This paper's principal purpose is to explore the range of ways in which African universities act as public institutions--i.e. how they both are shaped by and influence the social, political and economic contexts in which they are situated. In particular, it considers the multiple dimensions, often resulting in tensions in contexts of poverty,…

With the formation of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in 2001, a single post-16 learning and skills sector (LSS) was created for the first time in England with huge potential to support lifelong learning. It was this momentous change that prompted the authors in 2004 to begin a study entitled "The impact of policy on learning and…

Drawing on the importance of future orientation for adolescent development this analysis presents a model describing how future orientation is affected by high challenge (or resilience) in the face of political violence. The analysis consists of three parts. The first two present future orientation conceptualization and the psychological processes…

This study analyzes the structural reform of local governments funding for early childhood education (ECE) as the general public still casts doubts about the fairness of ECE system in China. A particular case in point is the Shenzhen Municipal Government's reform on their ECE funding system. Because the reform efforts are more about restructuring…

The aim of this paper is to provide a brief critical analysis of the adult literacy curriculum as one element of the Skills for Life Strategy and to consider how it has been used to legitimise a dominant adult literacy policy based on economic and political rationales. The term critical has many meanings. Here it is used to explore how the adult…

With the eyes of the world focused on the Olympic Games in Beijing, Dr. Yosay Wangdi, who's of Tibetan ancestry, expects to hear from colleagues again. She also expects her students to continue discussing Tibet's longstanding conflict with China, just as they did when news reports surfaced of a crackdown that sometimes turned violent against…

An emergent strand within mainstream educational leadership scholarship is an engagement with notions of diversity. This is part of a belated recognition that in an increasingly globalising world the largely masculinist, white norms from which most accounts of leadership derive, lack sufficient explanatory power for educational systems. Utilising…

This article examines the ethnographic case study in education in the context of policy making with particular emphasis on the practice of research and policy making. The central claim of the article is that it is impossible to establish a transcendental epistemology of the case study on instrumental rationality. Instead it argues for the notion…

In this article an alternative interpretation of the functions of decision-making and the inherent activities at teachers' meetings at schools are presented. The metaphor of "play" is introduced in order to make the teachers' actions during decision-making comprehensible, not only for outsiders, but more importantly for "involved insiders", such…

In September 1965, not long after news broke about a Pentagon-sponsored program to study social conflict in South America, the Social Science Research Council played host to a meeting on overseas research. Feelings were raw. Opposition to the Vietnam War was mounting, and many scholars worried that the Pentagon's studies of conflict and…

This article reports on continuing education in China. It discusses the emergence of the field in the 1980s, the Chinese characteristics of continuing education, recent developments, and limitations. Continuing education became available in China in the 1980s following a change in government policy and economic reform. It caters mainly for…

There is much interest in the effects of a larger parental role in schooling issues. That role can exist through voice--direct parental involvement in schools and participation in the political process that dictates schooling policies--or through choice from a menu of schooling options. This article addresses the limited understanding and…

In their best seller, "Freakonomics", University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and "New York Times" writer Stephen Dubner show in an amusing and often provocative manner how an economic way of thinking can be useful in explaining all sorts of real-world phenomena. Their central insight is very simple: incentives are the cornerstone of modern…

This article is a case study designed to challenge the beliefs, values, and ideology of graduate students in educational leadership preparation programs regarding social justice and democratic education. This case is designed to assist students in developing the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to navigate the micropolitical environments that…

This article argues that the framework for the governance of technological knowledge and skills that is formulated for national consumption emerges from a supranational terrain of politics outside the jurisdiction of national and European parliamentary activity and scrutiny. Traditionally understood as a space where ideas circulate and initiatives…