Showing papers in "Asia Pacific Education Review in 2013"
TL;DR: The authors examined Hong Kong students' perceptions on the effectiveness of private supplementary tutoring relative to mainstream schooling and found that students generally perceive private tutoring and private tutors to be more effective in the provision of examination support compared with mainstream schooling.
Abstract: This paper examines Hong Kong students’ perceptions on the effectiveness of private supplementary tutoring relative to mainstream schooling. Drawing on survey and interview data, it shows that large proportions of secondary school students receive private tutoring. Students generally perceive private tutoring and private tutors to be more effective in the provision of examination support compared with mainstream schooling and teachers. However, perceptions vary according to students’ self-reported academic levels and motives for taking private tutoring. The operations of the parallel sector of private tutoring have significant implications for the nature of schooling and therefore need to be considered by teachers and school administrators. The Hong Kong data contribute to the international analysis of private tutoring and add a significant component to the wider conceptual literature.
91 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined the career motivations of 283 Turkish pre-service teachers who have chosen teaching as a career and found that extrinsic, altruistic, and intrinsic motivations all play a role when individuals choose teaching as their career.
Abstract: As teaching is a nation-building profession, the career motivations of pre-service teachers are worth exploring. This study examines the career motivations of 283 Turkish pre-service teachers who have chosen teaching as a career. Accordingly, they were asked questions about deciding to teach, career perceptions, and major expectations. A profile of the participants was then developed by analyzing their responses in quantitative and qualitative ways as being descriptive, statistical, and inductive steps. It is seen that extrinsic, altruistic, and intrinsic motivations all play a role when individuals choose teaching as a career. In addition, although altruistic motives are very dominant for females, mercenary-based extrinsic motives are dominant for males. Associatively, teaching is further desired as a first profession by females. In light of the findings, we give suggestions for teacher training institutions and policy makers.
87 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the recent petition for collective action initiated by university faculty to protest the privileging of SSCI and SCI publications as critical indicators for academic performance regardless of faculty discipline and specialization, and conclude its argument with a group petition calling for more diverse and reliable indicators in recognizing the research of different natures and disciplines while creating culturally responsive evaluation criteria for social sciences and humanities in Taiwanese academe.
Abstract: The increasing importance of the competition in global university ranking has resulted in a paradigm shift in academic governance in East Asia. Many governments have introduced different strategies for benchmarking their leading universities to facilitate global competitiveness and international visibility. A major trend in the changing university governance is the emergence of a regulatory evaluation scheme for faculty research productivity, reflected by the striking features of the recent changing academic profile of publication norms and forms that go beyond the territories of nation-states in the East and West. With the expansion of the Taiwanese higher education system in the last two decades, the maintenance of quality to meet the requirements for international competitiveness has become a key concern for policy makers. Since 2005, the Ministry of Education has introduced a series of university governance policies to enhance academic excellence in universities and established a formal university evaluation policy to improve the competitiveness and international visibility of Taiwanese universities. In so doing, the government has legalized a clear link between evaluation results and public funding allocation. Research performance is assessed in terms of the number of articles published in journals indexed by the Science Citation Index (SCI), the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index and in terms of citation rates and associated factors. Therefore, evaluation has taken on a highly quantitative dimension. Despite the efforts of concerned parties to encourage academic excellence, the abovementioned quantitative evaluation indicators have resulted in bitter complaints from the humanities and social sciences, whose research accomplishments are devalued and ignored by the current quantitative indicators. In this paper, the authors describe the recent petition for collective action initiated by university faculty to protest the privileging of SSCI and SCI publications as critical indicators for academic performance regardless of faculty discipline and specialization. The article concludes its argument with a group petition calling for more diverse and reliable indicators in recognizing the research of different natures and disciplines while creating culturally responsive evaluation criteria for social sciences and humanities in the Taiwanese academe. The article not only sheds light on academic evaluation literature, especially on the uncertain paradox of globalization and market economy, but also proposes alternatives to the evaluation system for humanities and social sciences in higher education.
56 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines and compares the characteristics and development of medieval European universities and traditional Chinese higher learning institutions and argues that Chinese universities have considerably improved their hardware but not their software, and adopts a cultural perspective on the development of Chinese higher education, calling for the return of culture in the analyses of higher education development.
Abstract: Modern universities are uniquely European in origin and characteristics. With the diffusion of the European model into the university throughout the world, the heritage of colonialism and the fact that contemporary universities are Western institutions without much linkage to their indigenous intellectual traditions are the fundamental reasons for the failure of non-Western societies to effectively establish their modern higher education systems. In China, the integration between the Chinese and Western ideas of a university remains unfinished despite many efforts to indigenize the Western concept since the nineteenth century. This article examines and compares the characteristics and development of medieval European universities and traditional Chinese higher learning institutions. In contrast to most existing studies on higher education, which have overwhelmingly portrayed the powerful influence of economic and political realities, this article adopts a cultural perspective on the development of Chinese higher education, calling for the return of culture in the analyses of higher education development and arguing that Chinese universities have considerably improved their hardware but not their software. In the current great leap forward of the Chinese higher education, attention to institutions and cultural establishments is usually absent.
49 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the experiences of students and graduates of British degree programs offered in Hong Kong and conclude that institutional capital does not always travel wholly and smoothly due to a combination of policy-related, social, cultural and economic factors.
Abstract: The fundamental logic of transnational education programmes is a one-to-one transfer of institutional capital across space and an unimportance of place. This article interrogates these presumptions and argues that space and place play an important role in transnational education. Drawing on research that examines the experiences of students and graduates of British degree programmes offered in Hong Kong, we conclude that institutional capital does not always travel wholly and smoothly due to a combination of policy-related, social, cultural and economic factors. Our findings also underline the importance of place in students’ experiences, which are not sufficiently recognised by the providers. This, in turn, affects the ability of students to cultivate institutional and other forms of social capital, with implications for subsequent employment opportunities and social mobility.
49 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines how the quest for an entrepreneurial university in East Asia has affected academics and administrators in higher education, with particular reference to the perceived impact of an entrepreneurial University on academic life.
Abstract: In the last decade, universities in East Asia have taken knowledge transfer more seriously, especially when the state funding for higher education was reduced while other private funding sources were diversified Universities in East Asia collaborate with the industrial and business sectors on projects related to research, development, and knowledge transfer to enhance their global competitiveness This article examines how the quest for an entrepreneurial university in East Asia has affected academics and administrators in higher education, with particular reference to the perceived impact of an entrepreneurial university on academic life
44 citations
TL;DR: The authors discusses the challenges for academic governance and leadership associated with this increasing fragmentation of academic work in the context of the global university and argues that these Canadian full-time faculties have high levels of job satisfaction and are well-remunerated, productive scholars.
Abstract: Academic work has become increasingly fragmented. The horizontal fragmentation of the profession into disciplinary tribes has been accompanied by the increasing participation of student affairs and educational development professionals located outside the academic units but are actively engaged in academic work, such as supporting teaching and student learning. An increasing vertical fragmentation of academic work has recently occurred within academic units with the increasing employment of contract university teachers and research assistants. In Canada, horizontal and vertical fragmentations have occurred while universities and strong faculty unions have protected the “traditional” tenure-stream professoriate. Drawing on recent research, the author argues that these Canadian full-time faculties have high levels of job satisfaction and are well-remunerated, productive scholars. Maintaining the status and the supportive working conditions of the full-time, tenure-stream professoriate has largely been accomplished through labor cost efficiencies created by the increasing use of part-time, contractual university teachers, now frequently represented by labor unions that are distinct from their full-time peers. This article discusses the challenges for academic governance and leadership associated with this increasing fragmentation of academic work in the context of the “global” university.
43 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a survey targeting Taiwan's colleges and universities and interviews of Higher Education Evaluation & Accreditation Council of Taiwan international reviewers and Asian higher education experts are used to examine the challenges of EMI implementation in Taiwan universities and the role of local accreditors playing in reviewing the English medium instruction degree programs.
Abstract: As the numbers of international students have grown, higher education institutions in Asia have offered a growing range of English medium instruction (EMI) degree programs. But Asian governments and higher education institutions have not thought deeply about how to ensure quality of English medium instruction degree programs. At the same time, their accreditors have not been fully aware of how to establish an external quality assurance mechanism to measure the quality of these programs. This study’s main purpose is to put the quality of the EMI degree programs of Taiwan higher education institutions into the perspective of the Taiwan’s institutions and one local Taiwan accreditor. With both qualitative and quantitative approaches, a survey targeting Taiwan’s colleges and universities and interviews of Higher Education Evaluation & Accreditation Council of Taiwan international reviewers and Asian higher education experts are used to examine the challenges of EMI implementation in Taiwan universities and the role of local accreditors playing in reviewing the English medium instruction degree programs.
43 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined how parents in Dalian City, Liaoning Province, China, perceived how their parents helped their children with homework during their childhood and adolescence, and found that parents' lack of ability to directly assist their children in their schoolwork at home was compensated for by involvement strategies that often tapped into their children's motivation.
Abstract: This study examines how ten young adults in Dalian City, Liaoning Province, China, perceived how their parents helped them with homework during their childhood and adolescence. Between 2011 and 2012, we interviewed five men and five women from Dalian who had first been recruited in 1999 from a college prep high school, a vocational high school, and a junior high school as part of a longitudinal study of Chinese singleton children. In this sample, most parents had not finished high school but expected their children to finish college. Parents’ lack of ability to directly assist their children in their schoolwork at home (and thus promote their children’s skills) was compensated for by involvement strategies that often tapped into their children’s motivation. Our study illustrated how several strategies that have not been reported in the Western scholarship on parental involvement (i.e., reasoning about the importance of education, watching children study, and offering food, criticizing, and blaming) can map onto the skill and motivation development model Western researchers have developed, while highlighting the previously understudied salience of these particular strategies, especially for parents who do not have enough education to teach the skills their children need for upward mobility.
37 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored the influence of societal culture on teachers' responses to the national curriculum reform of upper secondary education in mainland China and found that teachers' response reflected some Confucian ethics rooted in Chinese culture and explained the absence of radical teacher resistance to the curriculum reform.
Abstract: Educational change is intrinsically bound to the cultural characteristics of the society. However, the relationship between educational change and societal culture is rarely explored, especially in the context of mainland China. Following a 3-year qualitative research project, the present study explored the influence of societal culture on teachers’ responses to the national curriculum reform of upper secondary education in mainland China. The results generated three themes highly relevant to teachers’ responses to curriculum reform in Chinese culture, namely teachers’ obedience, teachers’ facework and teachers’ collaboration. These teachers’ responses reflected some Confucian ethics rooted in Chinese culture and explained the absence of radical teacher resistance to the national curriculum reform. It was suggested that a culturally sensitive approach to change leadership may have been more fruitful for facilitating the aims of curriculum reform in mainland China.
34 citations
TL;DR: Using data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study of 2003, this article classified the countries into four different groups according to the proportion of student participation in private tutoring and student achievement.
Abstract: Private tutoring has become a worldwide phenomenon, yet there is little empirical evidence for the main factors leading the demand for private tutoring across nations. Using data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study of 2003, this study classified the countries into four different groups according to the proportion of student participation in private tutoring and student achievement. Then, the study explored student- and school-level factors influencing the demand for private tutoring. From the HGLM analysis, the results revealed that the demand for private tutoring in Korea and Taiwan, which have higher participation rates in private tutoring and high-school-quality levels, is mostly explained by student-level variables (educational aspirations, instrumental motivation, self-confidence, and father’s education) and school context variables (the community size and school SES). Meanwhile, the demand for private tutoring in the Philippines and Romania, both of which have high incidences of private tutoring and low-school-quality levels, varies widely among schools, and many of the school process variables (e.g., the use of remedial classes, amount of school homework, frequency of tests, and the use of grouping by ability) account for the relationships with private tutoring.
TL;DR: In this article, the determinants of private tutoring expenditures in Malaysia using the 2004/2005 Household Expenditures Survey and applies hurdle regression models to the data were examined. And the results indicated that total household expenditures, household head's level of education, head's gender, number of school-age children, and home ownership are important determinants.
Abstract: Private tutoring has been a burgeoning phenomenon in Malaysia for decades. This study examines the determinants of private tutoring expenditures in Malaysia using the 2004/2005 Household Expenditures Survey and applies hurdle regression models to the data. The results indicate that total household expenditures, household head’s level of education, household head’s gender, number of school-age children, and home ownership are important determinants of private tutoring expenditures in Malaysia. In comparison with Malay households, Chinese and Indian households have a higher likelihood of enrolling their children in private tutoring and spending on private tutoring. Indigenous households are less likely to spend for tutoring, but once their children are enrolled, they spend more than their Malay counterparts. Regional characteristics are also important determinants of private tutoring expenditures.
TL;DR: In this article, structural relationships among perceived school support, transformational leadership, teachers' work engagement, and teachers' knowledge creation practices were examined, and it was found that a supportive school climate had no direct relationship with knowledge creation activities.
Abstract: This study examined the structural relationships among perceived school support, transformational leadership, teachers’ work engagement, and teachers’ knowledge creation practices. It also investigated the mediating effects of transformational leadership and work engagement in explaining the association between perceived school support and knowledge creation practices. Samples included 284 career and technical education teachers in the United States. Structural equation modeling was employed. Perceived school support was positively associated with transformational leadership and teachers’ work engagement, but had no direct impact on knowledge creation practices. Transformational leadership was found to affect knowledge creation practices, but not work engagement of teachers. Although a supportive school climate had no direct relationship with knowledge creation practices, it indirectly affected this outcome variable through transformational leadership and teachers’ work engagement. The results suggest that in order to increase teachers’ knowledge creation activities, a supportive school climate should be provided with efforts to improve teachers’ work engagement and transformational behaviors of the principal.
TL;DR: This paper found that sociocultural adaptation significantly mediated the effects of integration, marginalization, and social support on psychological adaptation and found that social support and the use of the integration and marginalization strategies might affect psychological adaptation indirectly.
Abstract: Previous acculturation research has established the influences of acculturation strategies and social support on cross-cultural adaptation. The present study attempted to elaborate these direct associations by proposing that social support and the use of the integration and marginalization strategies might affect psychological adaptation indirectly, via their influences on sociocultural adaptation. Two hundred and twelve Mainland Chinese students studying at a university in Hong Kong completed measures of psychological and sociocultural adaptation, the integration and marginalization strategies, and social support. Analyses using structural equation modeling (SEM) showed that sociocultural adaptation significantly mediated the effects of integration, marginalization, and social support on psychological adaptation. The direct impacts of social support and the two acculturation strategies on psychological adaptation were not significant. A multigroup SEM analysis revealed no gender differences in the full mediation model. Implications of the findings are discussed.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the impact of intra-sectoral mobility of academics on research productivity and R&D information exchange dynamics in Japan and found that the role of foreign academics in the Japanese higher education is one of national and international gatekeepers being this role shaped by where the doctorate was obtained.
Abstract: This study analyzes the impact of intra-sectoral mobility of academics on research productivity and R&D information exchange dynamics in Japan. The analysis shows intra-sectoral mobility impacting positively both research productivity and information exchange dynamics, but that this effect—except for information exchange with peers based abroad—has a threshold. This result highlights the importance of academic job mobility but also alerts for cases of “overloads of mobility,” leading us to argue for some degree of stability in academic careers, supported by policies fostering temporary international mobility spells. We also find that the role of foreign academics in the Japanese higher education is one of national and international gatekeepers being this role shaped by where the doctorate was obtained (Japan vs abroad). Japanese academics that have performed the doctorate abroad are also key international gatekeepers.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that internationalization is only a means to survive instead of a pursuit of excellence to these universities, and they adopt a case study approach to investigate the practices of internationalization, including program and institutional mobility, overseas networking, curriculum design, teaching, and administrative support.
Abstract: This article examines how commodification and consumerism have sharpened the discourse of internationalization in Taiwan’s higher education. Given the strong sense of crisis in the less prestigious universities, this article argues that internationalization is only a means to survive instead of a pursuit of excellence to these universities. This empirical finding leads us to rethink the concept of internationalization and its relevance and application to Taiwan’s higher education. This article adopts a case study approach to investigate the practices of internationalization, including program and institutional mobility, overseas networking, curriculum design, teaching, and administrative support. The implications of these internationalization practices for sustainability and quality in higher education development are then discussed.
TL;DR: In this article, a theoretical model of a human resource development system at the national level (named National Human Resource Development: NHRD) was constructed, which consists of four factors (supply conditions, demand conditions, environment, and supporting systems) and was measured by the cumulative sum of a country's achievement in each of these four factors.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop an index to assess and evaluate the competitive advantage of a country’s human resource development system. Based on an extensive literature review, a theoretical model of a human resource development system at the national level (named National Human Resource Development: NHRD) was constructed. The model consists of four factors—supply conditions, demand conditions, environment, and supporting systems—and NHRD system competitiveness was measured by the cumulative sum of a country’s achievement in each of these four factors. The four factors were divided into 10 sub-categories, and 45 indicators were selected based on criteria such as relevance, international comparability, reliability, timeliness, and accessibility. Finally, by using the Analytic Hierarchy Process, the individual weights of the 45 indicators were calculated. In addition, the relationships between the NHRD competitiveness scores of OECD member countries and other relevant variables, including GDP per capita and the scores from other national competitiveness studies, were analyzed to examine the validity of the index.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the relationship between perfectionism and English language achievement among high school third graders in Chenaran, a city in northeast of Iran, mediated by foreign language classroom anxiety.
Abstract: There are a number of individual and affective factors which correlate foreign language learners’ achievement both positively and negatively. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between perfectionism and English language achievement among high school third graders in Chenaran, a city in northeast of Iran, mediated by foreign language classroom anxiety. A sample of 239 students (110 males and 129 females) was assessed for their levels of perfectionism and foreign language anxiety using the Almost Perfect Scale-Revised and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale, respectively. Participants’ scores on their final English test were also used as the measurement of their English achievement. The results did not reveal strong correlations between perfectionism and participants’ English achievement (F = .515, p > .05); however, the mean English score of the participants was lower for maladaptive perfectionists. Also, foreign language classroom anxiety was found to be significantly and negatively correlated with English achievement (r = −.357, p < .01). The results of analysis of variance revealed a significant positive association between perfectionism and foreign language anxiety, where maladaptive perfectionists were found to be more anxious than adaptive and non-perfectionists. Results did not support the hypothesis about foreign language anxiety as a mediator of the relationship between perfectionism and English achievement. Implications for both teachers and learners, and suggestions for further research are provided.
TL;DR: The Leaders in Education Program (LEP) as mentioned in this paper is a 6-month full-time program at the Singapore National Institute of Education (NIE), which is a part of Nanyang Technological University.
Abstract: In times of uncertainty, university faculties have a duty to prepare school leaders to handle complexity, as the number of variables in the educational system and the interactivity of variables increase exponentially. The Leaders in Education Program (LEP) is a 6-month full-time program at the Singapore National Institute of Education (NIE, which is a part of Nanyang Technological University). The LEP aims to prepare especially selected vice-principals and ministry officers in Singapore for school leadership. The LEP is a collaborative effort between the NIE and the Ministry of Education, an example of a university–government partnership in program development. This article describes the efforts of the LEP in developing the ability of school leaders to deal with complexity. It also examines in detail one particular component of the LEP, the Creative Action Project, to illustrate how this is done in practice, and analyzes the views of participants on their learning through the project.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compare two recent university reform projects: the Korean Brain Korea 21 project and the German Universities Excellence Initiative, and compare their goals, selection processes, and preliminary outcomes.
Abstract: In this article, we compare two recent university reform projects: the Korean Brain Korea 21 project and the German Universities Excellence Initiative. We describe and compare both projects’ goals, selection processes, and preliminary outcomes. While the Korean project is characterized by a relatively high level of political intervention and can be seen as mainly a human resources development program with clearly defined strategic goals, the German tradition of university autonomy is also reflected in the reform project analyzed here. The project goal is more vaguely defined for the German project, but lies mainly in the field of research capacity building. Another key difference is the time horizons in both projects and the resulting incentives for publication and chosen research projects: while the Korean projects are evaluated on a yearly basis, the German projects have a longer time horizon for evaluation. A preliminary evaluation shows that both programs have succeeded in increasing publication output in the respective countries. However, an analysis of the quality of the new publications by, for example, their citation numbers, remains to be done in the future.
TL;DR: The authors discusses the distinctive educational modes of thinking in Neo-Confucianism, with an interest of extracting Confucian reflective views for modern education of traditionally ConfucIAN East Asia.
Abstract: This article discusses the distinctive educational modes of thinking in Neo-Confucianism, with an interest of extracting Confucian reflective views for modern education of traditionally Confucian East Asia. Neo-Confucian typical modes of thinking on education are characterized as “heart-mind centered” and “learning as self-cultivation centered.” Neo-Confucianism regards education as the very task of perfecting as well as realizing the heart-mind, and furthermore puts emphasis on learning characterized as self-cultivation in accordance with the educational goal to perfect the heart-mind. Comparatively speaking, Neo-Confucian modes of thinking on education are more integral, essential, and convergent, whereas modern ones are more differentiated, functional, and divergent. When illuminating through the Neo-Confucian lens, modern education needs to intensify the perspective of integration and essentiality, as well as the perspective of appropriate differentiation, especially concerning the issues of the subject and content of education or learning.
TL;DR: This article investigated the changes in Chinese students' motivation to learn English from elementary to high school and explored the reasons for these changes at different school levels, finding that junior high school students had the highest learning motivation, followed by those in elementary school and those in high school.
Abstract: This mixed-methods study investigated the changes in Chinese students’ motivation to learn English from elementary to high school and explored the reasons for these changes at different school levels. A motivational questionnaire was designed and administered to 3,777 elementary, junior high, and high school students, and follow-up interviews were then conducted with nine students in order to investigate their perceptions of their motivations. Seven subcomponents of motivation were identified. The statistical results revealed that junior high school students had the highest learning motivation, followed by those in elementary school and those in high school. The interview data indicated that parents’ positive influence on students’ English learning motivation was greater for junior high school students compared to elementary and high school students. Furthermore, the pressure of the college entrance examination had a negative influence on high school students’ motivation to learn English. Based on the findings of this study, suggestions for further research are provided.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the construct of academic optimism and its relationship with collective responsibility in a sample of Taiwan elementary schools and demonstrated that academic optimism works through collective responsibility to significantly influence student achievement, while controlling for socioeconomic status, school size, and prior student achievement.
Abstract: This study was designed to examine the construct of academic optimism and its relationship with collective responsibility in a sample of Taiwan elementary schools. The construct of academic optimism was tested using confirmatory factor analysis, and the whole structural model was tested with a structural equation modeling analysis. The data were collected from a sample of 1,093 teachers from the 103 schools in Hualien County, Taiwan. The results of this research demonstrated that academic optimism was confirmed as a latent construct manifested by collective efficacy, faculty trust in students and parents, and academic emphasis in Taiwan elementary schools. Furthermore, the research also extended the theory of academic optimism by demonstrating that academic optimism works through collective responsibility to significantly influence student achievement, while controlling for socioeconomic status, school size, and prior student achievement.
TL;DR: In this paper, a context-specific, perceived school support for inclusive education (PSSIE) scale was developed to measure teachers' perceptions of support. But, the scale is not suitable for measuring teachers' attitudes towards the provision of appropriate teaching resources and training.
Abstract: International studies have identified that teachers require adequate support, including human and material resources, if they are to successfully implement inclusive education (IE) in regular classes. Past research shows that the level of support teachers feel they are receiving, from members of the school community and in the provision of appropriate teaching resources and training, may influence their attitudes towards IE and their willingness to undertake IE. Conceptualizing perceived school support as a subjective norm within the theory of planned behaviour, a context-specific, ‘Perceived School Support for Inclusive Education’ (PSSIE) scale was developed to measure teachers’ perceptions of support. This paper reports the development process of the PSSIE scale which included item generation, content validation and statistical procedures. Using a four-stage sampling method, a sample of 1,387 primary school teachers from the Dhaka Division of Bangladesh was selected for this study. The results provide preliminary evidence that the PSSIE (with eight items) meets the standards for reliability and, thus, presents as a useful scale by which to measure teachers’ perceptions of school support for implementing IE. The paper also illustrates limitations and direction for further studies.
TL;DR: This paper found that both higher education country image and the local partner institution image significantly influence international students' selection of onshore and offshore programs, and the effects of attitude toward behavior, subject norm, and perceived behavioral control appear to be more significant than those of the images in most of the analyses.
Abstract: Previous research studies identified country image as an important variable in international students’ selection of onshore programs, and it is often perceived that there is little difference between onshore and offshore program selection. Looking at a sample of high school students in China and their selections of offshore programs (from a sample program in Australia, the UK, and the US), this study reveals an insignificant influence of country image. Instead, both higher education country image and the local partner institution image significantly influence the students’ selections. The findings also indicate that the effects of attitude toward behavior, subject norm, and perceived behavioral control appear to be more significant than those of the images in most of the analyses. Implications for international educators and marketers of offshore programs are discussed.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate Malaysian primary pre-service teachers' perceptions of students' disruptive behaviour and their self-reported strategies to prevent and to manage such behaviours and find that teachers understand disruptive behaviours to be those that disrupt the learning and teaching process.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper was to investigate Malaysian primary pre-service teachers’ perceptions of students’ disruptive behaviour and their self-reported strategies to prevent and to manage such behaviours. Results indicate that Malaysian pre-service teachers understand disruptive behaviours to be those that disrupt the learning and teaching process. They identified the cause of student disruptive behaviour as factors residing within the individual student. Pre-service teachers here reported preventative strategies in terms of changing teaching strategies and threats to use punishment. When addressing students’ disruptive behaviour, pre-service teachers reported that they would use one-to-one counselling with students and remove tokens or hold back rewards. A discussion regarding the implications for teacher education institutions and future research concludes this paper.
TL;DR: This article argued that the educational gap is only part of China's urban-rural disparities, of which many resulted from social institutional arrangements, and called for changes to established institutions and a reconsideration of the role of private financing mainly through tuition fees.
Abstract: China’s urban–rural disparities are a fundamental source of China’s overall educational inequalities. This article addresses the issue with data collected through interviews with members at various Chinese higher education institutions. It interrogates China’s current policies together with the socio-political institutional arrangements that underlie them and assesses the effectiveness of existing schemes to support higher education students. Based on China’s experience, it challenges market transition theory’s claim and debates the classical economic theory which postulates that expansion of education will reduce inequality. Believing that the educational gap is only part of China’s urban–rural disparities, of which many resulted from social institutional arrangements, it calls for changes to established institutions and a reconsideration of the role of private financing mainly through tuition fees.
TL;DR: This article found that the distribution of income within the academic community has been polarized, so that the career development of new teachers and those in low priority disciplines is curtailed, and research is assigned more priority than teaching; institutional service has distracted academics from knowledge.
Abstract: Chinese higher education institutions have been subjected to the intensive bureaucratic governance led by the central authorities since 1949. Since the new public management has been a burgeoning social discourse, some reforms have been conducted recently, centering on the competitive contract-centered employment of staff, integration of industrial sectors, universities, and research institutes, and the evaluation of teaching quality at the undergraduate level. By embracing the ideas of new public management, a mode of mixed governance has evolved within the larger milieu of Chinese higher education. By in-depth interviews with 36 university teachers from a university in western China, this study finds that the distribution of income within the academic community has been polarized, so that the career development of new teachers and those in low priority disciplines is curtailed. Additionally, research is assigned more priority than teaching; institutional service has made distracted academics from knowledge. Lastly, Chinese academics’ work has been greatly affected by a mixed mode of governance spawned by the unique integration between paternalistic governance, bureaucratic management, and new public management.
TL;DR: This article investigated the implications of the School Operational Support policy for community participation in education and found that prior to the Free School Program, parents' involvement in school budgeting has become very limited; they are no longer engaged in the planning of allocations, and neither they nor the school committees are able to make inputs into decision making; even the functions of the school committee are limited to rubber stamping the school budget.
Abstract: Parental participation in school management is regarded as a good thing according to the rationale that local people know better and are able to be more responsive to their own needs. However, little is understood about the implications of the School Operational Support policy for community participation in education. This study investigated parental participation in the context of education decentralisation with regard to the changing situation in which the Indonesian government provides sufficient funds for school operational costs. Using a qualitative inquiry, researchers collected data through document analyses, questionnaires and interviews with stakeholders of two public primary schools in Depok, Indonesia. The study found that prior to the Free School Program, parental participation was limited to parents’ financial contribution and associated matters. However, since school was made free, parents’ involvement in school budgeting has become very limited; they are no longer engaged in the planning of allocations, and neither they nor the school committees are able to make inputs into decision making; even the functions of the school committees are limited to rubber stamping the school budget.
TL;DR: In this paper, a collaborative learning project coded as the teacher inquiry community was carried out over a year in a private higher education institution to improve the professional capability of language-based subject teachers.
Abstract: The paper reports on a collaborative learning project coded as the teacher inquiry community that was carried out over a year in a private higher education institution to improve the professional capability of language-based subject teachers. Nine teachers completed the project all of whom were females and shared work experience of 2–29 years. Six of them held some form of qualification in education, and all except for one possessed at least a basic degree in some field. The study focused on three questions namely teacher benefits, impact of practice, and application of solutions. Findings revealed that the former two questions were well substantiated for most teachers, but the same thing could not be said of the third. While a number of senior teachers benefitted at the level of classroom implementation, the others explained away their inability to incorporate new ideas in their teaching. Individual characteristics and personality, and culture seemed to make a difference. However, the study concluded that the collaborative learning model could serve as a viable mechanism for the teachers’ professional development.