Behind's (NCLB) status and safe harbor measures have been criticized for being unfair and unreliable, respectively. In response to such criticism, in 2005 the federal…

Because pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) includes teachers' understanding of how students learn, or fail to learn, specific subject matter, the development of PCK is an important goal to focus on in professional development programs. The research literature clearly indicates the complex nature of PCK as a form of teachers' professional…