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Showing papers on "Compulsory education published in 2002"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the impact of family characteristics and local labor market conditions on the demand for post-compulsory education and find that parents' education is the main determinant of school enrollment, producing a sort of intergenerational persistence in the Spanish stock of human capital.

126 citations


Posted Content
TL;DR: This paper examined whether education has a causal impact on health and found that it has a large and positive correlation between education and health, and that this effect is perhaps larger than has been previously estimated in the literature.
Abstract: Prior research has uncovered a large and positive correlation between education and health. This paper examines whether education has a causal impact on health. I follow synthetic cohorts using successive U.S. censuses to estimate the impact of educational attainment on mortality rates. I use compulsory education laws from 1915 to 1939 as instruments for education. The results suggest that education has a causal impact on mortality, and that this effect is perhaps larger than has been previously estimated in the literature.

91 citations


Posted Content
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined whether it is the tracking of children into different types of school environments at a particularly early stage of their intellectual development, i.e. at the transition from primary to secondary school, which contributes to such inequalities.
Abstract: The recently published data from the Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) has revealed that Germany ranks lowest among the OECD countries for educational equalities. This paper examines whether it is the tracking of children into different types of school environments at a particularly early stage of their intellectual development, i.e. at the transition from primary to secondary school, which contributes to such inequalities. The analysis is based on data taken from two surveys of learning achievement, the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA). The data consistently reveal that although ability is a key selection criterion, children’s educational achievement varies greatly within the respective school tracks to which they are allocated. Although migrants are predominately selected to lower academic school tracks, they do not face educational inequalities if their socio-economic background and measured ability is similar to that of German nationals. On the other hand, children from rural areas, pupils from lower socio-economic backgrounds and boys in general have a significantly lower probability of being selected to the most academic school track even when their educational ability is similar to that of their urban and better socially placed counterparts. Since the outcome of sorting is difficult to correct and school choice shapes career options, there is a high likelihood that such educational inequalities in secondary schooling will have an impact on pupils’ lives and career opportunities long after they have completed compulsory education.

79 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors described and examined the recent development of career development and counseling in Hong Kong in three major settings: school, university, and community, in reference to a number of areas, including the freedom to choose and compromise, collectivism and individualism, school-to-work transition, use of tests, and types of career intervention.
Abstract: The article describes and examines the recent development of career development and counseling in Hong Kong in 3 major settings: school, university, and community. Convergence and divergence in career counseling between Hong Kong and the United States are discussed, in reference to a number of areas, including the freedom to choose and compromise, collectivism and individualism, school-to-work transition, use of tests, and types of career intervention. Areas of collaboration between the 2 regions are identified and discussed. In the latter part of the twentieth century, counseling as an academic and applied discipline has enjoyed a period of growth and development in many countries in Asia (e.g., Leung, 1999b; Leung, Guo, & Lam, 2000). Hong Kong is a case in point. Hong Kong had been a British colony for most of the twentieth century until it was returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. The development of social services and education in Hong Kong had been relatively slow until after the social riots in 1967 (Leung, 1999c). These social riots were triggered by the Cultural Revolution in China during the 1960s, and the colonial government realized that maintaining social stability and cohesion was vital to the development of Hong Kong. Since then, more efforts and resources were directed toward upgrading social services and education, including career guidance and counseling. In this article, I describe and analyze the development of career counseling in Hong Kong in three settings: school, university, and community. A second objective of this article is to discuss similarities and differences in the practice of career counseling in the United States and Hong Kong. Finally, I also offer some suggestions on how researchers and practitioners in both regions could collaborate to advance the development of career counseling. To accomplish these objectives, I review relevant career development and counseling literature in Hong Kong, which at this point is still limited both in terms of quality and quantity. Career Counseling in Hong Kong: A Descriptive Overview Educational System and Career Interventions Understanding the status of career counseling in Hong Kong requires some background knowledge about the educational system. In Hong Kong, elementary school, high school, and colleges are called primary school, secondary school, and university, respectively. To be consistent, I use terms used in Hong Kong as I refer to different levels of the schooling system. The Hong Kong educational system was modeled after the British system. Students in Hong Kong have to take many school and public examinations before they can secure a place at a university. The layers of schooling resemble that of a pyramid structure. After 9 years of compulsory education (6 years of primary school and 3 years of junior secondary school), about 80% of students continue into senior secondary schools (2 years). At the end of 2 years, students have to sit for a public examination. The results from this public examination are used to select students for the 2-year preuniversity course, and only about 20% of senior secondary school students further their education in a preuniversity course (Zhang, 1998). Only half of the preuniversity students successfully gain university admission (Zhang, 1998), with the remaining students either choosing to attempt the entrance examination again, going abroad to study, or seeking entrance into vocational oriented diploma programs. The Hong Kong educational system practices tracking and streaming (Leung, 1999d). Many primary schools group students into classes based on abilities (i.e., test scores). Primary school students are assigned to junior secondary schools through a centralized allocation system based mostly on test scores. Secondary schools are divided into five categories based on student abilities. Schools with a high concentration of students with low learning abilities often have to deal with an array of problems, including students' lack of motivation to learn, student discipline problems, and the effects of labeling (Leung, 1999d). …

56 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the factors contributing to the academic success of African-Caribbeans in the United Kingdom and found that the family and community together create a sense of belonging and acceptance and foster achievement and success, which compensate for low expectations and resources in the school.
Abstract: While, there is a history of academic under-achievement among African-Caribbeans in the United Kingdom, some African-Caribbeans progress successfully through under-graduate and on to postgraduate studies. This research investigates the factors contributing to such academic success. Fourteen African-Caribbean professionals, male and female, aged between 23 and 40 years old, who had undertaken most of their compulsory education in United Kingdom schools, were interviewed. The findings suggest two possible models of success: a Home-School Model, which describes a continuous positive interaction between the home and school where both foster academic excellence and success and a Home-Community Model which suggests that the family and community together create a 'sense of belonging' and acceptance and foster achievement and success, which compensate for low expectations and resources in the school. This suggests that academic success for a greater proportion of African-Caribbean children will become a reality when schools, the home and the community work together to develop and nurture academic achievement within a climate of excellence and high expectations.

54 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: In this article, the authors highlight the significant contribution education, especially formal education, can make to the prevention of HIV transmission and examine four modalities which would enable the sector play an even more crucial role: meeting the International Millennium Development Goals of universal access to compulsory education of good quality and the elimination of gender disparities at all school levels; mainstreaming HIV / AIDS into every aspect of education; establishing programmes that run along a continuum from prevention to care; and engaging creatively with others in the public sector and across civil society.
Abstract: The paper highlights the significant contribution education, especially formal education, can make to the prevention of HIV transmission and examines four modalities which would enable the sector play an even more crucial role: meeting the International Millennium Development Goals of universal access to compulsory education of good quality and the elimination of gender disparities at all school levels; mainstreaming HIV / AIDS into every aspect of education; establishing programmes that run along a continuum from prevention to care; and engaging creatively with others in the public sector and across civil society. Prevention education programmes are considered in more detail in terms of their thrust, context, content, and methodology, channels and communicators. Emphasis is put on understanding, leading to practice, in the areas of responsible sexuality and healthy living. The paper concludes by stressing that if preventive education messages are to have the desired impact, they must be affirmed with a single, unanimous voice, whereas conflicting messages may lead to confusion and lack of action.

51 citations


01 Jan 2002
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyse some of the constraints to the implementation of this approach in the case of Portugal, such as: the diversity of meanings ascribed to STS, the organisation of the educational system and purposes of science education in each of the three levels of education (basic compulsory education, post compulsory secondary education and higher education), the obstacles resulting from the models and practices of science teachers education which are excessively subject oriented, school programmes and teachers' perception of such programmes and, additionally, the didactic resources which reflect inconsistent perspectives of teaching and learning of science within an STS
Abstract: The teaching of science has become the object of criticism by teachers and opinion makers as it is far from satisfying contemporary society needs due to populations' low levels of scientific literacy. The orientation of science curricula to a more humanistic approach as the STS movement sustains with a closer relationship with real contexts is perceived as a promising means of minimising this setback. However, change is not exempt of difficulties. We analyse some of the constraints to the implementation of this approach in the case of Portugal, such as: the diversity of meanings ascribed to STS, the organisation of the educational system and purposes of science education in each of the three levels of education (basic compulsory education, post compulsory secondary education and higher education), the obstacles resulting from the models and practices of science teachers education which are excessively subject oriented, school programmes and teachers' perception of such programmes and, additionally, the didactic resources which reflect inconsistent perspectives of teaching and learning of science within an STS framework.

41 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In a recent trip to Sweden, Nordgren as mentioned in this paper pointed out that the educational priorities of the U.S. are misplaced and will fail to teach students the skills they will need as members of the global work force.
Abstract: After observing the Swedish school system, Mr. Nordgren concludes that the educational priorities of the U.S. are misplaced and will fail to teach students the skills they will need as members of the global work force. WHILE ATTENDING a school board meeting in Sweden, I sat in on a seminar given by a local principal to a roomful of parents and teachers. She told us that whatever we remember about our schooling days is no longer important, explaining that we were schooled in the Industrial Age, which was much different from today's world. In addition, she said that we had no idea of what is important in education today if our only frame of reference was our own schooling. Schools in her community, including her own school, she contended, are geared to enable children to succeed in the Global Village. Once this was said, the audience remained silent -- amazingly silent. As a former middle and high school administrator, I could not imagine telling a community resource team of parents and teachers that their own schooling experience was of no use in designing their children's education. American parents, especially the ones who frequent schools for these types of meetings, often believe that they are educational experts because they endured 13 years of schooling. Many teachers, unfortunately, despite years of curricular and instructional reform efforts, still revert to the way they were taught five, 10, or even 30 years ago. But the Swedish principal was correct. Our children do need to be educated for globalization: an economic, political, and cultural force that dominates the developed and developing worlds.1 Bureaucratic Schools and School Systems Large American school districts are essentially Taylorist bureaucracies that depend on autocratic leadership and "sheep-like" adherence to rules and regulations set by politicians and administrators at the state and local levels. Schools have essentially the same structure, with their own policies dictated by the administration. In addition, teachers dictate policies within their classrooms that require students to also adopt obedient sheep-like behaviors in order to be "successful."2 The vast majority of business organizations today are not bureaucratic but rely instead on work teams, shared decision making, and a great deal of risk-taking in an effort to compete in the global market.3 The Swedes understand this, and their national curricula for both noncompulsory and compulsory education show that understanding.4 While the student standards for most U.S. states specifically list what a student must know on page after page, the Swedes ask their students to be what research suggests is important for living in a democracy: collaborative and responsible.5 These Swedish curricula resemble cultural value statements rather than what we Americans would consider curricula. Learning Early What Is Truly Important On a recent trip to Sweden, my hosts were an assistant principal and his wife, who is a middle school teacher. I asked her about the academic progress of their 7-year-old son, who was in his first year of compulsory education (noncompulsory education goes from age 16 through age 19, though 98% of those in that age group do attend school).6 Her answer was, "Fine, I guess." She paused for a few seconds then went on, "If there were any problems, his teacher would let us know." I was very confused and actually a bit stunned. Here she was a teacher with a husband who was an administrator, and she didn't know how her son was doing in school? She read my shocked and perplexed expression and said, "In Sweden, we spend the first few years concerned about how well children get along, how well they work together." After some time, she said, "You know, I guess it doesn't matter whether or not a child can read and write if he's going to end up in prison." How right she was. …

25 citations


Posted Content
TL;DR: This paper examined whether education has a causal impact on health and found that it has a large and positive correlation between education and health, and that this effect is perhaps larger than has been previously estimated in the literature.
Abstract: Prior research has uncovered a large and positive correlation between education and health. This paper examines whether education has a causal impact on health. I follow synthetic cohorts using successive U.S. censuses to estimate the impact of educational attainment on mortality rates. I use compulsory education laws from 1915 to 1939 as instruments for education. The results suggest that education has a causal impact on mortality, and that this effect is perhaps larger than has been previously estimated in the literature.

23 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: The AQA AS-level course Science for Public Understanding (SFPE) as discussed by the authors was designed to consolidate students' understanding of some key scientific explanations and ideas about science in a systematic manner.
Abstract: This article describes the AQA AS-level course Science for Public Understanding, and explains its underlying rationale. It shows how a carefully designed topic-based course can be used to consolidate students' understanding of some key scientific explanations and ideas-about-science in a systematic manner. Also included are accounts by four teachers of how the course is being used in their school or college, and how their students are responding to it.

22 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
Rob Reich1
TL;DR: It is the future of the student, not of the parents, that is imperiled by today's decision as discussed by the authors, and it is the student's judgment, not his parents' that is essential if we are to give full meaning to what we have said about the Bill of Rights and of the right of students to be masters of their own destiny.
Abstract: It is the future of the student, not of the parents, that is imperiled by today’s decision. If aparent keeps his child out of school beyond the grade school, then the child will be forever barred from entry into the new and amazing world of dwersity that we have today. The child may decide that that is the preferred course, or he may rebel. It is the student’s judgment, not his parents’, that is essential if we are to give full meaning to what we have said about the Bill of Rights and of the right of students to be masters of their own destiny.’

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the determinants of educational outcomes for Scottish secondary schools were analyzed using an ordered logit model with data on school examination performance for pupils in the last year of compulsory education.
Abstract: This paper analyses the determinants of educational outcomes for Scottish secondary schools. Using an ordered logit model with data on school examination performance for pupils in the last year of compulsory education, separate equations are estimated for 1993–1994 and 1998–1999. The empirical results, in line with previous British studies, underline the importance of family, peer group and school influences in determining educational outcomes. They cast doubt, however, on suggestions that there is an ‘optimal’ size of school.

Book
01 Jan 2002
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a conceptual presentation of assumed relationships between public and private education systems in Europe, and define six indicators of institutional context, including the following: 1.1 Public/private sector effects. 2.2 Indicators of types of governance. 3.3 Indicator of freedom of school choice.
Abstract: Preface.- About the editors.- Chapter 1 Institutional contexts and effectiveness of schooling.- 1.1 Introduction. 1.2 A conceptual presentation of assumed relationships. 1.3 Institutional contexts of education systems. 1.3.1 Public/private sector effects. 1.3.2 Type of funding of public and private education. 1.3.3 Governance of public and private education. 1.3.4 Choice and community in public and private education. 1.4 The within-country public/private sector model. 1.5 Objectives and design of the international project. 1.6 Acknowledgements. Chapter 2 Selection and definition of indicators.- 2.1 Introduction. 2.2 Selection and description of six indicators of institutional context. 2.2.1 Funding of schools. 2.2.2 Indicators of types of governance. 2.2.3 Indicators of freedom of school choice. Chapter 3 Country reports: education systems in Europe.- 3.1 Introduction. 3.2 Spain. 3.2.1 Country profile. 3.2.2 Characteristics of Spanish compulsory education. 3.2.3 Public and private schools: key characteristics. 3.3 Scotland. 3.3.1 Country profile.- 3.3.2 Characteristics of Scottish compulsory education. 3.3.3 Public and private schools: key characteristics. 3.4 Sweden. 3.4.1 Country profile. 3.4.2 Characteristics of Swedish compulsory education. 3.4.3 Public and private schools: key characteristics. 3.5 Portugal. 3.5.1. Country profile. 3.5.2 Characteristics of Portuguese compulsory education. 3.5.3 Public and private schools: key characteristics. 3.6 The Netherlands. 3.6.1 Country profile. 3.6.2 Characteristics of Dutch compulsory education. 3.6.3 Public and private education: key characteristics. 3.7 Ireland. 3.7.1 Country profile. 3.7.2 Characteristics of Irish compulsory education. 3.7.3 Public and private schools: key characteristics. 3.8 Germany. 3.8.1 Country profile. 3.8.2 Characteristics of German compulsory education. 3.8.3 Public and private schools: key characteristics. 3.9 France. 3.9.1 Country profile3.9.2 Characteristics of French compulsory education. 3.9.3 Public and private schools: key characteristics. 3.10 England. 3.10.1 Country profile. 3.10.2 Characteristics of compulsory education in England. 3.10.3 Public and private education: key characteristics. 3.11 Denmark. 3.11.1 Country profile. 3.11.2 Characteristics of Danish compulsory education. 3.11.3 Public and private schools: key characteristics. 3.12 Belgium (French).- 3.12.1 Country profile. 3.12.2 Characteristics of Belgium (French) compulsory education. 3.12.3 Public and private schools: key characteristics. 3.13 Belgium (Flemish). 3.13.1 Country profile. 3.13.2 Characteristics of Belgium (Flemish) compulsory education. 3.13.3 Public and private schools: key characteristics. 3.14 Austria. 3.14.1 Country profile. 3.14.2 Characteristics of Austrian compulsory education. 3.14.3 Public and private schools: key characteristics. Chapter 4 Quality and equity of European education.- 4.1 Introduction. 4.2 Distribution of public and private education. 4.3 Fair comparisons of public and private schools' performance. 4.4 Choice of quality assessment criteria. 4.5 International comparison. 4.6 Overview of TIMSS mathematics assessment. 4.7 Methodology. 4.8 Comparison of quality and equity across European countries. 4.9 The outcomes within a broader perspective. 4.10 Interpreting our results in comparison to PISA outcomes. 4.11 Educational expenditure. Chapter 5 Configurations of institutional contexts.- 5.1 Introduction. 5.2 Configuration theory and multidimensional scaling. 5.3 Towards dimensions of institutional contexts. 5.4 Interpretation of configurations. 5.5 Four configurations of institutional contexts. 5.6 Public and private schools. Chapter 6 Reflections and explanations.- 6.1 Introduction. 6.2 Size and funding of public and private education. 6.2.1 Grant-aided private versus 'truly' private education. 6.2.2 Selectivity of the country's

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: For some decades now, as a consequence of changes in the politics of Spain, the compulsory education system in the autonomous Spanish region known as the Comunidad Valenciana has offered a varied programme of bilingual education: Spanish and Valenciano, an autochthonous variety of Catalan, alternate according to various curricular programmes as the main teaching languages as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: For some decades now, as a consequence of changes in the politics of Spain, the compulsory education system in the autonomous Spanish region known as the Comunidad Valenciana has offered a varied programme of bilingual education: Spanish and Valenciano, an autochthonous variety of Catalan, alternate according to various curricular programmes as the main teaching languages. This paper examines the objectives of each of these programmes, as well as data which serve to evaluate the results generated by the application of the said programmes, i.e. history, enrolment details, geographic distribution, infrastructure, teacher training, etc. All these variables coexist within a very specific sociolinguistic context, which is unlike that of other bilingual regions of Spain. The existence of two clearly differentiated linguistic regions, tied in with the progressive abandonment of Valenciano over the last few centuries, is reflected in the lack of uniformity in the state of bilingual education in this region. Never...

Journal Article
TL;DR: A focus group study of the opinions of 70 secondary school teachers in six secondary schools in England and Wales about the future of the compulsory science curriculum was carried out by as mentioned in this paper, where the authors argued for an increased emphasis on preparing pupils as future consumers and users of science, rather than as producers of scientific knowledge.
Abstract: This article reports findings from a focus group study of the opinions of 70 teachers in six secondary schools in England and Wales about the future of the compulsory science curriculum. Teachers were presented with a short paper that summarised arguments for changing the focus O the compulsory science curriculum. The proposals argued for an increased emphasis on preparing pupils as future consumers and users of science, rather than as producers of scientific knowledge. There was widespread support in principle for the proposed change in emphasis, although the teachers did not share a view of the kinds of content that would support such a change. Some concerns were also raised about the feasibility of implementation. There were marked differences of opinion between teachers in the maintained and independent sectors.


01 Jan 2002
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyse the relational positioning of 24 students within their physical education class using Bourdieu's conceptual tools of habitus, field, capital, and practice, concluding that three foci require attention within the middle years of schooling, namely learning, the habitus of individuals and the social nature of the class.
Abstract: Schooling, as an institution within our society, is charged with the formal and compulsory education of young people. However, social theorists such as Pierre Bourdieu, argue that schooling processes and practices go well beyond formal curriculum and constitute society within the individual, as a means of societal reproduction. In Australia the education system, and its associated research, has only recently begun to focus on the experiences of young people in their middle years of schooling. What is known about these experiences and the influence of practices as enculturation processes is minimal. A focus on the middle years has been the result of concerns over the disengagement, alienation, and marginalisation of young people towards schooling during these middle years and as associated with the transition from primary to secondary school. More specifically within the learning area of Health and Physical Education (HPE), similar concerns exist, coupled with solicitude towards students' participation in physical activity and sport, and the possible relationship to a decline in health. The dearth of literature to illuminate the complex process, practices, and relationships between young people and physical education warranted further research, particularly so for the middle years of schooling in the Australian context where the research fields have not, until now, coincided. The reflexive nature of the study has worked between the generated data from fieldwork in schools and the work of researchers informing what is known about young people, physical education, and the middle years of schooling. Chapter 1 sets the broader context of the study within Australian education, with particular reference to the field of physical education and the middle years of schooling. The literature that informs what we know about young people, physical education, and transfer as a process within the middle years is mapped in Chapter 2. As outlined in Chapter 3, the study draws from a number of theoretical perspectives including critical pedagogy, post-structural feminism, cultural studies, and youth studies. Through the use of these perspectives, the study attempts to analyse the relational positioning of 24 students within their physical education class using Bourdieu's conceptual tools of habitus, field, capital, and practice. The students participated in the study as one Year 7 class, during their final year of primary school, and as members of nine Year 8 classes in their first year of secondary school or middle school. A classroom generalist teacher and physical education specialist teacher worked with the students in Year 7 and five specialist Health and Physical Education teachers were primarily involved with the classes in Year 8. The participants and their schools are described, as are the methods used for data generation and analysis. A multi-method approach was taken for data generation in an attempt to include as many students' perspectives as possible over the 16 months of fieldwork. The methods included interviews, field observations, questionnaires, journals, videoing, photography, and Qsorts. The data were analysed using the tools of grounded theory, critical discourse analysis, descriptive statistics and Qmethodology to constitute a theory of practice, as encouraged by Bourdieu. Issues arising from the reflexive research process between data, theory, and my own habitus were ongoing throughout the study and are reflected upon in an Epilogue. Chapters 4 to 6 inclusively present the literature, data, and discussion focussing on three dimensions that relate to the thesis questions. Chapter 4 centres on the practices and processes of transition within the middle years of schooling, transfer being the primary transition of note. Physical education as a social field acts as the organizing theme for Chapter 5 before concentrating on student habitus in Chapter 6. The key findings of these chapters suggest that schooling in general, and physical education in particular, needs to redefine and refocus practices within the middle years, before, during and after transfer. Transfer can be situated as a powerful disruption, and therefore possible learning process, as part of the middle years, warranting explicit attention by students, teachers, and adults involved in education. It was concluded that three foci require attention within the middle years of schooling, namely learning, the habitus of individuals, and the social nature of the class. Consideration towards notions of student "participation" and "difference" inform a list of principles in Chapter 7 targeting different agents within the field, to promote shifts from currently oppressive to more socially just practices within schooling and physical education. Two possible future physical education scenarios, using and promoting a pedagogy of imaginative praxis, are then put forward as alternatives to those observed in this study. These scenarios are constructed from my experiences, observations, engagement with research, and imagination, in an attempt to illustrate what practices might look like in the classroom, recognizing that some already exist, but not on a large scale or in a systematic way. The scenarios acknowledge the importance of a multi-agent approach to change within a field including teachers, administrators, teacher educators, policy and curriculum writers, researchers, and significantly, students. The thesis argues that physical education has the potential to develop other ways of knowing and being in the world for young people and those within the field that includes teacher, administrators, curriculum writers, teacher educators, policy makers and researchers, beyond those discursive spaces dominating our society and reproducing practices that are alienating, marginalising and disengaging. However, this potential will only be realised if the field constantly reflects on its constituted and constituting practices, and shifts towards a more socially-just orientation that is inclusive of its members and open to change. I suggest that subjects and learning areas associated with the field of physical education have no future in the school curriculum should these shifts not be made.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Based upon the Fundamental Law of Education, Japanese school education system has long been a source of pride for the country as a result of the high school participation rate, the homogeneity of compulsory education throughout the country as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Based upon the Fundamental Law of Education, Japanese school education system has long been a source of pride for the country as a result of the high school participation rate, the homogeneity of compulsory education throughout the country. However, the confidence of the people in its schools is now showing severe signs of strain and fatigue. In recent years, there have been many reports about the growing seriousness of a number of educational problems having to do with young people in their childhood and adolescence. Since the mid-1970s, a number of problems have been highlighted. They include violent behavior, juvenile crimes, bullying, refusal to attend school, dropping out at secondary level of education, and corporal punishment. Against the above background, based on recommendations from such advisory bodies as the Central Council for Education and the National Commission on Education Reform, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) has adopted a range of policies and launched a series of educational reform programmes. For instance, what is called “Rainbow Plan”, based on the final report submitted by the National Commission on Education Reform, provides the country with basic guidelines for the educational reform in the near future. Roles of educational research for making policies have been of significance. Research initiated by the National Institute for Educational Policy Research (NIER) and the National Federation of Educational Policy Research Institutes (NFERI) is an example of contributions to the development of educational qualities in the country.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article conducted an analysis of the male and female images presented in current elementary school social course teaching materials and explored whether or not such teaching materials contain outmoded gender conventions that might adversely affect the students' understanding of social genders.
Abstract: Social gender analysis is a unique field of research in the domain of social sciences research. Examining China's education from the perspective of gender, as well as being a new field of education research, is also a new line of thinking and method for educational research. The social course is an important course for education on general social knowledge imparted to elementary school students during the nine-year compulsory education phase. Social course teaching materials unavoidably touch upon many different people, and inevitably reflect their social gender characteristics. The social course also has the task of cultivating correct attitudes and abilities in students with regard to observing understanding society. This study is aimed at conducting an analysis of the male and female images presented in current elementary school social course teaching materials and at exploring whether or not such teaching materials contain outmoded gender conventions that might adversely affect the students' understanding of social genders, with the object of making certain suggestions for improving social course teaching materials.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a background and description of the Polish educational system in the midst of radical transformations, focusing on structural reform, which implements a new division into four educational stages, and syllabus reform which enables teachers of Polish to choose a syllabus.
Abstract: The aim of this article is to update the international reader with changes in teaching Polish in Poland in the last 10 years. The first part presents a background and description of the Polish educational system in the midst of radical transformations. The changes under discussion focus on structural reform, which implements a new division into four educational stages, and syllabus reform, which enables teachers of Polish to choose a syllabus. The second part includes a brief description of new tendencies in Polish teaching programs during the period of compulsory education (primary school and junior secondary school).

Posted Content
TL;DR: The World Bank's continued efforts towards a dialogue with DOE aimed at confidence building also contributed to this change in policy as mentioned in this paper, leading the department of education (DOE) to review its policy on external funding in education.
Abstract: World Bank lending in education has taken place through a unique working relationship in line with India's principle of self-sufficiency and domestic development. Until the late 1980s, the government of India strongly resisted external funding for education programs. Subsequently, the goal of universal elementary education resulted in demand for additional resources, leading the department of education (DOE) to review its policy on external funding in education. The Bank's continued efforts towards a dialogue with DOE aimed at confidence building also contributed to this change in policy. Since 1980, the Bank’s investments in education in India have grown from an almost negligible amount to 2 billion dollars. The Bank has approved four vocational and technical education and training (TVET) projects and six basic education projects. Overall, their capacity increased more than 50 percent, by roughly 100,000 student places, and expansion often exceeded targets. The operations evaluation department (OED) has rated project performance as satisfactory or highly satisfactory, though substantial improvements are still needed in industry linkages, quality of trainers, and academic flexibility.

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the changes needed to the German education system to address the problems highlighted by PISA, the Programme for International Student Assessment, assesses how well students nearing the end of compulsory education are able to apply the skills and knowledge developed at school to perform tasks that they will need in their future lives.
Abstract: PISA, the Programme for International Student Assessment, assesses how well students nearing the end of compulsory education are able to apply the skills and knowledge developed at school to perform tasks that they will need in their future lives. This brief article discusses the changes needed to the German education system to address the problems highlighted by PISA.


01 Jan 2002
TL;DR: In Switzerland, at the age of 15, 70% of the Swiss students enter vocational education programs as discussed by the authors and most of the training is done at the workplace (3 to 4 days a week depending on the chosen profession) and only one or two days of each week are spent at school.
Abstract: At the age of 15, at the end of compulsory education, 70% of the Swiss students enter vocational education programs. Vocational education is traditionally organised on a dual basis, in which most of the training is done at the workplace (3 to 4 days a week depending on the chosen profession) and only one, sometimes two days of each week are spent at school. At the school, two kinds of topics are studied: while all the apprentices attend general education classes such as languages, maths or humanities, for instance, other classes are more specific to the profession they have chosen, accounting, management or typewriting, for instance for those who have opted for a commercial or office related job, mechanic , electronic or metalwork for those who go for a more technical kind of job. The first type of classes are called “general”, the second “professional”.

Dissertation
01 Jan 2002
TL;DR: The authors investigated the influence of regional culture on young people's decision-making when considering post-sixteen educational choices and directions from school and found that those young people whose family habitus most closely coincides with pedagogic authority are most likely to operate comfortably within the educational habitus and hence continue with formal education beyond sixteen.
Abstract: This thesis investigates the influence of regional culture on young people's decision making when considering post-sixteen educational choices and directions from school The data is provided by life story interviews with young people - aged eighteen to twenty years, 'born and bred' in Lincolnshire - who have followed four pathways from compulsory education Within the context of Lincolnshire the influence of rurality is a major element of regional culture and figures in much of the discussion and analysis The work of Pierre Bourdieu in defining culture through field and habitus is used as a theoretical perspective in the data analysis and conclusions The research highlights the continued importance of family and community habitus in the decision-making processes of young people The interviews are used to consider the relative field positions important in defining individuals' post-sixteen pathways The nature of rurality as a social construct rather than simply a reflection of physical geography is discussed and conclusions offered as to its possible effect on preferred post-sixteen pathways The relative importance given to physical and social characteristics of rurality is used to construct a series of cultural indicators for rural communities The data would support the conclusion that new initiatives designed to increase participation rates in post-sixteen education are having some effect, but only among those young people predisposed through family habitus to continuing education Those young people whose family habitus most closely coincides with pedagogic authority are most likely to operate comfortably within the educational habitus and hence continue with formal education beyond sixteen The thesis suggests the real differences in habitus between urban and rural communities requires a shift in the policy debate if rural people are to participate fully in the notion of lifelong learning NB This ethesis has been created by scanning the typescript original and contains some inaccuracies In case of difficulty, please refer to the original text

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The analogy between the national curriculum in place at the end of the twentieth century and its immediate predecessor, the compulsory elementary curriculum which covered most pupils in the years to 1926, is discussed in this paper.
Abstract: Introduction History never repeats itself but it is di cult not to draw an analogy between the national curriculum in place at the end of the twentieth century and its immediate predecessor, the compulsory elementary curriculum which covered most pupils in the years to 1926. Pursuing such an analogy by way of introduction has a dual value. The broad similarities between the two compulsory curricula provide a convenient path for the general reader to gain an understanding of the prescribed curriculum of an earlier age, while the study of the points at which the analogy between the two breaks down enables the professional historian to gain ready access to the peculiarities of historical situations and to the historical controversy surrounding them. By the year 2000, the national curriculumÐafter six major reformulations since its creation in 1988Ðappeared to its author, Kenneth Baker as a dry husk of its former self, having been reduced by the turn of the millennium from his broad ten-subject curriculum to little more than the three-subject `old elementary school programme’ which dominated most of the nation’s schools in the early 1920s. It was, in his view, and that of the Conservative leader, William Hague, no longer defensible, particularly as even in its most vestigial form it impeded local initiative. Hague’s position in 1999 was strikingly similar to that of Lord Eustace Percy, the President of the Board of Education in Baldwin’s Conservative government, 1924±1929, who withdrew his support for the compulsory curriculum on the declared grounds that it interfered with the partnership between central and local government and that in abolishing it he was merely putting the last `few ®nishing touches’ to a process of gradual deregulation and liberalization which had been going on for some time.


Journal Article
TL;DR: A study was carried out to identify the views of the school administrators about the readiness level of the schools to the change in the fourth year of the eight-year compulsory education in Turkey.
Abstract: This study is carried out to identify the views of the school administrators about the readiness level of the schools to the change in the fourth year of the eight-year compulsory education in Turkey The finding of the study reflect the situation of the basic education school in the metropolitan districts of Ankara The school principals are asked to state their views on the readiness level of the schools to the change regarding the fourteen item The findings obtained show that the readiness levels of the schools to the change needs improvement This improvement seems to be important in the recent educational context in which the transition to twelve-year compulsory education is discussed Education is one of the dominant social systems Social patterns and needs affect the education; in turn, education plays role in the establishment of social pattern and in the identification of the needs Such an interaction has become one that goes beyond the boundaries of the nations in the twenty first century In this sense, various educational systems are similiar to each other and they afect one another This may be regarded as a result of the globalization and as a necessity that is resultd from the new world system Therefore both turkey and the Turkish educational system should be ready to new situations Furthermore, educational system should be seen as a driving force in this process Compulsory eduction has a distinctive significance because of its fuction in the system Such factors as transition to the information society, sociopolitical developments, young and increasing population, etc require that compulsoru education should last for longer periods Although the related legislative attempts were made long before, transition to the eight-year compulsory education was realized in 1997 The review of the past practices indicates that there had been a planned change in the activities Determining the readiness levels of the schools to the change is important in identifying the problem areas in the implementation of the compulsory education In this study, the aim is to determine the views of the school administrators regarding the readiness levels of the basic education schools to the change The study also includes the following topics: the historical process of the compulsory eduction practices in Turkey, the theoretical framework related to the readiness level, the research undertaken and its findings Compulsory Education in the Turkish Education System Before the declaration of the republic, the first Heyeti Ilmiye (Science Council) met between July 15 and August 15 1923 and stated that in the primary education, in addition general academic skills, some kind of occupational skills would be offered It is also maintained that after the six-year primary education, two-year education would be given towards agricultural, industrial, commercial training This meeting and the decisions made are important in terms of two aspects Of them, the first one is related to the leadership and vision Gazi Mustafa Kemal indicated his vision about the compulsory education within the new system Both social and organizational changes are realized by the leaders having vision The leaders having vision show what they decide to achieve and what they plan to de for their society and organization They also provide managerial guidance about what to be achieved The second important aspect is that compulsory education was regarded as significant for the future turkey in the 1920s In 1997 there were only 12 states where the compulsory education was for 5 years Therefore it is clear that this meeting and the decisions resulted were very important However this decision could be realized in the practice 74 years after the decision had been made This 74-year process related to the compulsory education can be summarized as follows: * The 87 article of the 1924 constitution states that compulsory basic education is free for all turkish people in the public schools …

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper stated that economic poverty originates from educational, cultural, and technological poverty, and while taking steps to relieve and eliminate poverty, various levels of Chinese government have always paid great attention to promote educational development in the ethnic regions.
Abstract: Education has been considered an effective means for relieving and eliminating poverty. Economic poverty originates from educational, cultural, and technological poverty. Therefore, while taking steps to relieve and eliminate poverty, various levels of Chinese government have always paid great attention to promote the educational development in the ethnic regions. In recent years, the Chinese government has decided to upgrade relief of poverty in poverty-stricken regions, and accelerating the popularization of compulsory education in these regions is an important component of this decision. In recent years, the Chinese government, through loans from World Bank and the implementation of compulsory education and poverty relief projects, has continuously increased education investment in poverty-stricken regions. It tries hard to promote economic development in order to finally achieve the objective of helping their resident become rich.1