Showing papers on "Compulsory education published in 1997"

Education vouchers in principle and practice: a survey

Abstract: An education voucher system exists when governments make payments to families that enable their children to enter public or private schools of their choice. The tax-funded payments can be made directly to parents or indirectly to the selected schools; their purpose is to increase parental choice, to promote school competition, and to allow low-income families access to private schools. Some opponents predict that vouchers will destroy the public system, aggravate poverty, and foster segregation. Others fear that voucher receiving independent schools will be regulated out of recognition. The main purpose of this article is to examine the recent emergence of voucher systems as an interesting phenomenon in its own right. The evidence summarized relates to voucher systems operating in twenty countries, provinces, and states. The typical ‘funds-follow-the-child’ voucher system, in which governments subsidize ‘schools of choice’ in strict proportion to enrollment, appears to be the favorite form. This type of voucher has been adopted by developing countries, notably Bangladesh, Belize, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, and Lesotho, as well as by industrial countries such as Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Much of the recorded experience with such programs is pertinent to the longstanding theoretical debates on the desirability of voucher systems.

Students’ conceptual patterns of human nutrition

Abstract: The conceptual patterns concerning human nutrition encountered in a sample of students aged between 11 and 17 are described. These patterns show that the conceptual structures of the students were relatively well organized and, although sometimes incomplete or wrong, seemed perfectly coherent to them, even constituting theories that they used to explain any problem situation connected with these processes. The results obtained demonstrate that these patterns are found in all the educational levels examined and show the predominance of alternative conceptions concerning nutritional processes even though they have been repeatedly studied. Finally, some suggestions are presented in an attempt to improve nutrition teaching in compulsory education.

Young People without an Upper Secondary Education in Sweden. Their Home Background, School and Labour Market Experiences.

Abstract: In the context of the expansion of upper secondary education, young people without an upper secondary education might be considered an at‐risk group on the labour market. The present investigation is a longitudinal study of career both in school and at work for young people without upper secondary education. The study is part of a nationwide school research project, in which a national sample of pupils (9000) has been followed from the age of 13 through their school careers. Employment data were collected via a questionnaire given to young people without upper secondary education in 1991 when they were 23‐24 years old. The results show that even though 97% of the age cohort applied to upper secondary school in their final year of compulsory school, about one‐fifth lacked an upper secondary education at the age of 20. The dominant pattern among young people without upper secondary education was a blue‐collar home background, extensive special education, low and declining school achievements, and l...

Sectionalism and Racial Politics: Federal Vocational Policies and Programs in the Predesegregation South

Abstract: Extant literature on vocational reforms gives the impression that they, like other educational reforms, resulted from a consensus between northern industrialists and professional educators (e.g., Bowles and Gintis 1976; Cohen 1968; Cremin 1961; Cuban 1982; Fones-Wolf 1983; Kett 1982; Powers 1992; Tyack 1981 [1974]). If national educational reforms reflected national economic interests, we should expect twentieth-century federal vocational legislation to reflect the interests of an increasingly industrialized national economy. By the same token, regionally specific economic interests should find their reflection primarily in local educational practice. This view rests on the assumption that a “national economy” has existed and that federal policies have not reflected sectional economic interests. In reality, southern sectional interests have shaped a variety of economic and social policies, ranging from post-Reconstruction child labor and compulsory education laws to New Deal policies such as the 1933 National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), the 1935 National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act, welfare policy, and the 1935 Social Security Act establishing old-age security and unemployment compensation (Alston and Ferrie 1985; Bensei 1984; Lieberman 1995; Quadagno 1988, 1994; Shulman 1991; Skocpol 1995).

Education for All: Literacy in Vietnam 1975-1995.

Abstract: (1997). Education for All: literacy in Vietnam 1975‐1995. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education: Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 43-61.

What Happens to the Attainment of Our Bottom 20o/o of Students at the End of Their nine-year Compulsory Education?

Abstract: A number of recommendations have been made by the Hong Kong Government in the last few years to provide additional resources for schools that take in the weakest 20% of secondary students. These policies implicitly imply that the group of students are having special educational needs as they need extra resources for fulfilling their needs in learning. This study is an attempt to investigate into the attainment level of some of the bottom 20% of students at the end of their 9-year compulsory education. A sample of 993 Secondary 3 students from 4 schools all located within the same urban district took part in the study to assess both their attainment level and their intellectual functioning. Over 95% of these students were coming from the bottom 20% group of students within the same district. They were all administered the Raven's Progressive Matrices Test for ascertaining their intellectual functioning in terms of their non-verbal reasoning ability. Each student also took the Hong Kong Attainment Tests on the 3 basic subjects of Chinese, English and mathematics. The tests are devised by the Education Research Unit of the Hong Kong Education Department and are standardised for local Primary 3 to Primary 5 pupils. On the test for looking at their non­ verbal reasoning ability, over 60% of the students were at least within the average range of intellectual functioning when their scores were compared with other children of the same age in Hong Kong. Their results for the standardised attainment tests reflected that over 90% of the students in the schools were attaining at or below P.5 level across the two major subjects of Chinese and mathematics and more than 70% of the students were attaining at or below P.4 level in the subject of English. The findings indicated that majority of the students are backward in their attainment by 4-5 years. This reaffirmed the findings of the earlier pilot study (Yung, 1994) on another group of S.3 graduates (n 435) in one of the sample schools a year before this main study. Findings of both studies indicated that majority of the students in the bottom 20% of secondary students should have average intellectual ability to cope with their schooling. Schools with large intake of students from this stratum of secondary students in Hong Kong might need to reconsider how they can modify their curriculum to meet the educational needs of these students in the light of these findings on their academic achievement after 9 years of compulsory education. The data also reflects the need for educators to review the efficacy of the 9 years compulsory education system especially around the years of Primary 3 and 4 when most of the students from the group seemed to have difficulty to move further by their attainment.

Aims and Methods in Danish Preschool Music Education

Abstract: (1997). Aims and Methods in Danish Preschool Music Education. Arts Education Policy Review: Vol. 99, No. 1, pp. 25-31.

Compulsory School Attendance: An Idea Past Its Prime?

Abstract: (1997). Compulsory School Attendance: An Idea Past Its Prime? The Educational Forum: Vol. 61, No. 2, pp. 134-139.

Youth unemployment in Northern Ireland patterns and policy responses

Abstract: Summary Nearly one tenth (8 per cent) of each cohort of school leavers in Northern Ireland experience long spells of unemployment and inactivity ("Status 0") between the ages of 16 and 18. This is important because many such young people are likely to end up unemployed and long‐term unemployed in later life. In Northern Ireland around 15 per cent of the male workforce is unemployed, and around one half of these have been out of work for more than one year. This paper outlines the nature of the Status 0 experience amongst 16 and 17 year olds in Northern Ireland, and discusses three main aspects of policy which might guide the overall policy response in Northern Ireland and elsewhere. Firstly, resources should be targeted carefully towards the most “at risk” young people, especially during the early stages of their progression through compulsory education. Secondly, relevant professionals should ensure that the most marginalised young people are not allowed to fall through the nets of mainstream provision a...

"The Right to Direct the Upbringing of a Child." Parent as Sovereign and the State as Educator: A Balance of Vital Interests.

Abstract: Educating youth is of prime impor­ tance to parents and the State . The Un ited States Supreme C ourt echoed th is prin c i p l e when it wrote : \"The American people have always re­ garded educat ion and the acquis i t ion of know l edge as matters of supreme i mportance wh ich shou ld be d i l i gently prom oted\" (Meyer v. Nebraska, 1 923 , p . 393 ). I n many ways, educating a c h i ld is the essence of parenting. \"The h istory and c ulture of Western c iv i l i-

Age Discrimination in Education: A Critique of Law and Policy 1

Abstract: and exemptions contained in the statutory schemes reveals severe tensions between antidiscrimination and entrenched educational objectives. It will be argued that these stresses strike at the very heart of the efficacy of the laws. The pressure emerges most clearly in the juxtaposition of the radical, catalytic face of anti-discrimination laws, especially age discrimination laws, with the entrenched historical, social, political and economic assumption of the connection between chronological age and education. The social supposition of the link between youth, and childhood in particular, and opportunities for formal education can be illustrated clearly in the consistent form in which compulsory education statutes have been enacted in the Victorian era and the twentieth century. This analysis raises serious questions about the appropriateness of existing age discrimination in education legislation to counteract perceived ‘discrimination problems’ and the policy vacuum which attends the introduction of novel grounds of discrimination. 2 Most state and territory jurisdictions in Australia make unlawful age discrimination in a variety of areas of public life. 3 Age discrimination is one of the ‘new generation’ of grounds of unlawful discrimination introduced in the 1990s to augment the scope of equal opportunity protection. As with other grounds of discrimination of longer standing, such as sex, race or disability, legislative provisions against unlawful age discrimination also support a range of exceptions and exemptions from the operation of the scheme for types of behaviour deemed to fall outside the legitimate realm of legal protection. The provision of education and educational services in the public sphere 4 is one area regulated by anti-discrimination statutes. Several jurisdictions have chosen to enact prohibitions on unlawful age discrimination in education, subject to a range of exceptions.

Classroom Processes Brought Alive and Cultural Talks in the Mind. An essay review of Educating Hearts and Minds: Reflections on Japanese Preschool and Elementary Education by Catherine C. Lewis. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

Abstract: This is a very successful book that tries "to bring alive the Japanese preschool and elementary classrooms." The author first visited Japan as a high school exchange student in 1967-1968. That extended stay was full of surprises: the world of Japanese education differed from what she had expected, leading her to compare and contrast the Japanese and U.S. educational systems. Ten years later, in 1979, she began formal research activities related to Japanese education. She visited Japan four times, including a four-month stay during which her two sons attended private preschool and public elementary school. Her book can be characterized as the product of cultural talks within the author's mind that extended over a long period of time. Educating Hearts and Minds is intended for both educators and the general public. The book includes an introduction and nine chapters. Chapter 1 focuses on background factors of the Japanese educational system. Topics covered include teachers' social status (higher than in the United States), national control of curricula and textbooks, class size (larger than in the United States), and avoidance of ability grouping and tracking during the compulsory education years. Chapter 2 describes children's experiences in Japanese preschools. These include play as the central portion of the curriculum, emphasis on building "community" in school settings, various learning opportunities during play sessions, and class meetings to provide time for children and teacher to reflect on the events and problems of the day. Educational approaches

Yesterday’s Crisis and Tomorrow’s Schools: The 1954 Morals Inquiry and the Politics of Educational Reform

Abstract: A moral crisis generates much debate over the state of education, as people attempt to find answers to the perceived problem In 1954 the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents investigated education, and came to conclusions that were alarmist, reflecting disillusionment with the progressive reforms of the preceding twenty years Now that the balance of power in compulsory education has shifted away from education professionals towards parents, through the mechanisms of decentralisation and school choice, the outcomes of a moral crisis for schools are potentially more serious Schools must be responsive to parent concerns, but the experience of 1954 suggests that there was little to justify the high level of community paranoia aroused Compounding this situation for schools is that crisis manufacture – the deliberate creation of distress over current conditions – has been used recently by various groups to achieve a wide acceptance of their, often radical, reform agendas This has the potential to threaten innovative decision-making, which is at the heart of the Tomorrow’s Schools ethos

Guarantee Education Funds Through Multiple Channels: Facts from the Nine-Year Compulsory Education Examination-and-Acceptance Survey Conducted in Five Counties, Municipalities, and Districts of Hubei Province

Abstract: Where are the funds for the Universalization of Nine-year Compulsory Education (hereafter, UNCE) to come from? People in the front lines of basic education worry about and run around seeking solutions to this problem. It can well be said that fund investment has already become a bottleneck for UNCE.

A Critical Review of Headteacher Professional Development in England & Wales

Abstract: The impetus for this paper comes from the introduction, under the direction of a central government agency, of national standards for the teaching profession in England & Wales. The standards are to be based on the professional knowledge and understanding, skills and abilities at all levels of the profession and replace the ad hoc structures for continuing professional development that have existed until now. Two of the standards relate to the role of headteacher and have been designed to present a formal, accredited route to the key leadership position in compulsory education.