An up-to-date description and analysis of the recent reforms, current structure and issues in Swedish education. All stages of the system, from pre-school through to adult education and teacher training are covered. The book seeks to place the material firmly within the context of Swedish society and politics but the problems addressed are of concern to people everywhere
Editor Iris C. Rotberg brings together, in one accessible source, current education reforms in 16 countries, written and analyzed by experts in the field. This book offers: education reform in a wide range of countries selected to represent diverse societies and education systems; a unique analysis of how education reformers respond to rapidly changing societies and increased demand for education in the face of limited resources; case studies showing the difficult tradeoffs countries make as they attempt to implement change, all in the context of historical antecedents, values, and political structures that facilitate or constrain their reform efforts; a book that goes beyond myths and stereotypes and describes how countries address global pressures, immigration patterns, and increasing gaps in socioeconomic levels; description of political and economic pressures that determine a country's policies concerning equality of educational opportunity, access to higher education, student testing and tracking, teacher accountability, decentralization, school choice, and innovation; an invaluable resource for policymakers, faculty, students, and the general public who are interested in how decisions made about the education system will ultimately affect the quality of education, educational access, and social justice.
In Balancing Change and Tradition in Global Education Reform, Rotberg brings together examples of current education reforms in sixteen countries, written by 'insiders'. This book goes beyond myths and stereotypes and describes the difficult trade-offs countries make as they attempt to implement reforms in the context of societal and global change. In some countries, reforms are a response to major political or economic shifts; in others, they are motivated by large upsurges in immigration and increased student diversity. Irrespective of the reasons for education reform, all countries face decisions about resource allocation, equality of educational opportunity across diverse populations, access to higher education, student testing and tracking, teacher accountability, school choice, and innovation. The essays in this volume reveal: _
Post-traditional students are rapidly becoming the majority of the higher education student population. This changing demographic within the higher education landscape increases the demand for flexible learning options accessible to non-traditional learners. Redefining Post-Traditional Learning: Emerging Research and Opportunities is a comprehensive research publication that explores shifting demographics within higher education and offers recommendations to current teaching methodologies. Highlighting a range of topics such as adult learners, pedagogy, and international students, this book provides a theoretical foundation, followed by an intentional dissection of current and best research practices through the lenses of andragogy, student demographics, and technology. It is ideal for teachers, instructional designers, curriculum developers, educational professionals, school administrators, policymakers, academicians, teaching professionals, researchers, and graduate students.
The need to reform secondary-level education to prepare young people for new economic realities has emerged. In an age of constant career changing, cognitive flexibility is a top-priority skill to develop in today’s students. This shift requires methodological innovation that enhances children’s natural abilities as well as updated, focused teacher education in order to prepare them adequately. Educational Reform and International Baccalaureate in the Asia-Pacific is a collection of innovative research that examines the development and implementation of IB curricula. Highlighting a wide range of topics including critical thinking, student evaluation, and teacher training, this book is ideally designed for educators, curriculum developers, instructional designers, administrative officials, policymakers, researchers, academicians, and students.
Among the topics considered are the logic of mass higher education, globalization and inequality, the role of research universities, academic freedom, private higher education, and the academic profession and its problems. These topical chapters are accompanied by in-depth discussions of Asia and Africa.
This book is divided into four parts. In Part One the author considers the natural factors which have influenced the various national systems of education. They comprise racial, linguistic, geographical and economic factors. In Part Two he considers the contribution of religious traditions to education, more particularly those of the Catholic and Puritan faiths, and in Part Three the secular traditions of humanism, socialism and nationalism. Finally in Part Four a comparison is made of the systems of education in England and Wales, the USA, France and the Soviet Union.
This volume aims to expand knowledge about the history of comparative education. It explores new scholarship on key actors and ways of knowing in the field. It aims to raise awareness on the positionality of historical narratives about this field of inquiry and offers a re-think of its histories. Since comparative education has always been embedded within a global field of power, what would the changing world order’s implications be for the institutional and intellectual histories of the field? This book offers diverse perspectives for re-theorising the histories of comparative education. It suggests casting a far-sighted and panoramic look at the field’s origins. The volume concludes with a puzzle for future work on a global history of comparative education. This book was originally published as a special issue of Comparative Education.
While many school districts and institutions of higher education still cling to the traditional agrarian school year with a factory model delivery of education and Carnegie units based on seat time when most people are no longer farmers, factory workers, or reliant on learning in a classroom, there are bursts of promising practices that buck the norm by questioning the educational value of these traditions. Though researchers have investigated the potential of students learning in their own homes via personalized instruction delivered by computers rather than attending traditional institutions, the status quo in education has remained stubbornly resistant to change. Mixed-reality simulations, year-round schooling, grouping students by competencies instead of age, and game-based teaching are just a few of the educational innovations that seek to maximize learning by recognizing that innovation is essential for successfully teaching students in the modern era. The Handbook of Research on Innovations in Non-Traditional Educational Practices is a comprehensive reference source that examines various educational innovations, how they have developed workarounds to navigate traditional systems, and their potential to radically transform teaching and learning. With each chapter highlighting a different educational innovation such as experiential learning, game-based learning, online learning, and inquiry-based learning and their applications in all levels of education, this book explores the issues and challenges these educational innovations face as well as their impact. It is intended for academicians, professionals, administrators, and researchers in education and specifically benefits academic deans, vice presidents of academic affairs, graduate students, faculty technology leaders, directors of teaching and learning centers, curriculum and instructional designers, policymakers, principals and superintendents, and teachers interested in educational change.
Traditionally, researchers and mathematics education practitioners have been engaged in parallel play, yet they have been segregated by the norms and cultural practises of their distinct institutions and professional reward systems. Rarely do mutually dependent and informing intellectual pathways emerge. This book explores what happens when tradition is disrupted by one purposefully designed research and practise pathway. This book offers insights into, and examples of, developing mutually interdependent research and practise processes as part of efforts to improve teacher and leadership capacity, as well as positively influence student learning and related outcomes. This book raises valuable questions for the mathematics education community. What forms have research and practise pathways taken? What lessons have been learned from collaborations? These questions are examined to illustrate where strategic partnerships have linked research to both the design and implementation of practise and programmatic endeavors and to generate evidence to guide both educational decision making and routine modifications related to school mathematics. Editor William F. Tate offers remarks about the future of research and practise collaborations in mathematics education and maintains that research and practise collaborations should be a standard regimen in movements to improve mathematics teaching and learning.
