Examines the evolution of maternal employment and child care provision policies in the United States, Sweden, and the Netherlands. The analysis shows that child care policy is best viewed as one element among many. Tax codes, labor laws, parental leave policies, and cash assistance programs combine with child care policies to shape women's choices…

Modernising the teaching profession has become one of the main goals of contemporary educational system reform. The evaluation of teachers has been integral to the new teacher quality policies and programs. This article provides a comparative and critical analysis of the evaluations that teachers now confront during their professional careers.…

We argue that attempts to superimpose park regulatory regimes on existing land uses in the tropics represent conflicts between alternative cultural models of natural resource management. The results of such conflicts are unique regulatory regimes emerging from distinctive processes that redefine the terms and limits of natural resource use. In…

An overview is provided of (a) deaf education in China, (b) views of deaf Chinese, and (c) recent empowering international collaborations. China's national policy focuses on oral/aural education and hearing rehabilitation. However, everyday practice in schools for deaf children includes various forms of Chinese Sign Language. Early childhood…

The aim of this paper is to critique the dichotomy between the legal regulation of disability discrimination in Australia, particularly in the State of New South Wales, and inclusion policy as espoused by public education authorities. It is argued that the law and inclusion policy are aiming at different outcomes. As a result, through legal…

Using a new methodological tool, the authors analyzed a large number of texts on information and communication technology (ICT) and education, and identified three clusters of views that guide educationists "in the field" and in more academic contexts. The clusters reflect different fundamental assumptions on ICT and education. The authors argue…

This article explores the impact of market metaphors and mechanisms on higher education in Kyrgyzstan. Drawing upon recent anthropological literature on the local meanings of market reforms in post-socialist contexts, as well as work in the field of educational policy that has focused attention on the "local spaces" in which curricular…

This article discusses how the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) addresses the task of conducting international policy research. The article begins with a descriptive account of CERI's work, including the way member countries shape the research agenda. Several issues which…

The article discusses the extent to which multiculturalism has had an impact in the emerging reforms in higher education in Brazil, against the backdrop of the rise of a new non-Conservative, Labour-oriented government whose political agenda is marked by a discursive stand against conservatism, neo-liberalism and neocolonialism. Building on a…

Traditional methods of paying and evaluating teachers in the United States are longstanding, but discussions about changing these systems to support teacher quality and student achievement goals are becoming more common. Efforts to make significant changes to these programs can be difficult and take many years to design, gain approval, and…

As part of a larger study examining the impact of the "get tough" policy on juvenile crime, we studied the effects of efforts to "get tough" on juvenile participation in diversion programs in Hillsborough County, Florida. Florida legislature budget cuts in 2000 eliminated a primary community service program (JASP), replacing it…

Following a national trend of "getting tough" on increased juvenile crime, the Florida legislature eliminated one of the primary community service-oriented juvenile diversion programs, the Juvenile Alternative Services Program (JASP). JASP was subsequently replaced with four other diversion programs, two of which (the Walker Plan and an…

Purpose: This study investigated the conceptions of governance that informed the practices of school trustees, and considered the extent to which those conceptions matched the policy imperatives that shaped New Zealand's school governance framework. Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 32 participants in the…

Analyzes the impact of recent policy developments in the USA associated with school accountability according to the best interests of the student. With the mandated implementation of the US federal law entitled the No Child Left Behind Act approaching, minimal attention has been afforded to the complex ethical dimensions associated with policies…

The former Soviet economies have, for the past 12 years, looked to the advanced economies in the west for help in reforming their systems of vocational education and training. These "transition" economies still bear much of the legacy of the previous system and culture-academic in orientation, firmly supply led and implemented through…