When the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (now known as the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act [IDEA]) was initially passed in 1975, it indicated that districts were required to provide children in private schools with access to special education and related services, but it was unclear whether they were entitled to…

Indiscipline in schools in the UK continues to be the subject of fierce debate. The views of young people as pupils in these schools continue to be marginalised despite their centrality to this debate and their ability to offer a unique set of perspectives. An exploration of the views of a generality of pupils suggests the need to challenge many…

Purpose: This paper seeks to concentrate on bottom-up approaches in order to promote a European vocational education and training (VET) concept. The overall aim of this article is to demonstrate that sophisticated approaches still have a chance of becoming common practice in European countries. Design/methodology/approach: The centre of the…

This article analyses some typical consequences of a specific research policy on experimental research in biology. The policy is conducted by a national funding agency--the Swiss National Science Foundation--through a particular programme, the "National Centres of Competence in Research" which is designed to promote both "scientific…

Beginning in the year 2000, higher education policies all over Europe were transformed by the launching and evolution of the Bologna Process, otherwise known as the process of creating a European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Initially, this process was flexible and informal, which makes the rapidity and scope of the changes it brought about…

Since 29 European ministers of higher education announced the Bologna declaration in 1999, the Bologna reform has spread to all parts of Europe. The number of participating countries has grown to 46. In other words, most European countries have joined the Bologna process, which is to form a "European higher education area" (EHEA) by…

Changes in higher education in Hungary are strongly related to those in the economic and social environment. Since the change of the political system in the late 1980s, Hungarian economic development has been marked by periods of contraction and expansion. Notwithstanding this process, influenced in part by the state's imposition of restrictive…

Some authors have given the CNEAI (National Commission for the Evaluation of Research Activity) a notorious role in the promotion of scientific research in Spain when considering the requirements for this institution as one of the essential elements in the increase of the Spanish scientific production in the last few years. We hereby expose that…

This article provides a chronologically presented overview of policy reforms designed to enhance skill levels via education and training for school-age learners attending post-compulsory education institutions. It is argued that the catalyst for the creation of vocational diplomas is economic rather than educationally based, arising from the…

The paper reflects on the use by the UK central government of statistical evidence in educational policy matters. Particular attention is given to school league tables. The paper is generally critical of government attitudes, but suggests that progress towards rational decision-making does occur. (Contains 5 notes.)

On December 24, 2005, the State Council issued the Circular on Deepening the Rural Compulsory Education Assured Funding Mechanism Reform, initiating the prologue to free compulsory education in China. Following on the heels of China's annulment of rural taxes and the implementation of the new rural cooperative medical system, the rural compulsory…

In 2006, the Chinese government conducted, in the western provinces and a few central provinces, a reform that exempted all rural compulsory education stage students from tuition and miscellaneous fees, in accordance with the measures for implementing the New Mechanism for Assured Funding for Rural Compulsory Education (hereafter "New…

The policy of "two exemptions and one subsidy" (TEOS), which is a "popular sentiment" project, has brought life to the western region's rural education and light to impoverished families. In addition to launching the battle for the "two basics" in the western region, the overall popularization of distance education…

After the implementation of the "two exemptions and one subsidy" (TEOS) policy and between the spring of 2006 and 2007, China's western, central, and eastern regions introduced a new mechanism for guaranteeing rural compulsory education. This mechanism resulted in great changes in the environment for implementing TEOS and, in addition,…

Drawing upon the writings of Maxine Greene and Paolo Freire, this article explores the necessary conditions for the advancement of education for democracy in the context of modern post-industrial societies, with a focus on schooling in the Republic of Ireland. The article charts a general topography of the Republic of Ireland in relation to the…