This thematic collection of four papers explores a number of perspectives on companies in which multiple languages are used. The "organisational" perspective concerns the question of how the presence of or demand for multiple languages in the company is managed--how companies are guided by national and other policies in regard to the use…

The authors examine how a realistic science, technology and innovation policy can be formulated to enhance the development and management of a nation's physical and human assets and to accelerate socio-economic development through focused S&T engagement. The paper traces the evolution of S&T policies in Nigeria, particularly between 1986…

For decades, when California's state leaders have wanted to see local school districts respond to shifts in policy and expectations they relied on the state-controlled school finance system to leverage local change. Through the use of categorical programs and earmarked funding, they created incentives for districts that complied and penalties for…

This article analyses "why" the concept of quality has become such a central theme in Swedish education policy, and "what" quality or qualities successive governments have pursued between 1990 and 2010. The analysis is based on a close reading of a collection of policy texts from the late 1980s onwards.With a linguistic and…

This book, for the first time ever, critically examines the role of full service and extended schools. The authors draw on their extensive international evaluations of this radical new phenomenon to ask: (1) What do extended or full service schools hope to achieve, and why should services based on schools be any more effective than services…

With an exogenous public subsidy and a break-even restriction on university net revenue, tuition discrimination supports a quasi-efficient departure from marginal-cost pricing. In contrast, when the legislature and university interact in their subsidy and tuition decisions, the public subsidy becomes endogenous. With an endogenous public subsidy,…

Higher education institutions in Africa are increasingly vital to development efforts. While there is burgeoning research that suggests many universities are reforming in order to include intentional development efforts, perceived crisis and the paucity of resources on the continent has created a contentious relationship between higher education…

This study examines responses to state capitation policies for special education finance between 1991-92 and 2003-4. Capitation refers to distributing funds based on the entire student enrollment. We find that disability rates tended to fall following capitation reforms, primarily in subjectively diagnosed categories and in early and late grades.…

In Hong Kong, a policy for the education of its gifted students has existed in its current form since 2000. However, the gifted education policy is yet to be evaluated, despite growing calls internationally and locally for increased accountability of public policy, including policies relating to gifted education. Using VanTassel-Baska's…

Families across the country are facing hard times. With inflation rising much faster than earnings, unemployment stubbornly high and the government about to embark on the most severe programme of fiscal austerity since the Second World War, living standards are being squeezed and women are on the frontline. With 80 billion British pounds set to be…

Many schools around the world are struggling in the face of reduced funding and fluctuating enrolments. Often, the solution to this unhappy equation is quite simply to shut down facilities. But when all the costs of closing a school are considered--financial, material and human--implementing this policy calls for caution. (Contains 3 footnotes.)

This paper examines the divergences between what educational policy calls for in South African schools with regard to language and learning and what takes place in schools. It argues that South African constitutional and education policy statements employ an idea of languages as bound entities and systems, and combine this understanding of…

This article examines how visual methodologies might be incorporated into educational policy studies. By bringing together theoretical perspectives on critical policy studies and visual methodologies, we aim to demonstrate the ways in which the visual can be an important tool to help us interrogate how knowledge is produced through the…

The curriculum policies for students with special needs across Australia have been reviewed. The Curriculum Framework in the Australian Capital Territory is used to inform their school based curriculum. The Northern Territory Curriculum Framework describes what learners are expected to achieve and what learners have achieved. The New South Wales…

Ask Antonio White what he thinks of Race to the Top--President Barack Obama's signature K-12 initiative--and the Florida teacher will tell you the competitive-grant program is a "difficult pill to swallow." Merit pay for teachers based partly on student test scores is "a joke," he says. He's also not a fan of expanding charter…